Victoria Downtown, Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Considered one of the top twenty Downtowns in North America, Downtown Victoria is the business centre of Greater Victoria. The historic buildings, shops, streetscapes, restaurants, bars, hotels and the Inner Harbour all contribute to a vitality which is uniquely Victoria.

The city offers a myriad of services and attractions catered to its year-round flow of business people and visitors, both local and foreign. The picture-perfect Inner Harbour is surrounded by many of Victoria's beautiful character buildings and premier attractions: the stately Empress Hotel, the BC provincial Legislative Buildings, museums and galleries. Conde' Naste Traveler Magazine reader's poll rated Victoria one of the top ten cities to visit in the world.

As romantic as Victoria may be, with its delightful natural harbour and the Olympic Mountains of Washington State on the horizon, the provincial capital of British Columbia is less a museum piece nowadays than it is a tourist mecca.

Established in 1843 by James Douglas as a Hudson's Bay Company Fort, the City of Victoria has a proud history of British custom. Visitors pour in to view vast sculpted gardens and London-style double-decker buses, to shop for Irish linens and Harris tweeds, to sip afternoon tea, and to soak up what they believe is the last vestige of British imperialism in the Western Hemisphere.

First stop should be the Visitor Centre on Wharf Street, opposite the Empress Hotel. The well-staffed information centre dispenses useful information on the sights of the city and the things to do in and around Greater Victoria.

Location: Victoria is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which is situated off the southwest coast of British Columbia. Visitors from the Lower Mainland of BC travel to Victoria by ferry from the BC Ferries' Tsawwassen terminal in Delta. Sailing time is 90 minutes for the 27-mile (44-km) distance across the Strait of Georgia to the Swartz Bay terminal, 20 miles (32 km) north of Victoria.

Visitors from the United States can journey to Victoria via ferry from Seattle, Anacortes in northwest Washington, or from Port Angeles on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The Anacortes ferry arrives in Sidney, at the Washington State Ferries terminal, 3 miles (5 km) south of Swartz Bay. The MV Coho from Port Angeles arrives in Victoria's Inner Harbour, as does the Victoria Clipper from Seattle's Pier 69. The Olympic and Saanich Peninsulas are separated by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a 17-mile (27-km) stretch of (almost) open ocean.

By air, visitors arrive at either Victoria Harbour (by float plane) or Victoria International Airport on the Saanich Peninsula, about 17 miles (27 km) north of Victoria.

A coach service operates via BC Ferries between Vancouver and downtown Victoria (43 miles/69 km by road, excluding ferry travel). Pick-up is available from various locations in Vancouver, including Downtown Vancouver, Vancouver International Airport, and major hotels. Visit our Transportation section for further information.

View maps of the area:
Map of Greater Victoria
Map of Victoria
Map of Victoria Downtown
Map of South Vancouver Island

Downtown Victoria and the Inner Harbour,
British Columbia, Canada

Hanging Flower Baskets adorn the city's lampposts in a celebration of scent and bright colours, symbolizing Victoria's passion for gardening. Flowers bloom year round in Victoria, which makes exploring the outdoors here enjoyable in any season.

Shopping: For British woolens, suits, gifts, and sweets, the downtown area north of the Empress Hotel on Government Street is the place to shop. Look for English wool suits, the best of the Cowichan sweaters, and a very proper Victorian mix of fine pipes and tobaccos. Delicacies include the finest selection of specially-blended teas and coffees, picture-perfect chocolates in a Belgian style, almond brittle, black-currant pastilles, marzipan bars, and much more.

Antiques: Antique hunters should head east up Fort Street from Blanshard to Antique Row, and block after block of antique shops, with excellent 18th- and 19th-century antiques and collectibles, much of it British in origin: silver, military memorabilia, rare prints, fine china, antique furniture and Victorian bric-a-brac. Fort Street is also home to art galleries and auction houses that hold regularly scheduled auctions.

BC Legislature: If there's a quintessential image of Victoria etched in the memory of all who visit the city, it must surely be British Columbia's Legislative Buildings at night. Adorned with 3,333 light bulbs, it takes on a magical quality. Take a free tour of the Legislative Buildings and learn about history and government of British Columbia.

The ivy-covered Empress Hotel, overlooking Victoria's Inner Harbour, has been a famous Victoria landmark since 1908. The Empress is known for serving afternoon tea in its elegant upper lobby, and for its beautiful public spaces, which are well worth seeing.

The Royal British Columbia Museum is one of the finest of its kind in the world, offering dramatic dioramas of natural landscapes and full-scale reconstructions of Victorian storefronts. The museum features outstanding displays on the province's artifacts, documents, history and culture, as well as national and international feature exhibits. Permanent Galleries include the First Peoples, Modern History and Natural History Galleries.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia allows visitors to explore BC's seafaring history through more than 5,000 artifacts. Exhibits include the fort and the city of Victoria, explorers and pirates, whaling and fishing, shipbuilding and shipwrecks, ship models and paintings, the Coast Guard and Navy, and the courtroom once presided over by the notorious Judge Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie in the late 19th century. The museum is housed in an elegant heritage building in Bastion Square.

Victoria's Heritage Buildings

Old Town Victoria is the oldest section of Victoria, built up between the 1860s and the 1890s. Explore Johnson Street and Chinatown, the galleries and sidewalk restaurants in Bastion Square, and historic Market Square, a restored 19th-century courtyard surrounded by three floors of charming heritage shops, restaurants, and offices.

Chinatown: The splendid lion-bedecked Gate of Harmonious Interest marks the entrance to Victoria's small Chinatown, the second oldest in North America (after San Francisco). Once a ghetto for newcomers, Chinatown is now a heritage area, a vibrant commercial community, and an intriguing part of Victoria's past and present. Visit the tiny shops and studios on Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest street in Canada - only 90 centimetres wide at its narrowest.

Whale Watching: Victoria is the ultimate destination for whale watching adventures with Orca (Killer) Whale pods, Humpback Whales, and Minke Whales. The Inner Harbour is the departure point for year-round whale watching trips, harbour cruises, kayaking tours, and fishing and boating charters. Whale Watching out of Downtown Victoria.

Relax in a horse-drawn carriage and capture the romance of an era when tall ships docked in the Inner Harbour. Private carriage tours include Old Town, Chinatown, Beacon Hill Park, heritage homes, and the Dallas Road waterfront. Fabulous horsedrawn carriages have been delighting visitors with rides through Victoria for over 100 years!

Beacon Hill Park is an historic sanctuary in Downtown Victoria, with landscaped gardens, bridges, ponds, abundant wildlife, and spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains. A delightful quiet envelops this sunny spot, where walking trails link with neighbourhood streets that lead down into the busy hum of Victoria. Beacon Hill Park was the site of an ancient village inhabited for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the colonial settlers. In 1956, renowned Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin and his team raised the world's tallest free-standing totem pole in Beacon Hill Park (38.8 metres/128 feet).

Beacon Hill Children's Farm is a hands-on petting zoo in Beacon Hill Park enjoyed by kids and adults alike, with lots of baby animals, potbelly pigs, African pygmy goats, miniature horses, rabbits and guinea pigs, and many other critters to meet and pet. Don't miss the Daily Goat Stampede at closing time!

The National Geographic IMAX Theatre will delight you with crystal clear images and 12,000 watts of wraparound IMAX Digital surround sound. Six stories high and 81 feet wide, the IMAX screen pulls you in and brings images to life, letting you feel like you're really there. Located inside the Royal BC Museum.