Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Victoria's Inner Harbour and Empress Hotel

Established in 1843 by James Douglas as a Hudson's Bay Company Fort, the City of Victoria has a proud history of British custom.

The Greater Victoria region covers the extreme southern end of Vancouver Island, including the Saanich Peninsula, Victoria, Esquimalt, Colwood, Metchosin, and Sooke, with almost half of Vancouver Island's population of 750,000 living within the Capital Regional District (CRD) around Victoria.

There is a rich diversity of landscapes within the cool Mediterranean climate of the region, ranging from the Douglas fir forests along the coast to the drier, exposed conditions of the higher, rockier elevations, which support arbutus (madrona) and Garry oak forests. Victorians display their love for the natural world by cultivating flower gardens at every turn. As you'd imagine in a region where a large urban population interacts with such a delightful natural tableau, a vast network of walking, hiking, and biking routes leads through the many parks with which the city is blessed.

It's easy to imagine how sweet life was for Native Canadians who once had this all to themselves. Beacon Hill Park in downtown Victoria was the site of a village that had been inhabited for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the colonial settlers in the 1840s. A tangled web of events since then has displaced the original dwellers, but their history is evident in the petroglyphs that adorn the shoreline and in the middens of seashells mounded up beside the beaches on Strait of Juan de Fuca. Totem poles new and old stand as proud reminders of this heritage.

To gain a fresh appreciation for the talents and skills of First Nations peoples, combine a visit to the outdoors around Victoria with a stop at the Royal British Columbia Museum, a world-class repository of native artifacts. With the enriched perspective that such a visit will bring, you'll look at the landscape with new interest and appreciation. The figures on the totems will no longer be static representations from a mythological age. Instead, combined with the presence of killer whales, seals, eagles, ravens, salmon, and other species that are as vibrant in the landscape today as they were in the past, you'll enter a timeless realm and, in the process, discover a new place in nature for yourself.

Conde' Naste Traveler Magazine reader's poll rated Victoria one of the top ten cities to visit in the world. The picture-perfect Inner Harbour is surrounded by many of Victoria's beautiful character buildings and premier attractions: the stately Empress Hotel, provincial Legislative Buildings, museums and galleries. Romantic as Victoria may be, with its delightful natural harbour and the Olympic Mountains of Washington State on the horizon, the provincial capital of British Columbia is less a museum piece nowadays than it is a tourist mecca. Visitors pour in to view vast sculpted gardens and London-style double-decker buses, to shop for Irish linens and Harris tweeds, to sip afternoon tea, and to soak up what they believe is the last vestige of British imperialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Population: 78,659

Location: Victoria is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which is situated off the southwest coast of British Columbia. Visitors from the Lower Mainland of BC travel to Victoria by ferry from the BC Ferries' Tsawwassen terminal in Delta. Sailing time is 90 minutes for the 27-mile (44-km) distance across the Strait of Georgia to the Swartz Bay terminal, 20 miles (32 km) north of Victoria.

Visitors from the United States can journey to Victoria via ferry from Seattle, Anacortes in northwest Washington, or from Port Angeles on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The Anacortes ferry arrives in Sidney, at the Washington State Ferries terminal, 3 miles (5 km) south of Swartz Bay. The MV Coho from Port Angeles arrives in Victoria's Inner Harbour, as does the Victoria Clipper from Seattle's Pier 69. The Olympic and Saanich Peninsulas are separated by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a 17-mile (27-km) stretch of (almost) open ocean.

By air, visitors arrive at either Victoria Harbour (by float plane) or Victoria International Airport on the Saanich Peninsula, about 17 miles (27 km) north of Victoria.

A coach service operates via BC Ferries between Vancouver and downtown Victoria (43 miles/69 km by road, excluding ferry travel). Pick-up is available from various locations in Vancouver, including downtown, Vancouver International Airport, and major hotels. Visit our Transportation section for further information.

