Hi everyone! My mom, 12 year old niece and I are going to Seattle for the first time in June. We arrive in Seattle in the morning and are renting a car. We'd also like to try to get to Victoria for a day or two. I figure we can spend the day we arrive in Seattle and then maybe drive to either Anacortes or Port Angeles that night (depending on which ferry we decide to take) and then take the ferry to Victoria and spend a night or two there. My niece and I want to go on the zipline there. So which is better, the Coho from Port Angeles or the one from Anacortes? Any suggestions for cute places to stay in any of the above places that are not too outrageously expensive?

Also, any suggestions for what we can do (3 generations) in Seattle (we'll be there the first day and last day of our trip)?

Help! This seems like a logistical nightmare! Is it too much traveling for such a short period of time?

I didn't know Victoria had a zipline.

As far as I know there isn't an evening ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, if that's what you meant. Your best bet would probably be to take the Coho which has more sailings and will take you from Port Angeles right to Victoria's harbour. Or you could drive across the border and take a BC ferry or do that on the return trip. Or you could skip the car and take the Clipper from Seattle.

They may not be cute but in Victoria the Days Inn on the Harbour, Admiral Inn, Huntingdon, and Quality Inn might be less expensive than some. The first three are by the harbour.
http://www.daysinnvictoria.com/home.html
http://www.admiral.bc.ca/
http://www.huntingdonhotel.ca/
http://www.victoriaqualityinn.com/default.aspx

People seem to like the Royal Scot Suite Hotel and it might have some good deals.
http://www.royalscot.com/hot_rates.asp

I'd reconsider the rental car if seeing Seattle and Victoria are your focus.

You can get transportation in from the airport by taxi or shuttle easy enough. From downtown you can take the Victoria Clipper directly to Victoria and stay overnight or two. And seeing the main sights in Seattle is easy to do on-foot, with public bus, monorail, trolley, etc.

That would really streamline the logistics of a 5 day trip imo.

Suze (in Seattle)

I looked at the Clipper but it's very expensive, around $150 p/p round trip, whereas the Coho is $131 RT for all 3 of us + our car.

In Victoria, my daughter, who was then 10, actually like Bouchart Gardens. The pacific Science Center in Seattle is good for all three generations~I happily spent most of a day there.........My daugther liked Pike's Place Market as well, with all the produce and fish.

(don't forget with my plan there would not be the cost of a rental car)

agree with suze.

You can go directly between victoria and seattle on the clipper on a fast boat and don't need a rental car. no need to spend time driving to the outlying areas just to catch a slow ferry. Also neither city requires a rental car. You will actually save money (no car, no gas, and no parking) doing it the quicker and logistically less complicated way.

mid-week 1/2 price tickets are often available for the Clipper at one of the two Ticket/Ticket kiosks.

True, forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me about the cost of car rental and gas.

You can also leave the rental car in Port Angeles, and go as a walk-on passenger to Victoria on either the Coho or the Victoria Express.

Ditto the suggestion of the Royal Scot in Victoria; it's well-located and was fine when we stayed there a couple of years ago.

Gas here is ~$4.00/gallon

Where exactly is this zipline? I'm wondering if you'd want a car to get to it.

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone. Here is the plan so far. What do you all think?

We've decided not to rent a car until the second to last day of our trip. We'll return to Seattle from Victoria, get a rental car downtown, park it and go to the Aquarium, and then drive over to Bellevue that evening and stay at the Hyatt (which is very nice and only $118 compared to the downtown Seattle hotels on a Sat. night). Then on our last day we can explore Bellevue and then take the rental back to the airport (which will be cheaper than taking a cab).

Our first day we'll arrive in Seattle in the morning, take a cab downtown, check our luggage into our hotel, see the sights of downtown: Space Needle, Pike Place Market, etc., then wake up the next morning and take the Clipper to Victoria.

Once in Victoria we'll head over to the Empress, check our luggage at the dining room and have afternoon tea. From there we'll take the double decker bus tour through the city, which allows you to hop on and off at any stop, and check out the sights. We'll return to the Empress, pick up our luggage and take a cab to our B&B (Hemingway's By the Sea, which unfortunately is not walking distance from downtown Victoria with luggage).

The next day we'll head into town and do the zipline tour (which picks you up downtown and drives you to Sooke). If we have time after the tour, we'll head over to Buchart Gardens. Next day we'll catch the Clipper back to Seattle.

I'm sort of thinking of renting a car in Victoria because of our hotel location, Buchart Gardens and the zipline (which is $10 cheaper per person if you drive out to Sooke yourself). I heard a cab out to the Gardens is about $30 and the cost of a rental per day would probably be around that price. Any thoughts?

I'm not sure why you chose to stay way over in Esquimalt. In that case, and considering you plan to go to Sooke and maybe to Butchart's (which I would make a priority not an afterthought), I would walk out the back of the Empress Hotel when you return there, and rent a car. Otherwise you will probably have to take a bus or taxi every time you want to go into town or out to eat.

Both your arrival to Seattle, and departure days from Bellevue plans sound OK.

I'm not familiar enough with Victoria to comment on that part.