My husband and I are traveling to Victoria, BC in August. We plan to fly into Seattle, rent a car, and then drive up to Victoria. Several people have said not to rent a car, what with the great ferry system, etc.- that it is more of a hassle than a help. However, we plan to tour wine country, go to the botanical gardens, etc. Should we rent a car for the whole trip or maybe just for a day trip or two?

Can you give us some more information about your plans? Do you plan on spending any time in Seattle? How long do you plan to be in Victoria? What wine area do you plan to tour? Near Seattle? Yakima (Eastern Washington)? Other?

The Victoria Clipper is a nice way to get from downtown Seattle to Victoria. It is just under 3 hours. Fares are around $120-$140 roundtrip. Another alternative is by Seaplane from Kenmore Air which is located downtown also. It is about $260 roundtrip and only takes 1 hour.

You will want to compare this to the cost of renting a car, parking, and ferry fares from Vancouver to Victoria which can be up to 55CD for two people and a car on the weekend one way. Parking in Seattle can be pretty pricey especially downtown.

We spent three days in Victoria last summer without a car. We flew up via a seaplane and stayed at a hotel on the Inner Harbor. It was very nice and easy to get around to most of the sites. You can easily get to the Empress, Parliment buildings, and museum. There was also lots of shopping and restaurants within walking distance. There is also a watertaxi to take you across the Inner Harbor if you get tired.

We did not go to any of the gardens since we had been to them before. I would recommend renting a car for a day if you are planning on going to a garden. There are bus tours but I found those to be very rushed. Butchart Gardens is a ways out of town. You might also want a car for a longer time in Victoria if you plan on staying longer than 2-3 days.

If all you are doing is visiting Victoria and maybe a day in Seattle, then yes, I would seriously consider taking the Clipper. But if you are going to be doing more in Seattle, Vancouver, etc., I'd weigh both options.

It's probably cheaper to rent a car from SEA if you are going to spend more than a couple of days in Victoria. If you do rent a car, the car ferry to Victoria departs from Port Angeles, and you can make advanced reservation on-line from the web site: https://www.cohoreservations.com/