From downtown Victoria BC to Vancouver Cruise terminal on embarking day

Am I right in assuming you have your plane tickets already? Otherwise fly into Victoria and out of Vancouver. If you already have tickets to Vancouver, how do you plan on getting to the Island?

You can get the Island Connector bus from Vancouver airport to Victoria, including the ferry journey. Takes about 4 hours total. Coming from Victoria you get the Connector bus in Victoria and it will take you right to the cruise terminal though you may have to change buses at the Vancouver ferry terminal. Fare will be about

Other alternative is to fly, which is v. expensive! The bus/ferry fare will be around $120 for the three of you. The website bcfconnector.com has all details

Personally, I wouldnt do it, and I lived in Victoria for a few years. You need to get from downtown Victoria to the ferry in Sidney, then take the ferry (you need advance booking if driving a car), then drive from Tsawwassen to downtown and turn in your car, before getting to the cruise terminal. Or take the buses as above. Time consuming. Of course if money is no option, you could take one of the scheduled Harbour Air seaplane flights from the downtown harbour in Victoria to the downtown harbour in Vancouver. Their dock is about a 15 minute walk to Canada Place.

Likely safer to go to Victoria first, then visit Vancouver. You could have done a multicity ticket instead of a return flight. Perhaps it wouldn't be too costly to change your arrival airport to Victoria?

I believe there is a few BC forum posters who will give you more complete information but I would suggest going to Victoria first and being in Vancouver and near the terminal area so that you can depart on your cruise with no unexpected delays. We did a roundtrip vacation last June, part of which took us from Vancouver to Victoria. We took the Tsawwassen to Swarzt Bay Ferry. The trip from Vancouver wasn't difficult but involved multiple modes of travel and a bit of time getting to the ferry port. When we arrived at the Tsawwassen Ferry port for a 10:00am ferry the seas had become too rough and they had cancelled all ferry crossings. We were delayed more than an hour but our tickets allowed us to get on the next ferry instead of a similar sized one as our originally booked ferry. Once at Swartz Bay a city bus, which makes multiple stops, took us into Victoria. This may have proved an issue if we were trying to make a connection on the other end. In talking with Victoria locals while waiting for the ferries to sail again they commented about this being somewhat routine for them.

Do Victoria first.

August 31 is a Sunday: weekends tend to be extra busy for ferries especially in the summer.

I certainly wouldn't risk trying to get from Victoria to Vancouver for a same day cruise departure.

If you miss the boat, where is your first/best opportunity to catch up to it, and at what cost?

Hi Linda, you will be travelling on the September long weekend so every form of transportation to and from the Island will be incredibly busy and time consuming.
I’m going to suggest something different. As much as I love the Island, it can be hard to get to the mainland. A few weeks ago, I was able to take the Hullo ferry from downtown Nanaimo to downtown Vancouver. It takes 1 hour and 15 minutes, but you would have to get to Nanaimo on the Malahat highway on a long weekend. Why don’t you consider staying in Vancouver for the full 4 days? There is so much for you to see and do, and you can make your way to Canada Place on the Monday with no fuss. That would be if you promise to come back another time and see all Vancouver Island has to offer!

Hi Linda,

Personal opinion, but I think Susie has given you an excellent solution. With only two days in each city and traveling by ferry, I feel like you are shortchanging both over a busy holiday weekend. Spend the time in Vancouver and take advantage of all the wonderful sightseeing opportunities there.

We love Vancouver Island and Victoria, but our stays are usually over 4-6 days at least so we can explore more of the island. And taking the ferry requires bus rides, being there early, waits, delays, and who knows what. When going to the island or back we used to plan for a good part of each day in travel and that was with our own car.

You have plenty to fill your time in Vancouver!

I recently had a lovely day trip to Butchart Gardens and if I had a night to spend on Vancouver Island it would have been very easy. Go to Vancouver Island (Victoria) first.

You don't mention if you have a rental car or not. A rental car works for Vancouver Island and doesn't work for downtown Vancouver. Rent your car at the airport and head for ferry dock at Tsawwassen. This ferry takes about 1.5 hours to cross and then you still have a drive either into Victoria or to (my favorite) Butchart Gardens.
Spend an additional day and night there. Then take the ferry back drop the car at the airport, take the sky train in and do your visit in Vancouver.

