I hopped back to Seattle for the next two weeks and decided to loop in a trip to Victoria, since Canada and the US have lifted most of their travel restrictions!
I’ll include some details in here about what the current travel policies are and the process of getting from Seattle to Victoria. As a bit of a spoiler alert, I spent 3 days in Victoria and I think that is likely too much time there unless you’re doing some longer activities (Butchard Gardens, high tea at the Empress Hotel, whale watching, or other water activities). I think Victoria would make for a great 1.5 day trip from Seattle but a lot of the things I found charming about it are also elements you get in Seattle.
COVID Travel to Canada and the US (August 2022)
As of August 2022 when I’m writing this, COVID restrictions are the lightest that they’ve been.
To gain entry to Canada from the US, you just need to fill out ArriveCAN 72 hours or less before you enter Canada and include your travel details and vaccine information. It was really easy to do and there were even some folks doing it at the terminal before we departed the US (though I wouldn’t recommend that). I printed out my confirmation page but they just looked at it on my phone at the terminal.
The US currently has no COVID restrictions for re-entry, so I didn’t need to do anything to get back into the states.
This makes it the perfect time to do a Canada trip if you’ve been considering it! I’m wondering if they might lock things down a little bit more in the future with the current COVID spike and with the Seattle Monkeypox outbreak.
Travel and Lodging
Victoria is on Vancouver Island, which is not connected to the mainland with any bridges, so the only way you can get there is by boat. There are several ferry routes to the island but the easiest one for a weekend trip from Seattle is taking the FRS Clipper – a pedestrian only clipper from Seattle to Victoria (USD $219 roundtrip). It only leaves Seattle once a day (7:30AM PST) and Victoria once a day (5:00PM PST) with a travel time of 3 hours each way, so you could either do a short day trip or I’d recommend staying at least one night in Victoria.
For lodging, I picked the cheapest option – Ocean Island Inn, which was CAD $103.50 for 2 nights in a bunk in a 6 person room (I did a female-only room). I wasn’t in any way blown away by the accommodations, but they were cheap and in easy walking distance to everything downtown and clean and secure enough. They did have breakfast and dinner included in the lodging, but I ended up eating out for all meals. They also had towels and locks available for just a returnable deposit.
BONUS: Cell Phone Information. My American plan is with AT&T and they have the ability to add an international day pass onto your phone that you only pay for when you use ($10/day during use). I ended up going with that and just turning on data roaming on my phone but I got pretty unreliable data and cell service throughout my whole weekend, as something to be aware of.
Day 1 – Hitting the City Highlights
On Day 1, I focused on seeing the top sights that were within easy walking distance. If you only had one day in Victoria, I think this would make for a good itinerary!
INNER HARBOR. This is the area that includes a lot of the big flashy Victoria buildings like The Empress Hotel (built in 1908) and the Legislative Assembly Building (which I didn’t go into but did free tours throughout the day). The Inner Harbor area was too touristy for me, but it’s where you’ll likely enter Victoria from anyway, so it’ll be the first thing you see.
CHINATOWN. Within a short walk of the Inner Harbor is Victoria’s Chinatown, which has several alleys with shops – the most famous of which being Fan Tan Alley. This area was also a little touristy but had some very cute shops and some breweries (especially in Market Square, which is where Whistle Buoy Brewing Company is located), so it’s definitely worth going to! I grabbed a killer BBQ pork bun at Wah Lai Yuen. Vintage After Death (a vintage clothing store) and Flavour were two of my favorite shops in the Chinatown area. Flavor particularly was very cute and included a downstairs portion that sold new clothes, while the upstairs sold vintage clothing.
BEACON HILL PARK. This is a little bit more of a trek from downtown but relatively close to Inner Harbor and is a large public park. It has some gardens and ponds contained within it, The Moss Lady (a stone statue in multiple pieces covered in moss that’s designed to look like a half buried giant woman), and apparently the World’s Tallest Free-Standing Totem. It was a beautiful park and includes a lot of flora and fauna – even some peacocks! I spent a lot of time wandering the park and even did some impromptu yoga in a sunny spot. As a warning, The Moss Lady is not quite as big as you might imagine from pictures and in a very small wooded area, so very easy to miss even if you’re looking for her (I wandered around for a good 5 minutes before I found her).
