rbrmom

my family of four is planning an eight day trip, landing in seattle 7/20. we want to spend time in seattle, victoria, vancouver. is it too much to include one night on san juan island? do you have any advice on how we should divide up the trip? also, anything we should make sure to see on this trip? thanks so much.

NWWanderer

I'd do 3 nights Seattle, 2 nights Victoria and 3 nights Vancouver. That way you'd have at least one full day in each place to do "city" things, plus the possibility of doing a day trip to, say, Mt. St. Helens or Rainier from Seattle and to Whistler from Vancouver. You can go whale watching in Victoria so if that's your reason for stopping in the San Juans it's not absolutely necessary. But my concern is that you have 3 cities on your trip and none of the scenic rural areas the NW is known for, so you might want to consider doing 2 cities and somewhere else, like the San Juans or the Olympic Peninsula (depending on what your interests are and what you want to see).

citywalks

Hi: I'm not sure what the ages are in your family, but if you don't need a car, consider ferries and busses for the whole trip. For example, I flew into Seattle, took a ferry directly to Victoria (Victoria Clipper fast ferry), spent 3 days in Victoria and then bus and ferry to Vancouver (you buy one ticket on the bus and it goes on the ferry). From Vancouver, I took bus (Quick Shuttle) directly back to SEATAC. I believe the ferry from Seattle stops at San Juan Islands en route to Victoria, but I'm not sure about that.

Have fun.

ALF

If you take the WA State ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, then it would be relatively easy to stop and spend a night on San Juan Island (as long as you make ferry reservations). If you have a car, you can drive to Anacortes - I'd take the scenic route, via the Mukilteo ferry, then up Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands. You can then drive the short bit from Sidney to Victoria.

From there, you could take the drive to Nanaimo, and ferry to Vancouver.

happytrailstoyou

What routing do you intend for your Seattle-Vancouver-Victoria itinerary?

Are you flying in an out of the area? Which airport and what times?

suze

Just depends on how much you want to move around, and what is your mode of transportation. Seattle to Victoria you can go by the Victoria Clipper without a car. San Juans you'd want a car. Seattle to Vancouver you can drive, train or bus. Getting to all 4 places is a bit trickier.