What to do in Victoria Island??
 

My husband and I will be in Vancouver for 5 days. We plan on going to Victoria as a day trip. We plan on going back and forth via seaplane. Are the gardens really worth the visit as I know they are a little out of the way? What else should we be sure to do since we only have 1 day. Should we eat any particular places? Any recommendations would be great.

I assume you are talking about the CITY of Victoria on Vancouver ISLAND.

Yes Butchart Gardens are worth a visit. Downtown Victoria is pleasant to stroll around. You might want to take tea at the Empress Hotel (or elsewhere - hopefully others will make recommendations - since it's been a few years since I have been to Victoria).

BTW personally I would consider taking the ferry over - simply because the ferry ride is gorgeous.

semiramis- Thank you for your recommendations. I did read about the tea at Empress so I will book that now. I guess we should take a ferry one way and the seaplane the other. What do you think? How long dies the ferry take?

That might work well - ferry one way. Seaplane the other way.

It's been a while so I can't remember exactly how long the ferry took then but I found the schedule (about 1.5 hours).

You take the ferry from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay:

http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/m...w-current.html

With only a day I would think twice about tea at the empress - quite a bit over rated in my opinion.
The gardens are absolutely worth the trip as is the BC Museum downtown. If the weather is nice walking around the harbour area and beyond is very pleasant.

Again with only a day taking the ferry eats up a fair amount of time getting to the terminal on the Vancouver side and then to downtown Victoria. Have not taken the seaplane but would think it would be more expedient although the ferry ride is lovely

geosand- Thanks for your advice. Is the Empress tea really a waste? All the tour books and others on this site highly recommend it??? I think for i day we may fly back and forth to Victoria. THe ferry would be about 2 hours and 40 minutes all in for travel.

well like many things it is a matter of personal taste - i went years ago and loved it - went two years ago and thought it was overpriced for what it is - a plate of goodies ( nice ones lol) eaten in the lobby of an historic hotel with throngs of tourists gawking as they walked through the lobby. I personally feel like Victoria has so much else to offer on a one day trip.

The time estimate to get to Vicoria by ferry depends greatly on downtown traffic, time of day and where in Vancouver you are coming from ( I presume downtown hotel)

The Tea at the Empress is famous, but it's expensive and very touristy. It's a legacy from 120 years ago. Only tourists do it these days. Isn't it $60+ per person for sandwiches, desserts, and tea? It's worth doing once - after you've seen and experienced everything else in Victoria - but I wouldn't make it a priority.

BC robyn- Yes the tea is like $54 per head. I guess I will keep the reservation for now.

You might consider tea at Butchart Gardens instead of the Empress.