There are three ways to reach
Vancouver Island - by bus and
ferry, car and ferry, or air. Most
people travelling under their own
steam from Vancouver use the first
means, which is a simple matter of
buying an all-inclusive
through-ticket to Victoria. More
involved crossings to other points
on the island, however, whether
from the Canadian or US mainlands,
are worth considering if you wish
to skip Victoria and head as
quickly as possible to Port Hardy
for the Inside Passage ferry
connections, or to Strathcona or
the Pacific Rim parks. You can
also reach Victoria directly from
Vancouver Airport by inclusive
coach and ferry arrangements.
Foot passengers from Vancouver
If you're without your own
transport, the most painless way
to Victoria from Vancouver is to
buy a Pacific Coach Lines (PCL;
tel 604/662-8074 in Vancouver,
250/385-4411 or 385-3348 in
Victoria; toll free tel
1-800/661-1725) ticket at the
Vancouver bus terminal at 1150
Station St, which takes you,
inclusive of the ferry crossing
and journeys to and from ferry
terminals at both ends, to
Victoria's central bus station
at 700 Douglas St. Buses leave
hourly in the summer (first bus
5.45am; last bus 8.45pm from
July to early Sept, 7.45pm the
rest of the year), every two
hours in the winter: total
journey time is about 3hr 30min
and a single ticket costs $26.50
($51 return). No bookings are
necessary or taken: overflow
passengers are simply put on
another coach. The ferry
crossing takes 95 minutes, and
offers some stunning views as
the boat navigates the narrow
channels between the Gulf
Islands en route. Be sure to
keep your ticket stub for
reboarding the bus after the
crossing. Coach drivers give you
all the practical details en
route. It's also worth stocking
up on food on board, as
subsidized ferry meals are
famously cheap (queues form
instantly). You can save
yourself about $15 by using
public transport at each end and
buying a ferry ticket separately
($9 peak season July to early
Sept; $8.50 shoulder mid-March
to June, mid-Sept to mid Nov
& mid-Dec-Jan 1; $7.50 the
rest of the year), but for the
extra hassle and time involved
it hardly seems worth it. A
similar all-inclusive bus/ferry
arrangement also operates from
Vancouver to Nanaimo on
Vancouver Island via the
Horseshoe Bay Terminal, about
fifteen minutes north of West
Vancouver on Hwy 1. You can
reach the Horseshoe Bay Terminal
by taking bus #250 or #257 from
Georgia Street. The ferry
charges are the same for foot
passengers.
By car from British Columbia
BC Ferries operates four routes
to the island across the Georgia
Strait from mainland British
Columbia (tel 1-888/223-3779
from anywhere in BC; otherwise
tel 604/444-2890 or tel
250/386-3431 in Vancouver,
Victoria or outside BC, www.bcferries.com
). Reservations on all routes
are essential in summer if you
want to avoid long waits, and
can be made up to 90 minutes
prior to sailing. The most
direct and heavily used by
Victoria-Vancouver passengers is
the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay
connection, the route used by
Pacific Coach Lines' buses.
Tsawwassen is about a
forty-minute drive south of
downtown Vancouver; Swartz Bay
is the same distance north of
Victoria. Ferries ply the route
almost continuously from 7am to
10pm (sixteen sailings daily in
summer, minimum of eight daily
in winter). Car tickets cost $32
at weekends (noon Fri to last
sailing on Sun) and $30 on
weekdays in high season
($28.75/$27 in shoulder season,
$24.25/$22.75 in low. A bike
costs $2.50 year-round. The
Mid-Island Express from
Tsawwassen to Nanaimo, (Duke
Point terminal) midway up the
island, has eight or so
departures daily on the two-hour
crossing. More boats cover the
Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo (Departure
Bay terminal) route, a 95-minute
journey from a terminal about
fifteen-minutes' drive from West
Vancouver. Note that a new ferry
terminal, Discovery Point, has
been opened at Nanaimo for the
first of these crossings. Fares
for both these routes are the
same as for Tsawwassen to Swartz
Bay. The fourth route is Powell
River-Comox, Powell River being
some 160km northwest of
Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast.
