Which tour group in Vancouver for an all day trip to Victoria?

[dancing]

We are staying in Vancouver 3 nights and want to go to Victoria for an all day trip. Which tour company is the best? We want to have some time on our own as well unless a tour company can give us what we want to see/do. For us it is Royal British museum, the gardens ,walking along the pier and a horse and buggy ride.

[maryann ns]

I have no personal knowledge but a quick search found these threads on tripadvisor:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154944-i206-k2054003-One_Day_trip_to_Victoria_from_Vancouver-Vancouver_Island_British_Columbia.html

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154945-i207-k2995321-One_day_trip_by_ferry_to_Victoria_taxi_to_Butchart-Victoria_Vancouver_Island_British_Columbia.html

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154943-i81-k520427-One_day_trip_from_Vancouver_to_Victoria_BC_is_it_worth-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html

[yyjguy]

Westcoast Sightseeing offers a very good product, and are very reliable. Your plans are just a bit ambitious though, as all day trips do stop at Butchart Gardens thus your free time in the city might not allow time to accomplish all on your list. I'd forgo the horse and carriage, and would hit the Musuem and the harbour area walk.

[scottbee]

We are staying in Vancouver 3 nights and want to go to Victoria for an all day trip. Which tour company is the best? We want to have some time on our own as well unless a tour company can give us what we want to see/do. For us it is Royal British museum, the gardens ,walking along the pier and a horse and buggy ride.

 

What you're suggesting is all pretty easy to do on your own, with the local bus system, and you'll accomplish it for less than 1/2 of what an organized tour would cost

 

Vancouver -> Tsawwassen (where the ferries leave from) take the Canada Line toward the airport, get off at Bridgeport, and get on a 620 bus straight to Tsawwassen for $5.00 total (3 zone ticket)

Walk on the Ferry ($14.50) to Swartz Bay

Ferry -> Butchart; take the #81 bus straight from the ferry to Butchart (note this bus only meets the odd hour ferries)

Butchart -> Downtown, take the #75 bus

Downtown -> Swartz Bay; take the #70 bus

Swartz Bay -> Tsawwassen ferry

Tsawwassen -> Vancouver; 620/Skytrain (reverse of above)

 

Each of these trips is pretty straight forward, and it gives you a chance to spend the time doing the things you want to do.

[hbear]

What you're suggesting is all pretty easy to do on your own, with the local bus system, and you'll accomplish it for less than 1/2 of what an organized tour would cost

 

Vancouver -> Tsawwassen (where the ferries leave from) take the Canada Line toward the airport, get off at Bridgeport, and get on a 620 bus straight to Tsawwassen for $5.00 total (3 zone ticket)

Walk on the Ferry ($14.50) to Swartz Bay

Ferry -> Butchart; take the #81 bus straight from the ferry to Butchart (note this bus only meets the odd hour ferries)

Butchart -> Downtown, take the #75 bus

Downtown -> Swartz Bay; take the #70 bus

Swartz Bay -> Tsawwassen ferry

Tsawwassen -> Vancouver; 620/Skytrain (reverse of above)

 

Each of these trips is pretty straight forward, and it gives you a chance to spend the time doing the things you want to do.

 

The information that you and Dennis offer is greatly appreciated - it's so difficult to plan a trip when not familiar with the area.

 

I don't mean to get you in the middle of a family squabble but I would appreciate your thoughts:

 

We arrive in Vancouver via the HAL dock north end of town. We plan to spend three days. I've just about narrowed in on the Ramada Inn because of it's central location and near the airport. DH has said forget about seeing Victoria, it's too far away. Your instructions make it sound fairly simple to get there, and I would wish to spend one day and one night. My questions are, can we see most of Vancouver in two days, is three more than enough?

 

If I could talk him into Victoria, how would we get there from the dock? We probably wouldn't want to be schlepping luggage on public transportation

 

Thank you

[scottbee]

The information that you and Dennis offer is greatly appreciated - it's so difficult to plan a trip when not familiar with the area.

 

I don't mean to get you in the middle of a family squabble but I would appreciate your thoughts:

 

We arrive in Vancouver via the HAL dock north end of town. We plan to spend three days. I've just about narrowed in on the Ramada Inn because of it's central location and near the airport. DH has said forget about seeing Victoria, it's too far away. Your instructions make it sound fairly simple to get there, and I would wish to spend one day and one night. My questions are, can we see most of Vancouver in two days, is three more than enough?

 

If I could talk him into Victoria, how would we get there from the dock? We probably wouldn't want to be schlepping luggage on public transportation

 

Thank you

 

Firstly; a map to get your bearings http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212770407613531027445.000467645fcda21dd87b2&hl=en&doflg=ptm&ie=UTF8&ll=49.243604,-123.026619&spn=0.16205,0.4422&z=12

 

The HAL dock isn't "North end of town", it is right smack downtown. The downtown area is a small compact peninsula, with Stanley Park, and the Lion's Gate bridge to "North Vancouver". On the above map, it's the really busy part of the map!

 

Secondly, "The" Ramada Inn; there are at least 4 of them I can think of, one is in the downtown area, one near the airport, one on Kingsway, one in Coquitlam etc etc. Make sure you understand which one you're booking.

 

If you haven't booked your flights, look into booking the return from YYJ/Victoria instead of YVR/Vancouver; then you can visit Victoria, and not have to ferry back to the mainland in order to fly home.

 

If you don't want to shlep luggage, your options are the Pacific Coachline bus http://pacificcoach.com/ which does the complete trip including the ferry and does make it easier, but it's 2½ times the price. Another option is floatplane service from the floatplane docks just west of Canada Place cruise terminal to downtown Victoria, but it's pricy at about $140/ea way. However, it reduces a 4½ hr trip down to under an hour.

[hbear]

“Firstly; a map to get your bearings http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0...05,0.4422&z=12”

 

Thank you for the map link. I spent a long morning yesterday with a travel agent at AAA (who BTW was great) and she gave me maps of Canada, BC and Vancouver.

 

“The HAL dock isn't "North end of town", it is right smack downtown. The downtown area is a small compact peninsula, with Stanley Park, and the Lion's Gate bridge to "North Vancouver". On the above map, it's the really busy part of the map!”

 

Oops. As I looked at the Vancouver map it appeared to me to be the north end of town. An example of why I’ve come to you – you can straighten me out!

 

“Secondly, "The" Ramada Inn; there are at least 4 of them I can think of, one is in the downtown area, one near the airport, one on Kingsway, one in Coquitlam etc etc. Make sure you understand which one you're booking.”

 

The AAA travel agent found this Ramada near the airport and it seemed to us to be a good location. I haven’t booked it yet because of this Victoria issue.

 

“If you haven't booked your flights, look into booking the return from YYJ/Victoria instead of YVR/Vancouver; then you can visit Victoria, and not have to ferry back to the mainland in order to fly home.”

 

Our flights are booked. If I had done more research we could have flown out of YYJ or Seattle. Darn.

 

“If you don't want to shlep luggage, your options are the Pacific Coachline bus http://pacificcoach.com/ which does the complete trip including the ferry and does make it easier, but it's 2½ times the price. Another option is floatplane service from the floatplane docks just west of Canada Place cruise terminal to downtown Victoria, but it's pricy at about $140/ea way. However, it reduces a 4½ hr trip down to under an hour.”

 

I’ve also thought about storing the large suitcases somewhere near the dock for a day and taking just overnighters to Victoria.

 

Thanks again.