mwc

Hi - we're in the midst of planning our seattle/vancouver/victoria trip in august. wanted to get your expertise as to which ferry we should take from victoria to seattle. we are planning to leave victoria on a friday morning and thinking about staying at a hotel near sea-tac for the last couple nights of our vacation (we have a flight at noon on sunday). we would already have explored downtown seattle in the earlier part of our trip, so don't need to stay downtown. for the last day of our trip (saturday), we're thinking about doing a day trip to mt ranier. does it makes sense to spend friday/saturday nights at a sea-tac hotel, or should we stay somewhere closer to mt ranier? and, if it's somewhere closer to mt ranier, how long would it take to get to the airport sunday morning? we're travelling with an infant and prefer not to change hotels too often. given this plan, what ferry should we take back from victoria? and how long would it take to get from the ferry landing to sea-tac?

sorry for all the questions, but want to make sure we make the best choice. thanks in advance for you advice!

Miss_Maple

There is quite a good discussion of the ferry options on the tripadvisor.com Seattle forum -- scan the replies and you will get some very options.

Gardyloo

You have three choices. First is the ferry from Victoria (Inner Harbour) to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula. Only a few boats per day but the most convenient method at the Victoria end. From Port Angeles you can drive to Seattle via the Edmonds, Bainbridge Island, or Bremerton ferries. Or, you can skip a (second) ferry toll and drive south to Washington SR 16 and take the Tacoma Narrows Bridge which connects to I-5 around 30 miles south of Sea-Tac airport, or 40 miles south of Seattle. Figure total travel time (not counting Victoria lineup for the ferry) at around 5 1/2 hours to Seattle; could be as little as 4 if all ferry connections are bang-bang and you're first on/off the boats. The kicker with this route is the relatively small capacity of the Coho, the Victoria-PA ferry.

Choice no. two is the Sydney-Anacortes ferry operated by the Washington State Ferries. This route goes through and stops at a couple of the San Juan Islands. It's very scenic and has the advantage of accepting reservations. It's not the slowest nor the fastest. Unfortunately it only runs once (some days twice) a day, so may not connect with your schedule. From Anacortes Seattle is around an hour and a half, mostly freeway. The airport is a further 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. Sydney BC is around a half hour - 40 min. drive from downtown Victoria, again depending on traffic. Again, around 5-6 hours all in.

Choice no. three is the one most of us in the region take. Swartz Bay (near Sydney) on Vancouver Island to Tsawwassen (sa-wassen) on the mainland a few miles north of the US border. This is the main Vancouver-Victoria route for the Province, so while it's very busy it's also the most frequent, and quite scenic itself. They also accept bookings, but in the worst case you'd have to wait an hour or so at the dock if you missed a boat.

The downside to this route is the possibility of long delays at the border. In summer, and especially on Friday afternoons and Sundays, the lineups can be an hour or more, sometimes two. Or they might not; it's something of a crapshoot. Not counting border delay, it's also about a total of 5 1/2 hours from Victoria to Seattle. If the border backs up, this can be the slowest alternative. It is the cheapest, BTW.

As far as staying at Sea-Tac is concerned, it's fine - you're about 20 min. closer to Mt. Rainier than if you stayed in Seattle. It's pretty typical airport hotel country - fast food and rental car lots is about it for the scenery.

Note on Friday afternoons I think you'd be pretty unhappy with traffic in the greater Seattle region. Coming straight from Victoria you'd be pretty pooped by the time you got to a hotel near the airport.

Let me make an alternate suggestion. Skip Mt. Rainier, and visit Olympic National Park instead. Take the Port Angeles ferry in the morning from Victoria, get a motel in Port Angeles, and that afternoon visit Hurricane Ridge in Olympic NP - a very short drive from Port Angeles. Drive out to Sequim (prononuced "skwim") that evening and have dinner at the kitschy 3 Crabs restaurant on the beach at Dungeness. Don't expect great food (except the cole slaw) but do expect fabulous scenery and fresh air right on the water.

Next day (Saturday) go west from Port Angeles out to the Pacific coastal strip of Olympic NP and head into the Hoh valley (get a map) to see the amazing Olympic rain forest, and probably some big elk wandering about.

Come back to PA that night, and the next day make your way to Seattle via the Bainbridge Island ferry, then to the airport.

