Victoria Travel Forum

We are looking for assistance with our trip to Victoria for one day. We will be staying in Vancouver and would like to know the easiest/cheapest way to get to and from.

We are interested in going to High Tea at the Empress Hotel and a historical walking tour or any other good ideas. We would like to stay within the city and are not interested in the gardens due to the travel time.

Thanks for your time and suggestions!!!

Chinatown is small but "flavorful." Check out "pan-tan alley" (I think that is the name.) Historical area and of course a number of restaurants to choose from for an easy lunch. The double decker bus tours outside the Empress Hotel will take you around the area and by the harbor and beautiful neighborhoods. Relaxing ride.

Be sure to make reservations for High Tea at the Empress beforehand. It is very popular and you can avoid a long wait if you make reservations. Be warned, it's very expensive..about $55 per person plus $12 for one optional glass of champagne. http://www.fairmont.com/empress/GuestServices/Restaurants/AfternoonTea.htm

I'd suggest taking a bus tour of the city on the open air Big Bus. It will take you through the Harbour area, Government Street, Chinatown, and most interestingly, through the Rockland neighborhood with its gorgeous houses, tree lined streets and past Craigdarroch Castle. It will take you down the coastline for some magnificent views of the bays before heading back into town. Here's a link:

http://www.bigbus.ca/

If you are looking for ways to get from Vancouver to Victoria what I did was take the bus to the ferry then walk onto the ferry. I rented a car once I got to the other side. I did this but to Nanaimo and the car rental agency picked me up at the ferry.

Walking on the ferry saves you lots of time and money as the wait for the ferry can be very long.

I would look into bus fairs first and see what kind of rental agency there is near the ferry.

I hope this helps.

You trade time for money getting the Victoria from Vancouver. You can take a city bus in Vancouver to the ferry about an hour from downtown if you make good connections. Check the schedule http://www.translink.bc.ca/. Take the 98b to Airport Station from Downtown and then the 620 to the Ferry. Walk on to the ferry. On the Victoria side take the city bus to downtown Victoria. You can walk most places downtown and take tours to the places outside of downtown.

If you want to speed things up for a bit more money you can buy a ticket on Pacific Stage line either from downtown to downtown or any leg you choose. On the ferry the tickets are sold on board for the first half hour of the trip. This city bus in Victoria is usually a double decker and the one hour trip downtown gives you a bit of a tour. Take a look at the tourist brochures on the ferry. Also on the ferry spend a bit of money, take one of the Spirit boats and go to the Pacific buffet. If you are a walk on and go straight to the buffet you are sure to get a window seat and you can set and eat and watch the view for the whole trip.

The Royal BC Museum has an AMAZING First Nations Exhibit....a few steps from the Empress.....The Inner Harbour area[the Empress is right here] has more than a few boat tours if youre interested in seeing Orca...if theyre accessible...

The easiest way to Victoria is not the cheapest! Cheapest way is by city bus to the ferries, riding the ferry as a foot passenger and then taking another city bus into Victoria. The easiest way is to use Pacific Coach Lines from Vancouver's bus station directly into downtown Victoria, with minimal stops.

I would suggest NOT taking the Big Bus. If you want to do a city tour, choose Gray Line instead. They have reasonably priced double-decker bus tours, and you just get such a better view from the upper deck of an open-topped bus. Gray Line has also just introduced a "trolley" (and I use the term loosely) service that allows guests to hop-on and hop-off around the city for only $4 all day. It's not double-decker, but it's just as good at the Big Bus and a fraction of the price. All Gray Line bus tickets are sold in front of the Empress Hotel.

Something to think about (maybe not for this trip) is the new Victoria -> Vancouver whale-watching service. Boats leave Victoria at 3:30 and arrive in Vancouver several hours later. They vary the route taken according to where the day's whale sightings were. This is operated by Price of Whales http://www.princeofwhales.com/ and costs $119 per adult. It includes shuttle service to your hotel in Vancouver.

The Royal BC Museum IS fantastic and your tickets include all the regular galleries (Modern History, First Nations and Natural History) as well as the Titanic Exhibit (until October 14th). Tickets are $25.50 adults, $19.50 seniors and $17.50 kids 6-18, or $68.50 for two adults and two kids. If you go to the IMAX movie about the Titanic on the same day, it's an extra $7 per person (save $3 pp by doing them together).

Easiest and cheapest is mutually exclusive.

First, Victoria is a lot further from Vancouver than most people imagine, and the travel time eats up a lot of your day already. So you should really focus on getting there as fast as possible.

The fastest (and most expensive) way of getting there is to go by seaplane via Harbour Air or West Coast Air. That's about $120 per person, one way. It connects downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria and the flight is every hour. It takes 35 minutes. If you go round trip, it's around $240 per person - too expensive for me personally, but it does give you 4+ extra hours in Victoria that you might not otherwise have.

The second fastest way to get there is to go by Pacific Coach Lines. This costs about $40 per person, one way. You must get from your hotel to the Vancouver bus depot (Pacific Central Station - a short skytrain ride east of downtown Vancouver or a short taxi ride away) and then you can hop on the next Pacific Coach Lines bus (no reservations needed). Check the schedule online. Once on the bus, they sometimes make a stop at the airport before arriving at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal one hour later. The bus drives on the ferry and you disembark the bus for the hour 35 minute ferry ride. Once the ferry arrives on Vancouver Island, you get back on the bus, the bus drives off, and then it's another 30-40 minute drive before you get into downtown Victoria. The Pacific Coach Lines bus drops you off at the main Victoria bus depot which is located right behind the Empress Hotel - walking distance to everything! Then if you return by Pacific Coach Lines, you go back the exact same way. It'll also cost the same amount, I believe, so you're looking at about $80 per person for the return trip.

If there are many of you (4+), you could consider renting a car, even though it's not necessary. A car rental is what... $50 a day? It costs about $12 per adult to get on the ferry one way. About $40 for one car, one way. So figure out whether this might actually be economical for you. For 2 people, Pacific Coach Lines would be cheaper. But if you're travelling in a group, renting a car (or minivan) might make more sense. But you'd have to calculate it all out and get a quote on a car rental first.

Finally, the cheapest way is the most longest way. It means taking a bus from downtown Vancouver to Airport station (a 30 minute bus ride regularly or an hour+ bus ride during rush hour). Then at airport station, you'd hop on the Tsawwassen bus (comes every 20-30 minutes). That would then take another 30-40 minutes or so. To be safe, I would say estimate the trip taking an hour and a half. On weekdays before 6:30pm, it would cost you $4.50 per person to travel this way. Otherwise on weekdays after 6:30pm/weekends, it would cost $2.25 per person. Seniors/children under 12 costs less than that.

Once at the ferry terminal, you'd buy your ticket (about $12 per person, one way). The ferry leaves on the hour, so your buses arrival will determine how long you'll have to wait for the ferry. Once on the ferry, it takes 1 hour, 35 minutes. Once you arrive on Vancouver Island at the Swartz Bay terminal, you'd have to wait for the bus into downtown Victoria. Once the bus arrives, it costs about $3 per person (I forget the exact rate), and the bus ride takes one hour before you get into downtown Victoria. All in all, you're looking at 4.5 hours minimum to go the cheapest route. That's 8 hours of your day spent in transportation.