Question on Butchart Gardens tour

[henren]

I am scheduled to be on the Norwegian Pearl which stops at Victoria on June 6th from 6 pm to 12 pm . I would like to visit the butchart gardens but had couple of questions.

 

1 . Is it worthwhile to see Butchart gardens that late in the evening ?

2 . The ships tour costs $192($ 76 each for me and my wife and $40 for my 2 year old son) . The timing of the tour says 6:30 pm and it is for 3 hrs and 30 mins . I read about cvscruisevictoria on these boards and they have a shuttle which starts at 7:15 pm from downtown and reaches Buchart Gardens at 7:50 pm . Their last bus from from the gardens leaves at 9:45 pm and reaches the cruise ship terminal at 10:20 . The cost comes out to $84 ($42 each for me and my wife and my son is free) which is comparatively cheaper than the tour offered by the cruise ship . I am thinking of going with the tour offered by cruise victoria but my questions is since I will be getting to the Garden only around 8 am and will have about 90 mins to see around , will it be dark..How long is light normally in Victoria on a early June evening ?

[LeftcoastBC]

Sunset will be 9:11 PM that evening so darkness would be later. The technical call: "Nautical darkness" will be at 9:53 PM They have great lights for evening viewing regardless.. Your time there will be fine.

 

All I'm going to say about the cost and if it's worth it is that Butchart Gardens are WORLD CLASS gardens.

[Putterdude]

The gardens are illuminated so I wouldn't worry about the darkness... sunset on 6/6 is 9:11pm and you will have twilight for a good half hour after that. There is no question in my mind that I would go with CVS Victoria...it would be nice to have a little more than 2 hrs at the gardens but I don't think that you will feel materially shorted.:)

[scottbee]

I am scheduled to be on the Norwegian Pearl which stops at Victoria on June 6th from 6 pm to 12 pm . I would like to visit the butchart gardens but had couple of questions.

 

1 . Is it worthwhile to see Butchart gardens that late in the evening ?

They're quite lovely at night, yes

2 . The ships tour costs $192($ 76 each for me and my wife and $40 for my 2 year old son) . The timing of the tour says 6:30 pm and it is for 3 hrs and 30 mins . I read about cvscruisevictoria on these boards and they have a shuttle which starts at 7:15 pm from downtown and reaches Buchart Gardens at 7:50 pm . Their last bus from from the gardens leaves at 9:45 pm and reaches the cruise ship terminal at 10:20 . The cost comes out to $84 ($42 each for me and my wife and my son is free) which is comparatively cheaper than the tour offered by the cruise ship . I am thinking of going with the tour offered by cruise victoria but my questions is since I will be getting to the Garden only around 8 am and will have about 90 mins to see around , will it be dark..How long is light normally in Victoria on a early June evening ?

 

In June, until 10pm at least

[jjansen12]

You may want to contact Grey Line West http://www.graylinewest.com/. They offer a 3 hours tour as well as a shuttle service only which leaves from the bus depot behind the Empress Hotel. The shuttle service is $9.50/Canandian one way and then you would need to purchase your Butchart Gardens tickets separately when you arrive at the gardens. If my memory is correct the shuttle leaves every hour at 45 minutes past the hour but I would call and confim this with Grey Line.

Jennifer

[coffeyk]

I just visited the garden on the 22nd. My boat arrived at 7pm and we left in the bus about 7:20. We arrived at the garden at 7:55. We had a good 1:15 of good light. The garden is amazing and worth a visit. The last 30 minutes or so I was unable to get any decent pictures but I could certainly see fine. I wish I got there just a bit earlier. I think seeing what I saw I would actually go on with the boat and get there earlier. Its a tough call; money matters but I would have liked to be able to take photos of the whole visit. Hope this help. You will love the garden its breathtaking!