Victoria on your own

[aksharp1]

Hello,

 

Was wondering, if we decided not to do a tour in Victoria, are there things to do on your own near the cruise piers like shopping or other sites nearby? We will have 2 older people who don't like to walk too far without breaks in between. We will be there Mid-Sep from 5pm-11:59 pm on the Star Princess. I don't think we will are able to go to Butchart Gardens because of our date and time in port, I could be wrong. HOwever, all of the tours for the gardens are not avaliable on our cruise. We would consider taking a tour but cannot choose between the Victoria Highlights & Mt. Tolmie tour, the horse drawn trolley tour, the double decker bus tour or the Grand City Drive & Empress Tea tour. Has anyone done any of those? ANY help would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance!

 

Anna

[Terrafreaky]

There is not much to do right by the pier. However you can take public transportation into Victoria. We took a Victoria bus tour & loved the city, However ours was the Victorian Highlights & Craigdarroch Castle tour. There were plenty of beautiful things to be seen from the bus.

 

I'd loveto go back to see more.

[c-to-sea]

For 4 people, I would suggest looking at taking one of the tour cars that will

be on the dock and have an itinerary of sorts to ask the driver to do for

you. Here is a site that might be helpful:

 

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/391.asp

 

Some things not involving a lot of walking:

 

Drive through Beacon Hill Park then the waterfront drive to Oak Bay and Uplands

residential area. Up Mt. Tolmie for a panoramic view of the city. Back to

downtown for a pub, tearoom or coffeehouse stop. These are just some of

the many things you could include and still go back to the ship whenever

you wanted to.

[insideedge]

The City and Empress tea is a great tour that time of year. The gardens will be open but by the time you get there it may be dark. The Grand City Tour off the ship includes the castle ( 78 stairs, no elevator and a hill to climb to get there). The tea is amazing and never spoiled by rain or darkness, and also has a great city tour attached to it. Never heard of anyone being disappointed with the tea tour.

[aksharp1]

Thank you so much for informing me of the stairs at the castle. That would not have been a nice surprise. Also, not sure if high tea would be very fun for my DH and father-in-law. Are there tour companies right at the pier to offer on-the-spot city tours? Are they pretty legit? Or are we just better off just taking a taxi into town and seeing the sights around there?

 

Thank you!

[c-to-sea]

There are always a lot of cars for hire when the ship docks. I have not heard

of any problems with any of them. Some may be pre-booked. Here is a link

to some on the Tourism Victoria website that you might want to at least

make inquiries with. I have a feeling that the cost may not be much more than

a taxi for a sightseeing tour and probably more comfortable,

 

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/587.asp?type=A00094

[dorijo]

We will be there aug 1 arriving on the golden princess. Is there a ho ho bus with narrated tour? Also will have a 16yr and 12 yr old is the ghosts and graveyard walk tour worth going to? Does anyone know how far from the empress hotel the ship will be docked can it walked or do we take a cab?

Thank you for your help.

[c-to-sea]

This is one of the ho-ho buses in Victoria. I am pretty sure that they meet

the cruise ships at the pier but you can contact them to confirm this.

I think there are better things to do and see than the ghosts and graveyards,

considering the short time you will be in port (7:00pm - 11:59pm) but that is

only my opinion. It is just over a mile walk to the Empress and again, with the

limited time, it would be better to take some form of transportation to that

area.

 

Here is the ho-ho link:

 

http://www.bigbusvictoria.ca/victoria.cfm

[YoPhilly]

You could also take a water taxi tour. They offer two different tours - one is a circle tour of the Inner Harbor and the other is a tour up to a gorge area. Each one is $20 - they offer a senior discount but I don't know how much it is.

 

I took the Inner Harbor tour which lasted 45 minutes and goes to the Fisherman's Wharf and to the West Bay area. You'll get some nice views of floating houses. You can get on and off the water taxi at any of the stops.

[dorijo]

Hi

Thanks for the replies. The ho ho bus has its last run at 5:30 so we can't do that. I guess the ship has chartered the double decker for the night as that stops at 5:30 also..Will look into the harbor circle tour.

Doris

[BCHappyGal]

You noted that you are in port a very short time 5 pm - midnight. As this is Sept it gets dark around 7pm so a tour to view the sights will be pretty disappointing as it will be dark for most of it. Many Stores & tourist attractions close at between 5 & 6 unless it is a Friday night when they stay open till 9pm. Thus I think you might want to reconsider a ships tour where places are open special for the ship.

 

Tea at the Empress is always a fun experience even for the men. My husband goes I know only to humor me but he does not hate it.