View maps of the area:
Map of Greater Victoria
Map of Victoria
Map of Victoria Downtown
Map of South Vancouver Island

One of the glorious things about the Victoria region is that you can picnic here year-round, something that much of the rest of the province has always envied. Each season has its unique character, and life is always assuming new forms. Spring and fall migrations of birds and fish animate the landscape. Evergreen forests brighten a winter landscape that otherwise lies unveiled once deciduous trees drop their summer foliage. Even snow makes the occasional appearance, though it rarely remains for long. Summer droughts and winter rains determine the songs sung by rivers and creeks.

Savour Downtown Victoria's passion for gardening, symbolized by the hanging flower baskets that adorn the city's lampposts in a celebration of scent and bright colours. Flowers bloom year-round in Victoria, which makes exploring the outdoors here enjoyable in any season. Ferns and lichens colour the forest floor throughout the winter; come spring, an explosion of trilliums and calypso orchids heightens the effect before giving way to bushes lush with huckleberry, salmonberry, trailing blackberry, salal, and Oregon grape.

For those with an interest in whale watching, Victoria is the ultimate destination. The Inner Harbour is the departure point for numerous harbour cruises, fishing and boating charters, whale watching trips and kayaking tours.

Legislative Buildings in Victoria framed by hanging baskets

Butchart Gardens are probably the best-known gardens in western Canada. Thousands of flowers are displayed in season each year in the Sunken, Rose, Japanese and Italian theme gardens. Breathtaking by day, the Gardens become a delightful fairyland on summer nights when illuminated by countless lights.

If there's a quintessential image of Victoria etched in the memory of all who visit the city, it must surely be British Columbia's Legislative Buildings at night. Adorned with 3,333 light bulbs, it takes on a magical quality. Take a free tour of the Legislative Buildings and learn about provincial history and government.

The Royal British Columbia Museum is one of the finest of its kind in the world, offering dramatic dioramas of natural landscapes and full-scale reconstructions of Victorian storefronts. Features outstanding displays on the province's history and culture, as well as national and international touring exhibits. Of particular interest is the northwest Coast Indian exhibit, rich with spiritual and cultural artifacts.

Visit the Maritime Museum of British Columbia and explore BC's sea-faring history through more than 5,000 artifacts, an exquisite collection of detailed ship models and paintings housed in an elegant heritage building.

The ivy-covered Empress Hotel, overlooking Victoria's Inner Harbour, has been a landmark since 1908. The hotel is know for serving afternoon tea in its elegant upper lobby and for its beautiful public spaces, which are well worth seeing.

Miniature World displays over 80 attractions for the whole family, a miniaturized extravaganza that continues to thrill and delight the young and young at heart. The Greatest Little Show on Earth

Explore Old town, and historic Market Square, a restored 19th-century courtyard surrounded by a jumble of shops, restaurants, and offices on three floors. Visit the galleries and sidewalk restaurants in Bastion Square, before planning your next adventure in Victoria.

Relax in a horse-drawn carriage and capture the romance of an era when tall ships moored alongside the wharf. Fabulous horse-drawn carriages have been delighting visitors with rides through Victoria for over 100 years!

Experience the larger-than-life films of the National Geographic IMAX Theatre...the most involving film experience that brings images to life on a screen over six storeys tall, with 12,000 watts of IMAX Digital surround sound. Everything else is just a movie!

For spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains, enjoy a seaside stroll in historic Beacon Hill Park - watch for "Mile Zero", starting point of the Trans-Canada Highway! A delightful quiet envelops this sunny spot, where walking trails link with neighbourhood streets that lead down into the busy hum of commercial activity. Beacon Hill Park was the site of a village that had been inhabited for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the colonial settlers in the 1840s. In 1956, renowned Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin and his team raised the world's tallest free-standing totem pole - at 38.8 metre (128 foot) located in Beacon Hill Park.