What to do in Victoria?

[LadyMac72]

We have an evening in Victoria on our cruise (something like 8 p.m. to  midnight).  I had signed us up for the Sights and Flavors of Victoria shore excursion through Carnival, which sounds delightful.....  But I learned this weekend on a trip with my BF that his stomach and buses don't mix well.  So it's back to the drawing board.

 

Is there anything that a) can be seen at that hour of night, b) that's close by (within walking distance - if it's safe)?  Thanks in advance for any ideas!

 

ETA:  We are not going until September 2021 so by then it is my fervent hope that Canada will have opened her ports to cruise ships.

Edited September 28, 2020 by LadyMac72
clarify date

[cruiseryyc]

Its an easy walk from the port into the Inner Harbour area and, yes, it is very safe.  

 

Lots of local breweries in the area, either take a tour or just go hang out at one.

 

Any cruises out of/into Canada in 2021 might be wishful thinking.

[martincath]

I'm also a fan of the local brewpubs. Victoria is the closest thing to a British city on the continent - a ton of pubs, some with live music, and two different ones (Swans and Spinnakers) that both offer a proper-temperature pint of cask-conditioned beer... but fear not, they also have regular 'too cold for beer to taste right' cellars as well if BF's tum is also sensitive to warm beer ;-)

 

If it's a Friday or Saturday and early in Sep the excellent Royal BC Museum might still be open - at least in prior years they extended their hours until IIRC 10pm - and it's a large place, well worth two or three hours of pootling around the regular collections and usually there's a traveling exhibit too.  Otherwise Victoria pretty much rolls up the sidewalks by 6pm, so the only stuff open tends to be shops on the main drag of Government Street. The inner harbour area does look lovely at night as well as during the day, many of the historic buildings are well illuminated - Parliament and the Empress Hotel being the most famous. The latter will have it's bars and restos open, and might even sell you an insanely-overpriced 'Afternoon' Tea if you'd like to partake - they have run them until 9pm seatings in the past during cruise season.

 

Lastly, if small boats are OK for the BF, taking one of the 'pickleboat' water taxis around the harbour is a cheap but scenic option, and folks who don't mind dropping fairly big bucks - but at a good exchange rate - might enjoy a carriage ride with one of the two companies based in Victoria (hopefully at least one will survive the loss of cruise season revenue). Don't take the cheap 'trolley' tours - anything priced under $100 is almost certainly on one of those, holding 25+pax seated 4 across so only the outside people get a view to the sides while the front row middle literally looks at a horses ass for the trip!

[Langley Cruisers]

Well, you know I had to look it up.... 😉

 

https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/victoria/sights-and-flavors-of-victoria-230043

 

Trust me and others, I'm actually glad you won't be going as this can all be done for less money and you'd probably get more enjoyment out of it doing things on your own. Four hours is not a lot of time so you'll have to plan. Additionally, you may not be able to get off the ship right at 8, but I hope it will be as close as possible.

 

Others have and others will reply to you, but I think your best mileage might be to use the search function for this board using "Victoria". You'll pull up lots of threads as this has been discussed many times, and many of us have given advice.

 

Hope you get to cruise! 😊