Rough Plan for Pacific Northwest trip
 

I'm in the midst of trying to plan a trip to the Pacific NW for the very end of July - beginning of August.

I want to include Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria and some touring.

I've researched getting to Victoria and this is what I've found.

a) Without a car it's about 4 hours from Vancouver including bus, ferry and bus.

b) 2 1/2 - 3 hours from Seattle by boat/ferry.

c) 1 - 1 1/2 hours from Port Angeles.

Option c) appears the most enticing.

With that in mind this is what I'm considering.

Fly from FLL to Vancouver, BC.

Spend about 3 days in Vancouver.

Amtrak to Seattle (avoid highway border crossing).

Spend 2 days in Seattle.

Rental car.
Drive south to Mt Ranier NP and spend part of the day driving and walking around the Park.

Drive north towards Port Townsend. Driving from the south avoids a ferry.

Stop in several towns including Port Townsend, Sequim Port Angeles and 1 or 2 others.

Spend part of a day in Olympic NP (Hurricane Ridge).

Leave car in Port Angeles and take ferry to Victoria.

Sleep over in Victoria and return late afternoon.

Drive back to Seattle and spend the last full day in Seattle (3rd day in Seattle).

The part that includes Mt Rainier, Olympic Peninsula and Victoria would be about 4 days (could be increased one day if needed) and 3 nights (the night of the 4th day would be back in Seattle).

Does this look doable and reasonable?

Thanks.

The drive from Mt. Rainier to Port Townsend is pretty long. Frankly I'd make Mt. Rainier a day trip from Seattle, then go from Seattle to PT via the Bainbridge Island ferry (not via Whidbey Island as the Whidbey - PT ferry is currently out of service and nobody's sure when it will re-start.)

The other thing I'd mention is that air service into Vancouver during cruise season is usually much more expensive than into Seattle, so you could fly into SEA and just do a round trip on Amtrak, which might save some money.

Otherwise I think your plan is a good one.

Hi Myer,

My trip last summer to Seattle, Port Townsend, Tofino and Victoria was a fun, but very expensive one now that the Canadian and US dollars are equal plus the outrageous Canadian taxes on everything.

Anyway, loved Port Townsend and had a couple of excellent meals there.
We took the Bainbridge ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and drove to PT from there. Easy, but the island is bigger than we thought and it took just a bit longer than expected.

Visited Sequim for the lavendar fields. Had origianlly wanted to go for the Lavendar Festival, but all lodging in the entire area was booked nearly a year in advance, so we went the week prior. Worked out just fine.

Ferried from Port Angeles to Victoria. I was surprised that I liked PT much more than Victoria. Did love the flowers in Victoria and of course Buchart Gardens surpassed expectations.

Returned from Victoria via Sydney ferry port to Anacortes. Easy, but reentering customs took an hour!

Hope this helps a little.

I agree with gardyloo. Your overall plan looks great.

I am not sure reading it what your plans are for the OP. Are you thinking you will go from Mt. Rainier to Victoria taking in Hurricane Ridge and various towns in one day? This would be very rushed.

Thanks all, so far.

Gardyloo,
I would be using air miles so I'm not concerned with the cost. The reason I picked into Vancouver and back from Seattle is that I much prefer the flight times that way.

Orcas,
I expect the auto part of the trip to be about 4 full days including Victoria. As I plan in more detail I could add a day.

My first guess is Seattle to Mt Rainier and then "towards" OP the first day with the car. Maybe sleep in Port Townsend.

The next day would be Port Townsend, Sequim and anything else in the area towns. Sleep in Port Angeles.

The third day would be Hurricane Ridge in the morning and tour a bit. Take 4:15 PM ferry to Victoria (leaving the car in Port Angeles).

Spend evening of day 3 and day 4 in Victoria and return from Victoria to P.A. taking the 6:15PM ferry and drive back to Seattle for that evening.

Then spend one last day (3rd) in Seattle and return home the following day.

Some things i forgot to mention that were considerations.

Amtrak from vancouver to Seattle avoids border traffic and a potentially long customs wait. i assume by train it's faster (I don't know why).

I've read that the customs clearance from P.A. to Victoria is pretty quick.

By taking this route there's only one car ferry and that's on the way back to Seattle.

I'm trying to keep ferries to a minimum as they can suck up time.

<i>Amtrak from vancouver to Seattle avoids border traffic and a potentially long customs wait. i assume by train it's faster (I don't know why).</i>

Because the US maintains a customs/immigration preclearance facility at the Vancouver train station; you go through the hoopla in Vancouver rather than at the border. Same with Vancouver airport.

The train leaves Vancouver in the evening and gets into Seattle around 10 PM if memory serves (if it's on time.) Be sure your accommodations are booked.

Gardyloo,

Yes, the train from Vancouver to Seattle leave 6PM and arrives 10PM.

I always have my lodging reserved in advance.

I am quite familiar with many Canada/US border crossings as I lived in Montreal most of my life.

I just wasn't sure US customs was in the Vancover train station.

Thanks. Good info.

Sounds awesome.

I second the Bainbridge Island ferry advice. It's pretty painless, quick and quite beautiful. Can you leave your rental car in Port Angeles and get the Victoria Clipper straight back to downtown Seattle? Saves a day of rental, and swaps a long evening of car travel for a boat ride through the islands. You can enjoy Seattle just fine without a car for that last day.

Dayle,

Hey, nice to see you somewhere other than Utah!!!

I'll be there the third week of May.

= = = = =

curiouser,

No, unfortunately you can't drop off the car in P.A.

With this plan I would return to Seattle via Bainbridge Island.

Good ideas. Thanks.

Any more?

I'm starting to think that 3 1/2 hour drive from Mt Rainier to Port Townsend is more than I want to do late in the day.

Either skipping Mt Rainier or making it a separate day trip and then going to OP directly from Seattle may be a better idea.