Victoria Weekend Trip From Vancouver - Part 1

Me and hubby were planning to drive to Victoria, BC. But when I was doing my research I found an article that said you don't need to drive to enjoy Victoria. So this was our itinerary for a weekend getaway to Victoria.

SATURDAY

05:50 Bridgeport Skytrain Station
Waiting for bus #620 that will take us to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.

06:38 Arrived at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
Bought tickets for our ferry trip to Schwarts Bay in Vancouver Island. Use the self serve machines to save time. Cost of ticket was $17.45/person.

07:00 Ferry left Tsawwassen Terminal

08:45 Ferry took 1.5 hours to reach Schwarts Bay Terminal in Vancouver Island. We got off and went to wait for bus #81 that would take us to Butchart Garden. By 8:53 we were already on the bus though bus didn't leave until 9. We bought the $5 day pass from the bus driver. With the day pass it will allow us to take unlimited bus rides within Victoria area. Though later on we only used it to get back to Victoria from Butchart Garden. Without the pass, each bus ride costs $2.50.

10:00 Reached Butchard Garden. Ticket cost $33.02. It's not too busy yet. At the time, it opened at 8:45. Butchard Garden consisted of a few mini themed park e.g. rose garden, Japanese garden, Italian garden, etc. There were no shortage of flowers to take photos of or with. We spent about 2.5 hours here.

1:00 Waiting for bus #75 to take us to Victoria Downtown. So far it's been pretty easy taking bus. The bus stop at Butchart Garden is just outside the gate. Shaded and got plenty of seats. I think bus comes every 20 minutes. We use our Google maps to help us with planning. Google maps tells us when the next bus is coming so we could decide whether to leave with the bus that is coming in 10 minutes. Or spend another 20 minutes in the park and take the next bus instead.

2:00 Got off bus at Douglas and Cormorant. Destination : Market Square on Johnson Street. It was maybe a ten minutes walk from where we got dropped off. First impression of Victoria Downtown was a mixture of old and new buildings. Market Square is a red brick building with small shops and restaurants. It's an open air structure with some seating in the middle and surrounded by eateries. We had lunch at an Indonesian restaurant - Ayo Eat.

2:50 Done eating we walked around Market Square to Fan Tan Alley which was just around the corner. Fan Tan Alley is a small alley with very narrow opening. It did get wider a few feet later opening to few stores including a popular ice cream shop - Kid Sister Ice Cream.

From there we walked along Government Street passed the Empress Hotel all the way to Legislative Assembly of BC. From there we made a right turn and walked towards Fisherman's Wharf. It's not listed on Google maps - instead look for Fisherman's Wharf Park. And the wharf is across from it.

Had some snack at The Fish Store at the wharf. Explore the area and walked towards our hotel. It's time to check in.

07:00 Waiting in line at Red Fish Blue Fish for dinner. We have rested in our room after checking in about 2 hours ago. Now it's time for dinner and it seemed everybody else had the same idea too. The line was pretty long and moved slowly. It took about 30 mins to get to the top of line and another 20 mins to get our food.