Butchart Gardens

[EJ33333]

Are Butchart Gardens and the legislative buildings walkable from the Victoria cruise dock?

 

We arrive in port at 7PM. Does that give us enough time to tour the gardens?

 

Are the gardens just as good to see if it is already dark outside?

 

Thanks

[waltd]

Downtown Victoria is walkable from the cruise ship. Butchart Gardens is not. It is about 14 miles from Victoria. I suggest you go on line and make sure the gardens are open when you are visiting.

[Astro Flyer]

Downtown Victoria is walkable from the cruise ship. Butchart Gardens is not. It is about 14 miles from Victoria. I suggest you go on line and make sure the gardens are open when you are visiting.

I don't think it's open at night either but not positive.

[Jasperdo]

The cruise ships dock at Ogden Point, which about a mile from the Inner Harbour where the Parliament Building and the Empress Hotel are located. As waltd said, Butchart Gardens are quite aways out of town. Most cruise ship lines offer shore excursions to the Gardens. They are lit up at night.

[Jasperdo]

I don't think it's open at night either but not positive.

Butchart Gardens are definitely open at night when the cruise ships are in port. Here's a description of the shore excursion taken from the Princess website:

"An extraordinary world emerges at dusk as hundreds of hidden lights transform famous Butchart Gardens into a fairyland scented with summer blooms. A guided city tour transports you to this wonderland of themed gardens, spacious lawns and meandering pathways, gracefully illuminated with a variety of colored lights and magical effects."

[Shoalwater]

Are Butchart Gardens and the legislative buildings walkable from the Victoria cruise dock?

 

We arrive in port at 7PM. Does that give us enough time to tour the gardens?

 

Are the gardens just as good to see if it is already dark outside?

 

Thanks

 

Butchart Gardens. They are magnificent, and given the distance out of town and all, I would not want to chance missing the ship. It is probably not possible to see them on your own by public transportation, but you might find a dockside taxi service to take you there. Be sure they wait for you to return you to the port. The last time we were there our driver, a friend, thought he had paid his provincial auto insurance (there is a dated tag on the license plate). He was pulled over just entering town on our way back and not allowed to continue. The constable had called for a tow truck to take the vehicle before he even approached the car and we had to walk back to the ship. Luckily we had given ourselves plenty of spare time. Had we been on a tight schedule....who knows?

[waltd]

Garden Hours up to Sept. 3rd are open till 10pm, After the 3rd they are open till 9. Found on their website.

[Princess Patches]

Butchart Gardens are open late in summer only until 10:00 p.m.

[shepp]

Says on the site that the Gardens are open till 10 for the next couple of weeks, then 9:00 until 9/15. After that, no evening hours until mid-December. I have no idea whether, in fact, the Gardens are kept open late for ship's tours; given the aize of the place and the staffing required, seems unlikely.

 

It really is a good distance from town, and it takes a while to see the Gardens, which has a high admission charge. And you'd have to leave plenty of time to get back to the ship.nSo unless you'll be there when the place is open till 10, or the ship offers a tour, I'd assume it was a no-go.

 

By the bye, it is possible to get there during the day by public transportation, cutting the cost of a tour by about 50%.

[Countrygirl44]

We took the Princess Excursion on Saturday August 04. The driver did a town tour on the way to the gardens. They were wonderful as was the fireworks display. Afterwards he did a night time town tour...WOW! The parliament buildings lit up at night are truly a sight. I think the tour was $69.00 pp.

[chris2597]

We took the Princess Excursion on Saturday August 04. The driver did a town tour on the way to the gardens. They were wonderful as was the fireworks display. Afterwards he did a night time town tour...WOW! The parliament buildings lit up at night are truly a sight. I think the tour was $69.00 pp.

 

 

We are sailing on the Star in Sept. We thought about doing the Butchart Garden tour but were concerned about the limited time in Victoria. Is there adequate time to view the Gardens?

