as I mentioned in my previous post, we are on a reccie trip in October. We'll be flying into Seattle and hiring a car to drive over the border to Vancouver. I think it should take 3-4 hours, but with two kids in tow, we need to break it up a bit and make an adventure of it. Can anyone recommend how we can make the drive more interesting by stopping off any where in particular on the way, or going via a certain route? We also have to do the same trip in reverse 7 days later, but may have to just motor it on that occasion as we'll have a plane to catch! Thanks for your suggestions!

Seattle airport to downtown Vancouver is only 150 miles - last time I did the journey it took a fraction over 2.5hrs. Will obviously depend on traffic though.

Never had the opportunity to stop and sightsee along the way - try here for some tourist info.

Ok so not as bad as I thought, and some good tips on the link. Many thanks!!

It really depends on the queue at the boarder and at immigration. Friday and Sunday evenings are the worst. When it's quick it is quick, and when it is slow it is slow.

There are some outlet malls between Seattle and the boarder if the kids are old enough to appreciate cheap labels. Also on this side, there is White Rock which has some nice restaurants on the sea front.

kids are old enough (8 and 10) to know that when mummy sees a bargain, there's no point in belly-aching!!. Outlet malls sound like just the thing to break the trip up, and with the promise of a slap up meal one we're over the border, that might just work!

Is there a particular route that is more pleasant than others, or should we simply stick to the highways?

Sea-Tac to the border is 2 hours outside of rush hour at speeds that will make the highway patrol smile. At the moment there are some major road works on the I5 just south of downtown Seattle and just south of Everett. Hopefully they will be done by October but at the moment they are adding 1/2 hour to the drive. When driving through Seattle keep to the restricted lane (2 + or more people per vehicle) and follow the thru routes and expressways if they are open. Otherwise, rush hour driving is a nightmare.

There are frequent rest stops on the freeway (every 30 miles or so) so there are opportunities to stretch your legs and take a pee. Close to the freeway there is an outlet mall near Tualip casino. Mount Vernon is a small town with restaurants. Bellingham is bigger and has a large shopping mall called Bellis Fair that is a favorite for Vancouverites. If you want to go further off route then La Conner is a very quaint riverside town that is 20 minutes from the freeway. It is possibly not that interesting for small children.

As live to ski says, the border can be a problem. What time do you expect to arrive? There are two crossing points from the I5 to Hwy99 to Vancouver. The Peace Arch crossing is the main tourist crossing. It is in a pretty international park so your children can get out of the car and wander round/play if there is a long lineup. About a mile before the border you can chose to leave the freeway and follow H street to the commercial truck crossing. Cars are also OK here. Sometimes the lineups are shorter here but you can get stuck behind commercial traffic and there is nowhere to get out of the car.

When you get to Bellingham tune the car radio to AM1130. This is a rolling news service that does "traffic on the ones" and has updates every ten minutes on the border lineups. This can help to make your decision. From the border into downtown is 40 minutes out of rush hour. In the evening rush hour (3-6pm) Hwy99 northbound is restricted through the Massey Tunnel so Hwy 91 is the better option. They join up again in Richmond.

White Rock is, of course, just gorgeous.

The freeway is by far the quickest route so if you have wingeing children I would stick to this. However, if you have an extra hour you can take the Chuckanut Drive from Mount Vernon to Bellingham. This follows the coast and has some lovely views over the San Juan Islands and a couple of State Parks. More info here

great tips, Jonboy, thanks very much!!

anyone got any experience of getting cases in the back of hire cars. I remember last time we came to the states, we had to have about 4 upgrades to get one that our cases would fit into? We'll lhave one extra large case, and 2-3 medium. Dodge calibers look like they'd have a large boot (sorry trunk!!) for a small car, but photos can be deceiving. What do you all think?

If you can change it at this stage, I would go for a mini-van like a Dodge Caravan.

Yeh we thought of getting an mpv/suv type thing, but the hotel we are staying at says they can't guarantee that all the parking spaces will be big enough. don't know if that is a bit of BS but we thought we'd better stick to the safe zone and get a more traditionally shaped car.

What cars have any of you guys got. Mostly they hire dodge and chrysler. Anyone got one and can tell me if they'd fit in 3 medium and 1 quite large case?

Cheers!

We have thought of doing similar and were told that if you hire a car in the US, you cannot bring it over the border into Canada if it has US plates. We were told to make sure that the car we hire has Canadian plates.

Not sure if it only for Canadian citizens or PR's as well. Worth asking about though.

This is from the Alamo car hire website

The Canadian Import Law prohibits Canadian Citizens from taking a U.S. owned rental vehicle from the U.S. into Canada. The rental vehicle will be seized by Canadian Customs at the border, whether the Canadian renter plans to return the vehicle to a U.S. or Canadian location. The U.S. owned rental vehicle cannot be imported into Canada, even to temporarily cross the border. However, a Canadian may rent a Canadian owned vehicle in the U.S. and return it to Canada or cross the border without the vehicle being seized. Any U.S. Citizen renting a vehicle in the U.S. may drive across the U.S./Canadian border with no restrictions. The driver may be asked by Customs to show a rental agreement and a form of identification, such as a driver's license.

hmmmm..just a thought..but if people are here as tourists..and not canadian cits.....that would not apply to them..?

You are correct. But, for anyone in Canada thinking of doing similar, it is worth knowing.

absolutely a good piece of information

so to confirm, before I fly into a panic that our carefully laid travel plans are completely uworkable, and we have been completely stupid to overlook such an obvious possible pitfall, we, as tourists, can hire a US car, drive into Canada and back out again to the US without any probs? Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.etc.....!