If I have only 4 days to see Vancouver/Victoria would there be enough time to see both; or would you recommend spending the 4 days in Vancouver and saving Victoria for another time?

Suggest you do both.

But if this is going to be done in conjunction with your Rockies trip, you would enhance your overall trip if you thought carefully about how you incorporated Vancouver and Victoria.

If your starting and / or ending point is Seattle, you choose your ferry voyages in such a way that you avoid double backing on yourself.

Also, if you visit Vancouver on the way back from the Rockies, it's good to do the Jasper - Kamloops - Whistler - Vancouver route. Whistler is a place I recommend as a day trip from Vancouver. If you incorporate it into your journey to Vancouver, you obviously don't need to do it as a separate day trip. That route via Whistler is beautiful. If I did not recommend it before, it was because I thought you lacked the time.

If you're going from Vancouver to Seattle, you can do Victoria as a detour en route to Seattle. For example, you could catch the ferry from Tsawwassen on the mainland to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. Then you could catch a ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles or from Sidney to Anacortes.

Hi Judy,
I've extended my vacation to a full 2 weeks . Please help with itinerary to squeeze in Victoria. Thanks.

Sept 23 Saturday Arrive Seattle Seattle Red Lion
Sept 24 Sunday Seattle Seattle Red Lion
Sept 25 Monday Drive to Kamloops Kamloops
Sept 26 Tuesday Drive to Lake Louise (Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls) Lake Louise Deer Lodge
Sept 27 Wednesday Lake Louise (Moraine Lake and the lake of Lake Louise) Lake Louise Deer Lodge
Sept 28 Thursday Lake Louise(Town of Banff. Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Johnston Canyon ) Lake Louise Deer Lodge
Sept 29 Friday Drive to Sunwapta Falls, Columbia Ice fields, Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon) Jasper Sunwapta Falls Resort
Sept 30 Saturday Drive to Kamloops (Wells Gray Provincial Park to see Helmcken Falls) Kamloops
Oct 1 Sunday Drive to Vancouver (Kamloops to Whistler and on to Vancouver. Stop to see Nairn Falls just after Pemberton, which is the town before Whistler) Vancouver
Oct 2 Monday Vancouver (visit Vancouver’s centrally located attractions, Stanley Park. Vancouver Aquarium, Granville Island Market. strolls through Yaletown Vancouver
Oct 3 Tuesday Vancouver Vancouver
Oct 4 Wednesday Vancouver Vancouver
Oct 5 Thursday Vancouver (Queen Elizabeth Park (free admission). If you appreciate gardens, you could add a visit to VanDusen Botanical Garden, which charges a modest entry fee. Finally, the Museum of Anthropology, which charges a moderate entry fee, is a HIGHLY worthwhile attraction.) all are south of downtown Vancouver, so they all are in the right direction if you’re going to be heading to Seattle afterwards. Seattle
Oct 6 Friday Seattle Seattle
Oct 7 Saturday Seattle Depart

Oct 1 Sunday - Drive to Kamloops to Whistler.

Suggest you overnight in Whistler. Driving all the way to Vancouver is possible, but is pushing it.

Oct 2 Monday – Drive to Vancouver in the morning, stopping to see Brandywine Falls just south of Whistler and Shannon Falls just south of Squamish.

When you reach Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, take the Marine Drive option to get to Vancouver. It’s much more scenic than the highway.

Spend the afternoon in Stanley Park. Consider visiting Vancouver Aquarium, which is located in Stanley Park.

Oct 3 Tuesday – Explore Vancouver’s other centrally located landmarks (Granville Island Market, Yaletown, Gastown, Robson Street, Coal Harbour).

Oct 4 Wednesday – Drive / ferry to Victoria in the morning.

Read this page of my website to figure out the logistics of catching the ferry:

http://tinyurl.com/j2yyg

Visit Butchart Gardens in the afternoon.

Oct 5 Thursday – Visit the Royal BC Museum. Since it has an excellent exhibit on First Nations culture, it can be a substitute for the Museum of Anthropology that you’ve skipped in Vancouver.

Then walk around the rest of the Inner Harbour area (Parliament Buildings, Empress Hotel, whatever else takes your fancy).

Oct 6 Friday – Drive / ferry to Seattle.

Oct 7 Saturday – Depart Seattle.

Do you happen to know what ferry to take from Victoria to Seattle and the departure point?

The link that I provided in my previous post is for a page that also provides information on ferries to / from Seattle, although I did not say that:

http://tinyurl.com/j2yyg

The choices are

* Victoria, BC - Port Angeles, WA

and

* Sidney, BC - Anacortes, WA.

The Olympic Peninsula on which Port Angeles is located is scenic, so you may want to go that route.

