It’s a gorgeous train ride, highly recommend. I did it one way from Seattle to Vancouver, immigration was done at the station at Vancouver after we disembarked (much like passing through passport control at the airport). It was pretty quick and easy.

Anonymous wrote:Book the train early, if it's a busy time. I mistakenly thought I could do it last minute, and then I can't remember if it was booked or too expensive, but one or the other. And it was very expensive to rent a car, because we were flying out of Vancouver. The bus was fine, but I probably would have preferred the train.

Yes good point to remember- generally not an issue to rent a car in either city and drive a Canadian car in Washington State, or drive a US car in British Columbia- you just have to tell them you are going to do that when you rent. But ending a rental in another country will generate a huge fee- better to leave the rental car in Seattle, then train/bus to Vancouver, and rent another car there if you need one for both sides and are ending your trip in Vancouver.

Book the train early, if it's a busy time. I mistakenly thought I could do it last minute, and then I can't remember if it was booked or too expensive, but one or the other. And it was very expensive to rent a car, because we were flying out of Vancouver. The bus was fine, but I probably would have preferred the train.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen and I took the bus a few years ago. It was pretty seamless, as I recall. We took light rail from the airport to the bus pickup point, and the dropoff in Vancouver was really close to our hotel.

At the border, there was a building where everybody got off, went through passport checks, and then got back on the bus. I can’t remember if we had to have our luggage with us or not - probably?

Yes you had to take your luggage with you- we took the bus many years ago, the guy sitting in front of us got stopped at the border check, someone else said the dogs detected drugs, he didn't get back on the bus.

Good detail here on how the border processing is done on the train- basically it's all done at the Vancouver station in both directions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/comments/131opbx/seattle_to_vancouver_bc/

Sorry, not quite all done at Vancouver station on the southbound, but they process the immigration/passport control/customs there. There is a brief CBP train walk done when the train arrives in the US.

Anonymous wrote:My teen and I took the bus a few years ago. It was pretty seamless, as I recall. We took light rail from the airport to the bus pickup point, and the dropoff in Vancouver was really close to our hotel.

At the border, there was a building where everybody got off, went through passport checks, and then got back on the bus. I can’t remember if we had to have our luggage with us or not - probably?

Yes you had to take your luggage with you- we took the bus many years ago, the guy sitting in front of us got stopped at the border check, someone else said the dogs detected drugs, he didn't get back on the bus.

Good detail here on how the border processing is done on the train- basically it's all done at the Vancouver station in both directions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/comments/131opbx/seattle_to_vancouver_bc/

I liked train also. Scenic. Saw bald eagles. It took around four hours.

Train! It's so beautiful and stress free. A tiny bit of old school travel glamour

My teen and I took the bus a few years ago. It was pretty seamless, as I recall. We took light rail from the airport to the bus pickup point, and the dropoff in Vancouver was really close to our hotel.

At the border, there was a building where everybody got off, went through passport checks, and then got back on the bus. I can’t remember if we had to have our luggage with us or not - probably?

Bus is more convenient to our hotel, cheaper and has more options. Train is supposed to be scenic. Anyone have experience with either? What happens at the boarder?