BC Ferries on the Thanksgiving Long Weekend — October 10–12, 2026
Thanksgiving is the long weekend that catches people out. It does not feel like a peak travel weekend the way the August ones do, so plenty of travellers leave the booking until the week before — and then find the sailing they wanted is already gone.
Demand is lower than midsummer, but it is concentrated: Thanksgiving is family travel, which means most people are moving on the same two days to reach the same dinner. If your sailing shows sold out, cancellations still release back into the pool right up to departure. FerryHawk watches for them and texts you free when one appears.
The travel pattern to plan around
Outbound fills Friday, October 9 afternoon and evening, with Saturday morning close behind. Inbound, Monday, October 12 from midday onward is the busiest stretch. The pattern is the same shape as a summer long weekend, just narrower — the shoulders on either side are genuinely quiet, so a Thursday departure or a Tuesday return is usually wide open.
Route by route
Tsawwassen ⇄ Swartz Bay (Vancouver–Victoria)
The busiest route for family travel, so it goes first in both directions. Friday evening over and Monday afternoon back are the two blocks to book early or set an alert on.
Driving an RV or towing? Oversized space on this route →
Horseshoe Bay ⇄ Departure Bay (Vancouver–Nanaimo)
Quieter than it is in summer now that the camping traffic has gone, but Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon still fill. Mid-day sailings are the ones worth watching for churn.
Driving an RV or towing? Oversized space on this route →
Tsawwassen ⇄ Duke Point (Vancouver–Nanaimo)
Typically the last route to sell out for the weekend and the most forgiving option if you are towing anything. Worth checking before you write off a Nanaimo trip entirely.
Driving an RV or towing? Oversized space on this route →
Horseshoe Bay ⇄ Langdale (Sunshine Coast)
Small vessel, so it does not take much of a bump in demand to fill it. Friday evening out and Monday afternoon back are the two to book ahead.
Driving an RV or towing? Oversized space on this route →
Pick your route and sailing, and get a free text the moment a spot opens up.
Set a free alertFrequently asked questions
Do BC Ferries sailings actually sell out for Thanksgiving?
The popular ones do. Total demand is well below a summer long weekend, but it lands on the same handful of departures — Friday evening outbound and Monday afternoon inbound — so those specific sailings sell out even in a quiet October.
How far ahead should I book for Thanksgiving weekend?
Two to three weeks is usually enough for the peak sailings, and a few days is fine for anything off-peak. This is the weekend people most often underestimate, so booking earlier than feels necessary costs nothing and saves the scramble.
My Thanksgiving sailing is full — what now?
Cancellations release back into the booking pool continuously, and they are bookable by whoever gets there first. Set a free FerryHawk alert on the sailing you want and you will get a text the moment one opens instead of refreshing the site.
Which Thanksgiving sailings are easiest to get?
Thursday, October 8 outbound and Tuesday, October 13 inbound are the quiet edges of the weekend, and early morning departures on any of the four days are reliably easier than afternoon ones.
Is October a realistic time to travel with an RV or trailer?
It is one of the better times of year for it — the summer RV crush is over and oversized space is much easier to find than it is in August. The Monday return is still the tight spot, and Duke Point remains the most oversized-friendly of the four routes.
Planning further ahead? The evergreen BC Ferries long weekend survival guide covers the patterns that repeat on every holiday weekend, and the sold-out sailing guide explains how cancellations work.