Butchart Gardens from Downtown Vancouver

[judyzoo]

How difficult is it to get from Downtown Vancouver to Butchart Gardens? We're trying to decide whether to do it on our own or to take a $200 tour. Or to take a $300 combination whale watching and Victoria (including Butchart) tour.

[Langley Cruisers]

Well, I guess the question is do you want to drive yourselves in a rental car, or have someone take you on a bus? There are a number of factors, including the cost of a car rental, the cost of the ferry both ways, admission to the Gardens, etc. I mean, you can take a tour and for the cost, that might be best for you. Having said that, buses get priority loading on the ferry so you will not have to wait (cars are first-come first-served unless you pay extra for a reservation).

 

What do you feel like doing? And how many people in your party?

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Edited March 24, 2016 by Langley Cruisers

[xlxo]

How difficult is it to get from Downtown Vancouver to Butchart Gardens? We're trying to decide whether to do it on our own or to take a $200 tour. Or to take a $300 combination whale watching and Victoria (including Butchart) tour.

Thoughts...

• As a local, I use public transit. As a tourist.... I recommend the bus tour to save time on transfers and stopping at each public transit stop.
  
• Whale watching to Butchart is so cool!
  
• The $200 Landsea tour includes Victoria, not just Butchart!
  http://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-tour/
  
• The Chinese/English tours can get you to Butchart w/ Victoria for just over USD$70
  http://www.supervacation.ca/en/content/canwest/yyj01we.pdf
  They also offer a 2 day Vancouver Island tour...
  http://www.supervacation.ca/en/content/canwest/yyj02we.pdf
  

Edited March 24, 2016 by xlxo

[Renstr]

Hi Judy we have some cool attractions here too if butchart is too far. It's a pretty long day as you have to take the ferry. About 12 hours I believe :)

[Antonintassie]

Hi

 

Float plane is one of the quickest options and not to expensive it puts you right in Victoria harbour and you can catch a taxi or do a local tour.

[scottbee]

How difficult is it to get from Downtown Vancouver to Butchart Gardens? We're trying to decide whether to do it on our own or to take a $200 tour. Or to take a $300 combination whale watching and Victoria (including Butchart) tour.

 

It's a long day-trip if that's what you're looking into.

 

Doing it by public transit is almost as fast as the private tour buses, but a lot less expensive.

 

it involves:

Skytrain (canada line) to Bridgeport, transfer to #620 bus to Tsawwassen (2 zones $4)

Walk on ferry at Tsawwassen ($17)

#81 Bus from Swartz Bay to Butchart Gardens. ($2.50)

[Keith1010]

We took a tour and rode two and from Victoria via the Ferry and also bus on each end.

 

Keith

[judyzoo]

Thank you all for your input -- this will help us decide what is best for us!

[thinfool]

it involves:

Skytrain (canada line) to Bridgeport, transfer to #620 bus to Tsawwassen (2 zones $4)

Walk on ferry at Tsawwassen ($17)

#81 Bus from Swartz Bay to Butchart Gardens. ($2.50)

 

We did this (before skytrain) except:

1. we started at the airport

2. we rented from Enterprise at Sydney (they picked us up) and

3. we stayed overnight and were at Butchart Gardens when they opened the next morning

4. we reversed the order to return to downtown Vancouver for our one night hotel before we boarded the ship.

 

While this was a great and economical adventure for my wife and I, I would not recommend it for folks who are not real familiar with public transportation.

[xlxo]

It's a long day-trip if that's what you're looking into.

 

Doing it by public transit is almost as fast as the private tour buses, but a lot less expensive.

 

it involves:

Skytrain (canada line) to Bridgeport, transfer to #620 bus to Tsawwassen (2 zones $4)

Walk on ferry at Tsawwassen ($17)

#81 Bus from Swartz Bay to Butchart Gardens. ($2.50)

Thoughts...

• Pay attention to the ferry schedule. On most days, it's once every 2 hours. Miss it and you'll loose 2 hrs in your day.
  
• When I did the trip several years ago, there's usually more than one #620 bus, the lead bus in my experience will be an express bus on busy days. That is, it goes straight from Bridgeport to the ferry terminal. This can save 20 minutes.
  
• Back around 2009, I did a bus trip from Swartz to Butchart. I noticed there were using not using full sized buses, but these tiny community shuttles that holds about 20 people on Sundays. To ensure I got on, I got to the stop 30 minutes in advance. Those that showed up 10 minutes before were really upset as they could not board and had to wait another 2 hours for the next bus. What sized buses are they now using for the #81?
  

Edited March 24, 2016 by xlxo

[scottbee]

Thoughts...

• Pay attention to the ferry schedule. On most days, it's once every 2 hours. Miss it and you'll loose 2 hrs in your day.
  
