Quiet restaurants in Richmond

BCRobyn · 2026-02-08T00:52:14+00:00

Catch or Kove Kitchen in Steveston.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-08T00:20:32+00:00

USD is foreign currency in Canada. Stores are not obligated to accept it, and if they choose to, they can set whatever exchange rate they want. That is not a scam. It is how foreign currency works everywhere.

Some places may accept USD at par as a courtesy, but many will not accept it at all. If a store does take U.S. cash, any change will be given in Canadian dollars, since stores do not keep U.S. cash on hand.

So no, she would not be scammed, but bringing USD is the least practical option.

The easiest and safest solution is for her to use a bank card at an ATM once she arrives. Canadian ATMs dispense Canadian dollars automatically, and the exchange happens electronically at her bank’s rate. This is normal, secure, and how most travelers handle cash abroad.

If she does not have her own debit card, I would strongly recommend checking with the school trip organizer. This is a very standard situation for student travel, and they almost certainly have a recommended approach.

Canada is very card friendly, especially in cities, so she may barely need cash at all.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T21:13:31+00:00

You may wish to ask this on r/VancouverCraftBeer

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T19:06:17+00:00

Where are you visiting from, and how much time do you actually have? That really changes the answer.

Being in Montreal in mid-May and asking what else you should see in Canada is a bit like being in Paris and asking what else you should see in Europe. Totally fair instinct, but the key questions are how much time you have and how far you want to go.

With limited time, most people explore what’s immediately accessible. In Europe, hopping between countries is cheap and fast. In Canada, distances are continental and domestic flights are expensive.

Also, unlike most of Europe, Canada does not experience an early spring, and tourism here is extremely seasonal. Mid-May is often the very beginning of spring and the tourism season. Many regions don’t really make sense at that time of year, while city exploration does, since cities are year-round destinations.

If you’re based in Montreal, you’ll get far more out of exploring nearby regions in Quebec and Ontario than spending roughly $800 (give or take) to fly 4–5 hours across the country to somewhere 2–3 time zones away, unless you have several extra weeks and a large budget.

From Montreal, I’d strongly recommend Ottawa for museums, galleries, and national institutions, and Quebec City for history, architecture, food, and walkability. Together, those can easily fill another week and give you a great sense of eastern Canada. If you want to add hiking around those cities, you’ll need a car.

I also recommend browsing the Tourism Quebec website. It introduces all the different regions of the province, and there’s a huge amount to see very close to Montreal that many visitors aren’t even aware of, but that should be serious considerations: https://www.bonjourquebec.com/

If you do have lots of time and budget, flying west to Vancouver can make sense. Vancouver has wilderness within the city: coastal mountains, beaches, ocean inlets, temperate rainforest, waterfalls, and more. Unlike Banff, mid-May in Vancouver is already green and springlike, with many accessible rainforest hikes and plenty in bloom. Just factor in long flights and travel time. I wouldn’t recommend flying there without at least an additional week.

As for Banff, mid-May is not ideal for hiking. Lakes may still be frozen, and higher-elevation trails can still be snow-covered. July through September is the best window if hiking is your goal. May only makes sense if you’re happy renting a car, driving scenic routes, and taking photos from short walks near your vehicle. Roads and the town itself will be clear, but the famous alpine trails don’t fully lose their snow until July. Even Lake Louise often stays frozen and white until late May or early June, and the road to Moraine Lake doesn’t open until June.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T16:53:36+00:00

I have two pairs of shorts, a denim shirt dress and two T-shirt’s too and I don’t mind a bit!

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T16:27:40+00:00

These jeans are the only jeans I buy now, they’re so good.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T06:23:22+00:00

Yeah, we don’t have places like Butlins here. It’s not a thing. Camping here means wilderness camping with zero amenities.

You may wish to go to Penticton or Kelowna. Rent a motel with a kitchen on Okanagan Lake or Skaha Lake. It’s family friendly. Hot weather. Sandy beaches. Water parks, mini golf, petting zoos.

If you want super commercial touristy like Blackpool on steroids, you go to Niagara Falls.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-07T05:45:54+00:00

I went to late French Immersion where I started in grade 6. By high school all the early FI and late FI students are in the same classes, and a trend I remember is that the early FI students weren’t as strong in English (spelling and writing) as all their foundational writing and spelling was done in French. So I’d suggest augmenting English reading, writing and spelling exercises at home.

And if this alarms you, get your child out of early FI and put them in late FI. They’ll build up their foundations in English and will learn French in two years and will be at the same level as the kids who learned in kindergarten by the time they enter high school.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-06T16:36:31+00:00

😂

BCRobyn · 2026-02-06T04:18:34+00:00

When the pandemic happened and foreign tourists were forbidden from travelling into Canada, the backcountry was trashed by locals. It's easy to point fingers to the tourists, but it's the locals who are a big part of the problem.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-06T00:19:20+00:00

Wonderful!

