Rent a car day trip Nanaimo - Victoria?

The Princess Coral that departs Vancouver 9-17-2016 stops in Nanaimo Sunday 9-18. Has anyone rented a car and driven to Victoria to spend the day? It looks like a 1.36 hour drive so at best we would only have 4 hours in Victoria.

I've driven between them in my own car and frankly even without the delays getting to/being picked up by a rental agency, then returning the car again, I wouldn't entertain doing it on a one day cruise stop.

You'll be spending half your day just getting to and from - and if, like many people, when you say you want to see Victoria you're thinking of Butchart Gardens being one of the things you want to see be aware it's at least an extra 30mins driving (no shortcuts from Nanaimo due to the geography, you have to get to Saanich, almost all the way to Victoria, then drive north again).

The port authority has some pretty useful ideas of what to do closer to Nanaimo (this link is 2 hours or less, here's another for longer trips). Personally if you're willing to rent a car then hands-down the best thing to do is visit Cathedral Grove IMO - there are very, very few places you can experience anything remotely like it, and it's only an hour by car.

Actually there is a short cut - you can take the ferry from Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay where you are about 10 minutes from Butchart Gardens. Having said that, I totally agree with Martincath; trying to drive to Victoria and back in one day is not in your best interest. On paper it only takes 1.5 hours but realty is something completely different. It is an extremely busy highway and one little accident closes it for hours.

As suggested take in Cathedral Grove, or north to Coombs, lots of great places to see without the hassle of driving to/from Victoria.

Always forget about that short ferry - thanks for the reminder. Although checking the schedule it might end up taking longer than just driving unless you roll up within a few minutes of a departure on both legs (25min sail time to save a 50min drive)!

Last time we stopped in Nanaimo, the ship docked in the deeper water near the shipping docks. They (NCL) had a shuttle bus which did a big loop around the town. The town is quite walkable and walking down to the harbor and looking at the private boats is nice. There is also good public bus transportation to go north a bit. Personally, I would just hang around the town for the day, but I live close, so Victoria is always a day trip.

We are on same cruise and are wondering how easy it is to rent a car and drive to Horne Caves, Cowichan Valley wineries, and/or Englishmen River Falls. We'd rather not due an excursion from the ship but we also don't want to just walk the riverfront.

It is doable if you have a long day in Nanaimo - there is a local person who lives there that should be able to answer this question better than I can - have done a Horne Caves excursion from the ship last time into Nanaimo by cruise ship.

Horne Caves and Englishman Falls are north of the City while the Cowichan Valley is south.

Depending on which is more important to you - the Caves or the Wineries - here is how I would do such a trip - after picking up a rental car - sorry I am not familiar with them in Nanaimo but it is a city of some 80,000 people so there will be cars available - head north on the Inland Highway #19 until you see the signs for the turnoff to Horne Lakes Park and Caves. After touring the Caves - head back down the highway until you near Parksville - you should see signs for Englishmen River Falls Provincial Park - actually Little Qualicum Falls is actually a better option as it is closer to the highway and exits the highways before Englishmen Falls turnoff.

Once finished at the Falls continue down Highway 19 until you get near Duncan where you will start to see winery signs.

This is just a brief description based on my knowledge from visits over the years to the Island.

Hope this helps

Cheers!

Dennis

Thanks, Urban, for your help. We would not plan on doing everything, just one of the above. We are pretty active, but the cruise excursions make Horne Caves sound as if it is a really strenuous hike. I do not want to spend my vacation huffing & puffing up a 3 mile mountain. Can you tell me how physical the hike to the caves and the descent into the caves is? Also, is there anything you'd recommend that I may not know about? Last time we were in Nanaimo we flew across the island to take a boat to see the orcas. It was amazing, but with the long drive we barely made it back in time. This time we were hoping to see a little more of the actual area in which we port. Thanks again!

While I am no longer a spring chicken I didn't find the walk uphill to the Cave entrance to be all that tough but then I walk almost everyday and have been into serious hiking most of my long adult life. The round trip might be 3 miles but it would be downhill coming back.

I just checked my photos from the trip - our guided tour did the Riverbend Caves - after a short uphill walk and then some downhill we reached the access which was down a flight of stairs and then into the caves.

Here's a link to the web site for the Caves in case you haven't seen it yet,

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/horne_lk/

Not sure if you would do the same caves as I did - some can be explored on there own while others need to use a tour guide.

Here's the one for the Little Qualicum Falls Park.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/little_qualicum_falls/

Another attraction that I like in the area is Cathedral Grove of trees - it's just up the road from the Qualicam Falls attraction. Here's the link to that attraction. It's actually located in Macmillan Provincial Park.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/macmillan/

Down Island - there is the large Mural display at Chemainus.

Cheers!

Dennis

The Princess Coral that departs Vancouver 9-17-2016 stops in Nanaimo Sunday 9-18. Has anyone rented a car and driven to Victoria to spend the day? It looks like a 1.36 hour drive so at best we would only have 4 hours in Victoria.

1h36 is pretty optimistic. Consider renting a car and going to Cathedral Grove (on the road towards Port Alberni), or up to the beaches at Parksville, or...