victoria holiday

[geroff]

im bringing my mate to victoria, both of us have never been there and looking for things to do when we are there and maybe find some romantic places to visit, if any of you could help me out it would be a blessing.  we are there from the 22nd till the 29th.

[lunar_prodigy]

ah thats my old stomping ground.

sounds like you are there long enough to enjoy yourself. few questions.

1) what are your general interests?
2) what is your budget like?
3) are you staying in a hotel or with friends?

i will give you some general suggestions.

first off, walking around downtown and the inner harbor on a fairly nice day is the thing to do.
-definitely check out beacon hill park which is a few blocks from the parliament buildings. huge enough to get lost in though again not so big as say Stanley park. and most of it is cultivated landscape but there are wild peacocks running around which is neat.
-china town is small compared to Vancouver but still nifty, it is just up by the Johnson street bridge area not to far from the inner harbor.
-walk around the harbor from the Johnson street bridge down into the inner harbor and don't forget to check out the little sliver of china town. -plenty of good restaurants in the inner harbor if you have some cash to drop, its quite touristy. its been so long im trying to think of a few good ones..... more on that when i remember.
-in the inner harbor you have a ton of attractions like miniature world, the museum with imax, the wax museum and undersea gardens (which are opposite the parliament buildings).
-if you like historic things there is "fort rod hill" which is an old military fort and lighthouse on the maps far left edge.
or you can swing by the maritime museum nestled in downtown.
-there are plenty of interesting shots attractions eateries and old buildings and quite photogenic as it looks like England. there is even a British sweets shop somewhere but i forget where... hidden downtown if i recall not to far from the other attractions.
-there are also plenty of pubs bars and clubs. 
there are a ton of historic buildings you can check out online before your trip or go to an info center and look at brochures or get recommendations.
-two castles that i know of, one is close to Pandora street and fern wood, the other is off in sooke area left side of the map but Google for exactness of location i believe, called hastley castle ( where they do a ton of filming).

lets see... hmm... nice parks and interesting locations.
if you check out James bay you can walk from the cruise ship dock and check out the giant sea walk, and if you keep walking south along the coast you come to oak bay cemetery which is iconic like out of a batman comic book,  very Gothic, i did a short film there. part of oak bay which is in itself a gorgeous place to ride a bike around in or drive the elevation of streets which also have a look out summit nestled in their suburb. the entire south east side of the coastline from cadbaro bay and west towards oak bay are a ton of nice beaches. there are two great vantage points look outs you can walk, bike, or drive to the summits. one is mount tolmie, the other is mount Douglas. ( but are really just big hills.  i recommend mount doug as it has a "360 degree UN-obstructed" lookout point you can walk up in 15 minutes or drive up. both i marked on the north east and mid east points on the map. i also marked the major malls. hillside, tilicum, and Mayfair... worth a quick look but nothing special to Vancouver.



people tend to like Victoria for three reasons that set it apart from Vancouver... as much as Vancouver is a green city. you really notice the difference in Victoria. its this little experienced feeling that's hard to describe unless you have lived long term in both but there are trees everywhere and its so green. you get a sense of it when you check out the look outs.

secondly its as i mentioned above, like a little British outside of the UK. in fact movies have been filmed there cheaply and used for scenes in the UK. in the movie "the core" a buss tips over in the beginning and that was filmed on Pandora street i believe even though it was supposedly downtown London lol.

lastly is its quaint quiet lifestyle and beautiful countryside mixed with coastline that we rarely see in Vancouver as so much of Vancouver coastline feels developed or industrial. i recommend a nice slow drive or a bike ride in oak bay. you can rent bikes downtown if you don't bring your own. if the weathers nice, a bike is the way to go. i did it for 5 years



hopefully this give you a good head start on trip planning ^^

[Tef]

I've been to Victoria once a few years ago. Unfortunately it was a tour bus excursion that lasted only a day. All I remembered was a pretty awesome Butchart Gardens that's a close drive from Victoria.

[geroff]

we are staying at the fairmont empress. and the buchart gardens is in the plans as are the parliment grounds.  my budget depends on tomorrow lol.  but thanks for all the tips.

[Renwaldo]

You must visit the wax museum. One does not simple go into Victoria without visiting the wax museum!  :D

[geroff]

You must visit the wax museum. One does not simple go into Victoria without visiting the wax museum!  :D

will do, thanks for the pointers!