Seattle and vancouver family trip

[Anonymous]

From Seattle, I like to take day trips like Ranier or Mt. St. Helens. You can get out and see stuff without having to really hike, although Ranier has one or two short trails (1 mile?) with giid views.

If you skip BC and the San Juans, I'd recommend taking the regular (commuter) ferries to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island. The views going into and out of Seattle are awesome (the city, Rainier, Olympic range). Each way is close -- maybe 30-45 minutes?

Whichever sunny day you're visiting Pike Place and the Seattle waterfront, walk down to the ferry terminal (very close) and basically walk onto the ferry.

[Anonymous]

Washington State was the best family trip we've had so far. Rainier, the Olympic peninsula, San Juan Islands, and North Cascade Mtns. The ferry trips are a fun novelty. Have not been to Vancouver yet, but plan to at some point.

[Anonymous]

The Seattle aquarium was really fun, and you can combine that with visiting the good market and walking along the waterfront.

[Anonymous]

Id fly to Vancouver and spend 4 days there with a 2 day trip (one overnight to Vancouver island). Vancouver has so much to offer!

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Washington state. I would not drive into Canada in a rental car. Back in the day before passports, yes. Now? No. Too much paperwork and extra expense, plus the risk of an accident. I would fly from Seattle to Vancouver, from SeaTac. It's a super short hop and they might put you in a smaller aircraft which is a very cool ride! Vancouver is nice, but also incredibly expensive. I believe it's in the top five most expensive cities globally. It can make DC look cheap. Vancouver is spread out, but it has a subway. You can book a bus to take you to Whistler, if you want to go there. It's a world-class ski village with shops and hotels. We rented mountain bikes with my kids there and it was fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington State was the best family trip we've had so far. Rainier, the Olympic peninsula, San Juan Islands, and North Cascade Mtns. The ferry trips are a fun novelty. Have not been to Vancouver yet, but plan to at some point.

We’re considering this trip for this summer in July. How many days did you have for your trip?

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that July through September is the high season of travel in the PNW. The ONLY time of year when it is not raining buckets. So the hotel fees will be higher. Book early. I wouldn't bother too much with downtown Seattle. It isn't what you're probably thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that July through September is the high season of travel in the PNW. The ONLY time of year when it is not raining buckets. So the hotel fees will be higher. Book early. I wouldn't bother too much with downtown Seattle. It isn't what you're probably thinking.

The neighborhoods are where it's at for Seattle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Washington state. I would not drive into Canada in a rental car. Back in the day before passports, yes. Now? No. Too much paperwork and extra expense, plus the risk of an accident. I would fly from Seattle to Vancouver, from SeaTac. It's a super short hop and they might put you in a smaller aircraft which is a very cool ride! Vancouver is nice, but also incredibly expensive. I believe it's in the top five most expensive cities globally. It can make DC look cheap. Vancouver is spread out, but it has a subway. You can book a bus to take you to Whistler, if you want to go there. It's a world-class ski village with shops and hotels. We rented mountain bikes with my kids there and it was fun.

Bit of an odd reply here. We went to the region in summer 2023. Rented a car in Seattle for the whole stay. Told them we were going to drive it to BC, wasn't any extra paperwork or cost for the car rental. What's the extra risk of an accident? It's a 2.5 hour drive between the two cities, 4 hours on the train. Makes little sense to fly, especially because you can go to the San Juan Islands in between.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Washington state. I would not drive into Canada in a rental car. Back in the day before passports, yes. Now? No. Too much paperwork and extra expense, plus the risk of an accident. I would fly from Seattle to Vancouver, from SeaTac. It's a super short hop and they might put you in a smaller aircraft which is a very cool ride! Vancouver is nice, but also incredibly expensive. I believe it's in the top five most expensive cities globally. It can make DC look cheap. Vancouver is spread out, but it has a subway. You can book a bus to take you to Whistler, if you want to go there. It's a world-class ski village with shops and hotels. We rented mountain bikes with my kids there and it was fun.

Bit of an odd reply here. We went to the region in summer 2023. Rented a car in Seattle for the whole stay. Told them we were going to drive it to BC, wasn't any extra paperwork or cost for the car rental. What's the extra risk of an accident? It's a 2.5 hour drive between the two cities, 4 hours on the train. Makes little sense to fly, especially because you can go to the San Juan Islands in between.

