Getting to Vancouver Island - Vancouver or Washington?
 

I want to go to Victoria and Vancouver Island, I’ll be renting a car so I need to take a ferry that carries vehicles. Which is the easiest port of departure? I can fly into Seattle or Vancouver.

Limited ferries from Washington. Can you fly into Vancouver or Bellingham?

Fly into Vancouver as the closest car ferry to Vancouver Island from Seattle is out in Port Angeles, which is a 2.5 hour drive away.

If you fly into Vancouver, the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal is a half hour drive south of the airport. That's the main ferry terminal that takes you over to Vancouver Island - both to the Swartz Bay terminal (the ferry terminal a half hour drive away from Victoria) as well as the Duke Point ferry terminal (the ferry terminal near Nanaimo, a two hour drive north of Victoria - the terminal you'd use if you want to venture further north up the island ot west toward Tofino/Ucluelet on the west coast of the island).

The Washington State ferries used to run a ferry from Anacortes (near Bellingham) to Sidney (a small seaside town a short drive away from Victoria), but they've cancellled it until 2030: https://www.vicnews.com/news/sidney-...rn-until-2030/

Alternatively, you can also just fly directly into Victoria on a connecting flight from Vancouver, saving you the ferry hassle factor.

Thank you!

BCRobyn your info is always great. I just wanted to add the Bellingham airport info because Southwest flies there and it can be cheaper for some US travellers and is a lot closer to ferries than Seattle. But Vancouver is more convenient for most trips. (Not a fan of getting through Seattle traffic)

I honestly hadn’t thought about flying to Victoria, bypassing the ferry issue, thinking it would be very expensive. I ran some sample dates and it’s not bad at all. I could take Westjet to Calgary and continue on to a Victoria from there.

Emmajm, I appreciate the mention of Bellingham. Alas, I don’t have nonstop service there.
If I were to make a connection, I’d opt for flying to Victoria.