I think this would be a more peaceful, and way more scenic alternate than spending two nights in the city or at an airport.

bbqboy

Gardyloo's last suggestion was exactly what I was going to type in. The Port Angeles crossing is just 11 miles and the Olympic Peninsula is Wild & Spectacular. For a more romantic stop there's Port Townsend-
http://www.ptguide.com/

mwc

wow! thanks for the great info and the suggestions! gardyloo's suggestion to stay in port angeles sounds like a good option. my concern would be getting to the airport in time for our flight sunday noon. how long does it take to get from port angeles to the airport using the bainbridge island ferry? do we board the ferry at port angeles? thanks for the great replies!

christy1

I normally wouldn't try to discourage a visit to Rainier-it's some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the PNW-but given your itinerary, I think Gardyloo's suggestion of seeing ONP after Victoria is great.

If you have your heart set on Rainier, just stay one night in Ashford and then spend the last night near the airport, unless you don't mind driving on sunday (it's a couple hours from Ashford to the airport). Seatac is sleazy and depressing-prostitutes and crack motels mixed in with your Holiday Inns and Denny's-under no circumstances would I stay there for two nights.

Orcas

Here's the website for the City of Port Angeles with directions to Seatac. They suggest you drive, rather than take the ferry.

http://www.portangeles.org/49.html

You can find ferry schedules and route maps if you search for the Washington State ferry system. The ferry to Seattle is not from Port Angeles, but from Bainbridge Island, which is much closer to Seattle.

Gardyloo

mwc, I mis-read your Sunday flight time as "afternoon" - sorry. If it's indeed at noon, and given you have to return a car etc., then Port Angeles might be a tad far for Sunday. You could do it easily enough, but you'd need to leave at 7-ish if you need to be at the airport 90 min. or 2 hrs before flight time for car drop, security etc.

(Of course, if you happen to be flying east, an early rise would help get you back on your own timezone )

An alternative, given it's August and days will be sunny and long (or at least long) you might consider overnighting on Saturday in Mukilteo on the mainland at the very nice Silver Cloud Inn (www.scinns.com) right next to the Whidbey Island ferry dock. From PA, drive east to Port Townsend, a cute Victorian town, and from there take the short ferry ride to Whidbey Island. Drive south down Whidbey to the Mukilteo ferry; the Silver Cloud is right next to the ferry dock on the mainland.

This way you'd be on the mainland for Sunday morning, less than an hour from Sea-Tac, so much easier to get to the airport in time.

If your flight is 1 pm or later, you could still take the ferry in the morning from PA; otherwise think about moving closer to the airport Saturday night.

mwc

thanks for the great suggestions. now we have to decide what we want to do... thanks all!

enzian

Another option, should they wish to take the Coho to PA, would be see that area (Hurricane Ridge) and then spend Saturday night on Bainbridge. The 8:45 am ferry on Sunday morning would get them to the airport in plenty of time for a noon flight.

Spokaneman

I'm jumping on this thread to ask the locals around Vancouver if there is another boarder crossing that has less of a risk of a tie up than Blaine.

I am going to Vancouver for Laser Surgery and have a 3:00 Friday appointment. I cannot leave Bellingham before 12:45 which will work fine as long as there isn't some massave tie up at the border. Would I be better to go over to the Lynden crossing? Is there a web cam that will accurately show any backups?

Excuse the intursion, but you guys seem to know the border drill. Thanks in advance

Gardyloo

http://www.borderlineups.com/index.asp

"Pacific Highway" = "Truck Crossing."

Spokaneman

Thanks Gardyloo, great website. If traffic is backed up US going into Canada at the Peace Arch Crossing, is it visible from that camera? How far out of the way would Lynden be if Peace Arch were a problem?

enzian

I think what Gardyloo is recommending is not the Peace Arch crossing, but the next one east, the Pacific Highway (aka "truck crossing" but cars can use it too). We always go that way on our way up to ski at Whistler, and it's always been fine. The highway takes you up through Surrey to Canada 1 which you can take into Vancouver. You don't need to go as far east as the Lynden crossing.

Spokaneman

Which exit do I take off of I-5 to get to the truck crossing? Will traffic be a problem once I get into Vancouver late mid-day?

enzian

It is exit 275 from I-5, which takes you to Canada 15. Here's a little map (I hope nobody kills me for posting a too-long link):
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/interstateguide/
Stay on 15 up to Canada 1 (pay attention to the signs as you get close to find the on-ramp), and take that west to Vancouver. Most of the traffic should be going the other way (out of Vancouver) in mid-afternoon.

This route also avoids the tunnel under the Fraser River, which I don't care for.