Victoria, B.C.

[Nadine]

One of the ports on our cruise in two weeks is Victoria. We will arrive there at 7:00 PM, which makes it difficult to plan an excursion.

The ship is offering a couple and I was wondering if anyone has experience with these:

1. Butchart Gardens. The info talks about hidden lights and how beautiful it is at dusk. I assume it will be dusk when we are there. Not sure! How far are the Gardens from the ship? I am wondering if we will see a lot of the city on the way to the Gardens.

2. City Drive (tour of the city) followed by a visit to a winery. We have been to plenty of wineries, so that isn't a priority for us. But we were wondering if the City Drive would be nice.

Thank you!

Nadine

[f-mattox]

That's a tough call, Nadine; the Gardens are beautiful but so is the city. It's been years since I was there and things change, but it seems like it was about half an hour to the Gardens and I don't think we saw much of the city. It should still be dusk that far north, and with the lighted fountains and landscape, absolutely beautiful. I only saw it during the day but I can imagine how beartiful it must be at night.

And the city must be beautiful at night also; but my guess is you just drive through it en route to the winery, which I have had my fill of also.

If it was my choice I think I would go to the Gardens; but hopefully some of our members will have more up-to-date information for you.

[Nadine]

Thank you f-mattox. Do you know if the port is near the heart of the city, like in Vancouver?

[gdjoslin]

The image below was taken at 9:57pm on June 10 2006. As you can see the sun is almost down. The city is a short hike from the pier, maybe 15 minutes. You can catch a ride outside the terminal very easy.

This image was taken around 9:00pm

Use this link to get the sunset time when you are there.

[gdjoslin]

Find a photo and a link to video I took of the taxi ride you can take.

[Nadine]

Thank you Gary! The pictures are great and we appreciated the sunrise/sunset calculator.

I think we have about decided to take the taxi or some other form of transportation once we get off the ship and see what's available.

Your info is definitely helpful.

Nadine