Travel to Victoria BC – Budget Friendly Recommendations!

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Travel to Victoria BC – Budget Friendly Recommendations 

If you’re planning a trip to Victoria, I’m sharing several different options of how to get to Victoria on Vancouver Island & the most important considerations are whether or not you want a car. Victoria is very easy to walk around and pedestrian-friendly, so I don’t think you need a car, but if you want to explore outside of the city, then you might want one as there are limited transportation options to head out of the city (bus, taxi, rental car, or charter bus with tours).

You’ll also want to consider your home location to the different ferries, which one is closest for you, as many of these leave very early in the morning. So, you’ll want to factor in whether you need to stay the night before near the ferry location, as that will affect your budget as well as the cost of gas to get to that location.  You’ll also want to look at the times that they arrive in Victoria, to see how much time you will actually have to spend in Victoria to maximize your stay.

Here are some different options of how to get to Victoria & ways you can save the most on your transportation, so you can see what will work best for you. And don’t forget to check out all the posts we’ve shared about Victoria BC.

How to Get to Victoria, BC:

Washington State Ferry in Anacortes, WA

Typically one route to get to Victoria is using the Washington State Ferry System & traveling from Anacortes in Skagit Valley to Sidney, BC. You then need to take a bus from Sidney to Victoria, which is about an hour (although it looks like they may have Express buses which are faster & direct). The buses leave every 30 minutes typically. {Or you can take a cab for around $65 – we have always chosen the bus & it works great} This is the way that I’ve traveled several times to Victoria in the past. However, I just saw on their website that this route is suspended until March 22, 2015 (I’m not sure if this is just this year or if it’s every year during this time – anyone know?).

The regular rate would be $19.05 for adults each way & $9.50 for kids for a walk-on/in-vehicle rate. Plus bus fare which is $2.50 or free for kids 5 & under. If you bring your car, the rate is $51.10 for vehicle & driver & then you’d have to pay the additional rate per person for everyone else in the vehicle.

For my family of four, it would cost $114.20 for the walk-on rate for a round-trip to Victoria. {Disclaimer: These are the current rates in January 2015 as seen in their fare booklet- these could be slightly higher during a different season.}

Another thing to consider with this option with kids is that you will need to carry all of your luggage on with you into your bus seat (this is regular public transportation), so you’d want to travel very light.

Coho Ferry from Port Angeles

Photo courtesy of Coho Ferry website

This is a 90 minute trip from Port Angeles to Victoria. This ferry does dock right in the Inner Harbor of Victoria, only a few short blocks to the Empress hotel & the downtown area, which is very convenient.

It costs $17.50/each way for adults & $8.75 for kids/each way. If you take a vehicle, it costs $62 for the vehicle & driver & then each additional passenger will pay the adult/child rate. There is also a vehicle reservation fee if you want to make sure you have a spot (they do have some spots for non-reserved vehicles, but that would be a big chance to take if you live far from Port Angeles, have hotel reservations, etc). The vehicle reservation rates range from $11/one way to $16/round-trip if you book online (the cheaper option). So you’d have to add that to your total.

For my family of four it would cost $105 to walk onto the ferry for a round-trip to Victoria.{Disclaimer: These are the current rates in January 2015 as seen in their fare booklet- these could be slightly higher during a different season.}

The Coho Ferry does offer some package rates, though, which could make for an even better deal for you, as it combines a round-trip ferry trip with a hotel stay.

Victoria Clipper from Seattle:

The Victoria Clipper is a passenger only ferry service with daily trips from the Seattle Waterfront to the Inner Harbor of Victoria, only a few short blocks from the Empress Hotel & the downtown area. If you park in one of 2 recommended parking lots in Seattle, they offer discounted rates for Clipper customers as low as $10/day for parking. 

The Clipper rates vary based on when you make your reservation (& the season) but if you reserve at least 7 days in advance, the adult rate for this time of year (January 2015) is $105 for adults round-trip & $25 for children round-trip (this applies to 2 children if 2 adults are traveling; if there are more children, then the rate would be half the price of an adult rate.} The price ranges based on the season & can go up to $135/person.

