Butchart Gardens and City On Own?

[mokest]

Hello,

 

We will be arriving in Victoria on a cruise ship. I've heard the Butchart Gardens are worth seeing, and it's also fun to see the downtown area with its activity. Is this something you can do on your own, instead of through the ship's excursions?

 

Thanks!

[Whippets]

I am hoping for a reply to this question also.

[cruiseryyc]

If you are only in Victoria for only a few hours, then I highly suggest taking the ship's tour to Butchart Gardens. If you have the whole day there, then by all means you can do it on your own - either public transportation or the shuttle tour bus (you are left on your own in the Gardens with no time limit).

 

As far as the Inner Harbour/downtown area - you can walk there (or take a shuttle) and don't need to be part of a ship's tour.

[Nutbunch]

Butchat Gardens are beautiful, but not close to Victoria town (about 30 minutes drive). If you only have a few hours, you'd be best to book through the ship. We had 4 busloads and the ship had to wait till we returned.

 

Although if you're coming in on the Zaandam, I'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere. We didn't dock until 8:00am, and didn't get to the gardens till 8:50pm. It's dark, no pictures come out and you can't see the effect of flowers in the distance. Wasn't worth the money at all.

 

Had I to do it over again, I'd just make a seperate vacation one day to Victoria and Vancouver and see the gardens more leisurly and at daylight.

[Whippets]

We are coming in at 2 PM until 10 PM on Celebrity Infinity. Just want to do the gardens.

[mokest]

We get in at 9 AM and leave at 6 PM.....sounds like we could do the gardens and city on our own IF we get up and out as soon as the ship allows.

[mokest]

Oops...I forgot to ask: Does anyone know what public transportation or shuttle we take to the gardens from the dock or from downtown? Thanks!

[cruiseryyc]

Take the port shuttle to downtown (about $7.00) then take the GreyLine bus out there. Or you can take actual public bus, but that will take up about 1.5 hours.

[Lois R]

Hi:) I went to the Gardens on my own and it was FANTASTIC:D

The ship's have a shuttle that will take you downtown. They

let you off in front of the Empress Hotel. Across the street

from the hotel is the Victoria Visitor's Center and the people who work

there are wonderful:).

Victoria has a great public transit system and for 3.00 I took

the bus to the Gardens. I had actually met of the gals who worked

in one of the shops on the ship and we went together which was

really nice.

Anyway, the city buses are very clean and they go through

neighborhoods so you can get a feel for the residential areas too.

And if you have all day in Victoria? You will have plenty of time

to see the Gardens and walk around downtown too.

Have a wonderful time:)...the gardens are SPECTACULOR!

[Jewels57]

I was born in Victoria, B.C. I would recommend using a taxi service. The Empress Hotel is right at the Port. It is a beautiful place to go for High Tea, Butchart Gardens is Beautiful, make sure you tell the taxi driver you are in a hurry, so he doesn't make the trip unnecessarily long, in order to jack up the fare. Ask him for his card, in order to call him, to get a ride back, or make arrangements to get picked up at a certain time. The Royal Museum is wonderful. Take a short ride on a horse drawn carriage. The large canopied one is cheaper & just as much fun. Downtown Victoria has many shops and is very interesting. The transit system is good. Do some research first on the internet. The Spaghetti Factory is good and quite reasonable in price. The Wax Museum is fun - it depends on what you enjoy. Do your research!:)

[Disney Girl 202]

Just wondering, has anyone done the Miniature World? My daughter is into miniatures and we are wondering if it is worth the price. We arrive at 7:00 a.m. and depart at 3:00 p.m. We are hoping to do public transportation to Burchart Gardens, come back and do miniature world, and see a bit of downtown. Is this doable? Thanks so much.

[KAWS]

Hi:) I went to the Gardens on my own and it was FANTASTIC:D

The ship's have a shuttle that will take you downtown. They

let you off in front of the Empress Hotel. Across the street

from the hotel is the Victoria Visitor's Center and the people who work

there are wonderful:).

 

The ship's shuttle is a per person rate. I believe they said $6.50 pp round trip. So for two that would be $13.00. The taxi we took was $7.50 each way to the Empress Hotel/Visitor Centre = $15.00 and we could go whenever we wanted and come back directly without having to wait for the shuttle to fill.

 

Just throwing that out there.

[Lois R]

The ship's shuttle is a per person rate. I believe they said $6.50 pp round trip. So for two that would be $13.00. The taxi we took was $7.50 each way to the Empress Hotel/Visitor Centre = $15.00 and we could go whenever we wanted and come back directly without having to wait for the shuttle to fill.

 

Just throwing that out there.

 

No problem:)whatever is easiest for the individual.

I happen to get on a shuttle that had no waiting:D....either way;)

[born2cruize]

Just wondering, has anyone done the Miniature World? My daughter is into miniatures and we are wondering if it is worth the price. We arrive at 7:00 a.m. and depart at 3:00 p.m. We are hoping to do public transportation to Burchart Gardens, come back and do miniature world, and see a bit of downtown. Is this doable? Thanks so much.

 

It's been 30 years since I've been there. It's main focus at that time was famous battles throughout history. Although they did have other exhibits. Interesting place only worth going once though.

[cruisemom42]

Just visited Butchart Gardens a few days ago and it was lovely. We were there for the day on the Clipper from Seattle. We spent about 3 hours at the Gardens (including lunch) then came back to Victoria and walked around town. The B.C. museum is great -- lots of natural history of the region and also a special exhibit right now from the British Museum in London.

 

(BTW, you do realize that Victoria is in Canada, and not Alaska, I hope? ;))

[scottbee]

The ship's shuttle is a per person rate. I believe they said $6.50 pp round trip. So for two that would be $13.00. The taxi we took was $7.50 each way to the Empress Hotel/Visitor Centre = $15.00 and we could go whenever we wanted and come back directly without having to wait for the shuttle to fill.

