Seeking advice for a Seattle/Vancouver trip

[Frwinkley]

Anyone ever do such a trip in a 8 day period?

We would be flying from the East Coast. I am specifically interested in how to maximize our time and how best to travel between Seattle and Vancouver. I like the idea of flying into one city and returning from the other, but a one way car rental is pricey because of the drop off charges. Travelers would be myself and my husband. We are thinking late June or early July.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dvc cruiser]

We took the train from Seattle to Vancouver and it was a great way to travel. I would recommend getting the upgrade to business class if you can. You get on first and you get off first to get threw customs. We then took the train back to Seattle after our cruise. Both the train and plane ticket were cheaper then flying to Vancouver and the train ride was very scenic and relaxing.

 

[Pooh2]

We took the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle to Vancouver and back. It is a beautiful 4 hour train ride along the coast.

I would recommend business class for the larger seats, loading and off loading before the coach cars.

 

[chalee94]

i found it was a lot cheaper to fly to and from seattle and drive up to vancouver. not sure if that is still true.

i liked the granville island area of vancouver. the sandbar restaurant was terrific but that was a while back so it could have dropped off a bit since then.

i also liked the temperate rainforest with the suspension bridge. we took a couple of hours to explore the harbour by boat - be sure to look for the building with the tree on top...

definitely take a day from vancouver and drive up the coast to whistler - beautiful scenery - maybe stop halfway around squamish for a nature hike if that's your thing.

my favorite part about visiting seattle was the drive up mt rainier - there's still snow up there in the summer. did the pike place fish market and what-was-then-the experience music project...but really loved vancouver a lot more...

i did not go to victoria but would like to go back to see the butchart gardens - i love that area of epcot-canada.

 

[afan]

I agree about the train. Driving across the border at the Peace Arch, which is the easiest when you don't know your way around, can take a few hours in the summer. And the drive between the two cities can be a bit boring, but maybe I've done it too many time

8 days is enough though depending on what you want to do you could spend that much time in either city going to places outside of it. If you are looking to do touristy stuff and just stay in the downtown areas you may not want a rental car in either place. Vancouver has the sky train and while I haven't taken it, I've been looking into it for a trip next month. I believe you can take it from the airport to downtown. I'm going up for a Canucks game and want to stay the night near the arena, but most hotels are more than I want to spend and charge for parking. If you need a car for only part of your stay I would find out if there are ways to rent from downtown so you don't have to pay parking fees and for a car you aren't using.

As far as Seattle, there's plenty to do around town, but we don't have very good public transportation. There's kind of lightrail, you can get it from the airport to downtownish, but I'm not sure I would recommend it. It doesn't go through the best of areas to get there and I don't know if it goes into downtown enough for where you might stay. Like with Vancouver, the places downtown will charge for parking, but I think you'll want a car. You can see a lot of the stuff in Seattle - the waterfront, Pike's Place Market, take the monorail to Seattle Center, in one day, especially in the summer when the sun doesn't go down until around 9pm.

From there, there's Mt Rainier, Snoqualmie Falls, the ballard locks are fun (I think it's the chittenden locks), museum of flight, take a ferry to bainbridge island or somewhere just to take it or get off and explore, drive to West Seattle to see Alki Beach and another view of Seattle (this shows how far away the Space Needle really is from downtown).

It's about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive to Vancouver from Seattle, not counting the time it takes to cross the border.

 

[TabbyShabby]

I love living in Seattle because of the proximity to Canada. I actually live downtown, in Pioneer Square, and while the neighborhood has the appearance of being rough, you'll be fine taking the lightrail from the airport. The lightrail should be close enough to any hotels from Pioneer Square to Downtown, even Capital Hill. While I wouldn't recommend it at night, more because most of the older buildings arent lit very well and can be difficult to read their numbers, during the day you would be fine. I've lived downtown for over 10 years and travel a lot for work and the lightrail has been fantastic! Seattle isn't a "car city". Parking is expensive, if you can find it.

I second the Amtrak to Canada! It's a beautiful trip, and as mentioned before, business class is the way to go. Getting stuck at the boarder is a real buzzkill and if you drive, you're more than likely going to get stuck in it.

Welcome! Seattle is a heck of a city! I wouldn't live anywhere else.

 

[hsmamato2]

i also liked the temperate rainforest with the suspension bridge. we took a couple of hours to explore the harbour by boat - be sure to look for the building with the tree on top...
.

this bridge and park sound so cool.... are they a daylight hours only place? Our cruise ship will be stopping for just the evening,I believe, and this place sounds remarkable.....

 

[chalee94]

I think they are daytime only, yes.

 

[kid-at-heart]

I love living in Seattle because of the proximity to Canada. I actually live downtown, in Pioneer Square, and while the neighborhood has the appearance of being rough, you'll be fine taking the lightrail from the airport. The lightrail should be close enough to any hotels from Pioneer Square to Downtown, even Capital Hill. While I wouldn't recommend it at night, more because most of the older buildings arent lit very well and can be difficult to read their numbers, during the day you would be fine. I've lived downtown for over 10 years and travel a lot for work and the lightrail has been fantastic! Seattle isn't a "car city". Parking is expensive, if you can find it.