For my family of four, the cost would be $260 if we’re traveling from now (January) through end of February.

However, the Clipper does offer special package rates & also web specials you can look at for discounted rates. The package rates are where you can really save as they have rates as low as $130/person for the round-trip ferry as well as one night hotel (compared to the $105/person just for the ferry). One child will also ride for just $10 (I’m thinking the other child would be at the $25 rate, but it is not clear on that). The prices of the packages will vary depending on which hotel you choose & the location of the hotel, etc.

For our family of 4, this could work out to $295 total for 4 of us to ride the Clipper & stay in a hotel (at the $130/person price for adults). When you factor in needing to get a hotel in Victoria as well as most likely a hotel at Anacortes or Port Angeles if you don’t live close, for the night before the ferry (+ gas costs to get there), the Clipper is comparable in price to the other 2 US ferry options.

My husband and I chose the Clipper for our visit in December based on the location, which is so much closer to where we live (less gas costs & much less time involved as we only had a limited amount of time for our getaway) as well as the need to stay an extra night due to the early ferry times (if we chose one of the other options) as we only could be gone one night.  Make sure to check back next week for my review of the Clipper – it was definitely an option that we would recommend due to the ease of getting there & all the factors I mentioned!

BC Ferry:

Photo Credit

Another option is to take the BC Ferry from the Vancouver area over to Victoria. I’ve done this once and it was a beautiful ferry trip going through different islands if you’ve done the San Juan trip before – it was just fun to try something different.  It only takes an hour and a half, but you do have to drive up to Vancouver area (& deal with Border crossings), but when I lived in Bellingham this was a great option. The cost is $16.25 Canadian for adults each way. If you bring your vehicle it will be $53.25 for just the vehicle + the costs for each person in the vehicle including the driver. You can see all the fare rates here.  You’ll also need to take transportation to Victoria from the ferry location in Sidney down to Victoria.

For our family of 4, the total for a round-trip to Victoria would be $97.60 . {Disclaimer: These are the current rates in January 2015 as seen on their website- these could be slightly higher during a different season.} However, again, you need to factor in the cost of getting up there to the ferry location (gas), if you need to stay the night before, etc. The good news with the BC Ferry is that there are a number of sailing times all throughout the day so you could choose a later time. There are 8 different sailing times I see. 

The BC Ferries also offer package rates as well, for round-trip travel & a hotel stay, so this can definitely save you more money possibly, depending on the hotel you choose.

Airplane Travel

There is one last option for travel to Victoria if you’re looking to get there quickly & that’s to travel by plane.

Kenmore Air is travel by SeaPlane & they have several destinations you can travel from out of Seattle (Sea-Tac, Boeing Field & Lake Union) & it looks like prices are $170 right now, but depending on the timeframe, you might be able to find cheaper. It only takes about 45 minutes from Seattle to Victoria & what a beautiful view that would be. Kenmore Air also has some discount rates for lodging, which might have some good savings for you if you want to travel this route. You can get 20% off the Fairmont Empress if you travel with Kenmore Air – you just need to give them your Kenmore Confirmation Code & they’ll give you a 20% discount.   Also make sure you sign up for Kenmore Air emails as they said they offer discounts via email as well.

 Alaska Air does offer travel from Seattle to Victoria but that is more pricey – it looks like most flights are $250 & up, but you might be able to find cheaper if you watch their sales.

If you have traveled to Victoria before, which is your favorite way to travel? We’d love to hear any tips you have to share with us about your travel experiences to Victoria! 

Check out more posts about Victoria, BC & other popular Northwest Travel destinations::

• Tips for Visiting Victoria BC – What to See, How to Get Around & more
• Restaurants in Victoria BC
• Accommodations in Victoria BC – Where to Stay & How to Save the Most
• Travel to Victoria – Tips & the Best Ways to Save
• Butchart Gardens at Christmas
• Victoria at Christmastime
• Northwest Travel Page – information about lodging (including hotel reviews), restaurants, activities & attractions for an area & more for Portland, Mt Hood, Seattle Staycation Tips, Leavenworth & more!
• Disneyland Tips & Ways to Save