I am wondering if I need a car for seattle & vancover or can I get around without & then rent one after victoria to see British Columbia? Any advice would be great!

Seattle is a very walkable city with a good public transportation system. A car is not necessary unless you want to see some of the outlying sights. Don't really know about Vancouver but Victoria is quite walkable, too. You can bus to Butchard Gardens but might want a car to drive out in the countryside - it's very lovely.

you must sea kayak with the killer whales in BC....do whatever else you want but absolutely do that.

We recently had a wonderul car-free trip to Seattle and Vancouver. Our rip started in Seattle where we stayed at a nice downtown hotel. We were able to walk to all the sights (Art museum and Asian Art museum are well worth a visit). After four nights in Seattle, we took the Victoria Clipper (passanger ferry) to Victoria, BC. We spent three nights there and enjoyed Bushcart Gardens, walks in Beacon Hill Park and art gallerys. We then took the bus to Vancouver which goes on the BC ferry. In Vancouver, we enjoyed the Vancouver Art Gallery, walks in Stanley Park and the general amvbience. After three nights in Vancouver, we took a bus shuttle directly from our hotel to SEATAC for our flight home from Seattle. This was a great car-free trip to three wonderful cities!

If you can afford it (not all that bad, really) consider float planes between Seattle and Victoria and Victoria and Vancouver. Check out www.kenmoreair.com and www.westcoastair.com for examples.

Thanks for the advice all,Mark which hotel did you stay at in downtown Seattle? My husband wants to be downtown while I thought staying on an island in puget sound would be good, what do you think?

We stayed at the Westin in Seattle which is an excellent hotel. It has a nice staff, great breakfast cafe and fantastic sushi bar in lower level. It's just a few blocks to waterfront where you can take ferries for day trips to islands. Seattle also has a pretty easy to use bus system for destinations too far to walk such as Asian art museum.

Another terrific hotel to stay at in SEATTLE is HOTEL MONACO--a boutique hotel with lots of atmosphere and wonderfully individually decorated rooms!

Ask for a goldfish as a pet and they will deliver it to your room for the duration of your stay- I AM SERIOUS!