My sister has a place in Point Roberts (very near to Tsawwassen) so that is where we usually start from and we take public transportation the whole way. You could do public transport as well, but I think you would be ahead with the car rental.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! It makes sense that I should skip Victoria this trip. My flight has booked, so I cannot change there. I was thinking about rental a car but if we stay at downtown Vancouver, there is no point to have a rental car.

I am from Ontario, and never been west coast. So If I skip Victoria, is it worth for me to rental a car and drive to Seattle for a trip? Just a thought.

Thanks, Linda

So If I skip Victoria, is it worth for me to rental a car and drive to Seattle for a trip? Just a thought

I think going to Whistler would be a better option than crossing the border twice.

So If I skip Victoria, is it worth for me to rental a car and drive to Seattle for a trip? Just a thought.

Personal opinion, of course. That's not a choice most Canadians are making at this time. It's a minimum 3 hour drive each way, and then you face the same parking problems in Seattle that you would have in Vancouver. If you've never visited the west coast before, then you have more than enough things to fill all of your time (and then some) without going to the US. And if you are going to rent a car anyway, then it would be faster going to Victoria from the Vancouver airport than to drive to Seattle. But ferry reservations would be a must- always necessary in the summer, and doubly so on a long weekend. The Peace Arch crossing into the States used to be a massive parking lot on holiday weekends, but that isn't an issue any more.

Oh boy I need to do better research. I thought Buchart Gardens is in Victoria. If I drive to Vancouver island, other than Buchart Gardens, what else can I see in Vancouver island? Where is the best area for hotel with reasonable price?

Whistler is another good option too if I only stay in Vancouver for 4.5 days, plus additional day when I get off cruise on 9/7 (evening flight home).

Butchart Gardens is in Greater Victoria, along the route from the ferry to the city of Victoria.

If you decide to base yourself in Vancouver for the days, you could consider a day tour by bus to Victoria including a visit to the Butchart Gardens. This is one example of a tour company
https://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-tour-butchart-gardens/

If you have never been to the west coast before, there is plenty to occupy you in Metro Vancouver including a day trip or two. I wouldn’t try to include Seattle as there are too many variables crossing the border, particularly on a long weekend.

Your days in Vancouver could include outings to Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge using the Seabus and transit; an outing to Steveston for a walk along the dyke and a nice lunch, using Canada Line and transit; English Bay to soak up the ocean and a walk along part of the Seawall. The Olympic Village area is also a lovely city area to walk and enjoy a meal and has Science World that the child in your group might enjoy.

I just checked the day trips to Victoria and Butchart Gardens (fabulous idea!) from Vancouver. It looks like the whole summer is booked up. Perhaps I didn’t fake book properly. All the more reason to return to the Island another time.

Thanks, Susie and Claire! The bus day trip to Victoria and Burchart Gardens is a great idea! It might be rushed but at least no worry of booking ferry and driving, etc. I will include this option in my planning.
If Vancouver is my base and sightseeing the surroundings, can I just stay near YVR airport? It looks like Canada line is very convenient from airport to downtown Vancouver, also convenient to Cruise terminal. It is easier for car parking if I rent a car at airport. Or should I stay near downtown the night before the cruise embarkment?

You may want to figure out how many days you need a car for and decide on the hotel from there. The cruise ship area is at Waterfront Station (Canada Line) and very central to all of downtown. The Richmond area hotels are mostly not close to YVR or Canada Line except for the Fairmont YVR (expensive), the River Rock (by Bridgeport Station on Canada Line) and a few hotels that are some blocks away from the Brighouse Canada Line station. If you can stay in the downtown area it will be more enjoyable and if you can manage mostly without a car, walking and transit will work well. The Seabus is a cheap way to get a harbour view while crossing over to North Vancouver, for example. I would also recommend not taking the HOHO bus if that has crossed your mind as out of town family described their experience to me and it wasn’t great.

I’m not an expert on Vancouver, but I understand the public transportation is excellent and a car isn’t necessary. I know a number of people who have stayed at the Sylvia Hotel. It’s a heritage hotel. Close to Downtown and Stanley Park. Again, you may not be able to book the bus/ferry trip to Victoria and Buchart in your time frame.
I will defer to others who are more familiar with Vancouver.

For the day tour to Victoria, the link I listed above shows availability late August/early September. I often see their tour vans around but I can’t comment on the quality of their tours. Susie is correct that between the buses, Canada Line, the Seabus and even the little ferries around Granville Island, you will easily get around to most places of interest.

