Texan_Ian

Hello All,
We are taking a small vacation after many many years. This time we are planning to visit Vancouver and Victoria. And we would appreciate any sort of suggestions from you (or as they say in Texas - Y'All.)

Our trip details are as follows.
Flying into Seattle 8/20 late evening.
Plan to rent a vehicle at the airport.
Staying somewhere in Seattle for the night.
Next day off to Vancouver road trip.
Planning to stay in Vancouver for three days.
Off to Victoria - Planning to stay in Victoria for three days.
Take a boat ride to Seattle from Victoria
8/28 - Catch an early evening flight out of Seattle.

I will surely appreciate your suggestions about boarding options, places to visit, any day trips, etc.

Anything that can help us economize this itinerary would be a cherry on the icing.

Thanks.
Texan Ian

semiramis

We were REALLY pleased with Time Square Suites because we had a full kitchen and a washer dryer and a REALLY comfortable bed. We Loved it's location in Vancouver (a short walk from Stanley Park, near dozens of restaurants, right across the street from a very well-stocked Safeway grocery store.

In downtown Vancouver, consider just parking your car and taking transit. Parking in the downtown area is expensive and scarce and the bus system is excellent. You can get an all-day transit pass for $9 that you can use on the entire system.

Vancouver sights:
We were most impressed by the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. You can combine a visit to the Museum with a visit to the UBC Botanical Gardens and the Nitobe Japanese Garden.
Also if the weather co-operates, consider heading to the north shore and Lynn Canyon.
Stanley park is always lovely.

Victoria
It's been a few years since I have been there - so I can't recommend any hotels but I know there are many lovely B&Bs in Victoria
Sights:
Butchart Gardens - not to be missed
Walking around the Harbour area

Texan_Ian

Thank you so much. I did check into Times Square suites. It is a nice establishment, but it is expensive.

misha2

We really enjoyed our free walking tour in Vancouver with the Tour Guys. Loved their Eat Your Cart Out tour, too. We also enjoyed biking around the sea wall at Stanley Park and spending a few hours in Granville Island.

NorthwestMale

I give you credit for allowing a full 3 days in both Vancouver and Victoria. A shorter stay in Victoria often isn't worth the hassle of getting there and back.

You don't say how many of "you" there are, so I can't know if Priceline.com would present complications.

Generally, the downtown Vancouver 4-star hotels are all nice, but one should "expect" any such Priceline score to come with an ADDITIONAL $40-ish for overnight (valet) parking.

SOME hotels might have cheaper alternatives, and SOME might even be situated so you could get away with parking on nearby streets. Yet beCAUSE you wouldn't know which hotel you'd get, you should bid on Priceline as if EXPECTING to add $40 per NIGHT to your final bill (which can still trounce regular rates).

Downtown Vancouver is small-ish, and mostly flat... and such that most any of the 4-star hotels afford you various benefits, without too many chances of significant drawbacks.

The weather is more mild than in other destinations, and thus it is perfectly comfortable to be walking around outside (with or without an umbrella).

Wow... where would I stay on that first night leaving the airport? ...

I contend that you juuuuuuuuuust won't get much of any "Seattle" on this trip, so perHAPS you should just bag Seattle all together and press toward the north as soon as you hop off the plane.

The airport to the Canadian border is about 125 miles, straight up the freeway.

I can't think of any special appeal for a quick, one-night stay south of Bellingham, WA.

Bellingham is a sweet little town about 20 miles from the border. The area has plenty of green, plenty of water views, and even a good sized mountain to the east.

Additionally it is large enough to have hotel/motel selection, and there shouldn't be significant parking charges there.

SO IF you can envision driving 100 miles on the freeway after arriving in Seattle and before bunking down for the night, the time you afford yourself in the morning will help you to see a bit more of Vancouver.

(the alternative would be some mid-town Seattle hotel, expensive, and still affording very little time to actually SEE anything in Seattle.

NOT only that, but the next day would be Sunday, and the later you hit the border into Canada, the more likely you are to hit considerable border TRAFFIC.

IF you sacrifice a bit with a late Saturday night drive, it should pay off nicely come Sunday... when you sleep in a bit in Bellingham, and then have a brief 20-mile drive to the border into Canada.

