Lower Mainland

By plane

Vancouver International Airport, or YVR as locals sometimes refer to it, is located in Richmond. It serves as the hub airport for Western Canada with frequent flights to other points in British Columbia, major cities across Canada and the United States, Asia and several to Europe . There are a number of ways to get to various Lower Mainland towns from YVR. For more on this airport see "Vancouver International Airport" in the Vancouver article.

There are floatplane facilities located both in the Coal Harbour area of downtown Vancouver CXH and at Vancouver International's South Terminal. Floatplanes operated by Harbour Air, Baxter Aviation, Salt Spring Air and West Coast Air fly frequently from downtown Vancouver and/or YVR to Victoria's Inner Harbour, Vancouver Island, the scenic Gulf Islands, Seattle and other local destinations. Finally, Helijet operates helicopter service from the downtown heliport next to Waterfront Station, providing quick and convenient connections to Victoria and YVR. For more on these options see "Floatplane and heliport" in the Vancouver article.

Abbotsford International Airport YXX, located about 80 km east of Vancouver in Abbotsford, is Vancouver's alternate airport. It handles mostly domestic flights and, with an arranged ride, you can be in and out of this airport in under 10 minutes with no checked in baggage.

Flying in and out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, most notably for US destinations, and then using the bus for travel to and from Vancouver city is an often less expensive option than buying a direct flight from YVR or YXX due to tariffs and "other" reasons. However depending on your nationality, a US visa may be required and could take some time to procure. For budget travellers, you may wish to consider checking flights to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The bus or train ride takes about 5 hours one way and driving time is approximately 2.5 to 3 hours.

By bus

The Lower Mainland, especially Vancouver is well served by bus service. There are a number of different bus lines providing service to various cities near and far. Here are a couple of examples:

Greyhound

(http://greyhound.ca) connects the Lower Mainland with many cities, including Seattle, Calgary and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

Quick Coach

(http://www.quickcoach.com) connects the Lower Mainland with Bellingham, Anacortes, and Seattle in Washington), including SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma Airport.

Pacific Coach Lines

(http://pacificcoach.com) Connects Vancouver with Victoria. Scheduled service follows the BC Ferry service from Tswwassen to Victoria Swartz Bay. This is hourly in the summer months, and every two hours in the off-season.

By ship

There are two ferry terminals serviced by BC Ferries in the Lower Mainland.

The Tsawwassen terminal in Delta has routes to Nanaimo and Victoria on Vancouver Island and to the Southern Gulf Islands.

The Horseshoe Bay terminal in the North Shore services Nanaimo, Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast.

Both terminals are far enough from the city core that you will need to travel by car, taxi or bus to get into any regional city from them and vice-versa. In terms of bus transportation, the various coach services are recommended over public transit. Public buses to and from the ferry terminals are time-consuming and frustrating.

By train

Unlikely to be the cheapest option, but travelling from Edmonton or Jasper by rail makes for a good way to see the Canadian Rockies. VIA Rail (http://www.via.ca) has the Canadian which runs from Toronto to Vancouver with 3 weekly departures. Rocky Mountaineer Vacations also operates trains to Whistler, Banff, and Jasper from April to October.

Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com) runs a service between Seattle and Vancouver called Amtrak Cascades (http://www.amtrakcascades.com/). Trains depart Seattle daily at 7:40AM and 6:40PM, arriving in Vancouver at 11:35AM and 10:45PM respectively. The return trips leave Vancouver at 6:40AM and 5:45PM.

By car

There are five land border crossing points, between the Lower Mainland and the Northwest Cascades region of Washington state, USA. They are referred to by different terms in Canada and the US.

Canadian name	US name	Location	Hours	Comments
Douglas Peace Arch	Blaine Peace Arch	Surrey/White Rock, BC Hwy 99 – Blaine, WA I-5	24 hours, daily Nexus: daily, Canada-bound 7am–12am, US-bound 7am–9pm	Primary border crossing point for passenger vehicles. No commercial traffic allowed. Best Nexus lane access. Canadian side is undergoing major street and building construction July 2008.
Pacific Highway	Blaine Pacific Highway	Surrey, BC Hwy 15 – Blaine, WA WA-543 From Hwy 99 southbound take exit 2A and go along 8 Ave for 1.5km to Hwy 15. From I-5 northbound take exit 275 for WA-543.	24 hours, daily Nexus: daily, Canada-bound 2pm–6pm, US-bound 10am–6pm	Also known as "Truck Crossing". Primary border crossing point for trucks and buses. Passenger and foot traffic also welcome, with waits usually shorter than at Peace Arch. Canadian and US Customs offices here are better places to ask questions than Peace Arch. US side has just finished major street improvement early 2008.
Aldergrove	Lynden	Aldergrove, BC Hwy 13 – Lynden, WA WA-539, the Guide Meridian	Passengers 8am–12am daily. Commercial 8am–4pm Mon–Fri exc. hols	Due north of Bellingham. Often has shorter lines than Peace Arch and Pacific Highway, but if you are going to or from Vancouver or the western suburbs the longer drive to Aldergrove usually eliminates this benefit.
Huntingdon	Sumas	Huntingdon, BC Hwy 11 – Sumas, WA WA-9	Passengers 24 hours, daily. Commercial 8am–5pm Mon–Fri exc. hols	Convenient to Abbotsford.
Boundary Bay	Point Roberts	Delta, BC 56th St – Point Roberts, WA Tyee Drive	Nexus: daily; Canada-bound 9am–9pm summer, 10am–6pm winter; US-bound 11am–7pm	This crossing is only useful for reaching Point Roberts, the US tip of a Canadian peninsula which extends just south of the 49° N latitude. There is no land access from there to the rest of the USA.

Visitors travelling to Vancouver by car across the U.S. border should be aware that there are often lengthy lineups at the border, in either direction. During summer, waits at the border can exceed three hours during peak times.

Inform yourself about the waits, and you can either delay your crossing until the lines subside, or choose the quickest crossing, or at least set your expectations. You can see official wait time forecasts for both directions on the Canada Border Services Agency website (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.c...), and for US-bound traffic on the US Customs and Border Protection website (http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/i...). It can be helpful to view webcams of the border lineups; Canada-bound on I-5 (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/t...) and US-bound at most crossings (http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/A...) (http://www.borderlineups....). Two AM stations give regular updates on border lineups in both directions: News 1130 1130 on the AM dial every 10 minutes beginning at one minute past the hour, and AM 730 every 10-15 minutes.

The Nexus Land program (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.c...) lets travellers who fill out an application and pass a security check use express lanes through US-Canada land borders by presenting a Nexus card. However, you may only use the express lanes if everyone in your car has a Nexus card. There are also Nexus programs for air and marine travel.