mariya

Please help me to plan this trip. My son (19 years old), husband and me are planning to visit Pacific Northwest for the first time for about 10 days in the first part of August from NJ.
After looking in various ideas, etc, I was thinking about visiting Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Whistler. See nice towns, one or two museums, some nature.
Please help me with logistics. We can fly NJ to Seattle and back. Round trip is about $100 per person cheaper, but then we have to get back to Seattle from Vancouver or we can pay more and fly to Vancouver and back home from Seattle.
We will not have a car all the time, but will rent for a few trips.
While in Seattle I hope to spend one day in Mount Rainier, so we will rent a car for that day. And because weather could be unpredictable I probably have to be in Seattle for 3 days, so if there is rain one day we can go to mountain another day.
I plan to get to Victoria from Seattle probably by Clipper Ferry, which is kind of expensive ($100 per person), but other options not easy. Stay in Victoria at least one night and visit downtown and Botanical garden, maybe see whales if we have time.
From Victoria get to Vancouver by bus and Ferry, which for whatever reason is much cheaper. Stay in Vancouver for a few days, then rent a car and drive to Whistler and stay there at least one night.
After that return to Vancouver and fly home or get to Seattle for flight home. Which is kind of problem with driving and bother crossing or train, which also leaves either very early in the morning or too late for my flight.
I didn't book flight yet because not sure how many days should I do. Original plan was around 10 days, so is my itinerary look reasonable? And also should I forget the idea to go back to Seattle and just fly from Vancouver?
Thank you very much for help!
Mariya

tomfuller

I'd forget the expensive Clipper ferry!

This might work for you: Fly to Seattle. Rent car for things outside the city (Mt. Rainier or Mt. St Helens).
Return car in Seattle and take the early Amtrak train or bus to Vancouver. The border crossing is not too cumbersome in either direction IMO. See Vancouver mostly on foot. If the weather is good you can get a bus from Vancouver to Whistler instead of a car rental. Go to and from Victoria from Vancouver. Return to Seattle by train or Amtrak bus depending on your schedule. Spend an extra night in Seattle at the end so that you are not rushing from the newly remodeled train station to the airport. King Street station is now as beautiful as it was decades ago.

suze

I love the Victoria Clipper and think it's well worth the price for a special experience.

I think your plan as stated is just fine for a 10 day trip.

I agree about spending the last night in Seattle to be near the airport on your departure day.

Gardyloo

I'd fly from Newark to Victoria (YYJ), ferry to Vancouver, train to Seattle, fly to Newark. It works out around $90 pp more expensive than a simple Seattle round trip, offset by the savings on surface transport. Victoria is a terrific place to hang without a car while you work off jetlag.

You can save a big piece of the extra cost by skipping Butchart Gardens (lovely but pricey) and substituting the QE2 Park gardens and Bloedel Conservatory in downtown Vancouver instead. Butchart is wonderful, but expensive and very crowded during cruise season; the public park in Vancouver is also very beautiful but ultra convenient and free (the conservatory has a small admission charge.)

sunbum1944

I was driving I-5 from Vancouver to Seattle the other day, and noticed a bus in front of me-
the Quick Shuttle- travels between Vancouver and Seattle- you might look into that for a one way transportation-

mariya

Thank you very much for all the ideas!

mariya

Got round trip flight to Seattle,arriving to Seattle 10:30 pm on August 8 and flight back 9:30 pm August 18 from Seattle.
So now I have to come up with itinerary. Maybe I should add quick stop in Olimpic NP?
For example:

8/8 - stay at airport
8/9 - take a car, drive to Port Angeles - I guess it's a long way, something like 3-4 hours? Drive around park, or go to some beach or some hike. Overnight at Port Angelis.
8/10 - Olimpic NP, return car and then ferry to Victoria, stay overnight in Victoria
8/11 - Victoria, late ferry to Vancouver - to see sunset
8/12 - Vancouver
8/13 - Vancouver
8/14 - get car and drive to Whistler, overnight in Whistler
8/15 - Whistler and drive back to Vancouver, maybe return car and stay overnight in Vancouver?
8/16 - Take train in the morning to Seattle, Seattle
8/17 - If weather is good take car and drive to Mountain Rainier. If not what to do?
8/18 - Seattle, late evening flight home

