What are the good areas to live while going to college in Vancouver?

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wcwc

What school are you going to? If it really is downtown, it doesn't really matter where you live. The SkyTrain goes downtown from anywhere else in Vancouver, or in Burnaby, New West, Surrey, even Coquitlam, and within a few months the Richmond line will be completed too.

I live in Burnaby, and it's great. Rent's cheaper than Vancouver, I'm within five minutes walking of Deer Lake, a 15-minute bus ride to the second biggest mall in Canada, and it takes me about 40 minutes to get downtown.

Richmond is even cheaper, and if you're moving in after the Richmond SkyTrain line is completed (next few months I think) I'd say go ahead and live in Richmond. Problem is, if you drive, Richmond is an island so traffic getting off Richmond in the morning can be very bad.

Try and see what you can find at this site: http://sfu.och101.com/search_frame.htm It's designed for students, not just SFU students, and it's where I found my current place.

You already know to avoid Hastings, which is good! That's really the worst place there is around here. I'd avoid Surrey too... it's not really bad, but there's so many better places around.

Edit: Someone answered that you could live on Hastings in Burnaby, which IS a much better neighbourhood, and the 135 bus would take you downtown. But that's a long bus ride, and you'd be going through the worst part of Vancouver every day on the way there. You're better off living further south in Burnaby and just taking the SkyTrain.

Someone else said Marpole, and once the Richmond SkyTrain line is done, Marpole would be a great place as far as commuting to downtown goes. But really, if you're gonna go that far south, you might as well just live in Richmond. You're practically there anyway, and living in Richmond will save you money. Besides, if you live in Marpole you're gonna do all your shopping in Richmond anyway.

Karen L

You might look much further east along Hastings, east of Boundary Rd which means you'd be in Burnaby, not Vancouver, but it would be one bus ride to school. More or less a family neighbourhood out that way but there are apartments.Good food shopping and a few good restaurants, some nice water and mountain views, large shopping malls not far away too.

chuckles951

If your school in downtown, then you will be looking either in the West End or anywhere near a Skytrain Station.

The West End is the most fun.

mtwaites

You wouldn't want to live anywhere near Hastings. There could be a lot of crime down in that area. You would be best to either live in Marpole, Burnaby, or New Westminster, and then commute to your school. That is my opinion. Those areas are a lot better. I will give you a couple of sites that you might want to try.

http://www.places4rent.com/finder.asp?LOCID=259
http://www.places4rent.com/search/directory.asp?LOCID=259
http://www.rentbc.com/
http://vancouver.kijiji.ca/f-housing-house-rental-W0QQCatIdZ43
http://apartmentguide.ca/vancouver_rental_guide/guide.asp
http://www.rentmore.ca/apartment/city/vancouver/
http://www.aptrentals.net/
http://www.renthome.ca/
http://www.vancouverhighrises.ca/
http://www.buysellrentads.com/

old lady

Which college are you going to? There are a number of them, and it would make sense to live closer to the college, rather than farther away.

ash1

you could try commercial drive, its 10mins to downtown on the skytrain, 20mins by bus. Its a really cool area...kinda hippyish, lots of cafes, restaurants and really good cheap pizza places. Also got supermarkets and bakerys and ice cream places, and sushi. :)
If there is 3 of ye, the rent might be ok
check http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/

North Vancouver is nice too..closer to the mountains and there is the seabus that will take you to downtown. I dont know about the rent tho..i never lived there.

Burnaby like others have said would be ok as long as youre close to skytrain, but i still recommend commercial drive over everything else.

Ed P

We are in Metrotown area (500 shops) good sky train and bus service .You can e mail my land lord at suite@telusnet .Its a nice apt near Kingsway and Royal oak

Chocolate Chip

Ooooooh, it's pret-ty expensive in BC. But very beautiful! You're so lucky you get to study there. This might sound kind of stupid, but anywhere very close to the water will obviously be more costly. Try sharing a dorm with a roomie. Might be less comfortable, but definitely less costly.

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