Hope this helps.

Texan_Ian

NorthwestMale:
Sir, in response to your question, it is just my missus and I are visiting Vancouver and Victoria.

I have also been following your and Ms. Misha2's comments to other posters, and you both have shared quite a lot from your experiences. Hopefully, I would be able to mimic at least a small percentage of your good work when we return from our trip.

Thank you.
Ian

Texan_Ian

One issue that has been bugging me from sometime is the rental car.

My missus wants to take a train and/or boat ride across the border (both up and down), however I feel that it is best to rent a car in WA and drive across the border. I am concerned that we might not get good rental car deals in vancouver or that perhaps it would be inconvenient to tour two cities without a rental car.

What might be your feedback about this?
Thank you.

Myer

Maybe I missed it in your post. Why are you flying into Seattle.

We just got back from a trip to Banff, Victoria & vancouver.

We flew Westjet (could have flown AC) from Calgary to Victoria.

We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel & Spa. Beautiful hotel and rooms and price is reasonable. Breakfast included. For some reason they upgraded us to a room with a fireplace.

We took the Pacific Coach bus, ferry, bus from the bus deport right behind the Empress Hotel (walked from our hotel) for the Vancouver Hotel.

We stayed at the Listen. Again nice hotel and rooms and the location was great.

It's on robson street pretty much at the dividing line between downtown craziness and West End residential.

Ten minutes east to downtown and ten minutes west to Stanley Park. One day we walked in the Park for a while and then next day we rented bikes (many rentals on Denman St - we used Bayshore) and rode and stopped for 3 1/2 hours.

I think 3 days in Victoria is a bit long but it depends on your pace.

We didn't have a car and didn't miss it or the hassles of parking it.

NorthwestMale

Ian,

It is NOT absurd to consider taking the train up to Canada, getting some sort of public transportation (bus?) from Vancouver to Victoria, and then returning by boat to Seattle.

(I am NOT personally familiar with the train schedules, but for your late Saturday arrival it seems reasonable that you could position yourselves for a Sunday departure from the downtown Seattle train station.

It looks like www.amtrakcascades.com is the spot to research. It takes 4 hours and a train leaves @ 7:40am (but is that "EVERY DAY including Sunday" - I can't tell for sure)

(nothing says it isn't every day)

SO... once you establish WITH CERTAINTY that you can easily 'connect' the other two dots on this trip, then I say go right ahead and envision Saturday arrival in Seattle, a "Link Light Rail" trip into downtown Seattle from the airport ($2.75 each)... and then an early rise to get to the train station in time for a 7:40am departure.

FYI - I would still do Priceline for a "downtown" Seattle hotel (though on a Saturday night in August that can be challenging) and then take a cab to King Street Station in the morning if need be.

(sound of my being naive while researching) My gosh, is that only $38 each for that Sunday morning one-way trip to Vancouver???

I have no idea where the Vancouver train station IS... (ok, now I do... more research!)

You'd have to take a brief cab ride to your probable downtown Vancouver digs - but so what!!!

But, let me tell you from instinct and familiarity with both Seattle and Vancouver, and gen-er-al AWARENESS of Victoria being not-so-big, and with touristy stuff fairly centralized, that EVERY BIT of your trip COULD be comfortably done as your missus envisions.

Mind you, I LOVE driving to Vancouver, and I've never even taken the train there, but I've gleaned as much as I could from your posts, and it is my educated opinion that you could easily and comfortably do the whole trip without a car! (***provided you find everything workable in the way of booking {what is perhaps} bus service from Vancouver to Victoria and then boat service from Victoria back to Seattle.

There's no way I can really make you confident that I'm not just some internet wacko without so much as an ounce of realism to him.

I LIVE in Seattle, and know downtown Seattle intimately, while I've probably been to Vancouver, Canada 100 times or more IN the 2000's. I even stay sometimes at a cheap motel not far from the Vancouver train station - so I know that area (even though I hadn't realized where I'd seen the station itself, upon looking just now).

I have NOT been to Victoria in decades, but I'd be surprised if you didn't evolve to stay SOMEwhere very near to the harbor, not far from the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel... just like eeeeeeeeeeeeverybody else.

