getting to vancouver to victoria to seattle
 

1) Going vancouver-victoria-anacortes , there is only one trip per day from victoria-anacortes. Would it make sense to go vancouver-victoria-vancouver then drive to seattle, to make timings more flexible?

2) Does it make sense to leave the car at the dock on the mainland (Tawassawa) thus eliminating the need to make a reservation to ferry the car, to have more flexibility as to when to leave vancouver and then when to leave victoria. Is it hard to get from Swartz Bay to downtown?

It all depends on the amount of time you have and the time of year. The ferry ride from Sidney to Anacortes is beautiful so if you had the time to be able to fit the it in I would highly recommend it.

I assume that if you are willing to leave your car at the Tsawwassan terminal you are not planning to spend much time in Victoria. You certainly don't need a car there if you are just spending a day or two. When you get on the ferry you can see the bus driver on board and buy a ticket that will take you downtown to the Inner Harbour area where most of the attractions are. There are plenty of tour buses available and also shuttle buses from the terminal to Butchart Gardens.

Well, Governator, it all sounded too complicated to me when I planned our recent Vancouver/Victoria/Seattle trip. I solved the problem by not renting a car. We flew into Vancouver and spent several days there. Then we took one of the BC Ferries -- the Spirit of Vancouver -- to Victoria. It was just great and so easy. We cabbed to the bus station in Vancouver and the bus drove right onto the ferry. We got off the bus and spent the rest of the ferry ride enjoying the beautiful lounges and cafeteria (surprisingly good food!), then got back on the bus which took us to the very centrally-located (behind the Empress Hotel)bus station in Victoria.

When we were ready to go to Seattle, we took the high-speed catamaran which left from the harbour in downtown Victoria and landed in the harbour in downtown Seattle.

We were flying home from Vancouver so the day before we left we took the Amtrak train from Seattle up Washington/BC coast to Vancouver. It was a gorgeous ride, especially since we were sitting on the 'scenic side' of the train. It leaves early (7:30 a.m.) but it was such a lovely trip. There were a couple of delays along the way, though, so don't try to make any close time connections.

We found we didn't need a car in any of the three cities and taking the ferries and other public transportation really simplified things for us.

Traveller69,

I'll need a car because I'm going to the rockies as well. But I want to tell you, I really like the way you did it! Good advice for anyone doing that loop. I wasn't aware there is a catamaran from victoria right to seattle.

Correction, I was replying to HDM. Traveller69 you're idea is good too, in fact I may use it. I just need to learn to spell Tsawwassan. Thanks to all.