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Trip Ideas
- Best of Vancouver and Victoria
- Vancouver Island: High Tea to Low Tide
- Vancouver’s Totem Poles
- Vancouver’s Best Hiking
- Family Fun in Vancouver & Victoria
- Focus on Vancouver and Victoria
- Vancouver Weekend Getaway
- Victoria Weekend Getaway
- A Tour Through Time
- Inside Passage Cruises
- Outdoor Adventures
- Winter Fun in Vancouver & Victoria
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Ferries ply three different routes between Washington state and Victoria, but the only ferries into Vancouver cross directly from Vancouver Island (see Between Vancouver and Victoria under Getting Around).
Washington State and Seattle to Victoria
Four companies provide a ferry link between Washington state and Victoria. Clipper Navigation (800/888-2535, www.clippervacations.com, adult US$86 one-way, US$140 round-trip) has a passenger-only service departing Seattle’s Pier 69 up to five times daily in summer and less frequently the rest of the year. Washington State Ferries (206/464-6400, 250/381-1551, or 888/808-7977, www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries, adult US$16, senior US$8, youth US$12.80, vehicle and driver US$53.70) link Anacortes, north of Seattle, with Sidney, 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Victoria. A link between Port Angeles and Victoria is made by the MV Coho (250/386-2202 or 360/457-4491, www.cohoferry.com, adult US$11.50, child US$5.75, vehicle and driver US$44) year-round and the passenger-only Victoria Express (250/361-9144 or 360/452-8088, www.victoriaexpress.com, US$12.50 pp each way) in summer only.
Alaska Marine Highway System
The Alaska Marine Highway System (907/465-3941 or 800/642-0066, www.dot.state.ak.us /amhs) is an extensive network of government-run ferries through Alaska’s Inside Passage and along the British Columbia coast. Although these ferries don’t stop at Vancouver, their main southern terminus is just 70 kilometers (43 miles) away at Bellingham, in Washington state. Because of international border regulations, the only Canadian port of entry used by the ferry system is Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Make all reservations as far in advance as possible.
From the southeastern Alaska town of Ketchikan, an alternative to the nonstop two-day trip to Bellingham is to catch an Alaska Marine Highway ferry to Prince Rupert, then a BC Ferries vessel to Port Hardy, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, from where it’s a scenic drive down to Nanaimo or Victoria for the short hop across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver with BC Ferries. This is a great way to include Vancouver Island and Vancouver in your northern itinerary without backtracking and at a similar cost.
© Andrew Hempstead, from Moon Western Canada, 3rd Edition
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