Victoria questions

[Luckysll]

I live in Victoria (have lived here all my life). If anyone has any questions about my beautiful city, I will do my best to answer them.

[JohnRy210]

Hi Luckysll!

 

Thank you for the post. I will be in Victoria during late September, scheduled to be there from 7am to 4pm. I was looking at the various organized tours for Butchart Gardens, and they seem to give a total time of just 1.5 to 2 hours at the gardens themselves. Is this enough time? We might consider just taking the Gray Line Gardens express bus and enjoy the gardens at our own leisure. Would you also recommend the Butterfly gardens?

 

I love Victoria and will definitely get a bite to eat at Rebar! =)

 

Cheers!

[Luckysll]

You can do Butchart's in 1.5 to 2 hrs, but if you are there in the morning, it tends to be more crowded, so you might want to allow some extra time. Butchart's also has a tea room, but you're going to Re-bar, so that's not necessary. I love Re-bar though I haven't been there in awhile.

 

Butterfly Gardens is one of those places that people seem to either love or hate. I haven't been there, but if the Gray Line tour stops there, I'd go for it.

 

There's also the Titanic exhibit at the Royal BC Museum, which you may want to see, and if you do, then you may only want to spend a couple of hours at Butchart's and skip Butterfly World.

[aussie jb]

The Titanic Exhibition is great to see- skip the IMAX part though, it was fairly basic. Actually the entire Museum is pretty awesome and well worth a couple of hours wandering around, nice and close to the Inner Harbour as well.

[Lovetocruise313]

WE would like to walk off the ship & walk to inner harbor to see the Titanic Musuem, then walk over to the empress hotel then take a shuttle/tour bus whatever is available from Empress Hotel to Butchart Gardens. We will be there in the evening from 6 to 11:59 pm, July 14th. We like to take our time getting off the ship and let the people who have excursions get off then we will get off. Is walking this doable or am I dreaming? One person said it was 3 mile walk, another said it's only 25 minute walk. I've read where it's a short taxi ride.

 

The excursion to the Garden from the ship is only 2 hours and leaves :30 minutes after we get into port. I had read that Butchart is open till 10 pm that nite and that they have a firework display.

 

Is Victoria's inner harbor crowded? I have been to Baltimore Inner Harbor on the weekend and it was packed. How crowded will the museum be that has the Titanic exhibit on a SAturday evening? Will it be a long, long line to get the tickets? I found online where you could get tickets for that, but have no idea when we will like to see that and it was expensive in my opinion. Is it worth seeing?

[LeftcoastBC]

The walk is an easy 20 mins to inner harbour Museum and Empress. The timing in the evening to get to Butchart will be your issue and likely why the Ships tour leaves right away.

Not sure of the Museum evening hours either, sorry.

Check their websites.

[Lovetocruise313]

Thank you for the reply.

 

I had read that you can get a tour bus ride to the gardens from the Empress. I also read there was gardens around inner harbor too.

[boricua2007]

WE would like to walk off the ship & walk to inner harbor to see the Titanic Musuem, then walk over to the empress hotel then take a shuttle/tour bus whatever is available from Empress Hotel to Butchart Gardens. We will be there in the evening from 6 to 11:59 pm, July 14th. We like to take our time getting off the ship and let the people who have excursions get off then we will get off. Is walking this doable or am I dreaming? One person said it was 3 mile walk, another said it's only 25 minute walk. I've read where it's a short taxi ride.

 

The excursion to the Garden from the ship is only 2 hours and leaves :30 minutes after we get into port. I had read that Butchart is open till 10 pm that nite and that they have a firework display.

 

Is Victoria's inner harbor crowded? I have been to Baltimore Inner Harbor on the weekend and it was packed. How crowded will the museum be that has the Titanic exhibit on a SAturday evening? Will it be a long, long line to get the tickets? I found online where you could get tickets for that, but have no idea when we will like to see that and it was expensive in my opinion. Is it worth seeing?

 

I was on Victoria Friday 6/8/07 7pm to 11:30pm. I don't think you'll be able to do both (Museum and Butchart Garden). I mean, maybe is doable, but, based on my exp., it seems to me you will be in a rush.

 

The museum (BC Royal Museum I think is the name) accomodates their hours to the cruises arriving. I thought it was going to be closed (official hours are 'till 6pm), but I just found it open ('till 10pm) when I passed by (7:30pm), welcoming us Princess and Holland (the other ship on port). I spent almost 2 hours at the museum and, eventhough I saw the Titanic exhibition in detail (BTW, the employees at the museum are very helpful and answered all our questions), I wasn't able to enjoy, as much as I would have liked, the other exhibitions, cause of lack of time! If you like museums, you'll love this one! One of the employes gave us a "quick tour" trough other exhibition (sorry, I'm very bad with names!, but is a recreation of a city 1899-earlies 1900's) and he was great. It was a shamed we didn't have more time!!!

