Butchart Garden Tour on Our Own?

We are taking the Explorer on a Pacific Coastal Cruise. We want to visit the Gardens but we don't want to take the ship excursion. What is the best way to do it on our own?:confused:

We are taking the Explorer on a Pacific Coastal Cruise. We want to visit the Gardens but we don't want to take the ship excursion. What is the best way to do it on our own?:confused:

I have some friends that rented a car to get to the gardens on their own.

You might also try asking on the port of call forum here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39

I do hope someone has a good answer for you. They are quite a way from the dock. I remember our guide telling us we did not want to miss the bus because the cab ride back would be $$.

The ship's excursion makes things VERY easy in Victoria. We had a great driver & guide, and learned a lot on our way to and from the Gardens. You are free in the Gardens to do and see whatever you want. Just return to the bus before departure time.

The ship's excursion makes things VERY easy in Victoria. We had a great driver & guide, and learned a lot on our way to and from the Gardens. You are free in the Gardens to do and see whatever you want. Just return to the bus before departure time.

I agree, we booked the excursion thru the cruiseline and really enjoyed seeing a bit of Victoria and then spectacular Butchart Gardens on our own. And as a great bonus we also enjoyed a stop at the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, which is only a few minutes from Butchart. :)

We were there last Friday May 13. We looked at several options.

Public transit is $5 for an all day pass but it takes abut an hour to get there.

Tours leaving from the Empress were pricey.

We ended up at budget rent a car which is right behind the Empress on Douglas St. We got a mini van for $35. It was easy to find the gardens. It's about 20 minutes away. 2 hours at the garden is enough. We toured around Victoria and then dropped the van off. They even gave us a ride back to the ship! They said if you reserve a car ahead of time, they will pick you up at the port.

We'll do that again. In fact we did the same thing in Vancouver the next day!

We used CVS tours, which is considerably cheaper than the ship excursion. They pick up at the port or in front of the Empress hotel. They were very good but did not have enough buses picking people up at Butchart since we were on shoulder season and they had less buses running. If you are during peak season, they should be fine.

Several years ago we did the ship's excursion due to the fact of the distance from the ship. Our excursion also included a tea at the gardens. We were one of the earliest excursions out of port. Tea was lovely, and we had plenty of time to see the gardens.

We do almost all independent excursions. Having read how far it was from port, we decided the extra cost was justified. We actually had some people who never showed to the bus and were left after diligently trying to locate them. :eek: We were pretty close to boarding time upon arrival from our excursion.

Have a great cruise!

Years ago we took a taxi. It is some distance from the ship and won't leave you time to see much else of Victoria. In fact, we were pushing it getting back in time due the traffic.

While it is pretty, I wouldn't do it again and would just stick with walking distance of the ship.

Thank you to all who responded. It seems like the Royal excursion is a pretty good value after all. That's probably what we will do.

We were glad we took the ship's tour, due to the traffic on the way back. Otherwise, we'd been sweating whether the ship would leave w/o us.

Thank you to all who responded. It seems like the Royal excursion is a pretty good value after all. That's probably what we will do.

We were glad we took the ship's tour, due to the traffic on the way back. Otherwise, we'd been sweating whether the ship would leave w/o us.

Yes, agree with the ship's excursion in this case. And not to split hairs or anything but I used to live in Victoria and it is a lot farther than 20 minutes away. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes just to get through town, then you have another 15 minutes at least on the highway.

Enjoy your cruise and beautiful Victoria. Plan to take some time to walk along the Inner Harbour and along Dallas Road by the cruise ship pier. :)

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We did the Pacific Coastal last year and rented a car. Had a great time on our own. We were able to go at our own pace, arrived before the buses & stop at several other sites.

There is a link to my review in my signature or you can visit each port day individually on my blog. There are tons of pictures and how we did each day DIY style.

From my blog:

Here was what all we were able to see and the costs

$ 30 USD - Budget Rental for the Day

$ 9 USD - 11 liters of fuel @ $1.09CAN

$ 48 USD - 2 entrance fees of $31.45CAN each to Butchart Gardens

$ 11 USD - 2 entrance fees of $7.95CAN each to Fort Rodd Hill

$ 22 USD - 2 entrance fees of $13.95CAN each to Craigdarroch Castle

$120 USD - total for the day (not per person)

I only point this out to show the difference in what you could save by doing a DIY shore excursion instead of thru the ship. RCI wanted $75 per person just to go to the gardens for 1.5 hours with a drive by of some local sites on a tour bus for a total of 3.5 hours. The same drive by tour with the castle for 1 hour, 2.5 total trip time, was $55 per person. You could combine the trips for $125.75 per person for a 4.5 hour tour.

By doing a DIY we were in control of our day at less than 1/2 the price. We got where we wanted to go before the tour buses arrived. We stayed as little or a long at each place as we wanted to stay. We saw more than we would have seen on the RCI by visiting Fort Rodd Hill and the lighthouse as well as Fisherman's Wharf.

It's a wonderful place to visit!

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I lived on the Island for many years. Butchart Gardens is lovely and, as a local, I enjoyed it many times and still go back. Pronounce it 'Butch'-'Art' as the original family did (even many locals don't know that).

My feedback as a cruiser would be to take the ship's tour. Depending on traffic you are about a half hour from downtown. It is in a more rural area, you have to navigate some country roads to get to it. There is signage but I can miss it and I have an idea where to go!