I second the Amtrak to Canada! It's a beautiful trip, and as mentioned before, business class is the way to go. Getting stuck at the boarder is a real buzzkill and if you drive, you're more than likely going to get stuck in it.

Welcome! Seattle is a heck of a city! I wouldn't live anywhere else.

How do you get from SeaTac to Amtrak? I lived in Seattle many, many years ago (long before "light rail") and at that time it was a real pain going from the airport to the train station without a car. Has that changed?

 

[TabbyShabby]

They've really made it quite easy, which is shocking since nothing involving Seattle seems to be easy. You can take lightrail north from the airport and get off at the International District stop. King Street Station is right there. Especially fun on game days since the stadiums are down there.

 

[hsmamato2]

is the light rail a good choice to get from the airport to a downtown hotel?

 

[TabbyShabby]

I'd say so. I live in Pioneer Square, on 2nd and Yessler, down by the waterfront, and I take light rail to the airport at least once a month. It's incredibly convenient. A few factors might be different for me, however. I usually just have a carry on bag and backpack, if you have a lot of luggage that doesn't mean it's still not a good option, it just means a little more work lugging them on and off, especially during rush hour. Also, depending on where your hotel is, the streets from the light rail station to your hotel can be steep. Like, streets of San Fransisco steep. And of course, it is worth it to mention, parts of downtown you might not want to be hauling your luggage around at night.

Once you have a room I'd be happy to tell you specifics (which stop to get off at, things like that). A note, while getting around Seattle is easy with public transportation (download One Bus Away and be forever thankful for it), if you plan on doing much outside of the city, you'll want a car. Feel free to ask all the questions. I'm happy to help.

And of course, since they're playing in a few hours, the obligatory gameday greeting must be said, GO HAWKS!

 

[tpmac68]

I went on a cruise with the family in 2014 that left from Vancouver. We flew into Seattle and took the light rail to our Pioneer Square hotel. The next day we had tickets to a Mariners game which was within easy walking distance. We also stopped at the Gold Rush museum which was interesting and free! The day after we had a ten minute walk to the Amtrak station at around 630am. There were a few homeless folks milling about but it was no problem. The train ride to Vancouver was very nice and even the regular seats were roomy. I forget the total price but for the five of us it was only a little over $100. We took the Vancouver Skyrail to our hotel at the Burrard stop which again was really easy. Vancouver was really a beautiful city (every office building seemed to have a water feature!) and our favorite activity was renting bicycles and riding around Stanley Island. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Frwinkley]

OP here:
Thank you so much for all of this great information.
Is there a particular area that provides the best hotel options?
I think we most likely will rent a car so that we can see more of both areas. What would be the best day/time to cross the border?

 

[Judique]

Take the ferry. It could double as a whale watching trip as well.

 

[hsmamato2]

Take the ferry. It could double as a whale watching trip as well.

can you explain more?

 

[afan]

can you explain more?

In the summer it's not uncommon for whales to be in Puget sound. Taking a ferry is a great way to see other parts of the area and you might see a whale or more.

Not all ferries go from Seattle and you would probably have better luck taking one out of anacortes but the ones from Seattle give views of the city. And while it's not an all the time thing, whales do come all the way in to Seattle sometimes.

 

[richmo]

We took a Disney cruise out of Vancouver a few years ago...flying into Seattle was much, much less expensive than Vancouver. We wound up renting a car for the entire period (including the cruise) and driving between Vancouver and Seattle. The drive between isn't bad at all, although getting thru customs coming back into the USA was a little slow.

Before the cruise, for a day and a half we stayed just outside Seattle (Tukwila), but drove into town: Space Needle, Experience Music Project, Museum of Flight and a Mariners game. We also took a ride up to Whistler, BC before the cruise and stayed overnight there (not ski season, but a beautiful ride on the Sea to Sky highway. Did one night pre-cruise in Vancouver - the main thing we did there was take a bike ride around Stanley Park. Also, the transit system in Vancouver is really good...

 

[Judique]

Take the ferry. It could double as a whale watching trip as well.

A few years back, my ex's family were having a family reunion at Whistler in BC. My college age at the time daughter wanted to attend but had fairly limited resources. So we did a bit of research and came up with a way to cut her expenses.

She flew from Washington, DC area to Seattle on Southwest for a low fare and used the ferry out of Port Angeles to get to Victoria and then on to Vancouver. While she was on the ferry, she was narrating the trip to me via cell phone and this included whale sightings. The cost was the key factor at the time, so she bused to the ferry as well. This was pretty bare bones travel and included staying in some sort of hostels in Seattle and Victoria, but she had the best time, and found some great little restaurants and generally had an excellent adventure. She had a couple of days in Seattle, touring a bit there and did Butchart Gardens in Victoria, then on to Whistler to enjoy with her Dad on his dime. The whales were sort of a bonus.