Victoria Travel Forum

Wife and I are looking at flying into Seattle, then traveling to Victoria without a car. We are looking at three options:
1) Bus to Port Arthur, ferry to Victoria.
2) Ferry from Seattle to Victoria.
3) Ferry from Bellingham ( not sure how to get there yet )

Any opinions on which is better?

Are the odds of seeing whales different? Do the busses have lots of legroom? Are we correct in assuming that we can get around Victoria without a car? How long a wait can we expect at either ferry on a weekday in October? What is a cheap, easy way to get from Seattle airport to Bellingham?

Thanks
-HB

i went from seattle to victoria last year in october.
i went by bicycle and took the ferry from port angeles to victoria.
that was a very scenic ride and i think there should be bus links between seattle and port angeles.

Without a car, going to Victoria from Seattle by the Victoria Clipper makes the most sense. It's the only downtown to downtown ferry service in the region. Everything else would be waste of time/hassle without a car.

Victoria's a tiny city with most of its main attractions located literally across the street from one another, all within a short 2-5 minute walking distance. A car would be a waste in Victoria. Butchart Gardens are really the only thing you can't walk to, as they're a 30 minute drive north of Victoria via the highway. But you can hop on a bus for as little as $3 a person and be there in an hour. Or you can pay whatever the fee is (probably closer to $15 a person) to take a Greyhound bus or some sort of shuttle to the gardens.

Spotting orcas by ferry is possible, but rare. The timing would have be impeccable - the whales would have to be in that exact location at the exact same time that your ferry is crossing. But the whales can be anywhere - they swim in gigantic circles, sometimes around Neah Bay at the mouth of the Juan de Fuca Strait. Sometimes they're by Victoria. Other times they're by the San Juan islands or the Gulf Islands. Sometimes they're near the mouth of the Fraser River off the coast of Tsawwassen/Delta near Vancouver. I wouldn't count on seeing whales from the ferry.

As far as I know, there are Alaska-bound ferries from Bellingham, but none to Seattle. Bellingham is about a 2 hour drive north of Seattle.

I don't know where Port Arthur is, but there is the Coho ferry leaving from Port Angeles which goes to Victoria. But Port Angeles is hours west of Seattle and would be a hassle to get to without a car.

Ooops, that should have said, there are no ferries to Victoria from Bellingham.

Also, if you want to see whales, just go from one of the many whale watching companies based in Victoria. They'll know where the whales are usually within the first few hours of the morning and can then B-line exactly to where the whales are, guaranteeing your sightings.