Private Guided Grand City Tour in Vancouver Tick tours and travels ltd

(20 customer reviews)

$205.46

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Description

Private Guided Grand City Tour in Vancouver USD 208.73. Get to know the top sights of Vancouver in just one day on this private sightseeing tour. Alongside a private guide, walk through the artistic Granville Island, explore a few of the city’s beaches, and drive through some of the most affluent neighborhoods. You also get to experience Vancouver’s multicultural side as you explore Chinatown and listen to commentary from your guide about the city’s rich diversity..
Review the Private Guided Grand City Tour in Vancouver direct from Tick tours and travels ltd.

20 reviews for Private Guided Grand City Tour in Vancouver Tick tours and travels ltd

  1. Robin_C

    Very happy with the driver and his very informative tour. Vancouver is a beautiful place and he took us to show us all the highlights

  2. citresse

    If I could leave 0 stars I would. I have been reaching out to Viator by email (twice) and by Twitter, but had no reply in over a week.
    Therefore I am reviewing this tour without the benefit of any response from them.
    This was booked following the great reviews we read and the reputation that Viator have for good service.
    We opted to do this on our first day in Vancouver as it would allow us to familiarise ourselves and to select where we wanted to spend any further time during our stay. We were met on time and the car was very comfortable, bottled water was provided and our driver / guide helped load my wheelchair into the boot. We explained that I had limited mobility but could walk short distances with the aid of sticks and we were reassured this was already taken into consideration. We were given a map each and we were told we were going to cover central, downtown, North & West Vancouver.
    Our guide – was not very knowledgeable, little facts were provided and when asked specific questions he was ‘sorry but he didn’t know that’, some ‘facts’ that were provided – were in most part wrong!
    This guide is clearly frustrated with the administration of Vancouver and the Government of Canada as he told us a lot about his political concerns relating to foreign investment in real estate and the possibility of economic control of Canada being influenced by these forces – but we learnt little about the history of Vancouver and its development from a trading post to the amazing city we have since found it to be! We were shown the homeless and this was with some information about the policy for “moving them on” made by the Mayor – our guide was clearly not a fan of the Mayor, but was, he told us, a fan of Trump – we are from UK so we really are not concerned with these preferences!
    Following a drive around the city in almost silence, despite my trying to engage him in conversation (I’m usually good at getting a conversation going as I’ve had 44 yrs of nursing and can talk to anyone!) but I found it very difficult and at times awkward! I asked about the changes since Covid to ways of working – where people working from home more, making the offices less occupied now and if so, how had it affected the city? I was told “I don’t really know”. When I asked if the move from a condo to a house was difficult as family’s grew, was it possible to buy in the city limits or was housing being built outside the city and therefore expanding it? I was told he wasn’t involved in real estate!
    As we progressed with our awkward tour we reached the arts area, he was a little more animated as he told us he was an artist, were asked if we wanted to stop in the local food market, it was not really explained what this was, other than it was an area that had been a weapon centre in the war, some pieces of carving were pointed out to us as being by a named artist and we were told it was now a food hall – he offered to stop so we could go in and try some food – but we opted not to stop as a food market was not for us as we were staying in a hotel and then cruising, we would not be able to take any purchases with us – but on return reading up on what we missed out from our guide, it seems we missed out a stop we would have liked and could have managed with our wheelchair, it was not ‘just a food hall’ – but the lack of information provided did not allow us to make a considered choice.
    We then had a story of a collapsed bridge which he pointed out in the distance, which, were told happened in the 50’s causing a lot of deaths and it was due to an engineering error – so he told us that now to commemorate that bridge collapse all engineering graduates in Canada are given a ring made of the bridge ( which we know not to be true as that was the wrong bridge and not the right story!)
    Whilst being driven through Stanley Park (he did slow down for a photo of the “mermaid in a suit” to be taken out of the car window! but never throughout the whole ‘tour’ were we offered any opportunities for my husband (fully mobile) to get out of the car for photo stops) we subsequently asked for a coffee break, he asked if we wanted a restroom stop we said no, then, rather than stop at a coffee viewing point in the park, (there looked to be some lovely places, and it was a sunny warm day), he said he knew where to take us.
    We were driven for a further 20 mins when we arrived at a coffee shop in a small shopping area where we purchased our drinks, on the way, he did tell us about the Irish Guinness family who had contributed money to build a bridge and following tolls it had been paid back, but that the family had acquired land as part of the deal which was now worth millions and that they were selling it off bits at a time – again, he seemed very centred on political concerns relating to foreign investment!
    Once purchased, We took the drinks to the car and we were then driven to see where we could buy a car from, this was an area that we were driven through that consisted of multiple car show rooms – we passed slowly by each one – he assured us that this was a shopping mall for men and told us about a Mr Pattison who made his money after meeting the Queen and bought a big house and paid for a small bridge that he took us over.
    Whilst still drinking our coffee and at only 11.30 we reached the ferry terminal where we were told this was our lunch stop, we threw away our drinks, he insisted we had a photo with him ( for the office). We went to go into the nearest restaurant which was called Trolls, however, our guide tried to take us away from there to another restaurant, but due I think to the early time, it was closed! We had a very early lunch, (it was great food, just too soon in the day) – watched by our guide, who stood and moved around the street.
    We then returned to the car and we were taken for a drive through a car park, on Grouse Mountain – he was excited as a gondola passed overhead, he told us that this was headed to the top with people going to watch a lumberjack show, but we simple drove around the car park without stopping to admire any views, some mention was made of people living nearby had problems with bears in their gardens, but no other detail on any wild life was provided.
    Then we were told we would have some “quiet time” on the way back to our hotel whilst he played music (albeit nice music).
    He pointed out Lion bridge, and we drove over it, pointing out the lions heads – but provided no details or history!
    During the “trip”, He took us past some very large residential houses, but we couldn’t see the point in being driven in silence around what was a housing complex without any context, other than to tell us that an ex-Iranian General lived in one of the houses (did not say which) that he had paid $11 million and he speculated on the legality of that transaction!
    We arrived back at our hotel much earlier than we had thought we would – but none the less very happy to be back, as it was such a poor experience!
    I wonder if there are any checks made on the local and historical knowledge of these ‘guides’?
    This ‘guide’ certainly was not acceptable and indeed I doubt was he qualified in any way to be a guide!
    – clearly we did not get the gold standard – it appears that the guide called Hamid attracts most of the 13 amazing reviews – we know that everyone is different- but we had hoped for someone who, during their 10years of living in Vancouver (he told us that was how long he had lived here) would have had more knowledge of the history and development of Vancouver especially as he was “sold” to us a ‘guide’ – instead we went back to our hotel and spent some time on the internet looking up what we had been told – some of which was wrong, looking up what we had missed and learning how little our “private fully guided grand city tour” had given us!
    Overall it was a complete waste of our precious time in Vancouver, a complete waste of money and certainly – regrettably – one that we will remember- for all the wrong reasons, Viator needs to ensure that there is a minimum standard for these guides, that the knowledge is there, that the tour is managed with some common structure to ensure there is a minimum that is met.
    Viator are using their reputation to get customers for these expensive tours, but not responding or taking any responsibility when the service is less than satisfactory- so unless you get the named guide in the ‘great’ feedback – don’t bother spending out on this very expensive tour – save your money, get a local cab or use the hop on hop off bus.

