Victoria Travel Forum

Hi... We're heading to Victoria via Seattle next month and I have a few questions.

When I made my reservation on the Victoria Clipper, I noticed that we go to Victoria on the Clipper I and come back on the Clipper IV. What are the differences in the 2 boats? Does arriving early for check in guarantee that we'll be able to get an upper floor seat? Any other info you can provide?

We have a 2-day ticket for the On-Off tour bus. We only have 1 1/2 days there, so what should we absolutely see? Can you recommend a nice place for dinner? We're staying at the Coast Harbour, if that helps.

What will the temps be like in July? Current reports show upper 60s as the high temp for the day. Is that about right?

Thanks for all your help! I look forward to reading your replies!

I don't know anything about the boats, but the temperatures in Victoria are fairly moderate. You can expect temperatures in the high teens to low 20s as a daytime high (i.e. 60s & 70s in the old reckoning). It can occasionally be significantly warmer but is rarely much cooler at this time of year.

Assuming you're riding the red "Big Bus", you would probably want to just stay on the bus and do the entire route. Most of the bus stops are actually within walking distance of your hotel. The exceptions would be the Oak Bay Marina and the Ross Bay Cemetary (stops #20 and #22). Depending on where you're from and how much time you spend around seals, you might want to stop and feed the seals at the Marina. If you're big fans of local history, you would want to visit the Cemetary (perhaps with a printable map from The Old Cemetaries Society website... see my Victoria page and my Things to Do tip on the Ross Bay Cemetary).

Otherwise, in two days you would want to spend about three hours at the Royal BC Museum (generally open 9-5) plus another hour to see an IMAX movie. You would also want to spend an afternoon walking along Government Street and the Inner Harbour. You could do this by taking a harbour ferry from the Inner Harbour across to Spinnakers (see the Big Bus map) and then walking back across the blue bridge. This would take you past Chinatown and then along "quaint" Government Street. You could do the museum and the walk in one day if you got an early start. On the next day, you should really take a bus tour out to the Butchart Gardens. Pacific Coach Lines operates regular bus tours.

I like what JetGirly wrote, but let me add a few things:

- Near your hotel, on Oswego Street, is a restaurant called "Santiago's". It's one of my favourites ANYWHERE.

- I always wince when people plan to visit Butchart Gardens on such a short stay. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, but it's also expensive and time consuming. If you're a flower aficionado then go for it, but if not then just walk south-east to Beacon Hill park and enjoy the many flowers there.

- A tour of the Legislative Buildings and walk through the Empress would be high on my list.

- If you're into walking then try the following:
- Walk through Beacon Hill park like I mentioned before.
- Climb up the hill on the extreme south side.
- Walk down the other side, past Dallas Road, and onto the foot path by the ocean.
- Walk along the path for some time to Ross Bay Cemetery.
- Explore the historic cemetery
- Walk east on St. Charles, including up a bit of a hill
- Turn left on Rockland Avenue and walk a few blocks
- Explore the Lt. Governor's Residence
- Walk North on Joan Crescent
- Explore Craigdarroch Castle
- Continue North to Fort Street
- Turn left and walk down Fort Street back to downtown

I've prepared a map for you: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&om=1&msid=103303275556030652048.0000011349f5499d006bb&ll=48.421227,-123.355994&spn=0.023981,0.053902&z=15

I'm not suggesting you necessarily do this all in one day, but hopefully it'll give you some ideas!

Robert