Butchart Gardens on our own?

[Half Pint]

We will be in Victoria from 9am to 6pm, but from the sound of it, the gardens are quite a distance from where we dock.

 

Is it possible to do the gardens on your own?

[mapleleaves]

It's about a 30 minute drive by taxi or town car. I've used the CVS tour bus which departs near the Empress Hotel. Or you can use the city bus.

 

Transportation options are listed on the Gardens web site. There's even a section for cruiseship pax:

http://www.butchartgardens.com/visit/location

[Budget Queen]

You are soooo fortunate to have that port time. YES you can go to Butchart independently and cheaper. :)

 

I take the city bus. Route 75. there are other buses.

 

I do walk from Ogden Point to the bus, which takes 20/30 minutes.

 

Tripadvisor also has specific directions for you.

 

My sister has used CVS which did pick up from the cruise dock (Ogden Point).

[HI-C-Dubs]

We get in at like 6 PM and leave at midnight.. any suggestions if we can go to Butchart gardens on our own and not with the tour? Or just do the tour?

[Budget Queen]

We get in at like 6 PM and leave at midnight.. any suggestions if we can go to Butchart gardens on our own and not with the tour? Or just do the tour?

 

verify what CVS is offering? Otherwise, it's going to be the ship tour.

[Half Pint]

Thanks for the info everyone. I'll need to look into it and find out which method of transportation works best for us. :)

[HI-C-Dubs]

verify what CVS is offering? Otherwise, it's going to be the ship tour.

 

thanks for the CVS pointer! It looks like it's a great tour company; alas we cannot use them because they don't offer Butchart gardens at night. Yeah, I guess Princess Excursions would be our only option. But it doesn't look like a bad option. :cool:

[Putterdude]

CVS are great operators and I have no hesitation about recommending them. However, with the time you have in Victoria you could go out to the gardens and back on municipal transit for $2.50 each way. If you look at the gardens website you will find the transit instructions and the buses stop just outside the gates of the cruise terminal.

[Denversail]

We weren't there at night but we did do the gardens on our own. We took taxi there. We had no problem getting a taxi back when we were done. I don't think we saved much by doing this vs the ship. It was only two of us though and we did get to do our own pace and leave when we wanted.

 

 

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[Budget Queen]

We weren't there at night but we did do the gardens on our own. We took taxi there. We had no problem getting a taxi back when we were done. I don't think we saved much by doing this vs the ship. It was only two of us though and we did get to do our own pace and leave when we wanted.

 

 

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Most people are there at night, of which this is a very poor choice. It is almost impossible to get a cab back to the ship later evening when port times are 6p-12a