France Airport
Nov0
Who Flies There: Private aircraft Part of massive Les Trois Vallées ski resort in the French Alps, Courchevel’s airport is notorious for its super-short ski slope-esque runway (it’s just 1,722 feet), which is punctuated with a vertical mountainside drop. Ice and unpredictable winds are always a concern for pilots, who must meet rigorous training requirements before being able to land in this stunning winter wonderland.
One of the things travel experts will routinely tell you when you’re looking for ways to find cheaper fares is to be flexible. That usually means things like researching more than one travel date around the date you think you want to fly, or being willing to set a 4am alarm if that’s the best way to get a cheap flight (it is).
But I’d like to suggest another thing you might want to consider when you’re learning to be a flexible traveler - flying into a different airport altogether. We recently wrote about some of the alternate airports for Vancouver International Airport, any of which might provide an opportunity to save you some money on a flight to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, but we’d like to focus on one airport in particular for this article: SeaTac Airport.
Although there are airports closer to Vancouver than SeaTac is, it’s for that very reason - because they’re closer - that it’s much simpler to get from those airports into the city of Vancouver. From SeaTac, which is more than 130 miles south of Vancouver, it’s easy to see why it would be confusing and a bit daunting to try to figure out how to get from SeaTac to Vancouver.
But you don’t have to figure it out. That’s what we’re here for. Here are the best ways of getting from SeaTac Airport to Vancouver.
Taking the Quick Shuttle from SeaTac to Vancouver
Absolutely the easiest way to get from SeaTac to Vancouver - or, for that matter, to get from downtown Seattle to Vancouver - is by taking the Quick Shuttle. It’s the one option that doesn’t require that you go into the city of Seattle first, and it still means you don’t have to navigate yourself.
The Quick Shuttle, also known as the Vancouver Seattle Express Shuttle, operates a regularly-scheduled service from SeaTac Airport to Vancouver. There are several stops along the way, including one at the Vancouver Airport, but if you’re looking to get into downtown Vancouver there are a few stops in the city center as well.
The schedule for northbound trips on the Quick Shuttle varies depending on the season, but even in the slowest season there are five departures from SeaTac and downtown Seattle every day. The trip takes roughly 5 hours from SeaTac to downtown Vancouver. Look up the schedule of the Quick Shuttle here so you can figure out which one is best for you.
A one-way adult ticket from SeaTac to Vancouver is $56 (a round-trip adult ticket is $99), and you can buy tickets from the Quick Shuttle website. And here’s an unexpected perk - free WiFi access is available on most of the Quick Shuttle buses.
Taking the Train from SeaTac to Vancouver
Amtrak trains run from Renton, Washington (which is the closest rail point to SeaTac Airport) to Seattle and Vancouver, so if you prefer you can take the train. Most of the trains from Renton only go as far as Seattle - at that point, you’d transfer to an Amtrak bus for the remainder of the journey to Vancouver. It does look like there’s one train a day that will take you all the way from Renton to Vancouver without requiring you to get on a bus instead, so if you’re intent on taking the train all the way up to Vancouver you’ll need to make sure that’s the train you’re getting on.
There are only a few trains a day, so you’ll need to look carefully at the Amtrak schedule to figure out whether it’s faster/easier to take the train or to go with another transportation method altogether. If you get on a train that takes you all the way to Vancouver, it’s about a 5-hour trip. If you’re on a train that only goes as far as Seattle and then takes you by bus to Vancouver, it’s a 5-5.5 hour trip.
A one-way coach-class ticket for the Renton-Vancouver trip starts at roughly $50, and there isn’t really a discount on round-trip tickets. Luckily, getting from SeaTac to the Renton train station won’t add to your transport headaches. The airport is in the process of completing a light rail line to connect the airport with the train, but until that’s done they’re running free shuttles from one to the other.
Taking the Bus from SeaTac to Vancouver
If for some reason you prefer the “glamor” of a Greyhound bus, you’ll need to get yourself from SeaTac Airport into downtown Seattle in order to pick up the bus to Vancouver. The from Seattle to Vancouver on Greyhound will be about 4 hours long, and a one-way ticket will cost between $20-35 (depending on how far in advance you purchase it).
You can look up the specific schedules on the Greyhound website to see what suits your travel plans best, and this page of the SeaTac website details all the various methods by which you can get from the airport into downtown Seattle.
Driving from SeaTac to Vancouver
For those of you planning to have a car at your disposal during your trip, it’s easy enough to rent a car at SeaTac and drive the rest of the way up to Vancouver. The trip is roughly 155 miles, and - assuming you don’t run into traffic (which you will) - the all-knowing Google says it’ll take you about 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The most direct route is to head north on I-5, which turns into Highway 99 N after you cross the border. You’ll need to get specific driving directions to wherever you’re staying in Vancouver, either from the hotel you’ve booked or from a reliable mapping system.
And unless you’re going to be driving in the middle of the night, you’re likely to hit the infamous Seattle traffic. Plan to be in the car much longer than 2.5 hours, or plan on having an alternate route at your disposal.
photo by cloneofsnake
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