Seattle -> Vancouver travel questions

Mooogie

Looking at having a summer holiday in the Seattle/Vancouver/island area up to Rockies, Whistler Banff, back to Seattle to fly home..

A few questions:-

What's the weather like in July?

If hiring a car in Seattle and i take the car across the border to Canada, will they charge extra? How far into Canada will a rental company let you go?

How fast/slow is the immigration checks at the road borders? Is there a max number of days they will let you out the USA and back in on the Visa Waiver programme or do you need to fill in another green form on re-entry?

How does hotel room rates in Canada compare to the USA on average?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers.

The_Lambton_Worm

Was there last year at that time but travelled in the opposite direction.

Vancouver was wet when we arrived but brightened up later. Seattle was sunny for our duration (4 days). Temp was a very comfortable 80°F. That area of US/Canada is also the wettest part of those countries so the weather is just like home, unpredictable.

Don't know much about hiring a car (we travelled by bus) but some friends did and they said they had no problems taking the car through 3 states (BC, Washington & Oregon) from Vancouver - Seattle - Portland - Vancouver.

Crossing the border was hassle free for us. As i said we travelled by bus and they have a seperate area for immigration. I think there were 3 buses in front of ours and all were full (approx 45ppb). It took about 45min to get through but i'd imagine this could change depending on time and day of travel. We travelled on a Sunday crossing the border at about 2pm. My friends who hired the car had a bit less luck. It took them about 2½ hours to get through the border. Again i would imagine day and time of travel will make a big difference on crossing times.

Hotel rates were similar but it all depends on where you want to stay. We stayed fairly central and payed about £60-£80 a night per room in both Canada & USA. My friends stayed at airport hotels and payed about half the price we did.

Enjoy.

aardvark0

I believe you can take your car anywhere you like within Continental US and Canada with no further restrictions; Mexico is generally offlimits however.