Suggestions of what to do with a 7-hour layover in Vancouver?

Take the Canada Line to Waterfront Station and then take a taxi to Stanley Park. Can you leave your suitcase in a locker at the airport? Stanley Park is world famous and beautiful. Some of things you can do at Stanley Park...walk around the seawall, walk through the inside trails, visit The Vancouver Aquarium.

Given that the airlines suggest giving yourself about a 2 hour window to make sure you have time to get through the security station and to your gate number, that means you really have about 5 hours of time to use. And you have to get somewhere, so there is transit time to/from the airport. That means about a 3-4 hour window to do anything in Vancouver itself.

If you leave the airport, the only thing that is immediately nearby is the River Rock Casino. It's a cheap taxi ride or the 980 bus to get there.

If you don't want to leave the airport, the airport has the Plaza Premium Lounge that you could use. Looking on the website, it costs $32 for a 3 hr stay and $44 for 6 hrs. But it's probably worth it when you consider it gives you a quiet place to sit down and relax, take a nap, get snacks, recharge and use your electronic devices, and even take a shower. As a traveller on a long trip, I'd probably look forward to using their services.

You could take the Canada Line downtown, get back in time to go back through security etc.
I dunno, have lunch, walk to the beach ? Go and stare at the steam clock ? The train takes about 30 min I think. The airport's pretty boring. I mean, it's OK, but not 6 hours of OK.

With its intensive parks and relatively equable environment maintaining conditions gentle throughout every season, Vancouver is just a paradise and today, you have the chance to discover it with hotelbye . Vancouver is features a active ethnic life. One of the places worth visited in Vancouver is Granville Island. When mostly commercial, Granville Island has become a thriving middle of task with a relaxed and unique atmosphere. Artists and suppliers have transferred in to transformed warehouses alongside houseboats, cinemas, galleries, and restaurants. The Granville Island Public Market is certainly one of typically the most popular attractions offering fresh fruit and veggies, seafood, and a great variety of other specialties in addition to ready-to-eat items. Perhaps not really an island, the arts link is associated with residential places by one path and footbridges to the south, and to the Downtown peninsula (across Fake Creek) by ferry.

Boxing Day...?! Don't know how the public transit will work on that day besides you will be arriving at night. By the time when you get out of the checking point will be 4:30 the earliest could be longer due to the busy time of the year at the airports. Then you'll have to be back at least an hour early before your departure. It takes 45 minutes to get DT via Sky Train and 45 minutes back, so another hour and a half is spent in transit. Walking back and forth - in and out of the stations add another 15-20 minutes. Probably you have 2 maybe 3 hours at the most to visit DT Vancouver. You can do it. Take the sky train to the waterfront station. Walk on Granville and West Georgia perhaps a bit of Robson street too then take the train go back to the airport.. You need to check how the public transit works on Boxing Day though. That's very important for you. Enjoy the visit.