Travel Eye on Victoria (British Colombia, Canada)

Vacation Rentals & Holiday Rentals in Victoria and surrounding area.	Hotels in Victoria.	Flights to Canada.	Car Hire/Rental	Tickets & Attractions in Victoria

Overview:

Victoria lets you step back in time. To a picturesque city of cobblestone streets and stately architecture. Poised oceanside in Canada's mildest climate, Victoria is a mixture of influences, from its 19th-century London charm to modern arts and culture.

Take afternoon tea at an historic hotel or quaint tearoom. Tour the beautiful Inner Harbour by horse-drawn carriage and historic stone buildings by foot. Stand among the totems at Thunderbird Park.

Victoria is a modern city, with pampering spas and hundreds of restaurants featuring international cuisine just steps from an ocean playground. Take a whale watching cruise and see magnificent orcas at play or just wander around shops that reflect an Empire heritage, with English woolens, Irish linens, and Scottish tartans -as well as great designer boutiques.

In spring, Victoria is also a gardener's paradise. Bursting with daffodils, lilacs, and tulips of every imaginable hue. Visit the 50-acre, world-famous Butchart Gardens. Or just stroll the Inner Harbour and admire the hanging baskets.

Victoria is a popular destination for Canadians, attracted by the mildest climate in the country.Also attracts Japanese and Americans. An essential port of call on any tour of British Columbia, probably appealing to more mature types.

The accommodationn consists of luxury hotels, both historic and modern, through a plethora of mid-range properties offering very similar amenities, to B&B guesthouses; very few self-catering options in the city; motor inns on the outskirts. All clean and friendly.

Locality:

Victoria is situated in SW corner of Canada, at S tip of Vancouver Island (55 mls SW of Vancouver on mainland, 85 mls by sea NW of Seattle, USA. 15 mls S of Victoria international airport). The central (downtown) part of the city surrounds a beautiful inner harbour at the S end of the Saanich Peninsula. The terrain is fairly flat, but snow-capped mountains are visible in the distance.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Victoria is famed as a fantastic shopping area, examples include Government Street which has lots of touristy boutiques in converted heritage buildings, culminating in Market Square, a courtyard conversion with 40 speciality shops. Eaton Centre is a 4-storey mall headed up by Eaton's department store, again in Victorian style. Antique shops as well as a few begging vagrants. Many items on sale will already be familiar to British visitors (tweeds, fine china etc). Of more exotic interest will be hand-knitted Cowichan Indian sweaters, Eskimo sculptures in jade and Native Indian masks or prints.

Attractions during the daytime give the tourist a mixture of culture and history, visit the Royal British Columbia Museum's spectacular displays of province's native peoples and natural habitats, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Parliament Buildings' with splendidly ornate Victorian architecture, the Gothic-style Christchurch Cathedral, the Royal London Wax Museumand the Empress Hotel for afternoon tea.

Also see the Undersea Gardens, the totem poles in Thunderbird Park, take a double-decker bus tour or a horse-drawn carriage rides. For plant lovers the Crystal Garden conservatory of tropical plants. While slightly more adventurous the whale-watching; fishing; golf; cricket and bowls at Beacon Hill Park.

Nights are one for the culture vultures among us there are theatres, comedy revues, music hall, opera and concerts.

There are plenty of restaurants, both expensive and cheap. Fish (and chips) and other seafood is a speciality. Most foreign cuisines can be found, especially Asian in the colourful Chinatown area.