- Afternoon tea at the Empress (book ahead).
- Fish and chips on Fisherman's Wharf.
- Chinatown, the oldest in Canada, for dim sum.
Victoria City Guide
The Inner Harbour and the Empress Hotel, Victoria. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Victoria is British Columbia's capital: a garden city on Vancouver Island's southern tip, all hanging baskets, afternoon tea and the grand Empress Hotel on the Inner Harbour. It is Canada's mildest city, and it shows in the gardens.
The harbour is the centre of everything: the legislature, the Royal BC Museum, and the floatplanes coming and going. Butchart Gardens, 30 minutes north, is the essential half-day trip.
What to do in Victoria
The harbour
- 1
Inner Harbour The Empress, the legislature and the causeway buskers. - 2
Royal BC Museum The natural and human history museum, with the First Peoples gallery. - 3
Craigdarroch Castle The 1890 coal baron's castle on the hill. - 4
Beacon Hill Park The 200-acre park with the world's tallest free-standing totem pole.
Day trips
- 1
Butchart Gardens The 22-hectare gardens in the old quarry.
Victoria Hotel Guide
How to choose the best places to stay in Victoria. Verified properties below; for the full list, search live availability on Booking.com.
Where to eat
Getting there and around
Victoria (YYJ) has the airport; the harbour has floatplanes from Vancouver and Seattle. BC Ferries sail Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (35 minutes north of the city). The city is compact and walkable.