Entrance fees are $29.90 pp plus sales tax (15%). This is Canadian. Factor in the cost of transport and your time in organizing and I think you are best taking a tour. The only argument I would have against that is if this is the only thing you want to do and plan to spend the day. You can easily spend the day here as it is so lovely and there are restaurants. Then you either rent a car for the day or cab.

The gardens were made in an old quarry in the early 1900's and are really worth seeing with many sections, one more traditional formal, another japanese etc. There are also some more uncommon or rare trees in amongst the garden. There is a formal restaurant which is quite lovely for lunch or dinner and they do really good proper English afternoon tea. I think the afternoon teas are great and a little bit better priced than those at the Empress hotel. There is a cafe with cafeteria style pick up of food which is more reasonably priced and, you can get an ice cream for walking about too. The gift shop has lovely things and is the sort of nifty gifty place where even locals find something. Unfortunately it's not the time of year but in the summer they have evening concerts and fireworks on the weekend to round out a very lovely summer day.

Enjoy your visit and don't forget to visit Roger's chocolates on Government street (main central drag by the inner harbour) for a treat before you sail away! Hand made since the early 1900's and the architecture of the shop is quite marvellous too. One chocolate is like a small candy bar (but in the round) and all contents all natural. I don't mean the ice cream shop by the Empress hotel. Look farther down the street for the proper chocolate shop.

Lots of great seafood and craft beer at many restaurants for those less garden inclined and, I recommend the provincial museum for the exhibits and the excellent shop with juried crafts, local books and art.

Just returned from a long weekend in Victoria, one of our favorite cities. We are able to drive to Victoria from Portland so we have visited may times over the years. We have also stopped twice in Victoria while cruising. When we visited on a cruise we rented a car to do our touring.

Whether you do a ships tour or rent a car and tour on your own depends on your comfort level with driving in a unfamiliar city, how long your ship will be in port and how much you want to see. Driving to Butchart Gardens from downtown is pretty straightforward. You take Hwy 17 (Blanshard St) for about 1/2 hour and turn left at Keating Cross rd. This will take you to Butchart Gardens and also the Butterfly Gardens.

Lots to see in Victoria. The Royal BC Museum is excellent and worth seeing. If you are going to Craigdarroch Castle (Victorian era mansion) try and see the gardens at Government House. Beautiful garden and best of all they are free.

True Oregon but to your point, it is a comfort, cost and timing thing.

Directions:

From downtown Victoria, drivers should allow about 30 minutes.

Head north on Blanshard Street. Blanshard Street becomes Hwy 17 (also known as the 'Pat Bay' Highway).

Drive until you pass Elk Lake (there is a park here at the lake, you will see the signs) and go straight through a set of traffic lights.

After the lights, move into the left, inside lane. You will see a left turn lane which is for Keating X Road.

Turn left at exit 18 off Hwy 17 onto Keating X Road. (this is a left turn on the highway with no traffic light). Keating X Road is heading a bit uphill here, have faith you are on the right road, it's not a major artery....

Continue along Keating X Road until it becomes Benvenuto Ave (not easy to see street sign but you should see a sign for the Gardens)

Benvenuto Ave. leads directly into The Butchart Gardens (country style road at this point).

The signage is not so good for the return! Most rentals have GPS that should help.

You can bring a picnic to the gardens.

It really depends upon how much time you have in Victoria as to how you find your way out to the Gardens. If you arrive in the morning or early afternoon and are there until late in the evening then CVS, public transit and a car rentals are all options. However if you have a late afternoon or early evening arrival then it's best to stick with a ship's tour.

It really depends upon how much time you have in Victoria as to how you find your way out to the Gardens. If you arrive in the morning or early afternoon and are there until late in the evening then CVS, public transit and a car rentals are all options. However if you have a late afternoon or early evening arrival then it's best to stick with a ship's tour.

Agree 100% with Putterdude. We were just in Victoria a week ago today and rented a car to go to Butchart Gardens. We were docked from 11:30 am to 11 pm.

We chose to rent a car for a few reasons but mostly because BG has an unadvertised deal for those people in their 80th year. The 80 year old, and one companion, get free entry and free afternoon tea. The 80 year old just has to show ID proving their age. For us it made more sense to rent the car and go at our own pace. We were also able to see some other places that had a personal interest for one or both of us. We were there for five hours including the one hour spent at tea. We explored every nook and cranny to see all of the changes that took place since our last visit over 30 years ago. We had a wonderful day!

We haven't kicked around the option of taking a cab, however its about 35 minutes from the Ogden Point cruise terminal to the gardens and the fare is going run $50 to $60 each way.....and my fear, particularly in evenings, is how long would I have to wait for a cab?

We were there a couple weeks ago from 1:00 to 11:00 PM. This is the second year in a row that we used CVS Tours to get to the Gardens, because we wanted to spend significantly more time there than the cruise excursion does. We took the cruise shuttle from the pier into town, then bought our tickets right in front of the Empress Hotel. There are quite a number of return buses. The drivers are very knowledgeable, so you get a little history about the Victoria area along with your drive.

The cost of the bus ride includes the entrance fee to the Gardens.

I am looking to book with CVS but I want time to see the town too. Did everything work out for you?