Vancouver is small for a major city and unusually well placed: you can be in the mountains or on the water within half an hour of downtown. That geography is also the reason the month you choose matters more here than in most of North America.
Three days covers the city and one trip out of it — the mountains, the suspension bridges or the ferry to an island. Two is enough for the city alone, which is compact and easy.
The stronger argument is to use Vancouver as a base. Whistler, Vancouver Island and the Sea-to-Sky corridor are all close, and a trip built as city plus one of them is better than four days in the city.
The downtown sits on a peninsula, with water on three sides and mountains straight ahead. It is one of the easiest big-city layouts to hold in your head.
Vancouver has one of the wettest winters and one of the most reliable summers on the continent. The gap between them is not a matter of degree — it is a different trip.
Dry, long and reliably clear
The driest months of the year by a wide margin, with long evenings and the mountains fully open. It is peak season and priced accordingly, but the weather genuinely justifies it.
Nearly as good, noticeably cheaper
Shoulder months with most of the summer's reliability and fewer people. September in particular is often the best value week of the year.
Rain in the city, snow on the mountains
Downtown is grey and wet rather than cold, while the ski areas half an hour away are in full season. A perfectly good winter-sports trip, and a poor city-walking one.
The wettest, greyest stretch
Persistent rain, short days and neither the summer outdoors nor the winter snow. The one window with little to recommend it unless the price is the point.
Three days in Vancouver is inside the free version. Adding Whistler or Vancouver Island, with the transport between them, is Premium.