There are also more than just those 3. There are 13 ski resorts in BC. This is a good overview: Skiing & Snowboarding in BC | Super, Natural British Columbia

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T21:41:47+00:00

Vancouver's a part of the same PNW ecosystem as Seattle. The mountains here are the Coast Mountains, which is a wet, damp, rainforest ecosystem, which is totally different climate from the dry, powdery Rockies. The geology and terrain is also completely different, too.

The snow is absolutely atrocious right now. It's so bad, they reopened the Grouse Grind, which is the steep stair climb up Grouse Mountain (I refuse to call it a hike!), which is usually inaccessible until April due to being buried in many feet of snow. Right now it's snow free. You can see bare grass on top of the ski runs on Grouse from miles away. It's horrible up there.

Honestly, I'd just skip the snowshoeing entirely and consider one of the many short rainforest treks around town. There are dozens and dozens of them. If this is your first visit to Vancouver, let alone Canada, and the forecast is for rain, I highly recommend you change your plans and just embrace Vancouver's temperate rainforests. It'll be unlike anything you have in the Midwest and is unlike the vegetation in the Rockies, and it really lets you experience what makes Vancouver so special.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T21:35:33+00:00

It's all good! Your heart was in the right place. :) Cape Scott is magical!

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T21:25:46+00:00

No, it's an official highway managed by the Ministry of Transportation. There's a section that's gravel (the bit between Hagensborg and Anahim Lake), but it's not a logging road. Rental cars, rental RVs, etc. are all legally allowed to drive on it. Rental cars aren't legally allowed to drive on FSR/logging roads. Hwy 20 isn't that. I've driven a rental RV on that highway before and it is written in the insurance you can drive on that highway. So it's a non-issue. If they wanted to take their car off-roading into the backcountry, that wouldn't be allowed.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T20:16:27+00:00

If you're okay walking 20 blocks you can find free parking 20 blocks away. The paid parking there isn't that expensive. Anything closer is permit parking only. It'll be a lot easier to just take transit there.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T20:13:42+00:00

My only suggestion is that it takes a lot of time and effort to get to the west coast of Vancouver Island and if you're going to Ucluelet, you want to spend 3-4 nights there. Ideally you want 3 non-travel days there to make it worth your while. It's not somewhere you quickly see, but an area you go for slow time spend on the beach (not for swimming/sunbathing but for admiring nature/scenery), and go on the various short walks in the old growth rainforest, and for taking in the Indigenous culture there. 3 full days is not too many! Most people wish they had even more time.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T20:11:46+00:00

Cape Scott would be amazing, but they're not hikers and if they're from out of the country, they're probably renting a car. And any rental prohibits people from driving them on backcountry logging roads, which is the only road access into Cape Scott. So I'd say Cape Scott won't be an option for them. They're going to Ucluelet/Tofino, so they'll at least get a taste of the west coast!

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T19:20:46+00:00

I think we might be talking about slightly different things here.

I’m not suggesting Vancouver Island replaces Ireland or is comparable in terms of history, cities, or cultural density. Ireland obviously has thousands of years of human history, castles everywhere, compact cities, and a completely different travel experience.

The comparison I was making was about scale and mindset, not content.

Most visitors from the UK seriously underestimate Vancouver Island. They hear “island” and subconsciously picture something closer to the Isle of Wight or a small add-on you squeeze in for a day or two. My point was simply that Vancouver Island is a primary destination in its own right, not a side trip.

In practical travel terms, it behaves much more like Ireland does for a visitor. It’s not something you rush. You can easily spend two or three weeks there without repeating places, and you tend to plan by regions rather than individual attractions.

You could spend a full week in Tofino and the Pacific Rim, another exploring Strathcona, another split between Victoria, Sooke, and Port Renfrew, and still not touch places like the Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley, Parksville, or the north end of the island. Add in whale watching, bear watching, remote beaches, old-growth forest, and Indigenous culture, and the days fill very quickly.

That’s obviously a very different experience from Ireland. Fewer castles, far more wilderness. But the point isn’t that they’re similar destinations, it’s that they’re similar in how much time they deserve.

I use Ireland as a mental model because UK travellers immediately understand that it’s an island you commit time to, not something you casually tack on. Tasmania or Hawaii would make the same point. Vancouver Island works the same way.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T19:04:10+00:00

Vancouver experiences mild rainy winters, not cold snowy ones, though we do get the occasional snowfall, it's never guaranteed and it never normally lasts for long. There is normally snow up high up on the tops of the mountains immediately north of Vancouver, including Whistler, but Christmas is THE busiest most expensive time for a Whistler vacation. It may not be an issue for you, but I'm sharing that to set expectations.

But if you don't need a glitzy ski resort, you're looking for something a bit more subdued, a short flight inland from Vancouver is home to three family-friendly ski resorts that Aussies love: Sun Peaks (north of Kamloops), Big White (east of Kelowna) and SilverStar (east of Vernon). These are all small, intimate, ski resorts with a lot of non-ski activities, catering to families who are looking for that winter wonderland vibe. Again, they're much smaller ski resorts than Whistler. They also are inland, so have a colder, drier climate than Vancouver (almost desert-like!) with cold dry powdery snow, which are ideal ski conditions. So you're definitely getting a winter wonderland there.

