Two adults and one 10 year old child. We plan to fly into Vancouver for 2 days, then take the ferry to Victoria for another 2 days. We're staying in the downtown areas in both locations. Do we need a car? We do want to see most of the major attractions, i.e., Stanley Park, the suspension bridge, Granville Island, Robson Street, the Aquarium, Royal British Museum and Butchart Gardens. How is public transportation?

No car needed-none.
Public transport is excellent and both cities are relatively compact.
To save yourselves a '<i>tourist trap/ripoff</i>' skip the crapilano suspension bridge.
Go to Lynn Canyon instead.
http://tripplanning.translink.bc.ca/

We went to Vancouver with our 2 children (12 &amp; 10) for 4 days and 1 day in Victoria a couple of years ago and we did like having the car. We were able to do 2 or 3 atractions in 1 day. We also took the ferry to Victoria and it was delightful. Make sure you are at the place where you take the ferry VERY early! Everybody kept saying that to us and when we were there we realized that many cars did not fit in the ferry.
We did not take public transportation so,can't advise about that.
We enjoyed the Capistrano bridge, dissapointed about chinatown, but loooved Vancouver! Have a great time.

After hundreds of trips to Vancouver, I wouldn't be without a car. Vancouver is a big city and while they have SkyTrain, I like having the flexibility of the car. You can get to all the must-sees, but they are spread out over town. You can walk from downtown to Stanley Park, walk to Granville Island and Yaletown, but it is harder to get over to UBC to the Museum of Anthropology and a walking tour of the historic homes in Shaughnessey.

Victoria's downtown area is more compact with the Empress, Provincial Legislature, downtown, Inner Harbor, Royal BC Museum, and is easily within walking distance. However, I recommend a trip out to Sooke and the Sooke Harbor House, which is well out of town. Butchart Gardens is also well outside of downtown (maybe a 30-45 minute drive).

The ferries don't leave downtown Vancouver OR downtown Victoria. Southwest of Vancouver is Tsawassen, and it is about 30 minutes out of downtown. The ferry terminal in Victoria is about 45 minutes north of town in Sidney. You can catch a motorcoach, but it isn't the best option, especially with kids.

Be sure to make a reservation on the BC Ferries and avoid those long ferry lines. It is well worth the cost of the reservation and has saved my sanity on many, many occasions!

Be sure to try the Nanaimo bars on the ferry - yum!

Best Regards,
Julia

We've done okay without a car in both places. We've taken cabs, buses, and bicycles (Consider bringing a bicycle lock).

I don't think the suspension bridge is very exciting, either, and wouldn't put it high on my list.

Life is too short to not have a car, especially with a kid who will love the ability to have naps in the car between seeing various things.

The only Canadian cities where a car is not particularly useful are Montreal and Toronto, and even there, for a multi-day visit, a car is a good idea for one day.
BAK