Other YWH Victoria Harbour Airport Ground Transportation Options

If you have chosen to stay downtown, you can probably walk to your hotel, as long as the weather is good, and you have minimal luggage. Once you are checked in, it's easy to make your way from your downtown hotel to museum, shops, restaurants and many attractions. Walking is an easy, free, and fun way to explore Victoria. When you need a break, stop for coffee, go for afternoon tea (try the Empress), or grab a pint - and perhaps some fish 'n chips.

Victoria is one of the most bike-friendly cities in Canada. If you've managed to tuck a folding bike into your luggage, by all means, unfold it and ride away (as long as you have a helmet - they are legally required here). There are also many places to rent bikes. Handy spots are CycleBCRentals (747 Douglas Street, behind the Empress Hotel) and in the summer at 950 Wharf Street. Bike rentals start at CAD 6, and they also hire scooters and motorbikes.

Of interest to tourists, the little harbour ferries run all over the harbour. You can catch one just outside the information booth on the north end of the waterfront.

• Victoria Harbour Ferry    

Also of interest are Whale Watching tours. Several companies are scattered around the waterfront and in town that offer these tours (which are about 3 hours long and cost about CAD 80-120).

• Victoria Whale Watch Tour     

If you are interested in visiting Seattle, across the border in nearby Washington state, there is a convenient high-speed passenger catamaran ferry, The Clipper, that runs to/from Victoria's inner harbour:

• Clipper high-speed passenger ferry from Victoria to Seattle    
• Clipper high-speed passenger ferry from Seattle to Victoria    

MV Coho/Black Ball Ferry Line is a passenger and vehicle ferry running between Victoria's inner harbour and Port Angeles, Washington, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Crossing time is 90 minutes. Service runs all year except for an annual refit for one week in winter time. In the winter, this ferry runs 2 sailings a day and in the summer up to 4 sailings per day each way are scheduled.

• MV Coho    

Washington State Ferries operates a passenger vehicle ferry between Sidney (about 30-45 minutes north of Victoria) and Anacortes in Washington state, passing through the San Juan Islands. Ferries run once or twice a day. This service does not operate during the winter season, generally from the second week of January until the end of March. To get there, you'll need to take bus.

• Anacortes Ferry    

The main way to get from Victoria to Vancouver is via BC Ferries, which operates a ferry service from Swartz Bay, 30-45 minutes north of Victoria, to Tsawwassen (south of Vancouver). To get to the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal    , take bus number 70, 72 or 73 (bus number 70 is an express bus, while buses 72 and 73 stop in Sidney and Saanichton).

• BC Ferries    

Pedicabs are abundant in Victoria, offering city, garden and customized tours. You just might find an industrious pedicab operator waiting when you land, and willing to pedal you to your hotel.

You can arrange with Harbour Air, a combination flight from Victoria Harbour Airport to the Butchart Gardens    , admission to the gardens, and a (shared) limo service back to town for about CAD 200 per person.