Victoria

Anchored at the sun-drenched southern tip of Vancouver Island where the Juan de Fuca Strait meets the emerald islands of the Salish Sea, Victoria—the provincial capital of British Columbia—enjoys the mildest, driest sub-Mediterranean microclimate in Canada. Established in 1843 as Fort Victoria by the Hudson's Bay Company on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples, the city boomed during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush into a grand Pacific port of Neo-Baroque parliament domes, Scottish baronial coal-baron castles and year-round English gardens.

Everything in the city radiates from its horseshoe-shaped Inner Harbour, framed by the ivy-covered 1908 Fairmont Empress Hotel and the 1897 BC Parliament Buildings (outlined every evening by 3,300 glowing lightbulbs). Ten minutes' walk north lies Old Town and Canada's oldest Chinatown (1858), pierced by 90-centimetre-wide Fan Tan Alley, while ten minutes west float the brightly painted houseboats of Fisherman's Wharf and the wild coastal cliffs of Beacon Hill Park and Dallas Road. Thirty minutes north awaits the world-famous floral quarry of The Butchart Gardens, while Zodiacs depart the harbour daily for Salish Sea Orca and Humpback Whale Watching. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do in Victoria.

Because Victoria sits on Vancouver Island, arriving is half the adventure: most visitors cross from Vancouver's Tsawwassen terminal to Victoria's Swartz Bay terminal on the 95-minute BC Ferries cruise through the narrow Active Pass of the Gulf Islands (connected to downtown Victoria by double-decker BC Transit Bus #70/#72), or fly straight from downtown Vancouver (Coal Harbour) into Victoria's Inner Harbour in 35 minutes aboard a Harbour Air seaplane! From Seattle, USA, the FRS Clipper passenger catamaran sails directly from Pier 69 into Victoria's Inner Harbour in 2 hours 45 minutes. See getting to Victoria and how double-decker buses and harbour water taxis work.

Victoria is one of the most compact, walkable capital cities in North America: stay around the Inner Harbour (Government, Humboldt and Belleville Streets) to look out at the illuminated Parliament Buildings and walk 2 minutes to the seaplane and whale-watching piers; stay just south in leafy James Bay for quiet Victorian B&Bs between the harbour and Fisherman's Wharf; or book in Old Town / Lower Johnson ('LoJo') for boutique heritage lofts steps from Chinatown and craft breweries. Compare all areas in where to stay in Victoria.

Stroll the flower-hung stone causeway of the Inner Harbour, tour the free BC Parliament Buildings and book Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress, spend three hours wandering the Sunken Garden of The Butchart Gardens, board a catamaran or Zodiac for Salish Sea Orca and Humpback Whale Watching, ride a tiny green 'Pickle Boat' water taxi to the floating homes of Fisherman's Wharf, squeeze through Fan Tan Alley in 1858 Chinatown, climb the 87 oak steps of 1890 Craigdarroch Castle, and stand at Mile 0 of the Trans-Canada Highway overlooking the Olympic Mountains. Full list in things to do in Victoria.

As Canada's oldest craft-beer capital and a year-round agricultural island, Victoria blends British tearoom traditions with Pacific Northwest seafood: tiered Afternoon Tea with Empress blend tea and clotted cream scone service, wild-caught BC sockeye salmon and halibut fish-and-chips on the dock at Fisherman's Wharf, Dungeness crab, Salt Spring Island goat cheese, Cowichan Valley Pinot Noir, and crisp local IPAs and stouts at Spinnakers (Canada's oldest brewpub, 1984!) and Phillips Brewing. Read more in our Victoria food, tea and craft beer guide.

Standing on the ancestral lands of the Lekwungen-speaking Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, Victoria celebrates Indigenous Northwest Coast carving at Thunderbird Park alongside 19th-century British colonial architecture and Canadian painter Emily Carr's birthplace in James Bay.