The Victoria City Guides answer the questions that come up on any trip to British Columbia’s capital: where to find seafood that is not frozen and overpriced on the harbour strip, how to reach Butchart Gardens without paying for a coach tour, which boat to board for orcas and humpbacks, what to do with children when it rains and where a night out starts with a local pint. Each guide is a short, honest list that tells you why a place deserves your time, what to order or look at and one useful tip, and it opens in your browser as soon as you have paid.
About the Victoria City Guides
- 99 places
- 5 guides
- 7 languages
- Works offline
- Print or PDF
- Instant access
- Free updates
The five Victoria guides
Food guide
20 places
Local seafood on and off the harbour, dinner downtown, Chinatown buns, brunch spots worth the queue, chocolate and tea, then markets and cideries beyond the city.
Things to do guide
20 places
Museums and historic houses, the Inner Harbour and whale-watching boats, city viewpoints, gardens and parks, and day trips to Sooke, the Cowichan Valley and Tofino.
Family guide
21 places
Forest lakes and a salmon river, a small aquarium and a butterfly greenhouse, bugs to hold, a woolly mammoth, a wave pool for wet days and food children actually eat.
Nightlife guide
18 places
Tapas and sherry, historic brewpubs and taprooms, a jazz club, Celtic bands, a country saloon for line dancing and clifftop sunsets facing the Olympic Mountains.
Day trips guide
20 places
Beaches near the city, the gardens and cidery of the Saanich Peninsula, the wild Sooke coast, the Malahat and Cowichan Valley, plus Salt Spring and Tofino for a night away.
Why an interactive guide beats a list
Tick places off
Mark each place as done and watch your progress, so you always know what is left.
Your own notes
Write notes on any place and add your own finds. They stay on your phone.
One tap to Maps
Every place opens in Google Maps, and the day route puts your picks in a sensible order.
Open now, near me
Filter by what is open right now or what is closest to you.
Works offline
Open the guide once with a connection and it keeps working without data.
Print it or save as PDF
On a computer, print any guide or save it as a PDF to take with you.
Three places from the guides
Fol Epi
Dockside Green, Harbour Road, Vic West
Loaves from a wood-fired oven, made with flour the bakers mill themselves, and croissants good enough to justify crossing the Johnson Street Bridge before breakfast. Caffè Fantastico next door handles the coffee, and the Galloping Goose path runs past. From the food guide.
Fan Tan Alley
Chinatown, between Fisgard and Pandora
The narrowest shopping street in Canada squeezes between brick walls in the country’s oldest Chinatown. Gamblers and opium sellers once worked here; today it holds little shops and takes two minutes to walk, so carry on to the bakeries of Fisgard Street. From the things to do guide.
Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub
Catherine Street, Vic West
Brewing since 1984, which makes it one of Canada’s first brewpubs, in an old waterside house that looks down the harbour to the Empress. Order a house pint, and note that the malt vinegar and the chocolates are made here too. From the nightlife guide.
Plan your days in Victoria
Day one: start on the Inner Harbour, walk through the Empress lobby, give the Royal BC Museum two hours, then hop on a little harbour ferry to the floating homes of Fisherman’s Wharf. Continue through Beacon Hill Park to the Mile 0 marker, watch the sun set from Clover Point and finish with a pint at Spinnakers. Day two: begin with buns on Fisgard Street and a stroll through Fan Tan Alley, ride bus 75 to The Butchart Gardens and the Butterfly Gardens nearby, and stop for a cider flight on the Saanich Peninsula if you have a car. For a rainy or slow day, pair Miniature World with a pot of tea at Murchie’s, take the children to the wave pool at Saanich Commonwealth Place and spend the evening at Hermann’s Jazz Club.
Questions about the Victoria guides
What do the Victoria City Guides include?
Five guides covering 99 places: food, things to do, family, nightlife, and beaches and day trips. Each entry explains why it is worth going, where it is, opening notes and one tip you can use.
How do I receive the guides once I have paid?
The links show up on your order confirmation page and in the email that follows. They open in the browser of any phone, tablet or laptop, with no app to install and no account to create.
Can I use the Victoria guides without internet?
Yes. Load each guide once while connected and it will work offline from then on, ticks and notes included. Opening a place in maps needs mobile data, which is worth knowing west of Sooke, where the signal comes and goes.
Which languages are the Victoria guides available in?
The guides open in English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. You can switch the language inside the guide at any time.
How much do the guides cost?
One guide is C$7.99, two are C$13.99, four are C$24.99 and the full set of five is C$30.99.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.