I was there once when I was a wee lad in short pants, but I hardly remember a thing.
Any advice on what I should see, do, visit?
I’ll be there for 4 days (Feb 9 to 12).
I’m not sure what your interests are, but I lived there for years so I’d be happy to give you some suggestions. Let me know if you need any directions or logistical advice (my email address is in my profile). I definitely recommend the Royal BC Museum to all visitors. Will you have a vehicle while you are there?
The capital building area downtown is quite nice… one of my favorites in canada.
Do they still have the Giant Insect exhibit? I was in Victoria a couple of years ago, and I missed it.
A couple questions:
- will you have wheels?
- are you with kids/spouse/significant other/family members?
- what sort of stuff do you find interesting (besides electronica?)
- are you planning to travel up-island (i.e. north of Victoria on the Trans-Canada?)
knowing this, I can give you a lot better answer!
(- born Victoria local)
Beacon Hill Park
Royal BC Museum
If you have wheels, take a drive up to Sooke. Stop by the 17 Mile House Pub for a meal.
If you like live music and are willing to take a bit of a chance…
Logan’s (Tavern of the Damned) - Sunday afternoons they have a open mic “Hootenanny” that is usually pretty damn good.
To answer the questions.
Yes, We’ll have a car. I’ll be with my wife. The kid is staying home.
Mostly, duing the day I think we’ll plan to poke around, have lunch, and see some sights. At night, I’d like to find a club or something. Live music. Jazz perhaps. I’m big on funky stuff. Funky as in “wow, that was a funky little place”.
I’m pretty easy going.
The reason I asked about the town is there is always a local who knows of cool little places tucked away. They also know to say “don’t bother with such-n-such, that place is a rip off”.
Try Swann’s or Steamer’s or Hermann’s pubs- they often have good live music. Swann’s is good for jazzy, lighter stuff usually, and it is a gorgeous pub. Steamer’s could have anything from blues to reggae to funk to whatever- good for local talent. Hermann’s is a jazz club. I don’t have any links handy but when you get there look for Monday Magazine- a free newspaper that is available all over downtown- all the listings will be there- or you can call around and ask what’s playing. Have fun!
Here’s another vote for the Royal BC Museum. Very neat place!
Hermann’s is pretty much the main jazz club in Victoria (753 View St., Victoria, Phone: (250)388-9166); there is also a place down at the bottom of View Street that sometimes has a small combo (I haven’t been there myself; call them first to see if they still do this!: Vin Santo Urban Bistro 620 Trounce Alley, Victoria Phone: (250)480-5560)
There’s also a club called Tommy Bahama’s which has a jazz singer after 9 on Fridays, and a Cuban/Latin jazz on Saturdays after 9 pm; again, haven’t been myself, it’s a Mexican-style restaurant…may be worth a look. 128-550 Johnson St. Victoria, BC (all the above are within a four-block radius downtown, maybe a 10-minute walk of each other, max)
For nice romantic dinners, may I suggest:
Bravo: http://www.clubzone.com/company/details.asp?listing=862
(great $4 martinis, by the way!)
and, my personal favourite for the last 20 years, the Herald St. Caffe:
http://www.cafe-brio.com/dining/HeraldStreetCaffe.htm
Royal BC Museum is a must, as mentioned below. If the weather is good, and you’re big into gardens, the Butchart Gardens, although a big tourist attraction, are very spectacular.
Of course, if the weather is nice (and it often is here in Feb.), you could always visit my realm, and step inside a real working lighthouse!
Craigdarroch Castle and Hatley Castle, both built by Vancouver Island’s Dunsmuir family–our version of C. Mongonery Burns–are also pretty spectacular.
A nice day trip is a drive west along the #14 Highway (about 1-hr drive along beautiful tree-lined seafront) to the small fishing/logging town of Sooke. There is a very nice (if a little pricey) place for lunch there, called Sooke Harbour House, which has been featured in Conde Nast and other high-end mags. Famous for its edible flower salads. Incredible views from the dining room.
I lived in Victoria for many years and miss it dearly!
