How can I travel best from North Vancouver to Victoria by Ferry / Bus? What services to take?

Question

I'm about to travel from North Vancouver to Vancouver Island by Ferry and then take a public bus to Victoria. Can somebody tell me which ferry I should take, which bus number to take and how long the ride from the arrival point on Vancouver Island to Victoria takes?

Thanks so much!

Kind regards, a hopeful traveler.

Answer 1

From North Van you can take public transit to the sea bus, over to the city, public transit to the central bus station, then PCL from there to Victoria (including the ferry). There might even be a transit bus that crosses the Second Narrows bridge so that you can avoid the seabus, but I'm not sure about that.

Answer 2

From Burrard Station  take the B line  bus to airport station then transfer  to tsswassen bus. It takes longer but cheaper , allso  call 604 953 3333  for transit in fo & trip planning

Answer 3

Several choices here. The ferry from Vancouver actually leaves from Tsawwassen, quite a ways south of Vancouver, and from the Swartz Bay terminal on the Victoria side it's at least 1/2 hr into downtown. You could take public transit to Tsawwassen and then walk onto the ferry and buy a ticket to Victoria on the boat from the bus driver who is in a booth for about the first 1/2 hour of the ferry trip, or walk off the boat and take transit into downtown. You could take transit to the Pacific Coach lines terminal, then get a bus which will drive onto the ferry and go to downtown Victoria. Very simple.

But, since you're in North Van, I'd consider getting to Horseshoe Bay on public transit, buses to there leave from Park Royal in West Van. Or get someone to drive you to Horseshoe Bay, it doesn't take long by car. By bus and by car, you get dropped off right in front of the ferry terminal and it's a short walk to the boat. Then you can walk on the ferry, and once you're on it, you can buy a ticket from the driver of the bus(Greyhound) that's already on the ferry. That bus will take you from the Departure Bay ferry terminal in Nanaimo to the Nanaimo bus terminal where you can then get a bus to Victoria. The Greyhound also does a stop in West Van if you want to get on it there, but check very carefully where the Greyhound stop is since if you're not familiar with the area it can be a little hard to locate. It's about a 1 and 1/2 hr drive from Nanaimo to Victoria.

The travel time for the whole trip, if you're starting in North Van, will be pretty similar for both routes. The ferry from Tsawwassen is a prettier route but you have to travel all the way through Vancouver to get to it.  The ferry trip from Horseshoe Bay isn't quite as interesting but the drive from Nanaimo to Victoria is nice.