I consider Vancouver Island a two week destination, depending on how you like to travel and how many of the smaller islands you include, so cruiser is right, you have some choices to make.

Assume your flights are in and out of Vancouver? So I'd head right to the island first and do Vancouver at the end of the trip. You don't want to have a ferry ride between you and the airport on your final day. A connecting flight to a Vancouver Island airport is the simplest way to do this. But with your narrow window of time, you are going to need to choose which part of the island to go to.

For a start, I'll give you a long list of Vancouver and Gulf Islands tourism websites for you to browse and get some ideas. Whistler is great and you could well include it, but you could also look at Mount Washington/Forbidden Plateau area in the Comox Valley region of Vancouver Island for some mountain time.

http://www.vancouverislandnorth.ca/

http://www.getwest.ca/

http://www.campbellrivertourism.com/

http://www.quadraislandtourism.ca/

https://discovercomoxvalley.com/

https://www.tourismtofino.com/

https://www.discoverucluelet.com/

http://albernivalleytourism.com/

http://www.visitparksvillequalicumbeach.com/

https://www.tourismnanaimo.com/

http://www.saltspringtourism.com/

http://galianoisland.com/

https://www.tourismvictoria.com/

I'd guess those are the main destinations, but that list is not comprehensive. Now you need to decide which parts of the island you want to see. With 5-7 days, you really only have time for two stops, depending on what you choose. It takes about 6 hours to drive straight through from one end of the island to the other, and about 3 hours to drive across at the widest point. You need to allow for travel time on the island, which limits how many stops you can reasonably make.

And before you book any flights, make sure you have an eTA for all the members of the family. There are still people that are losing a lot of $$$ because it didn't come in time, or they were denied.

From Nanaimo to Tofino is a three hour drive, no stops. But there is plenty to see on the way to the west coast. Do have a look through the links above, and see what interests you and the family the most.

I'd want 3 nights in Tofino or Ucluelet for sure.

And yes, drop Whistler. Love that place, but I'd want to give more time to the Island. Depending on how much luggage you will be hauling around with you, you could walk on the ferry, and then pick up the rental car at Departure Bay, Nanaimo. Enterprise and Budget pick you up at the terminal, and take you to their office.

But check Canadian Affair for rental cars too. That would be easiest, as they have participating cities for rental cars, that don't charge the one way drop fee. Sometimes having a car is worth the extra expense.

If you do rent the car in Vancouver, avoid Budget, downtown location as well as the airport.

Also, if you rent the car in Vancouver to drive to Vancouver Island, you will absolutely want to reserve the ferry. You don't reserve for walk on passengers. When you make the reservation, you only pay the $10.00 reservation fee. The rest of the $$ is paid once you arrive at the ticket booth.

Considering you are coming into Vancouver in the afternoon or evening of a Sunday and you should really be back in Vancouver the following Saturday afternoon/evening for your flight out the following day, your actual touring days are somewhat limited. Depending on when you arrive in Vancouver, I would definitely recommend heading straight over to the island and spend all your time there. There is more than enough to keep you busy there as others have already advised without splitting the time in both locations. Perhaps you could do a little touring of Vancouver the day you arrive or the day you get back.

Hi Dave ~

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12567-k10942316-Calgary_to_Vancouver_1_week_road_trip-Road_Trips.html

You've had some very good advice in the linked thread above 2 weeks ago for how to incorporate a week in the Rockies with a week on the coast. Your post here does not seem to reflect any real digestion of that advice or application of it in this post. You seem to be right back at the beginning again? Happy to be wrong.

In your time frame, with a week on the west coast, I would suggest you stay 3 nights in Vancouver, 2 nights in Victoria and 1 last night in Vancouver before your flight out. That is 6 nights, with the 7th day reserved to fly home. You would travel to Victoria on BC Ferries, the whole journey taking 4 hours.

To get back to Vancouver from Victoria, you could return on the same ferry route which is very scenic, or drive up Island to the ferry terminal from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay, continuing with a drive of 40 min more to downtown Vancouver. There are many things to see and do on the drive up from Victoria to Nanaimo and the Parksville area. It's a two hour drive to Nanaimo + any stops. Then a 4 hour ferry ride across to Vancouver. Here is an article from the Victoria Forum's Top Questions that talk about those attractions and activities:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g154945-c200825/Victoria:Vancouver-Island:Day.Trips.From.Victoria.html

http://www.bcferries.com

Map of the full journey: https://goo.gl/maps/fydtnv3JXPK2

You could also stay 2 nights in Vancouver, 3 nights in Victoria, 1 night in Vancouver if your research informed you that there is enough for you to see and do in Victoria for 2 full days.

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