How many days for Vancouver & Victoria ?
 

Hi;
My wife and I are planning a vacation to Vancouver and Victoria on Vancouver Island in mid June.
Could someone recommend what would be a suitable length of time for each city ?
Would 4 days in Vancouver and 3 days in Victoria be about right to see most of the key spots ?
Thanks
Tony

I've been to both and think 4 days Vancouver, 3 days Victoria sounds like an ideal plan!

yup, sounds good but I guess it depends on what you want to do. Do you plan to see the museums etc or outdoor activites?

What are the must-sees for Vancouver and Victoria if I only have two days?

Partypoet-- Two days for both or two days each?

There is lots to see on Vancouver Island.
Butchart Gardens is a must see from Victoria.

It depends on how in-depth you care to see things. We spent 3 nights in Vancouver and of that time we took a full day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer to Whistler.

If you haven't been, don't miss Whistler, some of the most beautiful scenary in North America on the Sea to Sky route.

Probably could have used at most one more day in Vancouver. On the first day we took a half day tour of the highlights of the city, the second day was devoted to Whistler, and the last day was for exploring the downtown and harbor area. If we had one more day, we might have done some museums and gone back to Granville Island.

Instead we hopped on a 5 day cruise to Oregon, San Francisco and L.A. and spent 1 night in L.A. to see the Getty. We like to maximize our vacation dollars and jam in as much as possible. I realize it's not how everyone likes to travel, but 3 days in Victoria would put us to sleep.

In case you're wondering, we already went to Victoria on a previous cruise.

I think these are two separate trips. We stayed a week in Vancouver a few years ago; there is SO much to do and see there. I agree about driving up to Whistler, too (though I wouldn't want to stay there as I'm not a skier.)
And we stayed a week in Victoria , and drove around Vancouver Island. Butchart Gardens are indeed a must-see but there is more beautiful scenery all over the island.

We don't have much time because we are flying to Calgary to start a trip to the Canadian Rockies. Would one day work for Vancouver Island, Victoria and Bouchart Gardens, and one day for Granville Island?

Partypoet,

The reason I asked was that if you had two days each, I'd have some suggestions for both. Assuming you're flying to Calgary from Vancouver, with only 2 days grand total, my recommendation is to forget Victoria/Vancouver Island altogether (I think they're terrific but with one day, you'll spend far more time travelling than enjoying) and just stick to Vancouver.

Activities: One day, enjoy the ambience of West End, Stanley Park, English Bay Beach, perhaps Granville Island. Second day, maybe Museum of Anthropology, Kitsilano or perhaps hit a north shore attraction like Grouse Mountain or a Suspension Bridge. You could see Chinatown somewhere in there. You'll just be scratching the surface of Vancouver attractions in two days.

Have a great trip whatever you do decide! Daniel

Just stick with Vancouver IMO

Yeah, geez, once you start threatening to go to Vancouver Island (and back to somewhere) in ONE day... then you're just wasting your time.

Vancouver Island is just a pain to get to. Were you going to allocate 3 or 4 days to the Victoria area, (and NOT at the expense of Vancouver) then it would be fine, but it is a waste of hours on the ferry to try to get there, see anything, and get back in such a short while.

for the OP that sounds like a good plan...though I might even consider taking a day out of Victoria and doing Vancouver in five days with a one day trip to Whistler. Victoria isn't huge and you can get a good feel for it in one day..and then one day (or 1/2 day for Butchart Gardens). You have to remember that it takes about 4 hours to get to Victoria from downtown Vancouver (1 hour to the ferry, 1 1/2 hours on the ferry and 45 minutes to drive into town)...

Mid-June, beleive it or not, can be quite cool here still...so make sure to bring layers. Sometimes we can be in a heat wave all month, or it rains all month. Check out weatherunderground's almanac to get a feel for the average weather that time of year.

Tondee your plan sounds great. As for partypoet you can't do Victoria in 1 day. I live in Victoria and although the ferry does take up a good chunk of the day if you have never done the trip the scenery from the ferry is spectacular. Butchart Gardens is always popular and our harbour is one of the most beautiful in the world. The weather in Victoria is much nicer than Vancouver and you are far less likely to be rained on here. Our museum is perhaps the best in Canada (I've been to almost all of them), and we have castles, beautiful scenic drives, hidden beaches and trails everywhere. Fort Rodd Hill gives you the history of the Canadian Navy where the Pacific Fleet is. They do tours on Mondays. Though Vancouver is nice once you've done Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain there really isn't much else unless you drive all the way up to Whistler which takes longer than a trip to Victoria. I have a little YouTube called Baxter's Victoria to tempt you to come and visit.