Need to entertain a kid on a rainy Vancouver day? Try the airport

We’ve had an unprecedented stretch of dry weather in Vancouver this autumn. When it ended this past weekend in a spectacular three-day downpour, I realised I’d let my rainy day activity plan bank run low. On a Sunday, where to go with an antsy preschooler and a poorly mum that wouldn’t be an absolute zoo?

The airport!

Vancouver International Airport has a public observation area complete with free telescopes and floor to ceiling windows. It’s located in the domestic terminal, above the food court – which is in itself quite handy for coffee and snacks. When we arrived at about 2pm, we had the place to ourselves aside from a scattering of planespotters with their little notebooks and airport staff having lunch. The planes that tend to come in under the windows here are little Air Canada Jazz flights with twin propellers and the occasional slightly larger plane (we’re rapidly reaching the end of my knowledge of aircraft at this point). Elliot found watching the little trucks towing baggage carts fascinating, as well as the trucks that drag the planes around in tight places.

Parking at the airport is ridiculously expensive, so I suggest taking transit in. We parked on the street outside Marine Drive station and took the train in, which fascinated Elliot as well. If you manage to leave again on your same transfer, you will save yourself the $5 fee levied on all transit tickets bought at the airport.

The next time the heavens open and you can’t face a weekend trip to Science World or the Aquarium, try the airport.

1 thought on “Need to entertain a kid on a rainy Vancouver day? Try the airport”

  1. Good idea! I might take Sprout there sometime soon… Here’s a transit tip for you: if you use prepaid transit tickets or a monthly pass you DON’T have to pay the $5 surcharge either direction.

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