How far from Swartz Bay (Victoria) to Inner Harbour?
May 11th, 2009, 03:45 PM
#1
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How far from Swartz Bay (Victoria) to Inner Harbour?
We will be taking our rental van on the BC Ferry to Swartz Bay. How long will it take to disembark the ferry and drive to the Inner Harbour area? I'm trying to make dinner reservations in Victoria and need to plan what time.
Thank you for your input!
Thank you for your input!
May 11th, 2009, 04:08 PM
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Hi Again - I am following you all over the forum!!! The answer to your questions depends on the time of day. From the sounds of it you will be late afternoon if you are wanting to make dinner reservations. Will you have reservations on the ferry? I would suggest you be sure to reserve just in case. The ferries are fairly good at being on time and getting cars on and off again depending on how full they are and where your car is on the ferry. The unloading process can take about 15 minutes or so. I would allow an hour to get downtown. It is a fairly straight run but it can be slow going. If you are getting the 3 pm ferry you should arrive at Swartz Bay at 4:25 (can be a few minutes late). So I would not plan on being downtown until close to 6pm. That is the worst case scenario. You could be first off but plan to leave the extra time just in case. Where are you staying and which restaurant are you planning on? Just post any other questions here and I will try to answer them for you. I see you have posted for the Lake Louise Banff restaurants. I will ask my brother - he lives in Calgary and they spend many ski weekends there and they do dine out when they are there.
May 11th, 2009, 06:49 PM
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Hi traveller69! It is so nice for you to help me out again!
I did make BC ferry reservations for 5pm - arriving at Swartz Bay at 6:35pm. We will be arriving in Vancouver about 12:30pm (I have booked our family on two separate flights)and didn't know how long it would be to gather up the family, go through customs, get the rental van and drive to Tsawwassen Bay. We are staying at the Victoria Regent Waterfront Hotel and would like to check-in first before dinner. For the first night, we would like to book reservations at the Cafe Brio for around 8:30pm. It will be a VERY late dinner for all of us, but we will no doubt be starving! Do you think that will give us enough time?
Also, when booking the BC ferry, we booked a "UH Vehicle" for $15 CA. I sure hope I did that right. Will they charge us the balance of the fee, as well as the passenger fees when we arrive? If the van goes on the ferry, are we assured to go with it?
Thank you so much for your help!
I did make BC ferry reservations for 5pm - arriving at Swartz Bay at 6:35pm. We will be arriving in Vancouver about 12:30pm (I have booked our family on two separate flights)and didn't know how long it would be to gather up the family, go through customs, get the rental van and drive to Tsawwassen Bay. We are staying at the Victoria Regent Waterfront Hotel and would like to check-in first before dinner. For the first night, we would like to book reservations at the Cafe Brio for around 8:30pm. It will be a VERY late dinner for all of us, but we will no doubt be starving! Do you think that will give us enough time?
Also, when booking the BC ferry, we booked a "UH Vehicle" for $15 CA. I sure hope I did that right. Will they charge us the balance of the fee, as well as the passenger fees when we arrive? If the van goes on the ferry, are we assured to go with it?
Thank you so much for your help!
May 11th, 2009, 07:15 PM
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You will probably be out of the airport in 1- 1 1/2 hours. Depending on the day of the week, you may get an earlier ferry. It' about a 30-40 minute drive to the ferry terminal. Keep your reservation, but when you get to the terminal, there will be a big sign indicating how many spaces are available on the current sailing or the ticket agent will tell you. Cafe Brio is an excellent choice. If the van goes on the ferry, so do you. They charge the balance of the fee at the ticket booth. I don' know if a van qualifies for an underheight fee. You would have to check B.C.ferries website.
May 11th, 2009, 09:40 PM
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Hi again - leuk gave you the answer regarding the fare. I doubt you could make the 3pm but depending on the day you are travelling they do put on a 4pm so if they have one that day you could make that one. The 5pm will get you downtown easily in time to check in and make an 8:30 dinner. At that time of day the traffic will be lighter. Cafe Brio is no more than 6 blocks from your hotel. Fort St is one way and it is going in the right direction for you - just drive along Wharf St to Fort - turn right and away you go. The parking isn't great there so you will have to park on the street. So, if its a nice evening and you have the time I would walk. I don't know where your home is but Victoria is light until almost 10 pm at that time of year.
I forgot to say that your minivan would be considered underheight so no problem with that. You drive on in the van and then you go upstairs on the ferry to the passenger decks. It will be lovely going through the gulf islands its a very scenic crossing.
I will check out your other posting to see if I can help out there (or at least get info from my brother).
I forgot to say that your minivan would be considered underheight so no problem with that. You drive on in the van and then you go upstairs on the ferry to the passenger decks. It will be lovely going through the gulf islands its a very scenic crossing.
I will check out your other posting to see if I can help out there (or at least get info from my brother).
May 12th, 2009, 04:44 AM
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Weather question: I searched for weather averages on weather.com and their chart shows daytime averages for June around 66 degrees. Yet in all the pictures I see online, I see people in shorts. Does the area usually reach warmer temps than 66? Will the weather temps be about the same for Victoria, Vancouver, Banff, Jasper & Edmonton? Just trying to determine what to pack. Thank you all so very much!
May 12th, 2009, 09:01 AM
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Victoria and Vancouver have pretty much the same weather. It is quite unpredictable. June isn't likely to get much above 70 degrees. Victoria being right on the water is a little cooler and can be breezy so a light windbreaker type jacket is the best thing to carry. Banff and Jasper will probably be a little cooler so the old "layering" is the best way to go. A warm sweater and a light windbreaker and you should be just fine. Edmonton is the same but I have visited there when they have had a heatwave in June. This year has been crazy all over when it comes to weather and this year is certainly one of the coolest we have had.
