What are some short-term living arrangements and vehicle options (3-4 weeks) in Vancouver?

Heartcloud wrote: ↑ My GF and I are planning to travel to Vancouver for 3-4 weeks in May to get a change of scenery - we're not taking any time off and will still be working during the weekdays (both of us are fully WFH), but will travel to nearby spots on weekends, including a 2-3 day trip to Banff near the end.

Don't count on a cheap O/W car rental to Calgary. And it's a long, long 1 day drive Vancouver-Banff.

We'll be flying from and back to Toronto. What are some short-term, fully-furnished and budget-friendly living arrangements we should search for in Vancouver?

I don't think "budget-friendly" is in the equation. Even int he near exburbs, especially with S-T and fully-furnished. Maybe wait to come out until university term & exams are over when there may well be S-T. Craigslist is, or was, best to look in Vancouver.

We're ok with the outskirts instead of the city if costs are lower. We're also need a vehicle during this time, would the best choice be simply a 3-4 week rental from Hertz/Budget, or are there better options? Thanks.

Bus/transit works well.

Best bet is probably an AirBNB for that length of stay and use. Some of them are very reasonably priced, are centrally located, and give you a discount for longer stays.

As for cars, are you flying back to Toronto from Calgary and doing a one-way car rental from BC? The latter will be expensive as heck - it'd be much cheaper and faster to fly to Calgary from Vancouver, and rent from there... unless you're doing it for the sole purpose of seeing the scenic drive, though I'd argue it'd be more worthwhile to just fly to YYC and drive to the Icefields Pkwy from there. Banff is only 1-1.5 hours from Calgary, and flights are dirt cheap at the moment.

If you don't need your car 24/7, look into car sharing options in Vancouver. Evo & modo are the main ones that are still kicking around, and provide you with easy parking privileges all over the city - you can just ditch the car pretty much wherever, and not have to pay for it to idle around (Evo only). Then you can just rent as you need by the hour/day as you please, and/or use transit sometimes, and/or use a typical car rental only on weekends, rather than paying the exuberant car rental prices for your entire trip. You can also look into Turo - they tend to be a bit cheaper, if you need the car on a more consistent basis.

Phonophoresis wrote: ↑ Best bet is probably an AirBNB for that length of stay and use. Some of them are very reasonably priced, are centrally located, and give you a discount for longer stays.

As for cars, are you flying back to Toronto from Calgary and doing a one-way car rental from BC? The latter will be expensive as heck - it'd be much cheaper and faster to fly to Calgary from Vancouver, and rent from there... unless you're doing it for the sole purpose of seeing the scenic drive, though I'd argue it'd be more worthwhile to just fly to YYC and drive to the Icefields Pkwy from there. Banff is only 1-1.5 hours from Calgary, and flights are dirt cheap at the moment.

If you don't need your car 24/7, look into car sharing options in Vancouver. Evo & modo are the main ones that are still kicking around, and provide you with easy parking privileges all over the city - you can just ditch the car pretty much wherever, and not have to pay for it to idle around (Evo only). Then you can just rent as you need by the hour/day as you please, and/or use transit sometimes, and/or use a typical car rental only on weekends, rather than paying the exuberant car rental prices for your entire trip. You can also look into Turo - they tend to be a bit cheaper, if you need the car on a more consistent basis.

Definitely agree with using EVO /Modo since for the most part you don't need a vehicle. FYI for EVO you can keep the car for the whole day for farther trips like Steveston/Richmond, Banff, Whistler etc. => daily rate is $99 which is not unreasonable as it includes gas and insurance and parking [within the home zone]. Best thing is you don't need to plan in advance, you can just find a car, reserve it and don't end the trip.

Since there are two of you, you're paying two transit fares when you take transit. EVO compares very well in that case as you can drive for 15 min @ $0.45/min = $7 approx. which is about the same as two bus/metro fares. Evo rate includes gas, parking and insurance.

If you're doing multiple pit stops here and there all over the city, consider keeping the car as once you go over 38 min, the other 23 min is free as the hourly rate is $17 [$17 / 0.45 = 37]

If you're looking towards outskirts of Vancouver for accomodations, be cognizant of EVO home zones as you want to be within a short walk of that zone. Eg if you go towards Burnaby, you want to be walking distance to Boundary Rd which is the border.

Home Zone map. You want to be in the light blue or short walk to light blue zone.
https://evo.ca/FAQ#what-is-the-home-zone

Turo will not be much cheaper if at all if you factor in Turo fees, gas, parking, insurance.

Hey OP
how is your trip going? what did you end up doing? I will be going there for a week, looking at Airbnb and hotels in Vancouver, it seems very expensive. Airbnb and hotel for a family of 4 are showing $300+ in Vancouver.
Any recommendation from anyone on cheaper accommodation in Vancouver or suburb driving distance?