• When I did the trip several years ago, there's usually more than one #620 bus, the lead bus in my experience will be an express bus on busy days. That is, it goes straight from Bridgeport to the ferry terminal. This can save 20 minutes.
  
• Back around 2009, I did a bus trip from Swartz to Butchart. I noticed there were using not using full sized buses, but these tiny community shuttles that holds about 20 people on Sundays. To ensure I got on, I got to the stop 30 minutes in advance. Those that showed up 10 minutes before were really upset as they could not board and had to wait another 2 hours for the next bus. What sized buses are they now using for the #81?
  

 

In the summer, the boat is every hour. However the #81 is every two hours. You should plan to ride an odd-hour ferry (which are the larger Canadian built ferries anyway).

 

The big thing to realize is that going over to Vancouver Island/Victoria isn't a little hop, it's roughly equivalent to popping over to England for the day from France (w/o the nice high-speed rail tunnel)

[judyzoo]

After reading all of the helpful info you have all supplied, I'm quite sure that we'll be doing the less stressful way of taking a tour -- and letting someone worry about the connections. We'll just be going over and back to the mainland in one day. Thanks for all your help!

[phoenix_dream]

How are the waters on the 90 minute ferry ride- usually calm or it depends?

 

We have five days in Vancouver before our cruise and would love to go to Buchart Gardens again and spend some time in Victoria. We will have a rental car, but considering vehicle transportation costs on the ferry, a tour may be just as cheap and more relaxing. We stopped at the gardens for a bit on our trip to Alaska last September, but it was so late in the year and we arrived so late in the day that we only had about an hour before the sun went down. The gardens are pretty at night, but we really didn't get to fully experience them in the daylight. DH is a garden fanatic so we would love to have more time there in the daylight.

[Putterdude]

How are the waters on the 90 minute ferry ride- usually calm or it depends?

 

We have five days in Vancouver before our cruise and would love to go to Buchart Gardens again and spend some time in Victoria. We will have a rental car, but considering vehicle transportation costs on the ferry, a tour may be just as cheap and more relaxing. We stopped at the gardens for a bit on our trip to Alaska last September, but it was so late in the year and we arrived so late in the day that we only had about an hour before the sun went down. The gardens are pretty at night, but we really didn't get to fully experience them in the daylight. DH is a garden fanatic so we would love to have more time there in the daylight.

 

Normally during the summer the seas are very calm....in fact almost like glass. Your risk of rough seas lies in the first 30 mins after departing Tsawwassen terminal and the last 30 mins before you arrive back because you are in some semi-open waters but as I said the risk in the summer is quite minimal. Here are some tour operators for your review however given that you have a rental car I think you will find it just as economical to go in it. Its a long day but people do it all the time; the ferry trip thru the Gulf Islands is outstanding and the scenery is about as picturesque as it comes.

 

http://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-tour/

https://westcoastsightseeing.com/tours/victoria-butchart-gardens-tour/

http://www.cvstours.com/butchart-gardens-from-vancouver.html

.

[phoenix_dream]

Normally during the summer the seas are very calm....in fact almost like glass. Your risk of rough seas lies in the first 30 mins after departing Tsawwassen terminal and the last 30 mins before you arrive back because you are in some semi-open waters but as I said the risk in the summer is quite minimal. Here are some tour operators for your review however given that you have a rental car I think you will find it just as economical to go in it. Its a long day but people do it all the time; the ferry trip thru the Gulf Islands is outstanding and the scenery is about as picturesque as it comes.

 

http://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-tour/

https://westcoastsightseeing.com/tours/victoria-butchart-gardens-tour/

http://www.cvstours.com/butchart-gardens-from-vancouver.html

.

thanks for the info!

[martincath]

With five days, spending some time on the island makes sense, especially with a garden fanatic and that short prior trip to Butchart being after dark. With even 2 people in a rental car, pricing would be better than the tour costs unless you're paying an absolute fortune for the car per day, plus you have total flexibility.

 

I'd offer the additional suggestion of looking into changing your flights and hotel - see what it would cost to arrive in YYJ, get your car there with a hotel in Victoria for the first night. This would save the time and cost of one leg on the ferry for you so might end up being a minimal cost or even saving you a few bucks unless you're looking at hefty change fees from your airline...

 

If it doesn't make sense to change the flights, still consider tweaking your hotels to spend a night on the island - there are many beautiful spots outside the Victora-Butchart zone, like up in Cathedral grove. Taking one of your legs between Nanaimo & Horseshoe Bay instead of Tsawassen & Swartz minimises backtracking on the island, and puts you on the Sea to Sky highway which is another beautiful drive even if you just go as far as Squamish rather than all the way up to Whistler.

[Putterdude]

One thing that I would add to my post above would be that during the summer and particularly on a summer Fridays thru Mondays you may want to purchase a reservation on BC Ferries which will add $15 to your fare in either direction.

 

http://www.bcferries.com/res/visc_faq.html#cost