Ferries from the United States
Travellers from the United
States have several options.
Coach and ferry inclusive
arrangements are offered by Gray
Lines of Seattle, who operate a
once-daily service in each
direction between Seattle and
Victoria (currently leaves
5.30am; $39 one-way, $70 return;
tel 250/344-5248, 206/626-5208
or 1-800/544-0739). Washington
State Ferries, 2499 Ocean Ave,
Sidney (in Victoria tel
250/381-1551 or 250/656-1531 in
Sidney, in Seattle tel
206/464-6400 or 1-888/808-7977
in Washington only) runs ferries
from Anacortes, ninety minutes
north of Seattle, to Sidney,
thirty minutes (and 30km) north
of Victoria (summer 2 daily in
each direction, winter 1 daily;
3hr-3hr 30min), with one of the
two summer departures travelling
via Orcas and Friday Harbor on
the San Juan Islands. Passenger
fares are around US$7 (US$2 from
the San Juan Islands), a car and
driver US$37 (US$15 from the San
Juan Islands). Car reservations
are required from Orcas and
Friday Harbor and can be made by
calling at least a day in
advance (tel 360/378-4777 in
Friday Harbor).
Black Ball Transport, 430
Belleville St, Victoria (in BC
tel 250/386-2202, in Washington
tel 360/457-4491 or
1-800/633-1589) operates a ferry
across the Juan de Fuca Strait
between Port Angeles on
Washington's Olympic Peninsula
right to Victoria's Inner
Harbour (1-4 daily; 95min).
Passenger fares are around US$7
and US$29 for cars. Reservations
are not accepted. Car drivers
should call ahead in summer to
have some idea of how long
they'll have to wait.
For foot passengers, and
day-trippers in particular, a
speedier option is Victoria
Express's service from Port
Angeles (2 daily late May to
late June & Sept to mid-Oct;
late June to Aug 3 daily; 55min)
to Victoria's Inner Harbour. The
fare is US$12.50 one-way, US$25
return. Ferries run only from
mid-May to mid-Oct. For
information and reservations,
call 250/361-9144 (Canada), tel
360/452-8088 (Port Angeles) or
tel 1-800/633-1589 (Washington).
Alternatively, the
300-passenger-only Victoria
Clipper catamaran travels
between Pier 69 in downtown
Seattle and Victoria's Inner
Harbour in three hours or two
hours if you take the more
"Turbojet" departures
(250 Bellevue St, Victoria; tel
250/382-8100 in Victoria, tel
206/448-5000 in Seattle or
1-800/888-2535 outside Seattle
and BC). There is one sailing
daily in each direction from
January to March and
mid-September to December; two
sailings daily in the first half
of May and second half of
September; and four sailings
daily from mid-May to
mid-September. Tickets prices
vary according to season - US$55
single, US$91 return off-season,
US$60/99 for three-hour
crossings and US$69/115 for the
Turbojet in summer.
By air
Several provincial airlines as
well as Air Canada fly to
Victoria, though it's an
expensive way to make the
journey if you're only coming
from Vancouver. Open return
fares from Vancouver typically
run to around $140, excursion
fares around $100. If you are
going to fly, however, it's more
fun and more direct to fly from
Vancouver harbor to Victoria
harbor by helicopter or float
plane: Harbor Air and West Coast
Air fly from the Tradewinds
Marina just west of Canada Place
in Vancouver. Helijet Airways (tel
604/273-1414) fly from the
helipad to the east. Kenmore
Air, 6321 NE 175th, Seattle (tel
206/486-1257 or 1-800/543-9595, www.kenmoreair.com
), runs scheduled seaplane
services (US$95 one-way; 45min)
between downtown Seattle and
Victoria's Inner Harbor.