 

Just throwing that out there.

 

You can grab any #30 or #31 city bus and it stops right at the cruise dock (Ogden Point). $2.25, runs every 10 mins or so.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100934763039761071004.0004665d7f3e28f06866d&ll=48.419973,-123.38419&spn=0.016519,0.045447&z=15

[psb]

Hi,

We will be in Vancouver for 2 full days post cruise. Does anyone know the best way to see Buchart Gardens? Also what do you recommend in Vancouver?

Thanks,

Pam

[scottbee]

Hi,

We will be in Vancouver for 2 full days post cruise. Does anyone know the best way to see Buchart Gardens? Also what do you recommend in Vancouver?

Thanks,

Pam

 

From Vancouver there are day bus trips over to the island to see Butchart Gardens. If you haven't booked your flights yet, you may want to consider flying back out of YYJ/Victoria rather than YVR/Vancouver, which will save you having to double back to the mainland to catch your return flight.

[negc]

Hi,

We will be in Vancouver for 2 full days post cruise. Does anyone know the best way to see Buchart Gardens? Also what do you recommend in Vancouver?

Thanks,

Pam

The last time we stayed in Vancouver we took a bus tour to Butchart Gardens and Victoria and were able to spend a good amount of time in each location. We are looking forward to returning there after our Alaska cruise next June.

We absolutely love Vancouver. Both times we were there the cruiselines provided an excellent tour of the city to fill the time from debarking the ship and checking into our hotel. Stanley and Queen Elizabeth Parks are both places that we would probably return to and spend additional time, Granville Market, Chinatown, Gastown, Robson Street and much more were included in the itinerary. Some may be less enthusiastic about it, but we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and nearby Grouse Mountain is said to be well worth the trip. IMHO, there is more than enough worthy of visiting in Vancouver and its environs to justify more than one trip to this beautiful city. There is a Vancouver Visitors website which is packed with valuable information and worth the visit.:)

[psb]

Thanks so much for the info. Unfortunately we have our flights in place which means we will be flying out of Vancouver not Victoria.

It sounds like there is plenty to see and do in Vancouver. Not a bad idea to tour the city before checking into the hotel especially since check in isn't until 3 pm. How scary was the Capilano Suspension Bridge? Did you feel safe? Was the view worth it? Also do you remember how long the tour was of Buchart Gardens from Vancouver?

Thanks so much.

[negc]

Thanks so much for the info. Unfortunately we have our flights in place which means we will be flying out of Vancouver not Victoria.

It sounds like there is plenty to see and do in Vancouver. Not a bad idea to tour the city before checking into the hotel especially since check in isn't until 3 pm. How scary was the Capilano Suspension Bridge? Did you feel safe? Was the view worth it? Also do you remember how long the tour was of Buchart Gardens from Vancouver?

Thanks so much.

The suspension bridge was very safe but it was quite an experience. Fascinating rather than scary and some of the statistics are amazing.

The bus tour from Vancouver was an all day affair, picking us up at the hotel in the morning and delivering us back to the hotel around 8pm at night. The bus took us onto the ferry to Vancouver Island and then to Butchart Gardens where we spent a number of hours exploring the grounds. It then headed on to Victoria where we had another several hours to explore, have lunch and visit the Empress Hotel. We passed on the opportunity to have the renowned "Tea" at the Empress but might consider it in the future. The pace of the tour was pretty leisurely and we never felt rushed or hurried nor did we feel that any leg of the trip was overly long or boring. It made for a very nice conclusion to our Alaska cruise experience.:)

[scottbee]

Also do you remember how long the tour was of Buchart Gardens from Vancouver?

Thanks so much.

 

It's about 4.5 hours each way from downtown Vancouver to Butchart Gardens, plus however long you spend at the gardens.

[dulcetto]

Thanks so much for the info. Unfortunately we have our flights in place which means we will be flying out of Vancouver not Victoria.

It sounds like there is plenty to see and do in Vancouver. Not a bad idea to tour the city before checking into the hotel especially since check in isn't until 3 pm. How scary was the Capilano Suspension Bridge? Did you feel safe? Was the view worth it? Also do you remember how long the tour was of Buchart Gardens from Vancouver?

Thanks so much.

Hi There

 

Capilano Bridge is well worth a visit,I am not a great one for heights but I would really recommend you have a go,have an enjoyable visit in Vancouver we did.and will be going again next year

[psb]

Everyone...Thank you so much for the info. At first I didn't realize that the excursion to Victoria was so long. I believe it makes for a 13 hour trip. With only 2 days in Vancouver to explore I am not sure we should try to go to Victoria. I read there are several gardens in Vancouver but not on the scale as Buchart. Wish we had one more day in Vancouver so we could fit this in.

Will definitely have to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I do have a fear of heights but not extreme. I did zip lining in Costa Rica last year and loved it. Never thought I could do that!

 

Thanks again for the replies!

Pam

[Mrs Charmin]

If you can zipline you can probably go across Capilano. We went years ago when our kids were about 9 and 12 and I took a few steps on. However, there were teens jumping up and down and I just couldn't do it. I had to turn back. I did get to see the fabulous views however. My DH and daughters went across. I know he couldn't do it now (20 years later) as he has developed a fear of heights. It is very high, but beautiful.

 

We did go to Lynn Canyon, which is free, and I had no problems with the suspension bridges there. It's a very pretty area with low bridges and very scenic.

 

Vancouver is beautiful and so much to do. There are some very beautiful gardens too, but I've never seen anything as spectular as Butchart Gardens.