SO, wow, as confidently as I can say, DO CONSIDER the whole path without a car... and MAYBE waiting to rent one for a day in Vancouver if so inspired.

Your costs wouldn't be significantly different on the path up to Vancouver, you'd save staggering overnight parking charges in downtown Vancouver, you'd save much greater ferry fares for not having a vehicle, and I contend that all three locales are very doable on foot!

In each spot you would be able to go for the best Priceline hotels you can land, which in turn would offer the most convenience to various local attractions.

Lastly, let me assure that the passage from SeaTac airport into downtown Seattle on the "Link Light Rail" is a piece of cake, so much so that you don't even need a schedule. Just collect your bags, walk to the train, buy tickets for $2.75 each, and get on.

I am wholeheartedly endorsing the car-less passage your missus has in mind. I'll leave it to you in regard to how to let her know that she can be right on this one!

LOL

Texan_Ian

Myer,
There were two reasons to fly into Seattle versus flying into Vancouver / Victoria.
The first obvious reason was the price of the ticket and second reason was the opportunity to travel on the Pacific Northwest shore line (either through train / car / ferry).
Thank you.

Texan_Ian

Mr. NorthwestMale,

I have always made sure that my missus knows that she makes smart decisions (after all, she married me)

Jokes aside, this is what we have decided on preliminary basis. Feel free to chime in with your suggestions and experiences.

Fly into SeaTac. Take Light Link Rail into downtown.
Stay overnight in downtown Seattle (with help from Priceline).
Take early morning ferry to Victoria (covers ferry ride wish).
Stay on Victoria island for three days, with one day designated to drive outside Victoria city (might rent a car for a day)
Take a ferry ride to Vancouver. Rent a car.
Stay and explore Vancouver for rest of the trip. Want to visit Grouse Mountain, one of the hotsprings, and if time & wallet permits - take a ride to Whistler.
leave Vancouver on Amtrak Cascade early morning for Seattle. Take a Light Rail back to SeaTac and leave in the evening.

NorthwestMale

OK, I see nothing amiss with going the opposite circular direction from what you first (guessed).

I remain considerably confident that you'll be in 3 spots where you won't need a car AT THE CORE.

I wouldn't automatically rent a car as soon as you get to Vancouver. (those overnight parking charges are best avoided when possible)

You can even take a CITY BUS to the foot of Grouse Mountain, BUT, the ideal timing OF Grouse Mountain is to be there late in the evening so you can 'straddle' daylight and darkness while there.

There is SOME chance that city bus stops running before your ideal time to leave Grouse Mountain. (In that case, a cab ride into town probably would make sense - and when weighed against the overnight car-parking fee at downtown hotels, you might as well do the cab thing)

UNLESS, of course, you can shove "Whistler" and "Grouse Mountain" into the same day. I kinda-sorta-maybe am inclined not to advise 'packing' them in, or hurrying them along JUST for that purpose, and the above is to tell you that you don't neeeeeeeeeed to do that.

At some point, decide whether you want to pay an arm and a leg to EAT on top of Grouse Mountain... and if you do, then make arrangements (RESERVATIONS) to do so, and then you won't have to pay the hefty cost to be transported up the mountain.

(anything is better than paying $40 a head or so to go up, AND eating at the posh restaurant on the top)

Yawn, finally, with "all other things being equal", it DOES make sense to do the "island" leg of your trip FIRST, and then, in the odd event of some far-flung surprise, you will be on dry land when having to make your way from Canada to Seattle for your flight out. (that just gives you more "options" when you just don't want to be late).

(you'd have car, train, bus, or plane as possible options in the event something doesn't fit together)

By golly I think you've got a pretty good picture of it all now. And I really can't anticipate where anything is going to go amiss.

For Priceline,

bid ONLY 4-star spots in "downtown Seattle" zone

bid ONLY 4-star spots in the "downtown Vancouver" OR "Granville Entertainment District"


Upon such time as when you feel you have ferry/train reservations in place and KNOW for sure which nights you need in Vancouver, that is the time to start bidding on Priceline for the Vancouver nights.

(I am not intimately familiar with Priceline for Victoria... I imagine it works fine, but I just don't know how the land lies)

I wouldn't be disappointed in any 4-star hotel you land in any of those 3 zones.