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Amsterdam to the Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria

Amsterdam → Seattle → Vancouver → Victoria, BC

Pike Place Market
"Pike_Place_Market_Seattle.jpg" by Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons· licence
Victoria BC, Canada (Johnson Street) - panoramio (Victoria)
Photo: MARELBU, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pacific Northwest & orcas Best season (general guide): Jun–Sep

The Pacific Northwest combines green cities with mountains, islands and coastal waters where whales feed in summer. This route travels from Seattle north to Vancouver and then across the Salish Sea to Victoria. From Amsterdam you'll fly to Seattle, and Victoria's ferry links let you fly home from Victoria, or take the ferry back to the mainland for more connections.

Seattle has Pike Place Market's stalls, a revitalised waterfront and day trips by ferry to Bainbridge Island. The train or a drive north crosses the border to Vancouver. Its seawall path circles Stanley Park, Granville Island's market sits under a bridge, and the gondolas and suspension bridges of the North Shore are a short trip away. Ferries then cross to Vancouver Island and Victoria, a small capital with gardens, a busy harbour and the Royal BC Museum. Whale-watching tours leave from the Inner Harbour to look for orcas, humpbacks and other marine life in the surrounding waters.

Summer, roughly June to September, brings the driest, sunniest weather of the year to the region, and whale-watching tours run their full schedules. Operators in Victoria run from about April to October.

Bring your passport for the border between the United States and Canada, and check entry rules for both countries. Book the ferry to Victoria ahead in summer.

How to pace it: three nights in Seattle leave one day for the market and waterfront, one for a ferry across the Sound and one spare for jet lag after the flight from Amsterdam. Three nights in Vancouver let you split the city between the seawall, Granville Island and the North Shore. Two nights in Victoria are enough for a whale-watching trip and a slow walk around the harbour before the ferry back. Taking the train between Seattle and Vancouver saves you from driving across the border.

Suggested outline

  1. Amsterdam

    Start

  2. Seattle

    By air · 3 nights suggested

    Pike Place Market, the waterfront and the Space Needle; ferries cross Puget Sound to islands and peninsulas.

  3. Vancouver

    Overland · 3 nights suggested

    Reached by train or road from Seattle. Stanley Park's seawall, Granville Island and the mountains of the North Shore are close to downtown.

    Vancouver skyline English Bay
    "Vancouver (BC, Canada), English Bay Beach -- 2022 -- 1947.jpg" by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons· licence

  4. Victoria, BC

    By ferry · 2 nights suggested

    British Columbia's capital on Vancouver Island, reached by ferry. The Inner Harbour, the Parliament buildings and whale-watching boats.

    Inner Harbour (Victoria, British Columbia)
    "Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 19.jpg" by Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons· licence

Day by day

  1. Day 1 · Seattle — Arrive; Pike Place Market· Amsterdam → Seattle (by air) — long-haul; may arrive the next calendar day
  2. Day 2 · Seattle — Waterfront and Space Needle
  3. Day 3 · Seattle — Ferry to Bainbridge Island
  4. Day 4 · Vancouver — Train or drive north; Gastown· Seattle → Vancouver (overland)
  5. Day 5 · Vancouver — Stanley Park seawall
  6. Day 6 · Vancouver — Granville Island and the North Shore
  7. Day 7 · Victoria, BC — Ferry to Vancouver Island; Inner Harbour· Vancouver → Victoria, BC (by ferry)
  8. Day 8 · Victoria, BC — Whale-watching trip
  9. Day 9 · Victoria, BC — Travel home from Victoria, BC· Victoria, BC → Amsterdam (by air)

A suggested pace only; expedition days are set by the operator.

Flights, leg by leg

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Seattle

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Vancouver

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Victoria, BC

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