[Putterdude]

A walk into downtown Victoria and the Legislature Building is about a 20 min walk, all very level. The Gardens are in a rural area, a full 35 min drive from the Ogden Point cruise terminal. If in the city for much less than 6 hours (particularly in the evening) my advice would be to take the ship's sponsored tour. You want to have 2.5 to 3 hrs to fully enjoy the Gardens and they are illuminated and really quite lovely after dark.

[Countrygirl44]

We are sailing on the Star in Sept. We thought about doing the Butchart Garden tour but were concerned about the limited time in Victoria. Is there adequate time to view the Gardens?

We were fine with the time. We are seniors, me getting over knee surgery, so walking a little slower than "the younger crowd". Truly enjoyed the excursion. Our driver, (can't remember his name) was great. On our way to the gardens, we went by the Empress hotel and other places of interest. He shared a lot of information about the city with us. Also on the way back to the ship, he took us through China town.

It was a great tour. I think they will do the fireworks the night you will be there. After the fireworks, you walk back to the entrance to where the bus is parked. All of our folks seemed to get back quickly and we were on our way back to the ship.

We were on the ship, had a snack in HC, and on our balcony when the ship departed Victoria.

[operabob]

I'm a retired teacher who has sometimes taken people to Butchart from the Cruise Ship terminal.

 

Butchart stays open for the cruise ships as they sell bus packages on board.

 

Butchart is a must see (Bill & Hillary spent part of the honeymoon there. Only thing is no one knows if they spent it together).

 

Now, despite Butchart being a must, if you're only in port a few hours I'd say skip it as the four hour tour will use up 1 1/2 hours getting there and back and you'll see very little except highway in the dark in September.

 

I think it's Conde Nast that consistently rates Victoria as one of the 5 most beautiful cities in the world. So see the City. I've lived here 20 years and virtually every weekend my wife and I spend part of the days in the inner harbour or old downtown. If you've had knee surgery I wouldn't walk downtown as it's about a mile. Start your walk in front of the Empress Hotel. If there's a guided walking or bus tour offered I'd opt for that.

 

CC, I have no connection to this other than I've met the man and he is well thought of but perhaps the ship offers these:

 

http://www.discoverthepast.com/

[dkata]

Just back from the cruise on the Sea Princess last week.

We went to Buchart Gardens and it is worth seeing. But we did it in the day time. The gardens are open to 10 pm, but I'm not sure what you will be able to see in the evening.

We were a family of 4, so we rented a car from Budget Victoria. They sent a shuttle to pick us up at the Ogden Point cruise dock and took us to Douglas Street where the rental car lot is. Rental Car cost was $49.06 for the day. (plus $4.00 gas)

The garden is 14 miles or so from downtown, but getting there was easy. The speed limit on the freeway was 50 mph (80kmh) so it took a half-hour to 45 minutes. So off the ship at 8 am, arrived at the gardens at 9:30. The gardens took 2 hours to see everything. We left at noon, and were back on the ship by 1:00 pm. Deadline was 1:30 pm for a 2pm departure.

Looking at my receipt, The cost was $29.60 per adult and $14.80 for youth..

So we spent a total of $152.52 for car rental, admission and gas refill for a family of 4, versus $276 if we had taken the ship excursion.

This is just FYI, if this helps, great.

Not sure I would have done this for a night visit. Also, don't know what time the rental car place closes, since they would have to get us back to the dock after the car drop-off. You could be stranded.

Hate to say it, but if you're there to see these great flower and the colors, you'll miss a lot from a night visit.

[Putterdude]

Just a footnote to the excellent review above. The Gardens are illuminated at night, with that they take on a magical appearance and many people enjoy them as much in the evening as they do during the day.:)

[operabob]

Seconding Putter's comments.

 

Wrong time of year for this particular thread but the Gardens are open through the winter too including night time where everything is illuminated.

 

DK,

 

I like your style. We've gotten into private rentals, hires off ship too as the cost is half the on board excursions everywhere we've been.