 

The walk to the harbor is about 20 mins. Nice neighbor and very pretty.

[Lovetocruise313]

Thank you so much for the information. That settles that for me. Either the garden or walking around inner harbor. Is there plenty to see if you don't do Butchart or the museum, just walk around to see Inner Harbor and look around at the buildings. I saw somewhere about walking around and seeing things. I heard there's a pub by the Empress, I have never seen a pub and thought my husband would enjoy that.

[Binok]

Hi Luckysll!

 

Thank you for the post. I will be in Victoria during late September, scheduled to be there from 7am to 4pm. I was looking at the various organized tours for Butchart Gardens, and they seem to give a total time of just 1.5 to 2 hours at the gardens themselves. Is this enough time? We might consider just taking the Gray Line Gardens express bus and enjoy the gardens at our own leisure. Would you also recommend the Butterfly gardens?

 

I love Victoria and will definitely get a bite to eat at Rebar! =)

 

Cheers!

 

Where did you find information about a Gray Line Gardens express bus? I can only find info on their tours-not just transportation. Would love to hop on a bus and return when we're ready. I'm afraid taking a city bus would take too long. We're limited on our time in Victoria and I also want to see the Titanic exhibit.

[cruiseryyc]

The Grey Lines direct bus to Butchart's costs $7.00 per person each way and tickets can be purchased at the kiosk in front of the Empress Hotel. However, if you only have a few hours in Victoria I would strongly urge you to take the ships tour to ensure you don't miss the sailing. In particular, if you are there on a Saturday when Butchart's has their fireworks, you must take the ship's tour as the traffic is horrendous getting back into Victoria.

[Binok]

The Grey Lines direct bus to Butchart's costs $7.00 per person each way and tickets can be purchased at the kiosk in front of the Empress Hotel. However, if you only have a few hours in Victoria I would strongly urge you to take the ships tour to ensure you don't miss the sailing. In particular, if you are there on a Saturday when Butchart's has their fireworks, you must take the ship's tour as the traffic is horrendous getting back into Victoria.

 

Thanks for your help. Althought we'll be there on Saturday, we plan to go to Butchart first thing in the morning. We've been before and will probably only stay a couple of hours. Then we'll head back to do the museum, skipping the film. Got a reply from Gray Line and found the schedule for the shuttle. Sounds like we can work this out. Thanks again for you help.

[Costafox]

Hi Luckysll

 

We will be visiting Victoria on May 7th 2008 - we are not really garden people so what would you recommend as must see/do things for our visit.

We will be there from 7am until 5pm.

Many thanks

[Luckysll]

Hi Luckysll

 

We will be visiting Victoria on May 7th 2008 - we are not really garden people so what would you recommend as must see/do things for our visit.

We will be there from 7am until 5pm.

Many thanks

 

There is plenty to keep you busy without visiting a single garden! :) The Royal BC Museum can easily take up a couple of hours. It is definitely not your average museum and it's worth a visit. There's also an IMAX theatre located at the Museum which you can include with your admission (for an extra fee) if you like what's playing. IMAX movies are about 45 min. long.

 

The Empress Hotel is worth a wander through. They serve high tea, and it is a bit on the expensive side (approx. $50 pp) but for some, it's a must do. You should make reservations if you're interested. If you don't want tea, you can always stop in the Bengal Room for a drink. Very British!

http://www.fairmont.com/empress/

 

There's a smaller tea room - The James Bay Tearoom - which I used to visit every day for coffee break when I worked in James Bay. A small place, but very nice. It's at the corner of Menzies and Superior (just up from the Inner Harbour).

 

Victoria's Inner Harbour area is very walkable with lots of shops along Government Street. If you like chocolates, stop in at Roger's chocolates for one of their Victorian cream chocolates - very yummy!

 

There are also whale watching tours you can take from the Inner Harbour. Here's a link to one which gets good reviews:

http://www.princeofwhales.com/

 

If you need more ideas, let me know what kind of things you like and I'll see what I can suggest.

[Costafox]

There is plenty to keep you busy without visiting a single garden! :) The Royal BC Museum can easily take up a couple of hours. It is definitely not your average museum and it's worth a visit. There's also an IMAX theatre located at the Museum which you can include with your admission (for an extra fee) if you like what's playing. IMAX movies are about 45 min. long.

 

The Empress Hotel is worth a wander through. They serve high tea, and it is a bit on the expensive side (approx. $50 pp) but for some, it's a must do. You should make reservations if you're interested. If you don't want tea, you can always stop in the Bengal Room for a drink. Very British!

http://www.fairmont.com/empress/

 

There's a smaller tea room - The James Bay Tearoom - which I used to visit every day for coffee break when I worked in James Bay. A small place, but very nice. It's at the corner of Menzies and Superior (just up from the Inner Harbour).

