neeza

I have 5 days in Seattle & Vancouver
Where should I go and how many days in each city?
Should I take the train to Vancouver?
Which city should I fly to first?
Thanks

happytrailstoyou

Do you also want hotel, restaurant, and sightseeing suggestions?

suze

Doesn't matter in the least which city you visit first.

Are you flying in? In that case you might look into a ticket into one city and out of the other ("open jaw") to save back-tracking.

It will be a little bit rushed but I guess I'd say 2.5 days each, unless you have something particular in mind you want to do in either place that takes longer.

suze

If it were me with only 5 days, I'd probably pick one city or the other, rather than try to see both.

I think they are quite similar (in their size, and the way they sit geographically).

happytrailstoyou

I would fly into Seattle, spending three nights there and two nights in Vancouver.

If you like the time the train departs Seattle and returns, take the train. Otherwise go to Vancouver by other means. (Beware, some Amtrack trips are via bus rather than train.)

Vancouver is different from Seattle in many ways. Three that stand out in my mind are that it is much more cosmopolitan, it has one of the largest city parks in North America, and the mountains are closer to the city.

wrldtrvlr05

Go to the Canadian board and you will receive more information that you can imagine on Vancouver including restaurants, must sees etc. Vancouver deserves more time than Seattle for sightseeing.

Orcas

The "train" is a bus to Vancouver. I'd stay 2 nights in Seattle and 3 in Vancouver.

nlg

We flew into Seattle and rented a car,
drove to Vancouver. We spent two nights
there and had a wonderful time. We took
the trolley tour-loved Stanley Park.
We spent three nights in Seattle-it is
a great city to walk. It took a little
over three hours to drive from the airport in Seattle to Vancouver-don't know if it takes longer now to cross into Canada.

tovarich

Seattle 2.Vancouver 3.Paul

suze

I'd rent a car.

Bunkhedena

We spent a few days few days in both Vancouver and Seattle in July in connection with our trip to Whistler.

I suggest that you pick one city and enjoy it instead of trying to jam both cities into what is really a short period of time. You can easily spend 5 days in either city without feeling that you stayed too long.

I suggest that whether you pick Vancouver or Seattle you spend an overnight in Victoria (Vancouver Island.)

I would rather do day trips from either city (such as Squamish or Whistler from Vancouver) instead of trying to divide my time between the two cities.

We found it cheaper for the four of us to fly into Seattle and drive to Vancouver than to fly into Vancouver. Depending on the timing of your flights and your budget, you could fly into Seattle, spend the night in Seattle and drive early the next day to Vancouver.

happytrailstoyou

Since you want to see Seattle and Vancouver, I think you can get a feel for both of them by spending two nights in one and three nights in the other. Why not spend three nights in the city of these two that intrigues you most? You can't go wrong.

Victoria is a nice provincial town well worth visiting, but it is not a Seattle or a Vancouver.