Only 4.5 Hrs in Victoria...Need Help

[kelligirl]

Want to see Butchart Gardens & Empress Hotel. Is this enough time and would doing it via Grayline be feasible. All input is greatly appreciated!

 

Carnival wants $85pp for Butchart & Historic Downtown Tour...whaddya think?

[LeftcoastBC]

Dealt with this issue with friends last year.

 

I don't think a tour to the Gardens in the time frame by yourself is a great idea. A ships tour will get you back on time if there are issues.

 

You can certainly get to the Inner Habour area where the Empress Hotel is by yourself.

[kelligirl]

Dealt with this issue with friends last year.

 

I don't think a tour to the Gardens in the time frame by yourself is a great idea. A ships tour will get you back on time if there are issues.

 

You can certainly get to the Inner Habour area where the Empress Hotel is by yourself.

 

 

Thank you! Especially with bringing our older parents along, I don't want to have to rush them :)

[coronadogal]

The gardens are a distance out of town. If you go, take the ships' tour because your time will be very tight. You probably won't have enough time at the gardens to do it justice. You could hire a van at the port to take you around town and some of the sights like Craigdarroch Castle. Victoria is very pretty and one of our favorite places to stop. It's nice to wander around the harbor area and Empress Hotel. You might also see if there is a tour of the Parliament Building when you are there. It's so magnificent on the outside, I have always wanted to go inside.

[scottbee]

Want to see Butchart Gardens & Empress Hotel. Is this enough time and would doing it via Grayline be feasible. All input is greatly appreciated!

 

Carnival wants $85pp for Butchart & Historic Downtown Tour...whaddya think?

 

It costs $30ish just to get into Butchart Gardens, and it's a fair distance from downtown where the ship docks (15 miles/30 mins each way), if you were to get a taxi, it would cost in the order of $40-50 ea way, so I don't think $85 is that bad in the big picture. You could probably do it yourself for a tiny bit less, but the ship tour has the advantage they're probably not going to leave 50 people behind on a tight schedule

[nctraveler54]

The wife and I also had a short time in port and did the downtown thing. Lots of street artists and tons of places to take pictures. Took the bus there and back, long walk from the pier.

[BIG_Steve]

I agree with the others that you should consider a Ship tour. In the small chance that a private tour had a break down or something and was late for the ship, you'd be stuck. If a ship's tour is late, they either hold the ship, or make other arrangements to get you home.

 

I'm taking a long ship's tour in Ketchikan, for that very reason, our stop is very short. But in Skagway, we have 13 hours, so I'm taking a long private tour.

[Putterdude]

Just back from Victoria, the posted cab fare from Ogden Point to the gardens is $50 each way.

Your other alternative is CVS Cruise Victoria which will sell you a $7 shuttle ticket at the pier plus a $48 ticket out to the gardens. You will have to take the shuttle to the Inner Harbour where you will transfer to the coach going to the gardens. I believe that they will deliver you from the gardens back to Ogden Point...but I would give them a call.

http://cvscruisevictoria.com/services.html

[Smeecanada]

I would recommend doing either the Empress or the Gardens not both in that time frame. As previous posters have mentioned that Gardens are a fair distance from town. You can be at the Empress in about 10 minutes by taxi from the Port. If you are in Port on a Saturday night there is plenty to see in the Harbour with buskers and such going on.