If you are looking for a weekend getaway from Vancouver and want some fresh ideas, you can find great destinations just a few hours from the city. Whether it is a couples weekend, a road trip with kids, a solo adventure, or a girls trip, these weekend trips from Vancouver are sure to give you the break from the everyday!

With over 2 million people in Metro Vancouver and a melting pot of cultures, Vancouver is an amazing place to visit and to live. However, as the highest cost of living in Canada, it is also an expensive place to live. Every weekend that goes by, I am trying to enjoy and appreciate my home as much as possible.

With that in mind, I planned several road trips from Vancouver to take advantage of what is within driving distance for a 2 night trip! While we always have a couple of ideas in our head, I am hoping to provide inspiration for new places to seek out and explore.

Pack up the car, pack up the kids (and perhaps the dog) and get out and explore. These weekend getaways from Vancouver can easily be explored in a weekend, but if you have a week off, USE IT! This resource is not just for locals! Are you visiting Vancouver and want to know where else to explore? These nine trips are all excellent and worth checking out on your holiday, whether with kids or as a couple or a solo traveller.

10 Weekend Getaways from Vancouver

1. Victoria

As the capital city of British Columbia, Victoria has so much to offer for families on a weekend trip from Vancouver! It is not just a tourist destination! Book a hotel for the weekend and visit the many beaches, parks and outdoor activities to explore!

Why not even check out the top 5 Victoria gardens? Whether it is feeding seals on fisherman’s wharf,  geocaching, taking a horse drawn carriage around downtown, whale watching, or spending an afternoon at the Royal BC Museum, or Butterfly World or the Bug Zoo, there are plenty of activities to keep kids of all ages (and adults too) entertained!

Walk the Galloping Goose Trail, or conquer Mount Finlayson. Tf the weather does not cooperate, do not despair, we have a great list of what to do in Victoria in the rain.

Summer is the busiest time of year in Victoria, but it can be enjoyed any time of year. If you are traveling on a long weekend or in the busy season with kids, you are going to want to make a ferry reservation in advance.

Travel Time from Vancouver To Victoria: about 4 hours plus ferry waiting time. Ferries run every 1-2 hours from Tsawassen Ferry Terminal to Swartz Bay Terminal and the crossing time is 1 hour 35 minutes.

2. Great Wolf Lodge

My first impression of Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound Washington was “Las Vegas for Kids!” The second you open the doors to the grand entrance, your senses are instantly heightened. This weekend getaway from Vancouver is south of Olympia in the United States and features a giant indoor waterpark suitable for babies to teens, an arcade, an interactive game called MagiQuest, mini golf, an outdoor spray park, dance parties, storytime, Starbucks, and multiple places to eat! You can read more about Great Wolf Lodge Washington tips. Also read this post on what to pack for Great Wolf Lodge. For the best hotel rates for this Vancouver getaway, go mid-week if you can! You can check rates here. If you are looking for something fun for the kids in the fall, you can visit Great Wolf Lodge for their seasonal Halloween fun!

Travel Time from Vancouver to Great Wolf Lodge: about 4 hours plus border wait time. Traffic can be very bad in parts of Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma.

3. Harrison Hot Springs

Harrison Hot Springs is known as one of the best day trips from Vancouver, but it is also one of the great getaways in BC that you can easily visit in a weekend. The drive from Vancouver is about 90 minutes (except in afternoon rush hour where you should add at least 30 minutes to your drive. Friday of a long weekend, add an extra hour!)

The Harrison Hot Springs Resort is a popular choice to stay and offers great amenities for family travelers. Whether you are visiting Harrison Lake with friends, as a romantic getaway or with your family, you will find plenty of activities to keep you as busy as you would like to be! This weekend trip from Vancouver boasts watersports including boating, fishing or paddling. Harrison Hot Springs also offers spas, golf courses, an inflatable water course and great hikes!

Where to stay in Harrison Hot Springs? There are accommodations to suit any budget. You can read more in this post on things to do at Harrison Hot Springs.

Driving Time from Vancouver to Harrison Hot Springs: about 90 minutes. add 30 minutes at rush hour and add an hour on Friday’s of long weekends in the summer

4. Seattle

Seattle lies approximately 225 kilometres south of Vancouver in Washington State. It is a popular place to visit for a weekend trip from Vancouver (or even from Portland) and has countless things to do. If you are a sports fan, take in a Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, or Seattle Sounders FC game. The Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps have quite the rivalry in the MLS (Major League Soccer) and it always makes for an amazing atmosphere. Seattle’s hotspots include Pike Place, EMP (Experience Music Project), the Seattle Children’s Museum, the Woodland Park Zoo, and the Space Needle.

Another option close by Seattle is Tulalip Resort which gives you plenty of outlets shopping and a wealth of things to do in the casino!

You can read more about why we love Seattle in this post: Seattle, an Emerald Gem Nestled in the Pacific Northwest from our associate writer Christi!

If you need more suggestions, check out a post by Savored Journeys on 30 things to do in Seattle.

If you are planning on taking in some of the popular attractions check out the CityPASS where you can save some money on admission!

