I just cannot decide...

trip A -- 10 days --
Tofino (3 nts), Victoria (2 nts), and San Juans (3 nts)
with a night in Vancouver and Seattle each for an open jaw flight

OR

trip B -- 10 days --
just do the San Juans, staying on Orcas or San Juan (1 week) and Seattle (2 nights)

Here's what i'm worried about...

1. too much driving /ferry time (july) in trip A?

2. is the Tofino scenery, weather, and/or activities (hikes/kayak trips) THAT different than what one would experience in the San Juans?

3. would we get bored a whole week on the San Juans? (i actually doubt this)

i am driving myself insane and need to finalize this all soon.

Please help if you can.

thanks,
dina

Well, I think Tofino is well worth it (as you know) and different enough from the San Juans to make both worthwhile. I've spent a lot of time in both places and don't think they are really similar at all except maybe in "feel". That said, your plan B would be a much more relaxing trip. So it really depends on what you want to get out of this vacation.

I agree with NWWanderer. The two aren't very similar. If you planned to see the area another time or just wanted to kick back, Trip B would be okay. I would prefer Trip A.

thanks for your input.

i just found out that a rental car picked up in Vancouver and returned in Seattle is about $1000. the same car picked up and returned in Seattle is less than $400.

NW, don't you drive from Seattle to Tofino? we would be traveling on a Tues morning in july. how long should we expect it take (best and worst scenario)?

We spent 5 days in Tofino and loved it. I agree with the other posters that it is a different experience than the San Juans. But it is not easy to get there and makes for a long travel day. We drove from Bellingham to catch the 10:15 Ferry from Tsawassen to Duke Point (Naimano). The sailing was nice. After landing we made our way across the island. It was a four and one-half hour drive due to a long grocery stop and extensive road construction after Port Alberni (this was a couple of years ago and hopefully the road construction is complete). We arrived late afternoon at Long Beach Lodge.
If I were to do trip A I would probably just focus on British Columbia.

The San Juans are also lovely and would make a terrific one week trip with a few days in Seattle.

It's about a nine hour trip with ferry wait time. It takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Seattle to Tsawwassen (assuming the border crossing wait is about 15 minutes or so--in July I'd allow 3 hours to be on the safe side), you need to get to Tsawwassen at least 30 minutes before your ferry (assuming you've reserved--an hour to 1.5 hours if not), 2 hours on the ferry, then 3 hours drive time from Nanaimo to Tofino. So it's a long travel day but the ferry trip breaks up the drive.

You also could fly in and out of Vancouver with Trip A--you'd have to cross the border going back into Canada but it wouldn't add much more time than driving from Anacortes to Seattle (it's about 90 minutes to either city--2 hours to Vancouver if the border is backed up). So that would eliminate your car drop fee issue and save you a few hours in travel time to Tofino.

Everything was cheaper to do out of Seattle (both the car and the flying), so we decided to do Trip A out of Seattle and my husband is claiming he doesn't mind the extra 2 hrs, which it sound like it will be.

But here's a big question: if you reserve the ferry, do you still have to wait in line???

And... since we'll get a really early start out of Seattle that morning. will we hit a lot of commuter traffic??

Thanks again!!
dina

You have to get there at least 30 minutes in advance--if you're there 29 minutes in advance, you'll lose your reservation. They're very strict about it so allow a good 3 hours for the trip in case you encounter traffic or a backup going in to Canada. You shouldn't hit much traffic heading north from Seattle as that's going against rush hour traffic.

The border crossing can be a major problem. I would not count on getting across the border in time to make any ferry. Maybe we were just lucky, but last time it took us 1 1/2 hours just to cross the border (each way).

I'd suggest you consider spending your first night in Vancouver, then take the ferry the next day. That way, if you have to sit at the border, you won't miss your ferry.

That way, it's Vanvouver (1 night), Tofino (3 nights), Victoria (2 nights), San Juans (3 nights) and return to Seattle via Anacortes.

Sounds like a great trip, by the way.

In the San Juans you still have to wait in line with a ferry reservation. I can't remember how soon we had to be there although we were returning to Canada so it might have been longer. But in Friday Harbor we left the car in line and did some shopping in town.

Hmm...except for holiday weekends mid-day, I've never had to wait more than about 30 minutes going in to Canada, even in summer. Usually it's about 15 minutes. If you can stay in Vancouver the night before, that would be best, but if not, check the website that has the wait times at the border for a few weeks beforehand at about the time you'll be going through to get a sense of how long the backup usually is and schedule your departure time from Seattle accordingly.

ok, just when i was feeling good about my decision, you guys are really freaking me out about the border crossing in the car...
We will be crossing on a Tuesday morning. could it really be that bad??

thanks for the ferry reservation explanation. i will definitely make reservations to avoid waiting!

NW - regarding the car, i did check flying in and out of Vancouver, but for some reason the car rental was still about $900. (we need an SUV for luggage and golf clubs) it's much cheaper in Seattle for some reason.

i'm really thinking we'll brave the drive from Seattle to Tofino. hope it's not a mistake...

thanks everyone!