The Sidney Anacortes route is far more scenic than Olympic Peninsula. You don't see too much on the drive from Pt Angeles to Seattle but the other route you sail amidst the gulf islands and it is really beautiful. The drive from Anacortes is shorter to Seattle than the Pt Angeles drive as well but there aren't too many options for ferry times.

Hi traveller69,

I wonder if you would be willing to e-mail me, which in turn would provide me with an e-mail address at which I could contact you.

I am hoping to pick your brain about Vancouver, but it is not a travel-related question, so is not appropriate for this forum.

I was wondering if I should adjust my itinerary to see Maligne Lake and/or Mt. Edith Cavell. I guess I would need to take away one day from somewhere else. What do you think. If I miss these 2 spots, are they 2 of the best spots in the Rockies? Does my itinerary already include similiar sights?

In reference to the above post. Here's my itinerary thus far.
Sept 23 Saturday Arrive Seattle Seattle
Sept 24 Sunday Seattle Seattle
Sept 25 Monday Drive to Kamloops Kamloops
Sept 26 Tuesday Drive to Lake Louise (Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls) Lake Louise
Sept 27 Wednesday Lake Louise (Moraine Lake and the lake of Lake Louise) Lake Louise
Sept 28 Thursday Lake Louise (Town of Banff. Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Johnston Canyon) Lake Louise
Sept 29 Friday Drive to Sunwapta Falls, Columbia Ice fields, Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon) Jasper
Sept 30 Saturday Drive to Kamloops (Wells Gray Provincial Park to see Helmcken Falls) Kamloops
Oct 1 Sunday Drive Kamloops to Whistler. Whistler
Oct 2 Monday Drive to Vancouver in the morning, stopping to see Brandywine Falls just south of Whistler and Shannon Falls just south of Squamish. When you reach Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, take the Marine Drive option to get to Vancouver. It’s much more scenic than the highway. Spend the afternoon in Stanley Park. Consider visiting Vancouver Aquarium, which is located in Stanley Park Vancouver
Oct 3 Tuesday Explore Vancouver’s other centrally located landmarks (Granville Island Market, Yaletown, Gastown, Robson Street, Coal Harbour). Vancouver
Oct 4 Wednesday Drive / ferry to Victoria in the morning.Read this page of my website to figure out the logistics of catching the ferry:http://tinyurl.com/j2yyg Visit Butchart Gardens in the afternoon. Victoria
Oct 5 Thursday Visit the Royal BC Museum. Since it has an excellent exhibit on First Nations culture. Then walk around the rest of the Inner Harbour area (Parliament Buildings, Empress Hotel, whatever else takes your fancy). Victoria
Oct 6 Friday Drive / ferry to Seattle. Seattle
Oct 7 Saturday Seattle Depart

I think it would be a great idea to re-allocate one of your Banff or Lake Louise-based nights to Jasper. Here's how you could do it.

Sept 27 Wednesday - From your Lake Louise base, visit Moraine Lake (9 miles from Lake Louise), the lake of Lake Louise (3 miles from the village of Lake Louise) and the town of Banff (38 miles from Lake Louise). You may even have time to include Sulphur Mountain Gondola.

Sept 28 Thursday - Drive to Jasper, stopping on the way to see Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon, Columbia Icefields, Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls on the way.

You <b>might</b> be able to fit it a detour to Mount Edith Cavell en route from Athabasca Falls to Jasper townsite.

Sept 29 Friday - Sight seeing from your Jasper base.

If you did not visit Mount Edith Cavell on the previous day, visit it on this day. Other potential candidates for your attention include the tram up Whistlers Mountain (all the more so if you did not go up Sulphur Mountain in Banff), Maligne Canyon (a favourite of mine) and Maligne Lake.

I suggest that you do not panic if you don't get to Maligne Lake. It's a lovely lake, and the drive to reach it is pleasant. In terms of colour, however, I do not find that it is up to the standards of Moraine Lake, Peyto Lake, Emerald Lake and Lake Louise.

Don't pay for a gondola or tram ride if the mountain top is socked in by cloud.

Sept 30 Saturday - Drive to Kamloops (Wells Gray Provincial Park to see Helmcken Falls) Kamloops

Meant to say that how much you can fit in in the Moraine Lake / Lake Louise area. Many people do a half day hike in this area. If you do that, then just seeing these two lakes probably is as much as the average person can do in a day. If you do not do a major hike, however, you can visit the two lakes in the morning and visit Banff townsite in the afternoon.

If you do not manage to fit in Johnston Canyon it would not be a tragedy, in that you likely would see Mistaya and Maligne Canyons instead, and I think that would be enough in your time frame.

Hope that helps.