Neighborhood 48H guide
Gastown & Chinatown: Where to Stay & What to Do in 48 Hours
Cobblestones, the Steam Clock and the Chinese garden.
Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood has cobbled Water Street, the Steam Clock and Victorian buildings full of restaurants and shops; next door, Chinatown has the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
Photo gallery
Photo: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Ɱ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Why stay here
The city’s best restaurant and bar scene in historic streets.
Who it's for: Food lovers and history fans.
Pros
- Restaurants
- History
- Bars
Cons
- Downtown Eastside nearby
- Few hotels
- Noise
48H in Gastown & Chinatown
Cobblestones, the Steam Clock and the Chinese garden.
10:00 – Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden
Ming-style garden.
18:00 – Gastown
Dinner on Water Street.
Named recommendations
Real places with links to their official site or a Maps place page. We do not invent hours, prices, or ratings.
See / do
See / do
Gastown Steam Clock
Water Street at Cambie
Steam-powered clock that whistles every quarter-hour on Water Street.
Photo: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Official site / map →
Outdoors
Outdoors
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
578 Carrall Street
Ming-dynasty-style scholar’s garden in Chinatown.
Photo: Ɱ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Official site / map →
Where to stay
Specific named properties—not vague city-wide searches. Expedia stays use tracked Creator links; others open the hotel's official site.
Roam48 may earn a commission when you book a stay through Expedia or Vrbo links on this page, at no extra cost to you. All commercial stay links use rel="sponsored nofollow".
Hotel · Expedia
Skwachàys Lodge
West Pender Street
Indigenous art hotel and gallery.
Check rates on Expedia →
Vacation rentals
Prefer an apartment or whole home in this neighborhood? Browse Vrbo listings for Gastown & Chinatown.
In Vancouver, short-term rentals are allowed only in the host’s principal residence, with a City business licence and a provincial BC registry number, and both numbers must appear on the listing. Check for them before booking.
Browse vacation rentals in Gastown & Chinatown on Vrbo →Other ways to spend 48 hours in Vancouver
- Downtown & Coal Harbour — Canada Place, seaplanes and the Art Gallery.
- West End — Stanley Park, English Bay and leafy streets.
- Yaletown — Warehouse restaurants and the False Creek seawall.
- Granville Island — The Public Market and artists’ studios.
- Downtown & Robson Street — Shopping streets and city hotels.
- North Vancouver — Lonsdale Quay, Capilano and the mountains.
- Richmond & Steveston — Near the airport, with a fishing village.