Ancouver Help
 

My Husband, 15 year old niece, and I are going to Vancouver next week. We will spend maybe 1 1/2 days in Whistler. Does anyone know how far Victoria is from Vancouver? We will have a rental car

The actual distance is only about 90 kilometres but that's hardly the point because about 40 of those are over open water and you have to take a ferry or fly to get accross. The actual ferry ride from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay is about an hour and 40 minutes but you should factor in at least 45 minutes waiting time and I would reccomend planning on arriving at the ferry terminal a good hour before departure time. From downtown Vancouver to Tsawassen, outside of rush hours, is about 45 minutes and from Swartz Bay to downtown Victoria is about a half hour so if you do the math it's a good 3-4 hours travel time if you're lucky.

If Whistler is in your itinerary then look at going to Victoria via Horseshoe Bay. It's about half-way between Vancouver and Whistler while Tsawassen is in the opposite direction from Vancouver. It's a beautiful bay with ferries that go to many smaller communities along the B.C. coast as well.

By the way, where are you planning to stay in Whistler?

Bonnie, <BR>Horseshoe Bay is 20 minutes from Vancouver and an hour and 10 or 20 minutes from Whistler - hardly half way between Vancouver and Whistler (although it may be halfway between Whistler and Tsawassen. <BR>Also, as far as I know, there is no ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Victoria - it only goes to Nanaimo on the island.

That's right, David. And driving to Victoria from Nanaimo takes a couple of hours.

Laurie, <BR> You'll probably want to get a very early start to be able to relax and enjoy your time in Victoria. Like others have mentioned it'll take a good 1 1/2 hours to get from Whistler to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal and even longer to the Tsawassen terminal (which is south of Vancouver past the International Airport. <BR> <BR>Check out www.bcferries.bc.ca for routes, schedules, prices, and on-line reservations. It's a great website. <BR> <BR>If you go from Horseshoe Bay you need to factor in the drive from Nainamo southeast on Hwy. 1 to Victoria. It's a good hour to hour and half trip. <BR> <BR>If you go from Tsawassen, it's a shorter drive to Victoria once you reach Swartz Bay, but you have to go through Vancouver/Richmond to get to Tsawassen (so traffic through Vancouver could be a factor). <BR> <BR>Horseshoe Bay definitely provides the best views on the return trip to the mainland. There's nothing like seeing Vancouver approaching over the horizon, nestled amongst the mountains and the sea. Breathtaking. Also amazing are Bowen Island and surrounding islands acting as a gateway into Horseshoe Bay and Howe Sound beyond. <BR> <BR>