Vancouver Shuttles To and From

[masterdrago]

On our last cruise, we took an RCI bus/shuttle to the airport to pick up a rent car to drive ourselves to Seattle. Looking at next cruise to fly into Vancouver and possibly stay a day or two prior to northbound cruise. Have not decided where to stay yet but do most hotels have shuttles from the airport and then to the cruise terminal? I suspect that while we are touring Vancouver, we will use public trans (TransLink, Ferries, SkyTrain, etc). We definitely will want to visit Butchart Gardens while there. Any thoughts or advice? We are in the very pre-planning mode right now.

[cruiseryyc]

Sorry to burst you bubble but no hotels have shuttles to the cruise terminal.  Hotels out in Richmond near the airport usually have shuttles to/from the airport but not downtown.

 

To visit Butchart Gardens you will need an entire day as it is located on Vancouver Island near Victoria.  There are tours that leave from Vancouver but it is about a 14 hour tour.  If you have deep pockets you could look at taking a flight tour over. 

 

https://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-butchart-gardens-tour/

 

https://www.butchartgardens.com/packages/

 

https://www.harbourair.com/tours/spend-the-day-in-victoria/

[mapleleaves]

The downtown hotels are about 30 minutes from the airport so if you find a hotel that includes a shuttle, you'll pay thru the nose for that ride.  

Taxi fares FROM the airport into the city have fixed rates by zone, so a cab to downtown, near the Canada Place is about $40.  You can google for current prices.

Martincath will be along hopefully with input from a local perspective.  In the past she has noted the YMCA as an economical option for downtown.  It's not a hostel/bunkbed/shared room environment as you would think.  If I didn't have a friend in town to stay with, I'd definitely stay here:   https://www.ywcavan.org/hotel

A couple of trip reports have mentioned it with good reviews.

 

As for Butchart, it looks close on a map, but it's not a simple trip to do in a day and requires some coordination of transfers.  I'm rounding up but this is how it looks:  first a 1hr ride from the city to the ferry terminal in Twassassen, then 90 minutes on the ferry to Swartz Bay in Sidney (a beautiful ride), then a 30 drive to downtown Victoria, then a 30 minute excursion bus to Butchart.  That's how it becomes a 14 day day !   

You can use the BC Connector as a transfer to the ferry at both ends of the trip.  

Another option is to drive yourself, but it's kinda pricey to take a car on the ferry.  But you're not quite as tied to a schedule and there's less coordination.  Or take a cab to the gardens when you get off the ferry.

 

If you want to see Butchart, I'd do an overnight trip.  Since you drove from Seattle last time, maybe do that again, but drive to Port Angeles from Seatac and take the Blackball Ferry (Coho) to Victoria and overnight.  Then drive yourself to the gardens in the morning, then ferry to Twassassen in the evening and drop the car off at YVR or downtown..  OR fly into YVR and go directly to the ferry.

 

Lots of options.  You'll need to work out the scheduling and pricing of each to see what works best for you.

[masterdrago]

Thanks for the suggestions Mapleleaves. Making notes🙂  Especially driving directly from Seattle staying on Vancouver Island. We are in the very pre-planning stage for a late summer 2021 trip.

Edited January 24, 2020 by masterdrago

[Northern Aurora]

For those flying into Vancouver and staying at a downtown hotel, iIn September 2018 the cab fare from the Vancouver Airport to the Auberge Hotel was CAN$31.  Very reasonable cost.  

 

We have stayed on Vancouver Island several times.  There are a number of attractions in and around Victoria, not just Butchart, so anyone staying in Victoria will have no issues in filling their time.

[martincath]

Only change to above info is cab rates - a whole extra buck to downtown hotels now from YVR, $32. But that's just US$24 😉

 

I agree completely that any trip to the Island should be at least an overnight. There's a lot more to it than just Butchart - and in those rare cases where gardens are the only thing someone wants to see it's a LOT more time-efficient to just visit multiple gardens in Vancouver instead, as well as cheaper.