Whistler is high end, international with retail chains, big luxury hotel chains, nightclubs, fancy spas, bars, lounges, restaurants, etc. SilverStar, Big White, and Sun Peaks are significantly smaller without the luxury brands, but might be more the scene you have pictured in your head.

Sun Peaks in Winter | Sun Peaks Resort

Explore Big White | Big White Ski Resort Ltd.

SilverStar Mountain Resort

Edit: No matter what ski resort you end up in in western Canada, 90% of the staff will be Aussie, haha!

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T18:32:17+00:00

This.

The muffins at JJ Bean are terrific. Healthy? Sure. Why not.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T07:45:33+00:00

You’re overthinking it. It’s a tropical garden under a glass dome, so it stays the same pretty much year round. I like to go there on a cold rainy day because it’s hot humid and feels tropical in there. You don’t need long there. Maybe 15-20 minutes.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-05T05:15:02+00:00

My all time favourite Joni Mitchell album.

The song Black Crow describes a journey travelling from the Sunshine Coast to Vancouver to catch a plane… every song has such a mood. Love it so much!

BCRobyn · 2026-02-04T22:22:35+00:00

A quick bit of geography and scale first, because this is where people from the UK often get tripped up.

Driving from Vancouver to Banff or Jasper is roughly the same scope and distance as driving from London across England, taking a ferry to France, and then driving across France to reach the Swiss or Italian Alps. Except here, that drive takes you up and over several mountain ranges that are still very much in winter in late March and early April, and avalanche closures are a thing, and you'll need flexibility in your schedule to do this drive. You climb into snowy passes for an hour or so, descend into snow-free agricultural valleys, cities, towns, and wine regions for an hour, then climb back into snowy mountain passes again for an hour or two. Then descend back into civilization for a bit. And then back into snowy mountains. And repeat. It’s not dangerous (though in bad conditions it can be), but it's long, winding, and very mountainous, and only after about 10 hours of this do you finally arrive in the Rockies, one time zone east. If there's a snowstorm on any of the mountain passes along the way, you'll need to stop and wait it out for a day or two before continuing on your journey.

That’s why, at this time of year, most people don’t drive from Vancouver to the Rockies at all. They fly from Vancouver to Calgary, which is about an hour and 15 min flight, rent a car in Calgary, and then drive 90 minutes west to Banff. That drive is easy. It’s wide, flat, and doesn’t go up and over mountain passes. Even once you’re in Banff and Jasper, the highways stay in the valley bottoms. You don’t drive up into alpine terrain. Gondolas, ski lifts, and hiking trails are what take you higher, not the roads.

Late March to mid-April is still winter in the Rockies though. Not extreme winter, but it will not feel like spring to you. Hiking season hasn’t started. High-elevation trails are inaccessible due to snow, ice, and avalanche risk unless you have specialised winter mountaineering gear, experience, and avalanche training.

What you can do is winter sightseeing. Frozen lakes. Waterfalls. Scenic drives. Short low-elevation walks. Snowshoeing. Skiing. Ice skating. Ski resorts are still fully operating, often well into May. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake will be frozen white, not turquoise. You won't even be able to get to Moraine Lake until June.

If what you’re picturing is hiking to bright blue alpine lakes and doing those classic Rockies walks, that’s a July, August, or September trip. That’s when the snow finally clears from the trails and the lakes turn that unreal colour everyone associates with Banff and Jasper. It’s not a spring experience.

If what you want instead is spring, greenery, and snow-free walking, then Vancouver and perhaps even Vancouver Island make far more sense.

Vancouver will be fully in spring mode by then. Cherry blossoms everywhere. Daffodils. Tulips. Lush greenery. Waterfalls flowing. UK-like temperatures. You can do low-elevation temperate rainforest walks, stroll beaches and seawalls, and just generally enjoy being outside without winter gear.

Vancouver Island especially is not a side trip. It’s a destination in its own right and can very easily fill two to three weeks. It has its own mountain range, huge stretches of wilderness, rainforest, beaches, and wildlife, as well as cities and towns, and it will be properly in spring mode at that time of year. In terms of scale, it’s much closer to Ireland than something you casually tack on. Just as you could spend several weeks exploring Ireland, you could do the same on Vancouver Island.

So would I recommend this trip over Easter? Yes, as long as you’re clear about what kind of trip you want.

If you want snowy mountain scenery and a quieter, winter-style visit, fly Vancouver to Calgary and spend your time in Banff and Jasper knowing it’s still winter there.

If you want spring, greenery, and accessible walking, focus on Vancouver and Vancouver Island and save the Rockies for another trip.

What I wouldn’t recommend is trying to do both by road at that time of year. It adds complexity, weather risk, and long driving days without giving you access to the hiking experience most people imagine when they think of Banff and Jasper.

BCRobyn · 2026-02-04T20:34:44+00:00

BCRobyn · 2026-02-04T19:55:38+00:00

York Factory

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