Is there a lot of moving arround? Would we have time for orca seing, it's like 4 hours probably, not enough time for that in Victoria, I guess? If weather not good for Mountain what to do 3 days in Seatte? Should we keep driving from Whistler to Seattle instead of sleeping in Vancouver and taking train next day, it's rather long 5 hours without any wait at the border? Skip Olympic NP and take ferry to Victoria from downtown, ferry is 8:30 am or 3pm, 8:30AM too earlier after flight, then 3pm, so maybe stay in downtown not in airport, so just stay in downtown in the morning untill ferry. With Olympic NP first day after flight maybe it's too much driving?
Ok, it's a lot of questions, so any idea to make it more reasonable (I don't like the idea that we are changing hotels too often, but not sure how to make it better) is welcome
Thank you,
MAriya

tomfuller

There is a good ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. If you leave the rental car in Port Angeles and walk on, you'll have to come back to turn in the rental car in Seattle.
If Mt. Rainier doesn't work for you, you can drive out to Mt. St. Helens.
For a one night stay in Vancouver, I have stayed in either of the HI hostels. One has a good kitchen the other only toasters and cold cereal. With the other mountains you are seeing, I still don't get going to Whistler.

Gardyloo

Yes, the one-way rental car from Seattle to Port Angeles is going to be expensive if possible at all - not many car agencies in PA.

I think your trip has way too much moving and not enough staying and it feels like you're grossly underestimating the time it takes to go from place to place when ferries and driving around water bodies is required. One day for Olympic National Park is completely insufficient; frankly I'd just drop it if that's all the time you have.

I would focus on the mainland corridor - Seattle and Vancouver and their regions, and if you have any time left over, include ONE of the other places - Port Angeles, Vancouver Island, Whistler, Mt. Rainier - as a possible add-on but ONLY if you can have two full days (not just one night) to commit to them. Otherwise you're going to be spending huge amounts of time and money wrangling multiple car rentals, hotel bookings, trying to get to train stations in the wee hours... the opposite of relaxing. Just my opinion.

randyndelia

Need help, the hubby and I are flying into SeaTac on 10/21/15 thru 10/25/15. Booked a hotel by the airport and also have a rental car.

We are thinking of driving to Vancouver for 1 day, is that enough time?

Also what would be a good itinerary for 4 days?

Thank you.

elbegewa

Argh ... driving to and back from Vancouver in one day would be an utter waste of time IMHO. (And I say that even though Vancouver is my absolute favorite city - and I've been to lots in the US and worldwide.)

At the minimum plan on 3 hours each way driving (if you're fast and know your route and are lucky at the border, you need 2 1/2 hours each way minimum), and the border can easily add another hour. And if you hit either Vancouver or Seattle at rush hour, add more time.

So, for planning purposes, lets estimate a total of 7 hours driving time. Let's presume you eat an *early* breakfast at your hotel and hit the road driving by no later than 7 AM. And let's guess you'd want to be back at your hotel by 10 PM at the latest. So, after subtracting 7 hours of driving, you'd have 8 hours in Vancouver. Let's deduct an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner ... you'd have 5 hours for sightseeing. Think of places you've been or where you live. Would 5 hours have justified such a grueling day?

The drive to/from Vancouver is boring ... it's just flatish I-5 through nondescript rural areas with no glimpses of Puget Sound and only occasional glimpses of very distant mountains.

For me, I'd pick seeing EITHER Seattle (and its nearby mountains and water) OR I'd plan on spending a minimum of 2 days on a trip to/from Vancouver.

About Vancouver: it's dense in its center, has no freeways and dense traffic on local streets (sort of a very scaled down New York). The downtown core, Stanley Park, False Creek, and Granville Island are all walkable. Vancouver has a great public transportation system (including a subway - called "skytrain") and is very walkable .. unusually so.

To use an auto effectively you need to know where you're going, and where to park. In five hours you'd have enough time to visit and drive between 2 places where you can park. I guess I'd recommend Stanley Park and Granville Island. And getting to or fro do the loop drive around the edge of Stanley Park, stopping at viewpoints. (Even though I lived in Vancouver for years, and now get up there from Seattle 3 or so times a year, we usually make sure to do the Stanley Park loop.

