Trip to Vancouver/Victoria

Hi,

We will be flying out of Toronto towards the end of July to Vancouver
for about 9 days. We have booked a guided tour to Jasper/Calgary/Banff
area for 4nights/5 days. We will have 3.5 days in Vancouver to explore
the city and a trip to Victoria. We will be staying at a hotel in
Richmond, B.C.

I would like the info/experiences on the following:

1. renting a car in vancouver? any preferences? from the airport/city
itself - who has the best rates?
2. visit to Victoria - what's the practical way to visit Victoria as a
day trip?

Thanks in advance.

You may post your answer here and/or email me.

nikej <nikej@m> wrote in message
news:1ec6170c.0307021000.11deb43d@c om...
> Hi,
>
> We will be flying out of Toronto towards the end of July to Vancouver
> for about 9 days. We have booked a guided tour to Jasper/Calgary/Banff
> area for 4nights/5 days. We will have 3.5 days in Vancouver to explore
> the city and a trip to Victoria. We will be staying at a hotel in
> Richmond, B.C.
>
> I would like the info/experiences on the following:
>
> 1. renting a car in vancouver? any preferences? from the airport/city
> itself - who has the best rates?


Call the hotel from the airport. They will come and get you. Richmond is 5
minutes from the airport. Call around for the best rates from the hotel or
ask them for advice at the desk.
When you say "we" you don't indicate if we is you and one other person or a
family of 29. For a couple you might be able to get away with transit, its
not bad in Vancouver. If you have kids in tow, I would go with the car. You
will still lose some time finding a place to park, but when you are ready to
leave you can leave.



> 2. visit to Victoria - what's the practical way to visit Victoria as a
> day trip?

Really nothing complicated here. You can only get there by the ferry. Find
out when the sailings are, find out how long a wait there is (If its BC day
long weekend Aug 2-4 you might have to wait in line 2-3 sailings) and get
there as early as you can.




>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> You may post your answer here and/or email me.

nikej wrote:

> We will be flying out of Toronto towards the end of July to Vancouver
> for about 9 days. We have booked a guided tour to Jasper/Calgary/Banff
> area for 4nights/5 days. We will have 3.5 days in Vancouver to explore
> the city and a trip to Victoria. We will be staying at a hotel in
> Richmond, B.C.
>
> I would like the info/experiences on the following:
>
> 1. renting a car in vancouver? any preferences? from the airport/city
> itself - who has the best rates?
> 2. visit to Victoria - what's the practical way to visit Victoria as a
> day trip?

Why bother to rent a car. If you have a small group it would likely be
cheaper and easier to use public transportation, though Richmond is a fair
distance from the city. Your hotel probably has a shuttle service to the
airport and you can get a bus into Vancouver from there. However, if you
do get a car you might consider a day trip to Whistler. It is worth it
just for the drive up there.

The most practical way to visit Victoria is by bus. There is a bus link
from one of the hotels out there, but I forget which, but there is also
one from the airport. It will take you right downtown in Victoria and if
the ferry is busy you will have priority.

In article <hnQMa.345846$3C2.9411319@news3.calgary.shaw.ca> ,
"Norman" <Norm@telus.net> wrote:


> > 2. visit to Victoria - what's the practical way to visit Victoria as a
> > day trip?
>
> Really nothing complicated here. You can only get there by the ferry.

Not true. There's direct seaplane service from the Vancouver Harbour to
the Victoria inner harbour. Only 35 minutes! And you can get a
reasonable deal where you fly one way and take a tour bus/ferry back for
only C$135. Gives you much more time to explore Victoria -- most of the
good stuff is walking distance from the harbour, but there's a good
public bus system there.

personally I don' think you need a rental car in vancouver unless your are
driving over to victoria, the sky train in van can get around alot easir
than a car, besides, most things worth seeing are downtown anyway.

A day trip from vancouver?? Better get up early then, the fairies (sp) can
be unpredictable, and long line ups. The most popular is going across to
naniamo from vancouver, also take a look at ferry prices as well. Victoria
is a beautiful little city, no much that much to see, but great atmosphere
around the water.

"nikej" <nikej@m> wrote in message
news:1ec6170c.0307021000.11deb43d@c om...
> Hi,
>
> We will be flying out of Toronto towards the end of July to Vancouver
> for about 9 days. We have booked a guided tour to Jasper/Calgary/Banff
> area for 4nights/5 days. We will have 3.5 days in Vancouver to explore
> the city and a trip to Victoria. We will be staying at a hotel in
> Richmond, B.C.
>
> I would like the info/experiences on the following:
>
> 1. renting a car in vancouver? any preferences? from the airport/city
> itself - who has the best rates?
> 2. visit to Victoria - what's the practical way to visit Victoria as a
> day trip?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> You may post your answer here and/or email me.