Suggest you take a step back and seriously look at arrival day and time. Then plot out your days before you need to be at the cruise ship terminal. If you can find a bus tour to Butchart Gardens and it fits into your schedule, you can easily tour the gardens on your own if they provide transportation and will get you back to Vancouver.
There is so much to see and do in Vancouver; UBC Museum of Anthropology, Granville Island, Stanley Park, and the list goes on and on.

Good luck!

Okay I will book the hotel near downtown. @Sussi, Sylvia Hotel has sold out from July to Oct, must have a good reputation. I will keep an eye on any cancelation close to my trip date. @Claire, based on your suggestion, I checked several touristy spots and Steveston seems a very nice seaside town. We will definitely check it out. If we want to book a whale watching tour, is Steveston a good place to book the tour? We have whale watching on our Alaska Cruise list, but the whale watching excursion from cruise line seems more expensive than in Vancouver.

I am literally. staying at the Sylvia hotel right now. I don't think it is sold out in August. I just put in dates for Aug 27 -31 and it is available. I don't believe it is usually on other booking sites, you need to go to its own website. You can also call them. Ask for a quieter room even if it means not facing the beach as it will be the long weekend. ( partying on the beach!)
I think you will find enough in Vancouver for a 4 night stay without worrying about going to Victoria. Stanley park alone has enough for more than a day. You can walk from here to the false creek ferries and go to Granville Island or over to Kitsilano. You can rent bikes or walk miles around the sea wall. There is an enormous pool at Second beach. My biggest problem is I haven't done it all yet and leave the day after tomorrow! Have a great trip

Steveston is a good place to do a whale watching tour from, but if you are staying in downtown Vancouver it is a bit of a trek to get there. You will have to take the Canada Line train all the way to the last stop in Richmond (Brighouse), anbot 35 minutes, and then catch a bus to Steveston, another 20 minutes or so. Steveston Village is fairly small, but there are some interesting shops, and you can tour the old cannery, and walk along the boardwalk to the old Japanese fishing village.
Here is the link to the transit website: https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps

Taking a whale watching tour from Vancouver, you are looking to sight orcas. There could be other whales too.

Taking a whale watching tour from Juneau, you will see many humpback whales. Tours offered at the pier will be half the price of a cruise provided tour. Unless you have a short stay in Juneau, the tours leave a lot of time to be back to the ship.

Linda, I will defer to Anita’s knowledge about whale watching excursions in Steveston. If you decide to do it, Steveston is a lovely spot as has been mentioned and could be a nice outing beyond the central core of Vancouver. When we travel we often take a bus to a further out point to get a feel for more ‘regular’ neighbourhoods beyond the tourist areas. All the best for your trip!

A little pricey, but do you know there is a Harbour to Harbour flight? The ferry through the islands to Victoria is a scenic adventure in itself, but consider flying from Victoria Harbour to Vancouver as it sets you very near the cruise terminal. It's worth comparing the costs. The ferry isn't cheap.
Otherwise, yes, the ferry/bus trip...twice..may feel arduous when only a few days on the coast.
Butchart Gardens is some distance from downtown Victoria. You can look at walking off the ferry in Tswassen and Uber to the Gardens...there also used to be a bus stop at Keatings Crossroads much nearer to Gardens....but not sure whether Connector still offers that service.

As noted, there is so much to do in Vancouver. A downtown Victoria taxi to Butchart Gardens will always be well over $50 each way, btw. Our return city bus did not appear, so we hailed a taxi. We independently enjoyed spectacular Butchart Gardens as a Knott's Berry Farm -like day out and lunch (booking required), but botanically, they rely far too much on common "Home Depot" annuals. The maintenance and planting is impeccable, I'm talking about plant varieties.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I am going to book the hotels in Vancouver for the base. First 2 nights (8/27-8/28) will stay in downtown vancouver and walk around town or take public transit for short distance. the 3rd and 4th nights we will move to either airport area or outskirt of Vancouver, and we will rent a car at YVR airport as someone suggested, so we can drive to Vancouver island or Steveston town more conveniently. I assume if I want to visit Vancouver island, I will need to take the same ferry that goes to Victoria, right? With a car, the travel should be a little bit easier, isn't it?

Whale watch is a top bucket list. I am torn between Vancouver and Juneau. Someone mentioned Vancouver mainly see orcas, and Juneau will see hampback whales. Who doesn't want to see hamppack whales? I am on Royal Caribbean Cruise and the stop over Juneau is only 5hrs (2:30pm - 7:30pm). It is a short stop, and I want to book a local excursion instead of Cruise line offered (fairly expensive) to save some money. Is it possible?

