Granville Island occupies a strange position in Vancouver: it’s one of the most-visited destinations in the city, and it’s also a place where locals genuinely go to shop, eat, and spend an afternoon. Those two things coexist awkwardly on a summer Saturday afternoon. They coexist well on a Tuesday morning. The island rewards timing as much as anything else.
Getting There Is Part of It
The standard route is the Aquabus or False Creek Ferries — small boats that run across False Creek from downtown and from several other docking points around the inlet. From the foot of Hornby Street, the ride to Granville Island is about six minutes. The boat is small, the view is good, and you arrive at the market dock rather than a parking lot. The fare is a few dollars each way. This is the right way to go.
Driving is possible. Parking exists and is free for the first few hours in some lots. On weekends, neither of these facts helps much. Take the boat.
The Public Market: What to Actually Buy
The Public Market has about 50 vendors under one roof — fresh produce, seafood, butchers, bakers, cheese, charcuterie, and specialty food that ranges from very good to fine depending on where you stop. Entry is free. The things worth your money:
Lee’s Donuts has been at the market since 1979. Old-fashioned cake donuts, made fresh. The lineup on weekend mornings extends outside the building. Come before 10am on weekdays and you walk straight to the counter. The glazed and the sour cream are both right.
Seafood is the serious business of the market. Several vendors sell whole salmon, halibut, spot prawns (when in season, May through July), smoked salmon in various forms, and live crab. If you’re cooking at home and want the best fish available in Metro Vancouver on a given day, the market vendors are competing with each other for that distinction. The quality is consistently high.
Cheese: the market has multiple cheese vendors with proper selection. For people who are doing an actual grocery run rather than a tourist sweep, this is one of the reasons to come specifically to Granville Island rather than a supermarket.
The produce stalls focus on BC farmers and seasonal availability. In summer this means berries from the Fraser Valley, stone fruit from the Okanagan, and the kind of corn and tomatoes that make the rest of the year’s produce feel apologetic.
What to Eat There
The market has vendors selling prepared food — sandwiches, pastries, soup, and more — alongside the grocery-style vendors. The fish and chips stand inside the market (Celine’s, sometimes under different signage depending on the day) does straightforward halibut and chips that earn the compliment of being exactly what they’re supposed to be.
The Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel, on the water side of the island, has the better-looking waterfront patio for a sit-down lunch. The food is competent West Coast cooking. You’re paying partially for the view, which from the patio across False Creek is good value for the markup.
Beyond the Market
The island is more than the Public Market. The Studios of Granville Island houses working artists — potters, jewellers, metalworkers, textile artists — in studios that are open to the public. It’s the least touristy corner of the island and the most interesting if you’re curious about the people actually making things.
Granville Island Brewing was the first craft brewery in BC when it opened in 1984. The taproom is on the island and has a patio. The beer is reliable without being groundbreaking — their Island Lager is the kind of thing you order because you want a beer, not because you want an experience.
The Arts Club Theatre has a stage on the island (Granville Island Stage) that runs productions year-round. If you’re going to the island for dinner and a show, this is the configuration that justifies the trip most fully.
When to Go
Weekday mornings. If that’s not possible, early Saturday (arrive by 9am) before the market hits full capacity. Sunday afternoons in July and August are when the island is at its most crowded and least comfortable. The vendors are the same at all times. The experience of shopping among them is not.
Summer is the season for everything on Granville Island — the outdoor market, the water taxis, the patio at Dockside. But summer weekends are also when the island gets the most visits from people who came specifically to experience a tourist attraction. Going in those conditions is fine. Going on a quiet Wednesday morning when the fishmonger knows your name is better.
