Getting There

By Bus

Pacific Coach Lines (tel. 604/662-8074; www.pacificcoach.com) provides service between Vancouver and Victoria with daily departures between 5:45am and 7:45pm. Pacific Coach Lines will pick up passengers from the Vancouver cruise-ship terminal and from most downtown hotels. They also offer an Island Excursion Program to Vancouver Island, departing downtown Vancouver at 9am on the HarbourLynx high-speed passenger ferry for Nanaimo. After a sightseeing tour and a day or overnight visit to Victoria, you return to Vancouver via B.C. Ferries. For more information, call tel. 604/662-8074, or visit www.pacificcoach.com.

By Plane

The Victoria International Airport (tel. 250/953-7500; www.victoriaairport.com) is near the Sidney ferry terminal, 22km (14 miles) north of Victoria off the Patricia Bay Highway (Hwy. 17).

Air Canada (tel. 888/247-2262 or 800/661-3936; www.aircanada.com) and Horizon Air (tel. 800/547-9308; www.horizonair.com) offer direct connections from Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Canada's low-cost airline WestJet (tel. 888/WEST-JET; www.westjet.com) offers flights to Victoria from Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, and other destinations; WestJet service now extends to a few U.S. cities as well.

Delta Airlines (tel. 800/241-4141; www.delta.com) offers a direct flight to Victoria from Salt Lake City. Connecting flights from Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami are also available. The flights are operated by Delta Connection, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and SkyWest.

Commuter airlines, including floatplanes that land in Victoria's Inner Harbour, provide service to Victoria from Vancouver and destinations within B.C. They include Air B.C. (reached through Air Canada at tel. 888/247-2262); Harbour Air Sea Planes (tel. 604/274-1277 in Vancouver, or 250/384-2215 in Victoria; www.harbour-air.com); and West Coast Air (tel. 800/347-2222; www.westcoastair.com).

In addition to serving B.C. destinations, Kenmore Air (tel. 800/543-9595; www.kenmoreair.com) and Helijet Airways (tel. 800/665-4354; www.helijet.com) offer 35-minute flights between Seattle and Victoria.

By Ship & Ferry

B.C. Ferries (tel. 888/223-3779 in B.C., or 250/386-3431; www.bcferries.com) has three routes from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and Victoria. Its large car-carrying ferries offer onboard restaurants, snack bars, gift shops, business-center desks with modem connections, and indoor lounges. In the summer, if you're driving, it's a good idea to reserve a space beforehand, especially on long weekends. Call B.C. Ferries reservations at tel. 888/724-5223 (in B.C. only) or 604/444-2890.

The most direct B.C. Ferries route is the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay ferry, which operates daily between 7am and 9pm (10pm on Sun). Ferries run every hour with extra sailings on holidays and in peak travel season. The crossing takes 95 minutes, but schedule an extra 2 hours for travel to and from both ferry terminals, including waiting time at the docks. Driving distance from Vancouver to Tsawwassen is about 20km (12 miles). Take Highway 99 south to Highway 17 and follow the signs to the ferry terminal.

Pacific Coach Lines (tel. 604/662-8074; www.pacificcoach.com) provides regular bus service into Victoria for C$13 (US$11/£6) one-way, but you must book your seat on board the ferry and within the first 20 minutes of the ferry ride (a Pacific Coast Lines desk is on board the ferry). You can take Pacific Coach Lines all the way from Vancouver to Victoria for C$73 (US$62/£33) round-trip, which includes the ferry ride.

Exiting the Swartz Bay ferry terminal by car, you'll be on Highway 17 (there is no other option), which leads directly into downtown Victoria where it becomes Douglas Street.

The Vancouver-Nanaimo ferry operates between Tsawwassen and Duke Point, just south of Nanaimo, about 100km (62 miles) north of Victoria. The 2-hour crossing runs eight times daily between 5:15am and 10:45pm.

The Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo ferry has nine daily sailings, leaving Horseshoe Bay near West Vancouver (to reach Horseshoe Bay from Vancouver, take the Trans-Canada Highway/Hwy. 99 and Hwy. 1 west across the Lions Gate Bridge) and arriving 95 minutes later in Nanaimo. From the Nanaimo ferry terminal on Vancouver Island, passengers bound for Victoria board the E&N Railiner or drive south to Victoria via the Island Highway (Hwy. 1).

Three different U.S. ferry services offer daily, year-round connections between Port Angeles, Bellingham, or Seattle, Washington, and Victoria. All of these ferries dock at Victoria's Inner Harbour near the Empress Hotel and Parliament Buildings so you can walk right into town.

Black Ball Transport (tel. 250/386-2202 in Victoria, or 360/457-4491 in Port Angeles; www.cohoferry.com) operates between Port Angeles and Victoria. The crossing takes 1 1/2 hours. There are four crossings per day in the summer (mid-June to Sept), and usually two sailings a day throughout the rest of the year (with a short 2-week closure in Jan).

Victoria Clipper (tel. 800/288-2535; www.victoriaclipper.com) operates a high-speed catamaran between Seattle and Victoria, with some sailings stopping in the San Juan Islands. It's a passenger-only service; sailing time is approximately 3 hours with daily runs from downtown Seattle and Victoria.

May 12 through September, the passenger-only MV Victoria Star operated by Victoria San Juan Cruises (tel. 800/443-4552 or 360/738-8099; www.whales.com) departs the Fairhaven Terminal in Bellingham, Washington, at 9am and arrives in Victoria at 2pm. It departs Victoria at 5pm, arriving in Bellingham at 8pm. Regular round-trip adult fare is $129, which includes a salmon & chicken buffet dinner. This service offers special onboard salmon lunches and Victoria city tour add-ons and overnights.

Note: If you're riding the ferry between the U.S. and Canada, remember to bring your passport, as all passengers go through passport control and Customs on international ferry trips.

Commuter Whales -- For travelers pressed for time, Prince of Whales (tel. 888/383-4884; www.princeofwhales.com) tours now offers a great way to spy on the whales that frequent the waters and straits near Vancouver Island, and maximize your travel time to Victoria. June to September, you can book a 4 hour whale watching tour that leaves from Vancouver's Burrard Inlet and docks right in front of the Fairmont Empress in Victoria. To return to Vancouver you can either book another tour, or book a seat on a floatplane, which will put you back in Vancouver in less than 45 minutes. The latter option even allows travelers to overnight in Victoria. One-way, whale watching fare is C$119 (US$100/£54); round trip C$199 (US$169/£90). Air transfer packages are C$239 (US$203/£108).

By Train

Travelers on the Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo ferry can board VIA Rail's E&N Railiner train at Nanaimo and wind down Vancouver Island's Cowichan River valley through Goldstream Provincial Park and to Victoria. The trip takes 2 1/2 hours and ends at E&N Station, 450 Pandora Ave. (tel. 800/561-8630 in Canada), near the Johnson Street Bridge. For more information, contact Via Rail Canada (tel. 888/842-7245; www.viarail.com).