2024-05 Victoria, Vancouver Island

Detailled description of Victoria and Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island off the mainland coast of British Columbia. It features diverse landscapes, including towering mountains, ancient rainforests, rugged coastlines with sandy beaches and rocky headlands, and inland lakes. Rich indigenous history and presence of Coast Salish peoples for millennia.

Victoria

The city of Victoria has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel (opened in 1908). The city's Chinatown is the second oldest in North America, after that of San Francisco. The region's Coast Salish First Nations peoples established communities in the area long before European settlement, which had large populations at the time of European exploration.

Craigdarroch Castle

Visitors can appreciate the Craigdarroch castle’s stained-glass windows, intricate woodwork, ceiling murals and Victorian furnishings. There are numerous staircases, but no elevators. A self-guiding tour includes four floors of the castle and an 87-step climb to the tower, which offers stunning views of Victoria, the strait and the Olympic Mountains. An audio tour and an iPad tour also are available. 

Butchard garden

The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens that Jennie Butchart began to shape in 1904. She established, in the style of the grand estates of the period, several distinct gardens to evoke a range of aesthetic experiences. An abandoned limestone quarry was transformed into the dramatic Sunken Garden, a reflection of the early 20th-century beautification movement and an exceptional achievement in Canadian gardening history.
The gardens receive over a million visitors each year and have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

Vancouver island

Cathedral Grove**, located in MacMillan Park, is one of the most accessible stands of giant Douglas fir trees on Vancouver Island. The park protects and preserves an internationally significant representative example of Douglas fir old-growth forest within the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone. 

Tofino*** is a small town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It's located on the tip of the Esowista Peninsula in Clayoquot Sound, at the western end of Highway 4. Tofino is known for its natural beauty, including lakes, inlets, ancient rainforest, and sandy beaches. It's also home to many activities,

Detailled description of Victoria and Vancouver Island

Other ports to be visited