# Driving to Whistler



## 5399sheba (Jun 4, 2007)

We are flying into Seattle and will be driving to Whistler.  How long will it take and will it be slow driving?  I know they are working on the highway in preperation for Olympics but is it ordinarily quite slow due to mountain driving?  
Also will be going to Victoria and would it be better to go on the fast ferry, Clipper or slow ferry.  I tend to get motion sickness and someone said the fast Clipper could be a problem with motion sickness.


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## Karen G (Jun 4, 2007)

Depending on the traffic and the weather it should take about 5 hrs. to drive to Whistler, more or less.  You'll save some time by crossing the border by going through Lynden instead of the main crossing on Interstate 5.  To find that border crossing, when you get to Bellingham take highway 539 that goes to Lynden. When you cross into Canada that road becomes Canadian highway 13 and leads to Canada highway 1 to West Vancouver where you'll get highway 99 to Whistler.

If you plan to go to Whistler first and then to Victoria and will still have a rental car, you could take the B.C. ferry over to Victoria. They have some fairly large ferries that are very smooth and shouldn't be a problem as far as getting seasick.  

You could return to Seattle via the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles and that should probably be a smooth ride, too.

As far as the drive being slow because it's "mountain driving," the delays I've experienced over the years have been due to lots of traffic or road work being done.  The road is very nice and scenic, especially passing Horseshoe Bay, but it's not a scary mountain drive where you fear falling over the edge of the road or stuff like that.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 4, 2007)

Generally the biggest delays driving from Seattle to Whistler are traffic delays in Seattle and Vancouver.  Next are the occasional border delays and the occasional weather (snow and ice) delays.  Barring those, it will probably take you about 5-1/2 hours to reach Whistler from SeaTac.  

As Karen mentioned, the Lynden/Aldergrove crossing will probably save time.  

In eight years of driving to Whistler at least once per year for skiing, I've never experienced significant delays due to snow and ice.  That's not to say it doesn't happen, but rather to indicate snow and ice really is not frequent.  Of all of the ski areas I've visited in the west, the drive to Whistler has by far the least frequency of snow and ice.  Rain yes - snow and ice, much less.


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