What is a good area of Vancouver?

Q: I need to book a hotel and didn't want to stay in a bad area of town. Somewhere decent, not to expensive and central to tourist stuff.

A: I live close to Vancouver and if I were going to stay in a hotel there, I would want something within walking distance to Stanley Park. The first one I can think of offhand is The Silvia Hotel, which is an old character building right across the road from English Bay beach, which would be a perfect place to stay. It's very safe there and the beach is lovely, and you can walk around the whole park on the seawall, and go for quite a while along the beach in the other direction, or rent a bike or rollerblades (much more fun). I'm not sure how expensive The Silvia is though. You could also walk to all of the attractions in the park like the aquarium, theatre, tennis courts, golf course (par 3 I think), hiking trails, swimming pool and restaurants, as well as all of the shops and restaurants on Denman and Davies, and it's not that far to walk to Gastown, which is kind of nice (just stay away from East Hastings Street). During the warmer months there is a free bus that takes you around the park too. You can take a little boat over to Granville Island, and you could go for a sail or dinner cruise around the bay. You can take the Sea Bus to the Quay in North Van too, and then walk around there for a while. You would also be a short drive from attractions like Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge which you could probably get to by bus. There are other smaller hotels in the area as well but I'm not sure of their names. If you stay close to Stanley Park though, you should find you are right in the middle of things. Have a great trip!

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