 

If you did decide to fly to Seattle again I'd recommend taking a ferry to Victoria as suggested above - but price up simply flying to YYJ as well as the difference in total rental car/ferry costs on the route suggested versus traveling as foot pax from downtown Seattle on the Clipper, then renting a car in Victoria (you can shuttle or even take a transit bus to Butchart, but as soon as you get away from the Victoria area a rental car is a necessity for efficient exploration of the rest of the Island).

 

At the very least with a rental car I'd drive up to Nanaimo, pootle around near there for half a day checking out Cathedral Grove and some of the little villages like Coombes. Then instead of driving back down toward Victoria again, take the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland - it's a MUCH nicer drive into Vancouver than from Tsawwassen even if you just go straight there, but if you spend even an extra hour going up to Squamish first you can take in some of the best parts of the Sea to Sky highway. This isn't just one of the all-time greatest scenic drives on the planet, there are also things to see & do like gorgeous waterfalls just off the road, gondola rides, and the Britannia Mining Museum so you can explore both on top and underneath a mountain on the same day!

 

Do stay downtown in Vancouver - there's so much to see and do within walking distance of ANY downtown hotel that you could spend a week here. The Y already got mentioned, and it remains the best deal in the region (and with the new tower construction complete, by late summer there will be about twice as many rooms in this constantly-sold-out hotel - not sure what proportion they're making into 'classic' two people with private bathroom compared to shared bathrooms & big family rooms) but you can also get pretty good rates at condo hotels especially if 'we' is more than 2 people.

 

[masterdrago]

Thanks Martincath. Looks like we could easily spend more than 36 hours there. Lots to consider.

[Jnsplace1]

Question, since I'll be flying into Vancouver and heading straight to the cruise port.  Is it worth doing the transfer, or just pickup a taxi?  there are two of us.  Have plenty of time before ship departs.  Not sure what is around the cruise terminal to explore.

[martincath]

7 hours ago, Jnsplace1 said:

Question, since I'll be flying into Vancouver and heading straight to the cruise port.  Is it worth doing the transfer, or just pickup a taxi?  there are two of us.  Have plenty of time before ship departs.  Not sure what is around the cruise terminal to explore.

Not sure what you mean by "doing the transfer" - you mean taking a cruiseline transfer? Never, ever, under any circumstances are they sensible here - they're literally the same cost as a cab for each person! As to what to do: the pier is in the heart of the downtown core, so you have many of Vancouver's delights within walking distance...

[loving retirement]

Not really on topic, but since you mentioned cab fares - thank you - do cabs take credit card or just CAD?  In August we will take cab from airport to hotel then hotel to cruise terminal.

[martincath]

9 minutes ago, loving retirement said:

Not really on topic, but since you mentioned cab fares - thank you - do cabs take credit card or just CAD?  In August we will take cab from airport to hotel then hotel to cruise terminal.

Visa & MasterCard - no Discovery (pretty much the same in retail stores, restos too - AmEx fairly often, Discovery almost never, Visa/MC almost universal). No extra charge allowed for paying with credit cards in cabs either, so frankly it's your cheapest payment option even if you have a typical 2.5% Foreign Transaction Fee card. The unofficial exchange rate given for USD is rarely close to the interbank rates but is rounded to the most convenient whole number of bucks that ensures the driver doesn't lose out by the time they factor in their own time and whatever exchange rate they can get locally.

 

I'd expect to be quoted around US$25-27, instead of the theoretical US$24, for a US Cash cab ride to a downtown hotel from YVR, so most folks will hand over $30 to cover the tip as well. Pay by CC and a fair rate is CAD$32 plus tip, or about USD$28 with a 2.5% FTF. So a couple of bucks less - no big whoop if it's the only thing you buy locally in USD, but it really does add up when you start buying souvenirs using USD too, so even folks without a fee-free credit card really should use their cards instead of cash as much as possible.

[KristyMisty14]

we finally got uber and Lyft like litteraly last week, so that's option as well