Driving Time from Vancouver to Seattle: About 2.5 hours plus border wait times. Read more on how to get from Vancouver to Seattle including public transportation options. 

5. Whistler

Whistler Blackcomb is a world-renowned ski and snowboard destination, known around the world for its ski terrain, conditions, and sheer size! But do not think that you cannot enjoy Whistler in the summer! Enjoy golfing, kayaking, mountain biking, and dining as well as pristine mountain views if you visit this British Columbia destination in Summer. Whistler is one of Canada’s premier tourist destinations, but it is also a popular weekend trip from Vancouver for the locals too! Whistler in part, played host to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games and you will continue to see the Olympic rings, the iconic inukshuks and some of the Olympic tracks. If you are going with your family, check out these top things to do in whistler with kids in the summertime! Also have a read of these fun family activities!

Driving Time from Vancouver to Whistler about 1.5 hours along the picturesque Sea to Sky Highway. You can check out the best Whistler hotels with pools for great places to stay while in Whistler.

6. Anacortes

Anacortes is a quaint town on the I20 (about 20 minutes off the I5 in Western Washington). It has cute character and offers beautiful ocean views from many vantage points, on the steep hills around the town. Anacortes is a port city, and its largest industry is oil refining. Its economy is also based on shipbuilding and tourism. Anacortes is situated in what is known as the Olympic Mountain Rain Shadow, and it only gets about half as much rain as Seattle which is less than 50 miles to the south. You can read more about Anacortes in our posts here and here! Anacortes can be done as a day trip from Vancouver, but i suggest getting a Hotel for at least one night and making a weekend of it!

Driving Time from Vancouver to Anacortes about 1.5 to 2 hours plus border wait times

7. Salt Spring Island

If you have never experienced British Columbia’s Gulf Islands, Salt Spring Island is a great place to start! Like other destinations on this list of Vancouver weekend getaways. it is an outdoor-lovers paradise. You will find kayaking, whale watching, hiking and biking trails as well as eclectic shops in the centre of town: Gangees. You will not find traffic lights on the island, and amenities such as car rentals are limited. Salt Spring Island features some amazing B&B’s but no large hotel chains. Make sure to visit the Saturday Market in Gangees where you will find local arts, crafts and locally made cheeses and other treats!

Travel Time to Salt Spring Island from Vancouver is about 4 hours. There are a few options Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Victoria) then transfer to another ferry which takes you to Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring Island. This ferry runs every two hours. You can also travel Tsawwassen to Long Harbor direct, which often has stops at the other Gulf Islands on the way. Travel time on this vessel can vary from 1 hour 20 mins to 3 hours 30 mins depending on the number of stops. This ferry goes 2 to 3 times during the day and reservations are strongly recommended.

8. Nanaimo

Nanaimo lies on the East Coast of Vancouver Island. A weekend trip from Vancouver to Nanaimo can be achieved via BC Ferries or by Float Plane. Nanaimo offers excellent hiking, boating and scuba diving. It is the gateway point to exploring most of Vancouver Island such as Tofino, on Vancouver Island’s West Coast, to Mount Washington as well as accessing the cities and islands on the northern part of the Island. Nanaimo offers a small town feel, despite its over 80 000 residents.

If you have a long weekend, from Nanaimo it is about 3.5 hours to the West Coast of Vancouver Island and Tofino, Long Beach, Ucluelet and Pacific Rim National Park. If you want more information about Tofino, check out this post from Globetotting.com and I have listed everything you need to know about campgrounds in Tofino here

Travel Time From Vancouver to Nanaimo is about 3-4 hours. There are two options via ferry. Tsawwassen to Dukes Point ( 2 hour ferry ride) or Horshoe Bay in North Vancouver to Departure Bay (90 minute ferry ride

9. Kamloops

I chose Kamloops as one of my “cheap weekend getaways from Vancouver” only because it does not involve a Ferry Ride or expensive activities. The hotels are decently priced… and… the activities are well worth the price paid. Our favourite place of the weekend was the BC Wildlife Park… which features animals native to British Columbia. On this weekend drive from Vancouver, you will find countless outdoor activities from hiking to golfing to fishing to horseback riding. In the winter, strap on your snowboard and hit the slopes of SunPeaks Resort.… … We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in Kamloops this spring, and realized that Kamloops is not a small town at all, but a bustling city with all the amenities you need and so much space to explore!

Drive time from Vancouver to Kamloops is about 4 hours

While these are just 9 options, there are dozens more places to explore around Vancouver on the weekend! So many in fact, it is hard to choose. If you want to make the most of your time in one of the most beautiful places in the world, pick the place that you most want to visit and go from there! Try not to burn yourself out, you will end up not enjoying your British Columbia road trip.

Do you have a favourite weekend getaway in British Columbia or Washington State that can be done from Vancouver in a weekend? Let me know in the Comments

You can hover over this pinnable image of 9 Weekend trips from Vancouver British Columbia (or any image on my site) to quickly pin it!

Photo Credits: Vancouver Skyline by Montse PB, Seattle Lights by tdlucas5000, Fishing boats by D Stanley, Inukshuk by BC Living

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