evyce

We are planning a trip in Fall of '07. We would like to start in Oregon and see Portland and the mouth of the Columbia River, then travel up the Olympic Pennisula as far as Port Angeles. Would like suggestions of special places to see and stay. Main concern here is transportation. We are planning to rent a car in Portand then leave it in Port Angeles, taking a ferry to Victoria. Any idea how to avoid the surcharge of leaving car in a different destination than pickup. Is there a train that goes up the Olympic Penn. or would we be misssing too much? We like to continue on to Victoria. Is it worth renting a car there for a few days to tour Vancouver Island. We plan to continue on to either Vancouver or Seattle by ferry. Any suggestions as to preferences or should we try to see both. My goal here is to travel through the San Juan Islands on the way to either destination. We'll fly out of Seattle or Vancouver. We're planning on about 2 weeks total. Thanks for any ideas that would help.



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April

There are so many possibilities with this kind of trip, I don't know where to start. I am car rental ignorant so I can't help you there. Is it easy to take a rental car across the border?

There is no train that I know of on the Olympic peninsula. What do you mean by touring Vancouver Island? It's a big island. If you plan to go to the Tofino area you'll probably want a car. If staying in Victoria, you could do without. I would definitely want a car for the San Juans.

Have you considered renting a car in Portland, returning it and then taking the train up to Seattle or Vancouver and renting another car there?

This trip could involve a few border crossings and ferry trips, unless flying is an option. Is any part of this trip negotiable - could anything be left out?

dina4

evyce-
i spent a lot of time looking into renting a car in Vancouver and returning in Seattle and it was very expensie ($1000). Also found renting in Vancouver returning to Vanvouver pretty expensive ($900). Got the same car in and out of Seattle for under $400. this is for mid-july.
good luck.

JuicyLucy

What sort of things do you like to do?

I have travelled the road many times from Port Angeles to Portland as well as from Vancouver to Portland. For my money, there are more things to see and do if doing the Vancouver-Portland route. There is the Mt. St. Helens Visitors Centre, Seattle (a million things there!), the Boeing factory in Everett (north of Seattle), the San Juan Islands, and Vancouver.

You also cannot travel by road from Astoria (mouth of the Columbia) up the west coast to Port Angeles, as there is no road there (if that was what you had in mind). You would be travelling up Puget Sound to PA. A pretty drive but other than Port Townsend, not as much to see/do as the other route.

There is pretty good train service from Portland-Seattle and then, I believe, you take the bus from Seattle-Vancouver. I don't believe there is rail service over the border. You can also take the bus and ferry from Vancouver to Victoria and pick up a car there.

April is right. VI is a huge island....6-7 hours one-way from end to end. Visitors generally love Victoria, Tofino (which is on the west coast of the island and is a 5-hour drive from Victoria), and the Parksville area (a couple hours from Victoria). Again, it depends on what kinds of things you like to do.

You can then drop your car and take the Victoria Clipper back to Seattle, which is a high-speed catamaran.

The San Juan Islands are problematic as it is better to have a car there, and there is a ferry that goes from Wash. State to the islands and then to Sidney (Victoria). But you can't take a rental car over that border! So, maybe look into renting a car at/near the ferry terminal on either Orcas Island or San Juan Island or just stay in Friday Harbour on San Juan Island and take the bus across the island to Roche Harbour for the day.

Sorry to have rambled so much. I hope this is helpful. If you give me an idea of what sort of things you like to do, I would be happy to give you some suggestions in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria.

sue

NWWanderer

JuicyLucy, what do you mean you can't travel up the west coast from Astoria to Port Angeles? That's the route that Rt. 101 follows--or rather it's *a* route, because 101 also goes up along the eastern side of the Olympic Peninsula. And I haven't heard of any closures for the western route.

And you absolutely can take rental cars over the border (or at least you can with the major car rental agencies such as Hertz and Budget). The renter just needs to let the car company know their plans, and make sure the car has the proper paperwork in the glove compartment (but most cars rented in the NW do becauuse so many people do it).

Carmanah

There is certainly rail travel in Canada, and the same Amtrak train that travels from Portland to Seattle continues north to Vancouver. The only problem is that the Seattle-Vancouver train leaves early in the morning, so if you miss it, or if it doesn't work with your schedule, you'll have to take the bus.

However, while Canada was practically founded by the construction of the trans-Canada railway, train travel is pretty much a novelty for us. There are luxury trains connecting Vancouver to Whistler (the Whistler Mountaineer) and Vancouver to the Rockies (Rocky Mountaineer). VIA, the national train company, has a railway called the Malahat, and it travels up along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island.

But as others have said, some areas you'll want a car, and some you won't need one. You won't need a car to see Vancouver or Victoria, but Vancouver Island takes about 8 hours just to drive from one end to the other, and some places, like Tofino, have very limited public transit once to get there, so having a car will be a blessing in the more remote areas. It's those remote areas where there are often a lot of things you'd want to see.

dina4

"But you can't take a rental car over that border! "

We're sure planning to do that! Yikes! I hope you're right, NW. I will call my car rental company to be sure.

has anyone EVER had a problem with that??

thanks,
dina

jkellum

My B&B recommendation in Dungeness/Sequim Valley area is the Groveland Cottage. Here is the website http://www.sequimvalley.com/groveland.mv I stayed there with a group a couple of years ago. It is so beautiful and near to Port Angeles. I wouldn't dream of returning to the NW without a visit. Make sure if nothing else that you get some tasty Dungeness crab while you are there. Yum! Also the old growth forest on the penisula are something that I do not often see here in Nashville.

Carmanah

I worked for a tourist company in Vancouver last year where we occasionally would book rental cars for tourists, and certainly the major companies would allow the cars to be driven across the border. Companies like Thrifty and National, if I recall correctly, offer unlimited mileage anywhere in BC, Alberta, and Washington. I'd be surprised if the company did *not* allow you to drive the car over the border, especially if you're renting the car out of Washington or BC. I'd say most allow it.

oliverandharry

Our research also indicated that it was much cheaper to fly in and out of Seattle, and to rent a car on the US side, which then will be returned to the same location. We intend to spend most of our nearly 4 week trip in BC, and made sure that our rental agreements allowed the car to be taken into Canada. Interestingly, the car may go ONLY to BC and no other province in Canada, and I have been told that we must have the rental agreements to prove that at the border. Read the fine print in that contract. We drive across at Vancouver, and return by ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. The car surcharges, even within the US, depend wholly on how inconvenient it is for the agency to have their car left at a certain point - the charges exist to discourage you from doing that! I did do my first trip to the area - Seattle, Victoria, San Juans, Seattle - entirely without a car a few years back although the trip involved much public transportation and a sea plane to Victoria. It was fine until we got to Friday Harbor, which then required a day's rental just to see the island. On Orcas we had mopeds, but the transfers from ferry dock to hotel were a real problem. If you can content yourself only with Victoria, you will be fine without a car - more of Vancouver Island will require one.

Bobmrg

juicylucy, please invest in a road map that covers Washington state. If there is no road on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, it will be news to the residents of Ilwaco, South Bend, Raymond, Hoquiam/Aberdeen, Moclips, Pacific Beach, Forks, etc.