I still feel like you are going about this backwards. Go to Vancouver Island first and then stay in downtown Vancouver right before your cruise. It makes much more sense.

You have been given some really good advice.

Renting a car in Vancouver and taking the ferry to Swartz Bay - Victoria will take most of a day with having to be there 90 minutes before departure, 1 1/2 hour transit, getting off the ferry and then figuring out where you want to go. And a holiday weekend.

I want to temper your expectations on seeing whales. There is no guarantee. On all of our travels around BC and the ferries to Vancouver Island, we have never seen any kind of whale. We were very lucky in Alaska, but it was by chance.

Good luck!

A bit of false information in previous post. Absolutely no reason to be at ferry dock 90
Minutes before sailing. I’d aim for 45.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I am going to book the hotels in Vancouver for the base. First 2 nights (8/27-8/28) will stay in downtown vancouver and walk around town or take public transit for short distance. the 3rd and 4th nights we will move to either airport area or outskirt of Vancouver, and we will rent a car at YVR airport as someone suggested, so we can drive to Vancouver island or Steveston town more conveniently. I assume if I want to visit Vancouver island, I will need to take the same ferry that goes to Victoria, right? With a car, the travel should be a little bit easier, isn't it?

I interpret this to mean you would plan to go to Vancouver Island and return on the same day. That would entail a lot of waiting in line for and riding the ferry, and not much time for 'visiting' the Island.

I truly hope you plan to spend the night before you sail on the Mainland, and not on the Island

I've only been looking at Butchart recently for other totally unconnected reasons. There is a BC Transit bus, #81 from Swartz Bay ferry terminal to Butchart Gardens.

Splurge for the city-to-city helicopter (https://helijet.com/). Reasonable fares.

Faulty memory on my part. BC Ferries says 45-60 minutes prior to departure. On a busy holiday weekend, I would aim for 60 minutes and you must have a reservation.

Yes, it says to be at the ticket booth 30-45 minutes before your ferry reservation, but in high season you can certainly arrive then, but might spend even more time in the line to actual get to the ticket booth.
In February we nearly missed our boat as the vehicles in front of us in line were taking so long to be processed.
Get there at least an hour before your boat is due to leave.

There are two ferry terminals to Vancouver Island: Tsawwassen is the one to get the ferries to Victoria.
Between Vancouver and Tsawwassen is a busy route, with a tunnel that can get very backed up at rush hour time.

Linda, I can certainly understand the lure of Victoria and Vancouver island, but I truly believe that, given the time you have, you should spend it all in Vancouver. To rent a car and get to the ferry and then lodgings in Victoria is going to take several hours, and then you will have to repeat the process to come back for your cruise. To make the most of that time, you will have to be on the 7am ferry as the crossing takes an hour and a half. This means you will have to be at the ferry terminal 30-45 minutes earlier than that, and you MUST have a reservation. The problem with driving to the ferry on a weekday is that the tunnel you have to go through will likely only be one lane in that direction. They do this because the majority of the traffic is going the other way into Vancouver. You could end up in a traffic jam. You could do this by transit, and get on the ferry as a foot passenger, but would still have to go through the tunnel. There is so much to see and do in Vancouver, without a car, including some pretty nice gardens, that I don’t think you will regret spending the entire time in Vancouver.

Linda, I am thinking you may be losing some time for sightseeing by changing hotels in the middle of your visit from downtown to Richmond and overcomplicating your short visit. The distance from downtown Vancouver to YVR or even Steveston isn’t enough to warrant a change especially if using Canada Line. If you are thinking of going to Victoria for the day, and want to drive yourselves, I believe there are options to rent cars at locations in addition to YVR. As SJ mentions, your stay overlaps with the long weekend and the trip to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal can be impacted by the Hwy 99 Deas Tunnel that takes you out of Richmond. Once you make your decision about where you want to do a whale watching outing, that will determine the number of days available for Victoria and Vancouver sightseeing. If Victoria for at least the day is a priority, and you opt to do the whale watching as part of your cruise, I would suggest skipping Steveston/Richmond and spending your 3 remaining days in the City of Vancouver itself ie Stanley Park, Seawall, Granville Island, UBC Museum of Anthropology if of interest etc.

Anita and I were writing at the same time:)