 

Victoria's Inner Harbour area is very walkable with lots of shops along Government Street. If you like chocolates, stop in at Roger's chocolates for one of their Victorian cream chocolates - very yummy!

 

There are also whale watching tours you can take from the Inner Harbour. Here's a link to one which gets good reviews:

http://www.princeofwhales.com/

 

If you need more ideas, let me know what kind of things you like and I'll see what I can suggest.

 

Thanks for all that - the museum looks interesting, its a shame we will miss the Titanic exhibition but the walk to the Inner Harbour sounds good for us too- we will certainly stop by Roger's chocolates on your recommendation.

 

Many thanks for your help

[Bucky3]

Our ship, Dawn Princess, will be in Victoria on Sunday, July 22, from 12 Noon to 7 PM. I would think this means we will be there on a busy summer Sunday afternoon!

 

We have been to Victoria before and to Buchart Gardens but it was a long time ago. We also went to a butterfly garden type place that I believe was near/behind the Empress Hotel? Are these the same butterfly gardens that the tours go to or is there another one closer to Buchart Gardens? We have never been to the Museum, and it certainly sounds interesting.

 

Questions? How far is Buchart Gardens from where the ship docks? There are four of us. Would we be better off taking a taxi and doing Buchart on our own and then coming back to the Museum? Is the Museum in the Inner Harbor area?

 

We are looking forward to visiting your beautiful city again. Thanks for your help.

[cruiseryyc]

Victoria in the summer is always busy - especially the touristy spots. The butterfly gardens everyone talks about are close to Butchart Gardens. For $7.00 per person each way, you can catch the Grey Line bus out there and you can get off at the Butterfly Gardens and then back on a later bus to get you to the Gardens. Tickets can be purchased at the Grey Line kiosk in front of the Empress Hotel and you can spend as long as you want wandering the Gardens. The Gardens are about a 40 minute drive from the dock. The museum is in the Inner Harbour area (right across the street from the Empress Hotel) and they also are worth a visit.

[Bucky3]

Thanks cruiser - Looks like we'll be better off just staying in the Inner Harbor area and visiting the Museum. Would love to go to BG but if it's 40 minutes each way, by the time we get off the ship, make the arrangements, get there and get back, I think we'd miss a lot in the gardens and probably not even get to the Buterfly Gardens unless we take the ship's tour, and I've heard they are short on time as well.

[Luckysll]

The Titanic exhibit at the Royal BC Museum is well worth a visit. Here's a link to the Museum:

 

http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/titanic/default.aspx

 

One nice thing about this exhibit, is you can purchase your tickets online and actually specify a time you want to be there (not just a date).

 

It's ironic that there are a lot of cruise ship passengers visiting the exhibit about one of the worst cruises in history. :D

[Bucky3]

Luckysll - Can you tell me if there is still that small butterfly garden/enclosure near or behind the Empress Hotel? I remember going there serveral years ago. They had another small section that had some tiny monkeys and some huge SA bats too. Is this place still there?

[Luckysll]

Luckysll - Can you tell me if there is still that small butterfly garden/enclosure near or behind the Empress Hotel? I remember going there serveral years ago. They had another small section that had some tiny monkeys and some huge SA bats too. Is this place still there?

 

You're thinking about the Crystal Gardens and unfortunately, no, they're not there anymore. There was a BC Experience that tried to make a go of it in there, but they too failed.

[Bucky3]

Really sorry to hear Crystal Gardens is not there. It was interesting, and I was looking forward to that. Thanks for letting us know.

[Travel-Bug]

We will be in Victoria from 7am to 2pm on Tues 8/7. Will we be able to do the gardens on our own in that time and still be able to walk around harbor? We don't want to miss our ship but would rather be on own and not rushed in garden. My husband and I have been to gardens before but our teenagers have not. I don't want them to miss the British feel of Victoria though. And we have never been to the museum. What would you suggest?

[Luckysll]

We will be in Victoria from 7am to 2pm on Tues 8/7. Will we be able to do the gardens on our own in that time and still be able to walk around harbor? We don't want to miss our ship but would rather be on own and not rushed in garden. My husband and I have been to gardens before but our teenagers have not. I don't want them to miss the British feel of Victoria though. And we have never been to the museum. What would you suggest?

 

I think it would all depend on how much your teens appreciate flowers. The Gardens are really pretty, but I think it might be easier to just stay around the Inner Harbour and visit the Museum and get a feel for Victoria. Take them through the Empress Hotel, too. Also, the Gardens open at 9 am during August, so allowing for a couple of hours there, you wouldn't have very much time left for exploring Victoria before having to be back on board.

[Chipster2]

While doing some searches online I cam upon a company offering tours of both Vancouver and Victoria. Big Bus hop-on, hop-off tours, it looks like a pretty easy way to get an overview of your fine city. What can you tell me about them and are they worth it?

 

Thanks,