Thank you for visiting Victoria, British Columbia travel guide online
Victoria is an ideal destination for any type of traveler. Located in British Columbia, it has something for everyone! Our travel guide has the best information about Victoria regarding places to visit, things to see and do, accommodations, dining, and much more! When visiting British Columbia, you will find that the shopping, night life, and beautiful scenery has some of the top standards in the country, and will definitely leave you wanting to come visit this city again. Take a look at our Canadian listings and find all the information you need about Victoria, and all its surrounding cities and travel spots. So don't waste another minute, and starting planning your vacation to Victoria!
The city of Victoria is the capital of British Columbia province. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Vancouver Island. Vancouver Island is separated from the continental part of Canada by The Strait of Georgia. It can be reached by the plain or by a ferry boat going from Vancouver city. Victoria is the “islet of England” in Canada. Everything, starting from its name and finishing with architecture, reminds about England. Also Victoria is called a garden-city. Really there are 48 parts of total area of 7600 hectares located in the city and its suburbs.
One of the main Victoria’s attractions is the world-known Butchart Gardens Park. The park was founded in 1904 on the place of former lime pit. Currently it occupies the area of 20 hectares and consists of 4 gardens: Italian garden, Japanese garden, rosarium and “Sank garden” from which the history of the Butchart Gardens began. The park is visited by about half a million of visitors each year. In summertime exciting fire shows are held here each Saturday. Also there are plenty of music concerts held here in summer. The favourite place of rest for city residents and guests is Beacon Hill Park, with lots of lakes, rivers, brindges and wildlife forests where plants from all over the world grow. Here in the middle of 20 century the highest world totemic pole was mounted, its height is 38.8 m.
The totemic pole is inalienable part of the aboriginal culture of the Pacific Canadian shore. Such poles are made of wood, the faces of deities are cut on them as well as various ornaments. The poles are coloured in different paints. The most heavily populated part of the city, where numerous stores, restaurants and bars are located, is the city bay. Its architectural amenity is the Parliament building that is very beautiful in the evening time, when the lighting is turned on. The building of the Fairmont Empress hotel is also among the architectural sites of the city. It was founded in 1905. The hotel is famous for its daily traditional English tea drinking at 5 p.m. The tables are laid with posh tea sets looking like royal ones. Besides this the Fairmont Empress hotel hosts Miniature World Museum which represents different world areas and important historic events in “toy” size. The main Victoria’s street is Wharf Street.
There are plenty of antique buildings standing on it. A world-known Royal British Columbia Museum is also stands here. Three museum galleries show the region history, starting from boulder-period and up to our days. Also it will be exciting to visit the Sea Museum, Craigdarroch Castle that was built in 1890 and has 39 rooms and English Village built in the Middle Ages style. Tourists can easily get to Pacific Rim National Park Reserve from Victoria city. It is located in 337 km from Victoria. The park stretches by a narrow stripe 125 km long along south-western coast of Vancouver Island and occupies an area of 510 sq.km. Pacific Rim is washed by the Pacific Ocean on the west, on the east it borders on Vancouver mountain systems.
The park is divided into three zones – Long Beach, the nearby islands and the Western Coast trail. The most popular zone is Long Beach, it is famous for its sandy beaches with wonderful sceneries and picnic grounds. The nearby islands zone consists of more than 100 islands, whose small rivers are used for kayaking. The historical trail of the Western Coast of 75 km long is famous from the deep past, as it was the rescue trail for sailors when their ships were wrecked near Vancouver shores. It stretches through rainy forests, mountains and deep canyons. All in all it takes about 5 – 7 days to go through the whole trail. Tourists can set to various boat sea journeys along the coast offered in the park.
In these journeys tourists can watch the whales, killer whales, seals, sea lions, otters and various birds. Also Vancouver Island is interesting for its Strathcona Provincial Park. The highest island point – Golden Hinde Mountain (2198 m) is located here, as well as one of the most beautiful cascade waterfall of the country – Della Falls 440 m height. In the centre of Vancouver Island Mount-Washington ski resort is located. The resort offers 50 alpine skiing tracks of all levels of complexity and 8 ski lifts. The height drop is 505 m. The longest track is 4 km long. In the Bradley ski centre you can find ski equipment rental shops, ski training school, restaurants and bars. Vancouver Island and its coastal waters are also famous as one of the most suitable places for diving in the “cold water”. The most favourable time for diving here are the periods from early April to middle May and from the middle August to middle October.
The visibility distance during this time is more than 15 m, and water temperatures in different places varies from +5 to + 15 degrees. That is why you will need a special costume for submerging. There are strong currents from the inner side of the Island (from the side of the Pacific Ocean). In the outskirts of Vancouver Island tourists can see various ocean inhabitants, sank ships, underwater caves and walls. The local sea animals include killer whales, six-gilled sharks, devil fishes, humpbacks, lancet fishes, giant Pacific octopuses up to 60 kg in weight, white-sided bottlenoses, royal crabs, ornamented blennies, grunt sculpins, white cods, blue cods, lords and various actinias.
