Josy, you make SUCH great points! Also, I hadn’t considered joining CarToGo or a similar company – that would be a great solution if you mostly wanted to do public transportation but also wanted options for day trips or other car-centric activities.

Also, I am totally reaching out the next time we head to Vancouver. I want to take the whole family to BC next year (maybe in May?!). I loved Vancouver!

Yep, it’s totally individual, and also depends on the location. Vancouver’s busses and public transportation are clean and efficient, and they run often. I’ve been in cities where the busses shut down at 11pm, which didn’t work for me at the time – and I ended up paying for a really expensive cab! It pays to do a little research before deciding to rent a car or rely on public transpo.

Sounds like we’d travel well together, Leah! 😉 I do like the control of having a car and being able to travel about whenever and wherever I want.

Glad to hear it’s useful, Diana! I do like having a car when I travel as a group because it gives us a lot of freedom without adding that much expense.

You’re welcome, Laura! Whether to rent a car in Vancouver or not is an individual choice, but I hope this info helps people make that decision.

I guess for me the biggest question is what you want to do for day trips. I mean, we managed our first year in Vancouver without a car, as public transportation is so good BUT if you want to get to Whistler, Squamish or out to more wilderness-y areas, then a car can be reeeeally helpful!

Just in case you come back, there is one other option here, signing up for one of the car share schemes like evo, modo or cartogo. They have cars all over the place, and you only need to pay for the time you use them. Plus parking is much easier for those cars as they often have dedicated spots in car parks.

I wish I could have shown you around. I blooming love this city and the mountains around it!

Hi Cesar, I’m so glad the post was helpful! When I rented a car in Vancouver, I fed the parking meters with cash (coins) or credit card, and I also paid at a parking garage downtown once. I hope that’s helpful!

Thank you very much for the infromation, this post was really helpful to clear some confusion idea I had about renting a car in vancouver. I have one more question. I’ve search about parking in Vancouver… When you visited, do you use easy park system for parking?