The great thing about Whistler Village is, once you are there, you don’t need a car. Everything you need is walking distance. The challenge is getting there from Vancouver. Google maps will tell you that the trip from Vancouver airport to Whistler Village is 83 miles (134 km); nothing that you would want to walk or taxi to. So what are your options? Renting a car is always an option but remember, once you are there, you will not likely use it much. The good thing about renting a car is you can pick up supplies before you get there. Things in Whistler Village are really expensive. An average 6 pack of beer will cost you around $16 CAD. However the savings in supply costs will likely be offset by the extra cost of the car.


So if you don’t rent a car, what is the best way to get from the Vancouver Airport to Whistler Village? The first thing you must know is the Vancouver Airport charges $100 for any bus to enter the Airport. This means that any shuttle/bus that picks up directly from the Vancouver airport is going to cost a premium. These buses are certainly going to be the easiest, but you are going to likely pay at least double to get to Whistler Village. Below are the two alternatives that I feel are the best ways to get from Vancouver Airport to Whistler Village.


Greyhound Bus: The cheapest option is going to be the Greyhound bus. If you purchase your ticket early, it will cost you about $26 per person. Greyhound offers the most flexibility for departure times to Whistler Village and is by far the cheapest option. The one caveat is it does take a little to get there from the Vancouver Airport. To get to the Greyhound station from the Vancouver airport, you will want to take the Sky Train to the Waterfront station, transfer trains to the expo line and take that to the Main St. exit. The Main St. Sky Train station is an elevated station, so you will want to walk under the tracks (in the direction that you were traveling on the train) to a grey building about 2 blocks away. The walk is not bad, but if it is raining, be prepared to get a little wet. Again this is the cheapest option from Vancouver Airport to Whistler Village and has the most flexibility, but is certainly a bit of a trek. When taking the Sky Train, you should plan for about 45min to an hour to get from the Vancouver Airport to the Greyhound station. The other bummer about the Greyhound is it will only drop off/pick up at the bus loop in Whistler Village. Some of the other bus/shuttles will provide other options.
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Whistler Direct Shuttle: The other option is the Whistler Direct Shuttle. With this option you still have to take the Skytrain but you don’t have to walk as much. The bus will pick you up from a number of different Vancouver hotels. When we took it, we took it from Whistler Village to the Vancouver airport and ware dropped off at the Hyatt Regency hotel. From there we literally walked across the street to the Burrard station and caught the Skytrain. We still had to transfer trains at Waterfront, but this option was much easier and they were willing to pick us up from our hotel which was really nice. I am told you can ask for special rates, but no matter what rate you get, this seems to be the next best option to the Greyhound.


Here are some helpful Sky Train Links:
Trip Planner

Train Maps

Fare Zone Map