The above suggestions are all great. The Royal BC Museum is just amazing. Oh, and it’s Butchart Garden’s 100 year anniversary so I’m sure they’re planning on special events. (Too bad you won’t be there in the summer!)
Don’t miss the Bug Zoo. I can’t even begin to stress how much fun this place is and I’m not really much of an insect person.
Parking the car and wandering the Inner Harbour is always nice. Check out the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings, they’re gorgeous buildings inside and out. If you want to drop some cash, go try out high tea at the Empress. Bundle up and go on a whale watching tour.
I’m sure you’ll have fun. Make sure you tell us how the trip went!
News Flash! Just found out that Tommy Bahama’s went under several months ago, and is now a gardening store called Dig This. So no more hoummos, just humus.
But Bravo and the Herald St are very much alive and well, and I personally recommend both…
Well,… Here’s how the trip went.
We drive up via US I-5, across the border, over to Tsawwassen, Ferry over to the island. Border guards into Canada were very nice, somewhat jolly. Sadly I missed the turn off for duty free.
Anyway, we checked into our motel (our room was the first floor, left, above the pool in the picture.) which was about 6-8 miles from downtown Victoria. It was about 7pm so we headed out for dinner. We wandered down Wharf Street and found a little place called the Garlic Rose Cafe. Very good food. We poked around a bit more but called an early night because of the driving.
The next day we went to the Crystal Garden. I have to say this was a real treat. Very cool. The parrots and critters and plants. I’m sad this place is closing in Oct. We are planning a trip again before then just so my daughter can see this place. I think this was my favourite place in the whole trip. I could have spent all day there hanging out with the flying foxes and ringtails.
We stopped at the Elephant and Castle on Government St for lunch. Good food as well. Then wandered towards Chinatown. We happened on Fan Tan Alley which was pretty cool. I didn’t know anything about it so it was one of those neat surprise treats. In fact, we almost walked right past it and missed it entirely. We wandered through Chinatown Trading Company which runs next to Fan Tan Alley. Very cool store. I’m glad some places still manage to keep the old buildings OLD.
That night we went to Tamami Sushi for dinner. The teriyaki steak melted in your mouth. At this point we started to wonder if we were just lucky and managed to hit every good restaurant in town or if EVERYTHING was good.
Tired from walking everywhere, we called it an early night. But first we stopped at Fat Tuesday Pub at our Motel and had drinks with the locals. I don’t think the locals will remember us as most of them were pretty sloshed.
The next day, we had Dim Sum at a place in Chinatown I can’t remember. It wasn’t the best I’ve had but it was pretty damn good. After lunch we headed back down to Wharf Street to Tattoo Zoo for my souvenir. Nice people and Jeremy did some good work on my arm.
After that, we hit up the Royal BC Museum (Johnny, they still have the giant robotic Insect exhibit.) We spent the rest of the day wandering around in there. Nice place.
Dinner was at Milestones across from the Parliament. We got there right at dusk and got to see the lights come on as the sun set (very romantic).
We pretty much called it an evening after that. It was another long day on our feet and we had to wake up early to drive home,. so off to the motel for the night. But we first stopped at the store to stock up on Smarties, Mars Bars, and a few other food items you can’t get in the states.
We didn’t get a chance to check out any musical venues and we missed “Puppetry of the Penis” on the 10th. BUT, we’ll be back because my wife has to take her nursing license test in BC in the next few months. We’ll have plenty of time after she passes that, heh heh.
Coming back across the border we got hassled by the US border guards. They didn’t believe we were from the USA and questioned my birth certificate. I almost thought they were going to turn us away. But, we managed to get across.
In all, I have to say I was quite impressed. The people were all very nice and welcoming (quite a change from the standard fare you meet in the US). I can’t wait to move up there.
When you return—and especially if your daughter accompanies you—I suggest a stop at Miniature World. It’s in the Empress Hotel, but it has an entrance directly off Humboldt Street. My daughters were fascinated, ane even cynical ol’ me was impressed at the level of detail and the care that went into the displays.