Victoria, BC recs

[Juliana]

DH and I are headed up to Victoria, British Columbia this weekend to celebrate our first anniversary (wooo hoo!! :D ). We've never been there, so any recommendations for fun activities or restaurants in particular would be greatly appreciated!! We have a great B&B near the harbor booked and are planning to go to Butchart Gardens on Saturday, but we are pretty much clueless about everything else. Thanks so much!!

[HeatherFL]

ETA: Sorry, I misread. Sheesh, I swear I graduated college!

I LOVE Vancouver!!!

Gastown
Canada Place
Stanley Park (Prospect Point, in Stanley Park)
Granville Island
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens in Chinatown

and if you eat sushi, there is awesome sushi all over the city. I usually ask the Concierge and try different places.

Have fun! :)

~H.

[Sare79]

Vancouver and Victoria are not the same place. While Vancouver is a great city, Victoria is not exactly a short hop away.

Some fun things I like to do when I go to the island are going to the Sticky Wicket Pub, having high tea at the empress, whale watching, the buchart gardens, the wax museum and there are some great restaurants.

There are fun shops in Market Square, the Elephant and Castle pub is great for traditional English grub, Big Bad Johns is a bar for interesting atmosphere and decor, but don't dress up to go there.

Depending on how much time you have, it's really fun to rent a boat and go for a cruise through the harbour, or go on a whale watching tour.

[HeatherFL]

I am so sorry. I misread Victoria for Vancouver. I KNOW they are not the same place.

Pardon my error! I have been having an off week and it's only Tuesday! LOL

~H.

[Katy]

We went there for our honeymoon (well both Vancouver and Victoria). We did the tea at the Empress (which I loved, but then again, I love high tea). Our favorite restaurant, beleive it or not, was the one on the dock, next to the visitors center, across from the Empress - SO good (and they gave us this AWESOME dessert for our honeymoon and very yummy belinnis). Otherwise, we were sadly disappointed in the food there (even the Italian restaurant that the concierge recommended as being one of the best). I also recommend the "ghost tour" that they do. You get a lot of history on the area and especially on the Empress. Otherwise, I think you have some good ideas already.

[Sare79]

Sorry if I came across as cranky! I just like to set the record straight. There's a lot of misconceptions about Canada, so I feel that I should clear them up, one post at a time! :p

[Rosebud]

Victoria is lovely!! We just did a day trip there, so we didn't have time to explore all the sights, but the ones we saw were wonderful.

We went to Butchart Gardens, which is AMAZING!! The most gorgeous and impressive gardens I've ever seen. We also checked out The Empress (I would highly recommend making a reservation for tea here, if you can). Then, we just wandered around the downtown area. Had some fish & chips and beer in a local pub, did some shopping, etc. It's such a charming place.

There are several musuems in town which looked like they'd be interesting. There's the Royal British Columbia museum and an aviation museum. There's also an old castle nearby, I believe: Craigdarroch Castle.

Have a great time!

[Elizabeth]

I agree that Victoria is fabulous. A little bit of England right here in North America. We stayed at the Laurel Point Inn and loved it. It has beautiful harbor views in both directions. We even got upgraded to the Honeymoon Suite!

[maplekitty]

Chinatown in Victoria has some great shops! As do all the "back alley" shops. Just walk around the downtown core and you'll find little alleyways that leads to dozens of funky stores and hidden squares!

[maplekitty]

oooh I also have to give props to a friend of mine who owns a restaurant in Victoria.

Her cafe is called "Penelope's Cafe" and her father's fancy restaurant next door is called "The Black Olive" - Sunday morning brunch buffet is *amazing* and only $12/person!! (no need to dress up for brunch though)

The website (http://www.theblackolive.ca/main.html)

[ejs]

DH and I are planning on spending a few days in Victoria. Is it a city that we should get a rental car for, or can we get around fine with public transportation and cabs? How many days should we plan on spending to really get a good visit of the city? (We'll also be including Vancouver and the San Juan Islands on this trip.) Any recs for a place to stay? Thanks!