We would like to spend a whole day in Victoria but we found out that it's going to take about 3 hours each way to get there. We are staying at the Marriott Pinnacle. Is that correct? Should be just take a floatplane or helicopter instead? It just seems a lot of time sitting in a bus and on a ferry.

If the couple hundred bucks per person doesn't faze you go for it! I prefer the plane, (there are two airlines flying Harbour to Harbour), if for no other reason than the planes dock right accross the street from the Empress while the Helijet port is about 6 blocks from the Inner Harbour centre. The flights take about 40 minutes dock to dock. there are also charter flights that will stop off at Butchard Gardens on the way to the Inner Harbour but that's really mega bucks.

If you are talking a daytrip from Vancouver, a good price/timing compromise would be to take one of the many standard tours which have a one-way air option (the other way being bus which rides the ferry).

There are some interesting considerations about which way you'd want to take air, which company you'd use, and issues depending on whether you stop in butchart, but I'll save pounding the keyboard unless these actually come up.

The ferry ride is quite pleasant, so unless time is a huge consideration I'd consider it anyway. We just came back from Victoria and had no problem going to Vancouver for the day. We got the 10 AM ferry at Swartz Bay, and were in Vancouver in time for lunch. We had a lovely afternoon and then got together with friends for an early (but fantastic) dinner at Raincity Grill. We had a reservation for the last ferry at 9 PM and were home by 11:30, despite a minor ferry delay because they've had to take their biggest boat off the route for a few days. We did have a rental car, which meant we weren't bound by the bus schedule, but I've done a day-trip that way too.

If it was me, I would take an early morning float plane over, then take the bus and ferry back in the evening.

Not a bad idea, April, but I think I'd do it the other way - the ferry trip is more interesting in the daytime.

I think the loveliest ferry trips I have taken have been at dusk, but mainly my thinking was that the ferries run later in the evening that the float planes, which would give them a bit more time in Victoria (although, not much).

http://www.harbour-air.com/
http://www.westcoastair.com/
http://bcferries.bc.ca/schedules/mai...w-current.html