From Ship Port to Butchart Gardens Best/cheapest way

[ceskydup]

Greetings:

My wife and I arrive into port aboard the Sapphire Princess around 5:00pm Saturday night Aug 6th. What is the quickest/cheapest way to get to these lovely gardens? How much time showed we allow are selves to enjoy the beauty? We need to get back to port by 11:45pm? How far are the Butchart Gardens from the docks? Thanks in advance.

[c-to-sea]

For Saturday night, don't even think about anything other than the ship's excursion.

there are fireworks every Saturday night and the parking lots are full by 5-6PM. The show

is a dusk and, at this time of year, doesn't end until after 10PM. The crush of people leaving

the gardens is very slow, so you would have to miss it to have any hope of getting out

and back to the ship on time. Cabs could be iffy and it would be very expensive to

have one wait for you the whole time. Even the ships excursion could get held up

but at least the ship would probably wait for it.

The gardens are about 15-20 miles from the pier and take at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours to

see. With the Saturday crowd, it would take at least 2 hours to see the whole of

the grounds.

[Sharby]

I total agree with the above poster. You should take the ship's excursion - this is a case of where the price that is asked is totally worth it for the short amount of time that you will be here.

 

Here is the official website of Butchart Gardens (if you don't already have it).

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

[Host Caroline]

Ditto ditto ditto.. the ship tour is the only way to do the Gardens on Sat. night..

[Luvcrusin']

What about a taxi on a Tuesday? We will be coming in to port on a Tuesday.

We will be in port from 7:00AM til 6:00 PM....any recommendations on a good time to go there?

[c-to-sea]

Tuesday shouldn't be a problem and taxi is a good bet, although a bit expensive since

it is a fair distance to the Gardens. Consider going soon after you dock. The gates

open at 9:00am. That way, it will not be too hot and you can take your time. There

are usually taxis there when you want to return or they can be there quickly when called.

THis would give you time in the afternoon to explore downtown Victoria. A good bet is

one of the horse-drawn carraige tours. (As long as I am not driving behind you and

can't get past). Lots to see in this area. Lots of information at http://www.tourismvictoria.com/

 

Hope you enjoy your visit. If you have other questions, just post them here.

[Sharby]

I agree with the previous poster. Tuesday shouldn't be a problem and you might want to go to the Inner Harbour area. You can get a tour (double-decker bus, probably) to Butchart Gardens from The Empress (although it's more a transportation service from The Empress to the Butchart Gardens and back). Or you can take the one from the ship (in some ways, less hassle).

 

If you're not at the Butchart Gardens, then the Inner Harbour is the place to be. Victoria is probably consistently rated by Conte Nast as one of the top cities for our Inner Harbour alone.

 

A lot of information (plus photos, etc.) can be gleaned from this website which is actually for an inn near the Inner Harbour. http://www.admiral.bc.ca/ I should warn you that this website has some pretty bizarre background music - so you might want to turn down your speakers :D , but they have some nice info on this website as to what to see and do around the Inner Harbour area. So with that in mind, turn down the volume and go explore the website. :D

[dbertell]

You can easily rent a car instead which may be even cheaper and much more convenient. When my wife and I were there in May, Budget met us at the dock, took us to one of their locations downtown, we picked up our car and went out to Butchart Gardens, visiting Butterfly Gardens on the way back. We took our time, had some lunch along the way, then headed back downtown, parked, walked around, had an ice cream and then took the car back to Budget. They took us back and dropped us off right at the dock. Total cost was $36 including all taxes and gas. Don't think you can beat that deal for the convenience and flexibility of the car.

[ghgeckos]

How much are the buses to the gardens per person? Also are the buses easy to find when you get off the ship? We will be there on a Thursday morning.

[hobo1937]

We did the Grey Line double decker tour from the Empress to Butchart in May. If you are a AAA member bring your card they offer a 10% discount. We paid a little over $60 US with the discount for 2 people. We took a shuttle from the ship to the Empress, which was $5 pp unlimited rides all day. All very easy to do. It also gives you the opportunity to walk around the inner harbor area. The interior of the Parliament Building is also worth seeing.

[Sharby]

The choice to rent a car (if you can get a 'deal' like dbertell) is "do-able" if you would feel comfortable driving around a city. When you add 2 adult admissions to Butchart Gardens to the price paid for the car - it would not be significantly more.

 

But for some convenience (ie: you don't have to worry about getting lost driving about) and for around the same money, you can take one of the bus tours. If you don't want to take the ship sponsored bus, then you can get a double-decker tour bus at The Empress as a number of tours leave from The Empress. You can also take a taxi (perhaps with another couple) between the port and the Inner Harbour. It should be between $5 and $10 (Canadian-including tip) for a cab one-way between the port and the Inner Harbour.

 

A little sidenote/story here: While walking along Dallas Road several months ago(where the port is located) I saw a lot of obvious tourists from the cruise ships walking along with maps. I directed several of them up side streets (you actually can walk from the port to the Inner Harbour in about 15 minutes). Finally I asked one couple, "Why are you all walking?" And the husband said that they were told on the cruise ship that taxis were $50 an hour. :eek: I said, "Yes, they are.....but it's only 5 minutes to the Inner Harbour!" :D

 

In case you are wondering why the original poster was advised to take the cruise sponsored tour - it was because their ship was only going to be here for a short time - on a Saturday night during the summer - when there are fireworks at Butchart Gardens. The timing and length of time in port was why that original poster was advised to take the cruise-sponsored bus. In case of a traffic snarl/jam - in all likelihood, the cruiseship would WAIT.

 

So to recap: If you are here on a summer night and it's a Saturday and your ship is leaving at midnight: TAKE THE CRUISE SPONSORED BUS TOUR.

 

If you are here for most of the day, say on a weekday, and you don't have to worry about the Saturday night traffic jam out of Butcharts Gardens, then it would be alright to take a bus tour from The Empress.