Butchart Gardens, Victoria

[sharmorr]

Spending a few days in Vancouver after cruise and would like to see Butchart Gardens. We will not have a car. Any directions on how to get there, cost, timeline, etc would be greatly appreciated. Or is this too long a day trip? Thank you!

[Coral]

Check with the hotel you are staying at. They often have day tours from the tour desk there and it is a long day.

 

I have not used this company but here is an example: http://vancouvertours.com/tour/victoria-tour/

Edited May 25, 2014 by Coral

[seb95667]

Lots of tour booths around the harbor and Empress Hotel. Take a tour, they usually give you a nice length of time to see everything.

[scottbee]

Spending a few days in Vancouver after cruise and would like to see Butchart Gardens. We will not have a car. Any directions on how to get there, cost, timeline, etc would be greatly appreciated. Or is this too long a day trip? Thank you!

 

It's a longish daytrip, but doable

 

1) 3 zone ticket from downtown Vancouver, Skytrain/Canada Line to Bridgeport, switch to #620 Tsawwassen Ferry bus (same ticket)

2) Walk on Ferry to Swartz Bay/Victoria

3) #81 bus to Butchart Gardens from Swartz Bay/Victoria

 

reverse at the end of the day

 

You want to aim for an odd hour ferry, because the #81 only runs odd hours from Swartz Bay.

[mapleleaves]

Pacific Coach offers tours or just bus service between Vancouver and Victoria whch gives you the option to go as a day trip or overnight if you want to see the gardens at night and watch the fireworks.

 

It IS a long day ... travel time is about 3 hrs each way. The ferry crossing itself is 1 1/2 hrs. Very scenic ride.

 

http://www.pacificcoach.com/Bus-Coach-Travel/Crosswater/Vancouver-to-Victoria

[martincath]

You can cut the time down significantly by upping the cost and flying (floatplane or helicopter). But assuming you don't want to spend an extra couple of hundred bucks, you can actually see even more garden than you can at Butchart right here in Vancouver for less $ - you just need to move around a bit.

 

Queen Elizabeth Park has a couple of Quarry gardens similar to Butchart, an arboretum, and rose garden (free); Van Dusen Botanical Gardens has a wide variety of plantlife ($10.75 or less); the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden is Chinese rather than Japanese, but an even more authentic example of its type ($14 including a guided tour); and of course Stanley Park offers Rose, Rhododendron, and Shakespearian gardens as well as a vast amount of trees, walking trails, totem poles etc. (free).

 

In short - if the only reason you're spending six hours travel time is to see Butchart, rethink your plans. There are plenty of other things worth seeing on Vancouver Island though - but I would recommend an overnight stay to maximize what you can see unless you're willing to spend the extra $ to fly.

[agabbymama]

You can cut the time down significantly by upping the cost and flying (floatplane or helicopter). But assuming you don't want to spend an extra couple of hundred bucks, you can actually see even more garden than you can at Butchart right here in Vancouver for less $ - you just need to move around a bit.

 

Queen Elizabeth Park has a couple of Quarry gardens similar to Butchart, an arboretum, and rose garden (free); Van Dusen Botanical Gardens has a wide variety of plantlife ($10.75 or less); the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden is Chinese rather than Japanese, but an even more authentic example of its type ($14 including a guided tour); and of course Stanley Park offers Rose, Rhododendron, and Shakespearian gardens as well as a vast amount of trees, walking trails, totem poles etc. (free).

 

In short - if the only reason you're spending six hours travel time is to see Butchart, rethink your plans. There are plenty of other things worth seeing on Vancouver Island though - but I would recommend an overnight stay to maximize what you can see unless you're willing to spend the extra $ to fly.

 

I agree with this poster. Vancouver to Victoria to Butchart Gardens is going to be mostly travel time to get there and return with very little time actually at the Gardens.

 

We had a rental car in Vancouver and traveled all around to the various sites. Do be aware though that parking can be an issue.

 

You could easily do the Hop on/Hop off trolley and see Stanley Park and Dr. Sun Yat Sen garden. We missed the other two mentioned, but had a lovely drive out in the country to a tea at an old farmhouse I had found on-line.

[sharmorr]

Thank you for the replies. Much appreciated.

[pjinaz]

We visited Vancouver without a car, but the day we left for Victoria, rented a car. There are several car rental agencies around town and we found one a block from our hotel. We rented the car, drove to the ferry (purchased advanced tickets, to make sure we would have a space) and got off in Victoria, did a little sightseeing, stayed in a hotel, got up in the morning went to Butchart Gardens and then back to the ferry. You can do it in one day, but I figured if we were going to Victoria, we might as well see a bit of it.

 

I think this was the easiest way to do it as it was pretty easy to figure out where we were going and we could do things at our pace. I'm sure it was much more cost effective also. The Gardens are awesome and so is Victoria.

[Chenega]

We visited Vancouver without a car, but the day we left for Victoria, rented a car. There are several car rental agencies around town and we found one a block from our hotel. We rented the car, drove to the ferry (purchased advanced tickets, to make sure we would have a space) and got off in Victoria, did a little sightseeing, stayed in a hotel, got up in the morning went to Butchart Gardens and then back to the ferry. You can do it in one day, but I figured if we were going to Victoria, we might as well see a bit of it.

 

I think this was the easiest way to do it as it was pretty easy to figure out where we were going and we could do things at our pace. I'm sure it was much more cost effective also. The Gardens are awesome and so is Victoria.

 

We used LandSea tour from Vancouver to Victoria several years ago. It was a long day but an excellent trip. Their website is http://www.vancouvertours.com