Hotels in Victoria

Victoria sits at the southern tip of Vancouver Island and is the most explicitly British-feeling city in Canada, with the Parliament Buildings outlined in lights above the Inner Harbour, afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress and double-decker buses that are only half a joke.

It also has the mildest climate in Canada, which is why Butchart Gardens can flower nearly year-round and why the city runs an annual flower count in February while the rest of the country is under snow. The Royal BC Museum holds one of the strongest First Nations collections in the country, and Fisherman's Wharf's float homes sit a short walk from downtown.

Whale watching is the signature excursion, with resident and transient orcas, humpbacks and grey whales in the Salish Sea from roughly April to October. Beyond the city, the island opens up to the surf and rainforest of Tofino, four hours northwest.