I don't know how well you like to walk (or bike) but I could easily enjoy a wonderful day walking (and taking the little aqua-busses) from Granville Island, along the Seaside Trail (used to be known as the Seawall) alongside the West End beaches, around Stanley Park, to downtown, thence transit back to Granville Island. Mind you, that's a *long* walk (or pleasant bike ride) and would take about 5 hours. Not everyone's cup of tea.

Also keep in mind, during late Oct. there is a high probability the trip will be in rain, or at least, a cloudy day.

elbegewa

PS re Vancouver.
A very comfortable way to see Vancouver is to take the early morning train from Seattle, spend part of two days there using public transport and walking, and return on the evening train the next day.

randyndelia

Thank you all for your reply. We are taking the Amtrak Cascades and was wondering what to do for 4 hours in Vancouver? We heard Chinatown is really awesome as well as the Sun Yat Sen park. Which places to eat?

Bobmrg

My first choice would be Granville Island; second choice would be Stanley Park and the Aquarium. Places to eat are far too many to name choose your ethnic food and you will find a suitable place within a couple of blocks. Granville Island is loaded with places to eat that have views of False Harbor.

marvelousmouse

If it's not too late- I agree with Bobmrg- but it would depend on the weather for me. If it's beautiful and sunny, I'd pick Stanley Park first.

I'd say skip Chinatown. I wouldn't describe it as "awesome" even though I enjoyed Sun Yat Sen and the museum next door (but that is because I am really into Asian/Chinatown history- my companions did not agree). If it's gardens that you love, check out Vandusen.

If you like sushi, I enjoyed Miku- more of a splurge place, though.

elbegewa

I just posted on another website about a one day Amtrak trip Seattle to Vancouver and Back, as follows:

As you have probably noticed from Amtrak's website, there are 2 trains per day each way, plus some buses. To do a 1 day trip: the train leaves Seattle at 7:45 AM and gets into Vancouver at 11:45 AM. To return it leaves Vancouver at 5:35 PM and arrives in Seattle at 10:00 PM. You have US customs to clear in Vancouver before you get on the train, so leave an hour for that.

As a result, you will have 4 1/2 hours in Vancouver.

If that sort of day suits you, it could be done. For me, I wouldn't enjoy the rush and don't think 4+ hours would be worth it - it would be a much more pleasant 2 day trip. However, if you did try it, here are a few ideas:

On the trains get a seat of the west side (left side going up, right side coming back). For much of the trip the tracks follow the coastline of Puget Sound ... that will give you the best views.

In Vancouver there is excellent public transit, including a subway downtown - called "Skytrain" since its elevated in places (you can get on it across the street from the train station).

In 4 hours you would have time to do only ONE of the following:

1. Granville Island (one of the favorite spots for tourists and locals .. google it):

You would take the Skytrain from the train station to its terminus at the Waterfront Station. There you would transfer to the Canada Line (also a subway) to the Yaletown-Roundhouse Station. From there you would walk southeast along Davie to the Yaletown Ferry Dock in a marina on the shore of False Creek. There are *many* small little passenger ferries (called Aquabus) that go every 15 min. or so to Granville Island and its market. Then reverse the route in time to catch your train. Look at the info re skytrain at tourbytransit.com/vancouver/…skytrain and re the Aquabus at http://theaquabus.com/ and re Granville Island at tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g154943-d1… or tourismvancouver.com/vancouver/… (the later has many connected webpages about alternative things to do in Vancouver.)

2. Stanley Park:

If you like walking or biking one of the greatest biking and walking trails anywhere is the Seawall (nowadays also known as the Seaside Greenway) which follows the Vancouver shoreline from the Convention Center-Cruise Ship Terminal (right across the street from Skytrain's Waterfront Station) around the perimeter of Stanley Park. It gives great views of the skyline and the North Shore mountains. tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g154943-d3… and tourismvancouver.com/do/…

3. Downtown

Or you could just get off Skytrain and meander around downtown ... its just like any big city you've been to.

So ... it's up to you. Does that 4 hours make the trip worthwhile?