Victoria on our own

[Driftwoodgal]

Need some advice on touring Victoria. We will be in port from 7 AM to 5 PM. I thought I had everything planned and then I learn that Grey Line might not be doing transfers from the Empress Hotel to Butchart Gardens. Our plans were to go to Butchart Gardens and then back to Royal BC Museum. Since Grey Line may not be running my other options are to rent a car, book a ship tour, local transportation, or a taxi.

 

Can anyone give me an idea how expensive it is to take a taxi to the gardens? Can you get one back easily?

 

How far are the rental car places from the pier, was looking at Budget. Haven't checked to see if Enterprise will pick you up at the pier.

 

Is there a local bus transportation that will get you to the gardens, and how difficult is it to get there? Do you have to have CAD to ride?

 

Would you even try to make both places in the time we have in port?

[cruiseryyc]

Apparently there is a new company providing trips out to Butcharts, they are called Cruise Victoria - check them out. A taxi would be close to $50 CDN and they don't usually sit out at the Gardens waiting for a fare back, so it's a crap shoot if there will be one waiting for you when you want to return to Victoria. You can take the city bus, but it's time consuming (yes you would need CDN money for it). Renting a car is a good option. Since you are in town all day; you can see both the Gardens and Museum, but you might feel rushed.

[scottbee]

Need some advice on touring Victoria. We will be in port from 7 AM to 5 PM. I thought I had everything planned and then I learn that Grey Line might not be doing transfers from the Empress Hotel to Butchart Gardens. Our plans were to go to Butchart Gardens and then back to Royal BC Museum. Since Grey Line may not be running my other options are to rent a car, book a ship tour, local transportation, or a taxi.

 

Can anyone give me an idea how expensive it is to take a taxi to the gardens? Can you get one back easily?

 

How far are the rental car places from the pier, was looking at Budget. Haven't checked to see if Enterprise will pick you up at the pier.

 

Is there a local bus transportation that will get you to the gardens, and how difficult is it to get there? Do you have to have CAD to ride?

 

Would you even try to make both places in the time we have in port?

 

A taxi will be in the $40 ea way range (it's 15 miles out of town). The local bus system does go to Butchart, but it does take a while (50 mins), and although technically you're supposed to have Cdn currency (easily available though) the bus company couldn't care if you stuff 2.25 US$ into the meter (but you'll get no exchange).

Victoria transit info at http://www.bctransit.com/regions/vic/schedules/schedule.cfm?p=dir.text&route=75:0&day=1&

 

If you're feeling rushed for time, there are a number of other beautiful (and free) gardens in and around downtown. Beacon Hill park is quite lovely (1 mile from cruise terminal), and the Lt Govenenor's mansion has some lovely gardens too (on Rockland Ave).

[Putterdude]

Here is a link to CVS Cruise Victoria. They are the same company that does the shuttle to and from Ogden Point and the Empress. Evidently they will take you from the gardens to the ship but you have to transfer from the shuttle to go from ship to gardens.:)

www.cvscruisevictoria.com/

[Jeff in Torrance]

If you walk a couple of miles, roundtrip, you can just walk into the main center of Victoria from the dock area. There is a beautiful park and gardens not far from the downtown area, which costs nothing to visit (think of Buchart without working at it very hard). The Parliament building is right there. The Empress Hotel. Plenty of eating places.

[thinfool]

You have plenty of time to make good use of a rental car. We had Enterprise pick us up at the Ferry (Swartz Bay). I will guess that they will do the same for you at the pier.

 

We found the area easy to drive thru. The map that Enterprise gave us was sufficient for our needs. And traffic, even at rush hour, was nothing like a big city.

 

The drive to Butchart is about 30 minutes...not because of the distance, but because of the roads (some are 2-lane), traffic and traffic lights. Don't worry about getting lost...after all, you are on an island! :D

 

Whatever you decide....do not miss Butchart Gardens!!!

[scottbee]

You have plenty of time to make good use of a rental car. We had Enterprise pick us up at the Ferry (Swartz Bay). I will guess that they will do the same for you at the pier.

 

We found the area easy to drive thru. The map that Enterprise gave us was sufficient for our needs. And traffic, even at rush hour, was nothing like a big city.

 

The drive to Butchart is about 30 minutes...not because of the distance, but because of the roads (some are 2-lane), traffic and traffic lights. Don't worry about getting lost...after all, you are on an island! :D

 

Whatever you decide....do not miss Butchart Gardens!!!

 

If you're driving from the Ferry terminal to Butchart Gardens, you go no where near downtown and the evil traffic. Downtown traffic can be VERY bad especially in mid-summer, and on Hwy 1 heading west of town at rush hour (referred to as the "Colwood Crawl").

 

after all, you are on an island!

Yes, an Island the size of Vermont, that takes 7 hours to drive from one end to the other.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Victoria,+BC,+Canada&daddr=Holberg,+BC&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=50.733848,-127.900085&sspn=0.504995,1.455688&ie=UTF8&ll=49.167339,-123.684082&spn=8.348411,23.291016&z=6

[thinfool]

If you're driving from the Ferry terminal to Butchart Gardens, you go no where near downtown and the evil traffic.

 

So you assume that we didn't drive into downtown Victoria to spend the night? (About 5 pm local time on a thursday) This fact was not pertinent to the information that I was giving to the OP. But you are right, it was not in July, it was in August.

 

Traffic congestion is relative...what is atrocious in Victoria might be a picnic for someone from LA or NYC.

[scottbee]

So you assume that we didn't drive into downtown Victoria to spend the night? (About 5 pm local time on a thursday) This fact was not pertinent to the information that I was giving to the OP. But you are right, it was not in July, it was in August.

 

Traffic congestion is relative...what is atrocious in Victoria might be a picnic for someone from LA or NYC.

 

Why would I assume anything? Especially why would I jump to the opinion that you went downtown? You didn't mention it, so I commented that;

 

a) Butchart Gardens and Swartz Bay aren't near the bad traffic (which is mostly downtown and on the major westbound artery leaving town)

b) The island is huge

[quincytoo]

You have plenty of time to make good use of a rental car. We had Enterprise pick us up at the Ferry (Swartz Bay). I will guess that they will do the same for you at the pier.

 

We found the area easy to drive thru. The map that Enterprise gave us was sufficient for our needs. And traffic, even at rush hour, was nothing like a big city.

 

The drive to Butchart is about 30 minutes...not because of the distance, but because of the roads (some are 2-lane), traffic and traffic lights. Don't worry about getting lost...after all, you are on an island! :D

 

Whatever you decide....do not miss Butchart Gardens!!!

 

LOL It is soo easy to get lost in Victoria.....and Scottbee is very right....this Island is HUGE!!!!