Another thread I just read on this Forum - about the wicked high price for a car rental in Vancouver - made me think I should get on the stick with arrangements for our car rental in July.

We are arriving on ViaRail on a Friday morning and will want a car rental for Friday/Sat nites. I have managed to find out there's a Hertz desk at the train station - but what are my other options? (I'm figuring that the Hertz rental rate will be one of the highest, which is why I'm looking for other alternatives.)

I'd be considering Priceline, but I'm thinking (haven't yet looked) that their car rentals are all from the airports. Does anyone know if that's right? Is trying to get from the rail station to the airport in order to get a car a cumbersome idea?

Would sure appreciate any advice/suggestions/tips for the best way to make this arrangement. Thanks!

HI TuckerDC

Pacific Central Station in Vancouver is quite central, only 3 stops (about 1 kilometre) away on the Sky Train from what I'd call the heart of downtown (Burrard/Robson). I didn't even need a taxi or rent a car in Vancouver when I arrived by train last year (actually not even for my entire visit!), just hopped the Sky Train close to my West End hotel.

I can't help you regarding car rentals, but you could take a quite reasonably-priced taxi to any downtown Vancouver location that does car rentals if you find the prices by the train station too expensive.

DAN

Avis has a rental car right downtown. Cheaper than getting one at the airport.

Is there a particular reason for needing the rental car? The reason why I say this is because if you're only in Vancouver for 2 nights, you're probably going to be sticking around the downtown core where the majority of the main sites are. The downtown core is located on a tiny peninsula that's not much larger than one square mile. Most attractions, hotels and restaurants are within walking distance of eachother, and parking is expensive. If you don't have mobility issues, or if you're not planning to go for drives outside of the city centre, then I'd skip the rental car and perhaps only rent it at the time if you absolutely need it. Taxi cabs would even be cheaper, for you can get between places downtown in a taxi for under $10 a ride. That alone is often less than what you'd end up paying for parking.

While I agree that driving a car in Vancouver is a pain, I do enjoy driving up to Whistler when I am there.

In the city of Vancouver, there are so many one-way streets and most intersections will say, "no left turn." I actually drove ten blocks downtown trying to make a left turn. Every street said no left turn. I finally drove down to Stanley Park to turn around.

Does anyone know if the info about a Hertz counter in the train station is still correct? I just tried to use their web site to book a car there and they do not show a location there.

Thanks for the input so far! I guess I should have clarified: We're arriving in V'couver on a Friday morning and - after learning much via Fodors/CA forums, I decided that part of our 4-day stay there would be well-spent going up to Fraser Canyon and vicinity.

So that's the plan. Arrive V. early on Friday, get the car, drive out and spend Fri/Sat nites at B&B's I found online. Bring the car back to V. on Sunday and spend Sunday/MondayTuesday exploring Vancouver. (We board our ship on Tuesday evening.) Thanks for any further help!

OK - now another question. At the moment, I'm looking into a Frequent Flyer promotion with National. There's a long list of p/u locations - the central-sounding ones are CanadaPlace (cruise terminal) Downtown/W. Georgie; PanPacific Hotel/Midtown/W. Broadway.

If anyone can tell me which of those sound like the best pick for us - given we'll be going from the train station directly to the car rental and, when we return it, will be heading to some centrally located hotel (not yet determined).

Well - I've just gone ahead and booked a car for three days, using an offer from Midwest Express Airlines.

When I used CanadaPlace as the pickup/dropoff, I got a 3-day rate of just over $100 (USD), which I think is pretty phenomenal (and for a full size car). When I plugged in the PanPacific Hotel as the p/u - dropoff location, the rate zoomed to over $300.

So hopefully this will work out for us logistically as well as be kind to the wallet!

Hi TuckerDC

Canada Place would be fine, either by taxi or by SkyTrain. Pan Pacific Hotel is at Canada Place BTW.

Enjoy! DAN

That's what I thought, Dan...isn't that price discrepancy weird!!??

Just realized today that it's only 4 weeks and four days till we leave here...will fly to "the 'Peg" from Chicago and then board the train for V'couver to board the ship for Alaska....toooo exciting! (and no where near enough prep time!)