I don't find the border to be a hassle as a local in a Canadian-American dual citizenship family with global entry, but we are definitely not driving up there these days until things settle down. There has been too much drama with people re-entering the US these past few weeks. Usually a lot of people we know go up to Whistler for spring break, but most people have gone to Sun Valley or similar places instead to avoid unknown potential hassles. Hopefully by summer things are more predictable.

The drive is not especially scenic once you're north of Mt. Vernon and the wait at the border in the summer can be interminable if you don't have Global Entry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Washington state. I would not drive into Canada in a rental car. Back in the day before passports, yes. Now? No. Too much paperwork and extra expense, plus the risk of an accident. I would fly from Seattle to Vancouver, from SeaTac. It's a super short hop and they might put you in a smaller aircraft which is a very cool ride! Vancouver is nice, but also incredibly expensive. I believe it's in the top five most expensive cities globally. It can make DC look cheap. Vancouver is spread out, but it has a subway. You can book a bus to take you to Whistler, if you want to go there. It's a world-class ski village with shops and hotels. We rented mountain bikes with my kids there and it was fun.

Bit of an odd reply here. We went to the region in summer 2023. Rented a car in Seattle for the whole stay. Told them we were going to drive it to BC, wasn't any extra paperwork or cost for the car rental. What's the extra risk of an accident? It's a 2.5 hour drive between the two cities, 4 hours on the train. Makes little sense to fly, especially because you can go to the San Juan Islands in between.

I don't find the border to be a hassle as a local in a Canadian-American dual citizenship family with global entry, but we are definitely not driving up there these days until things settle down. There has been too much drama with people re-entering the US these past few weeks. Usually a lot of people we know go up to Whistler for spring break, but most people have gone to Sun Valley or similar places instead to avoid unknown potential hassles. Hopefully by summer things are more predictable.

The drive is not especially scenic once you're north of Mt. Vernon and the wait at the border in the summer can be interminable if you don't have Global Entry.

That's a fair point - seemed like the line going into Canada wasn't bad at all, but on an August Monday at noon, the highway sign said it was a 75 minute wait for the non-GE/Nexus lanes to get back into the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Piggy backing on this thread (if it’s still active)…we are planning a similar trip 4 days in Seattle (including a day hiking Mt. Ranier), 2 days in Vancouver (to see a niece who will be out of town at the end of our trip)+2 days to play with. What seems like a natural 3rd stop that gets us back to an airport by day 8 or 9? (We were hoping for some time in the San Juan islands, but I’m not sure that works.) Thanks!

San Juan Islands would work well as your last stop on the way back from Vancouver. Easiest thing to do is stay on Fidalgo Island (Anacortes or nearby), as that's connected to the mainland by a bridge, so very easy in/out. Then use the ferries to island hop for a couple of days. If you have say the 2 PM Alaska flight to DCA out of SEA, it's very easy to get from Anacortes to SEA in about 2 hours mid-day, so you could leave at 10 AM and get to the rental car dropoff by noon. That's what I would do- Anacortes is only 25 minutes out of the way off of I-5 between Vancouver/Seattle.

Thanks - taking notes because we want to spend our vacation dollars in Canada.

[Anonymous]

I totally disagree that 6 days isn't enough time, provided you get a one way car rental and fly into and out of different airports.

[Anonymous]

Will you fly in and out of the same airport? It may be different now but we had trouble renting a car with a pickup in Seattle and drop off in Vancouver. They wanted to charge an exorbitant amount because they said they needed someone to drive the car back. Perhaps they could not rent an American licensed car in Canada? I can’t remember if that was the reason but it was enough of a cost difference that we took the train and then rented a car in Vancouver.

And, we did do that trip in 7 days. It was perfect and we had the best time. While you can’t see everything in each, you’ll get a good sense of both and breaking up the trip will be interesting for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you fly in and out of the same airport? It may be different now but we had trouble renting a car with a pickup in Seattle and drop off in Vancouver. They wanted to charge an exorbitant amount because they said they needed someone to drive the car back. Perhaps they could not rent an American licensed car in Canada? I can’t remember if that was the reason but it was enough of a cost difference that we took the train and then rented a car in Vancouver.

And, we did do that trip in 7 days. It was perfect and we had the best time. While you can’t see everything in each, you’ll get a good sense of both and breaking up the trip will be interesting for your kid.

Yes, this is a good point- it's not a problem generally to drive an American rental car in Canada, or vice versa, as long as you tell them you are going to do it. But dropping off a rental car in a different country is generally a VERY expensive proposition, even in Europe.

Also note that taking an American rental car into Mexico is, on the other hand, not easy and does require a lot of extra paperwork and cost even if returning it in the US.