  3. Mark_D

    It was great to have flexibility. The driver gave us options and was knowledgeable about the things that were available. A great overview of the city.

  4. Beatriz_F

    Hamed is a great guide!! We are so happy with our tour. He was very accommodating and knowledgeable! We will definitely be recommending him to everyone!! I am not one of those people who writes long reviews, but this is 100% the best tour in Vancouver.

  5. Peter_M

    Hamed was great! We saw parts of the city we would never have seen otherwise. It was a really good combination of site seeing and varied neighborhoods.

  6. Earl_G

    We are seniors and Miaad paced the tour to our needs still making sure we saw the entire beautiful City of Vancouver.

  7. ScottD_L

    Our guide was excellent. Beautiful city and surrounding suburbs. We saw so much in a short time post Alaska cruise. Highly recommend.

  8. kford1998

    Husband and I had a fantastic time with Miaad. The tour of Vancouver was a great way to end our two week vacation. Miaad is a great artist, we were lucky enough to see his studio and view his artwork. It was awesome!

  9. Robin_C

    We really enjoyed visiting Granville Island, Stanley Park, and Horseshoe Bay but felt that we could have spent more time in these places instead of driving to areas that were of no interest to us such as the automall.

  10. Jack_M

    Excellent driver well informed and told a lot about Vancover..Car was very nice and spent 5 hours touring the extended area and Vancover.. Would highly recommend…

  11. Kathryn_L

    Our children gave us this private tour as a gift and it was wonderful. Our tour guide was friendly, knowledgeable and the tour overall was thoroughly enjoyable. I would highly recommend this tour .

  12. Vincent_N

    Seeing horseshoe bay and Stanley garden. Driver was very knowledgeable. He consulted us on what we were interested in

  13. Margaret_C

    Enjoyed seeing the contrast of downtown versus multimillion dollar homes on the hills of Vancouver. Horseshoe Bay was lovely for lunch. The artisan Market was also quite delightful. Stanley Park also a good experience. The architectural creativity and variety in downtown Vancouver was amazing.
    Felt I got a good overview of Vancouver in the time allotment that we had. I did think tour was a little bit pricey but it fit our need perfectly because we needed to have our luggage with us and be dropped off at the airport at the end of the tour.
    Your guide was attentive, helpful and knowledgeable.

  14. Wendy_N

    It was pouring rain and weren’t able to see much. I asked for partial refund and they said no valid reason. It was too expensive of a tour and not able to see anything clear. I am truly disappointed that you wouldn’t even give a partial refund which I requested.

  15. Sally_M

    Really great way to get a taste for Vancouver. Our guide Hameed was friendly, knowledgeable and showed us lots of Vancouver – not just the popular tourist spots. The car was comfortable and I can honestly say it was money well spent. We were able to flex the tour to include a few spots we wanted to see as well. I’m so glad we did this at the beginning of our holiday as it gave us ideas as to what to do the rest of the time here.

  16. John_M

    The grand island tour was the highlight of the tour. Hammad was great. He could have cleaned his windshield a bit to make the day more pleasant bb

  17. Thomas_D

    Ahmed was a wonderful host and tour guide. It was a rainy day but the tour was great. Informative, very knowledgeable of Vancouver and fun to talk with

  18. Karl_L

    Excellent tour of Vanouver. Driver was knowledgable and experienced, answered our many questions. Drove safely and carefully.

  19. Jeanette_E

    Outstanding tour and incredible tour guide. Spent a lot of time taking us to places that were extremely interesting.

  20. Chad_S

    We really enjoyed our tour! Hamad is professional, personable and knowledgeable. We learned so much about Vancouver “today and yesterday”. Would recommend him to anyone.

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