My husband & I will be visiting Seattle in early April. We land at Sea/Tac at 10:00 a.m. on a Sat. & plan to drive directly to Vancouver via I-5 & Chuckanut Dr. We are planning to stay Sat. & Sun. nights in Vancouver (see sights); then on Mon. a.m. take the B.C. car ferry (Tsawwasen) to Victoria; visit Buchart Gardens, the Royal British Museum, walk around Victoria and take a car ferry (Black Ball's Coho?) from Victoria to Port Angeles then drive to Seattle. Is there a return route (car ferry) that would take us through the San Juan Islands? Is this a doable trip in the time allotted? Should we spend only one night in Vancouver & one in Victoria instead? Would like recommendation on hotel(s) with great views & location. Thanks for any help. Jan

The ferry system does offer a link between Victoria and the San Juan Islands. The islands are beautiful and shouldn't be missed.

My only question is why are you flying into Seattle if you're planning on spending the majority of the time up in Canada? Why not just fly directly into Vancouver and save your driving time for sightseeing in Vancouver and Victoria?

I agree with the previous comments...I would fly directly into Vancouver..unless you wanted to stay in Seattle for a night or two...
Be sure to check out...Granary Island..and the 5-Sails restaruant....and also...I was there not long ago and had a great rate at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver..You will find out the exchange rate between the USA and Canada is a very pleasant surprise....Vancouver is one ofTHE most beautiful cities on earth...have a great time..

I agree, you would do much better by traveling to Vancouver - especially with the exchange rate there are plenty of great things to do in the Vancouver/Victoria areas. Some of the best hotels are the Sheraton Wall Centre - huge tower with beautiful views of the city (mountains etc.,) nice rooms - ask for corporate rates when booking. There are also some great hotels by Stanley Park including the Westin Bayshore. In Victoria, check out the Clarion Grand Pacific or Coast, both of which are in the inner harbour of downtown - you can see the entire downtown by foot - very quaint with plenty to do.

Be sure to stop off at Pagliaci`s for lunch or the Herald Street Cafe for dinner. You can take a ferry from Seattle to Victoria and back (problem is you can`t take cars on).

My advice, goto Vancouver and Victoria, forget about Seattle, you`ll have more fun!

Thanks for all of your suggestions. The reason we are not flying into Vancouver and spending more time there is that we really are at a conference in Seattle & the Vancouver/Vic. trip is a week-end side trip that we planned after booking our air.

J, if your intent is to travel from Vancouver to Seattle via Victoria and Port Angeles all in one day, you're overdoing it. Figure 3+ hours travel time from Vancouver to Victoria, and 5 hours +/- from Victoria to Seattle via PA (that's IF you get convenient boats) and you don't have much time to see anything around Victoria. If it's just a 3-day weekend trip, then do one night in each town, or else save one of the BC cities for a future trip.

John, Thanks for the info. We will either do 1 night both places or try to do Vic. by foot ferry during the week from Seattle and enjoy 2 nights in Vancouver.Jan

For what you have planned in Victoria, you'll need to stay overnight. The museum takes about 3 hours or more alone. That doesn't include taking in the sites of the inner harbour and lunch etc. The Butchart Gardens will be another 3 or 4 hours (even longer in my experience.) So doing it all as a day trip is pretty near impossible.

The Washington State Ferry System operates between Sydney (on Vancouver Island) and Anacortes (North of Seattle) via San Juan Islands. I agree. You can do those activities in Victoria in one day, but not from dawn to dusk if you also have to ferry to and from the island on the same day. A suggestion about the gardens that we learned too late: Try to go there late in the afternoon while you still have good sunlight, but so you can stay after dusk. The gardens are lit at nite and we were told that they are incredibly beautiful then, too.