VICTORIA LODGING
 

my hubby and i will be staying in victoria for 2 days next june and would like some leads on good places to stay. we would prefer a b&b or facility that offers breakfast with the rate (we don't like going out for breakfast). we would like to stay where it is relatively easy to get to the butchard gardens, royal bc museum, the parliament buildings and the airport when we're ready to depart. (we are flying into vancouver, but flying out of victoria).

Nowhere can be close to all those things, so your best bet would probably be to stay close to the inner harbour downtown, unless you have a car. The AKAL bus picks up at most hotels and costs about $14 per person to the airport.

You'd have to take a bus to Butchart Gardens but it's easy. We stayed at the very nice and very centrally-located Hotel Magnolia (www.magnoliahotel.com) and they have a good complimentary breakfast.

I just returned from Victoria last week. All of those places you mentioned are not close to each other and will either need a rental car or use Pacific Coast Lines tour bus to get to. I recommend using Pacific Coast Lines (PCL) from Vancouver airport to Victoria--very convenient and inexpensive (price includes ride on BC Ferries). I don't know any B&B's in Victoria, but we stayed at the fairly new (2 years old) Marriott Hotel at Inner Harbour. A beautiful and modern hotel--but not a B&B. The best place to stay is in the Inner Harbour location. That's where most of the action is including the Royal BC Museaum, the parliament building, the Fairmont Empress hotel, downtown, the harbour, and Chinatown.

You don't mention your budget but the Days Inn on the harbour is fairly reasonable I think and is in a superb location across the street from the harbour, near the parliament buildings, museum, Empress Hotel, Coho and Clipper ferry docks and bus depot. They probably don't include breakfast but they have a restaurant.

http://www.daysinnvictoria.com/home.html

In my experience, I have found that the better bed and breakfasts in and around Victoria are relatively expensive. Ryan's Bed and Breakfast, for example, is quite nice, but a little pricey.

We stayed in one B and B called Wintercott Country House, Victoria. (250) 652-2117 located at 1950 Nicholas Road (Saanichton area)

It was close to Butchart Gardens. The only problem is that you need a car to reach it. As a quality place it was not all that cheap either, but extremely well equipped.



If you don't have a car, then I suggest staying in the down town area.

We stayed at the Royal Scot Suites Hotel (http://www.royalscot.com) last October, just for one night. Breakfast was extra, but was pretty reasonable in terms of quality and cost.

Location was great, less than a 10min walk from downtown...

They were very friendly and accommodating looking after our luggage for us after checkout, as our whalewatching trip was delayed due to fog.

We paid $89.00Cdn plus taxes and I'd stay there again if we went back.

Have a great trip :)

We always stay at Trutch Manor B&B (actually a tourist suite - complete with a kitchen) in the Parlour. We have been staying here since 2001 for R&R, minimum of a week to three weeks per year.

It has no view of the harbour but we like this place, a lot.