GRAB FISH AND CHIPS. Like the rest of the Pacific Northwest, Victoria is well-known for having great seafood options! I ended up going to Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub, which was across the bridge for dinner (a longer but very nice walk) and they had several fish and chips options. I ended up just getting truffle fries and a beer and honestly had really slow service, but the food was very good and the view of the harbor is lovely.
Day 2 – Saturday Markets and lots of walking
On Day 2, I resolved to hit several Saturday markets within walking distance and do a huge loop to hit Fisherman’s Wharf, Ross Bay Cemetery, Gonzales Bay, and Abkhazi Garden, which was about 8 miles. I don’t know that I’d actually recommend walking all of this but it was fun going through the more residential neighborhoods. I would definitely describe this as more of a “secondary sights” day with miss-able places but would recommend hitting the Breakwater Lighthouse.
CRUST BAKERY. I started out my day by hitting this bakery and I would also call this something you CANNOT miss. They have a few locations around Victoria but I walked to the one downtown and after standing in line for a while and drooling over the pastries in the window, I was able to buy a killer cappuccino and a swoon-worthy rose-raspberry-lychee pastry. The pastry was so crisp, buttery, with great lamination and you could absolutely taste all of the flavors in the filling – just insanely well balanced.
SATURDAY MARKETS. James Bay Market was a super cute craft and farmer’s market open on Saturdays May-September. It’s basically just behind the Legislative Assembly building, so a very close walk from the other sights in downtown Victoria. I was obsessed with this one booth (Where Wild Things Glow) that sold the most delicate resin jewelry and ended up picking up a silver necklace with a fern in it and a gold ring with a forget-me-not. Moss Street Market was a bit further out in the Fairfield area. It was a much larger market with lots of produce and snacks, including some food trucks and multiple ice cream options.
WALK ALONG THE WATER. Fisherman’s Wharf was a short walk from downtown but was skippable in my opinion. The area has several houseboats and shops on the water but was pretty touristy. Breakwater Lighthouse was a really cool area! It’s a 0.5m walkway over the water to the lighthouse and had lovely views of the Olympics. Ross Bay Cemetery was a pretty beach-side cemetery and Gonzales Bay was another beach in this area! I thought all the beaches were nice if a bit pebble-y so I didn’t think this one was particularly nicer than any others. The houses in this neighborhood were cute though and the neighborhood housed both the Gonzales Observatory and Abkhazi Garden, which is a free garden in a smaller residential plot (cute, but not worth going out of your way for).
MORE THRIFTING AND VINTAGE SHOPPING. Upcycle Clothing Collective, WIN Resale Shop, and Value Village are all in the downtown area and had a good mix of vintage options (though most didn’t have dressing rooms). Any Value Village will always be my favorite thrift store just based on their size and selection. It’s a bit higher priced than some thrift options but much less than vintage shopping.
MORE BREWERIES. I really liked Whistle Buoy Brewing that I hit the day before but wanted to try some other options so went to Phillips Brewing, which is the other big brewery in Victoria and had really good beer, and Herald St. Brew Works in Chinatown which also had some great options.
Day 3 – Hitting the Further Away Sights
Day 3 was really licking the plate clean by hitting the tier 3 sights in Victoria. These were definitely all skippable items (though I did really like Government House and the adjoining gardens) but good if you’re looking to use up some time (like I was). I probably wouldn’t recommend walking to all these spots since it was a 7 mile loop and the area between my stops was very residential.
FERNWOOD. I decided to check out this “quirky” neighborhood and it was so cute! They had a lot of painted telephone poles, some folks had boxes outside their house to sell home-grown produce (with lists of prices), and the Fernwood square was adorable with a theater inside an old church.
OAK BAY. This ultra-bougie neighborhood gave me ‘wealthy retiree’ vibes with an older population and a golf course. It’s along the water and has a marina where you can get a very nice views of Mt Baker.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE & CRAIGDARROCH CASTLE. These two sights are very close together in the Rockland neighborhood. Out of the two, I’d recommend Government House, as it’s free and has large gardens (to enter the building, you have to register in advance and they only give two tours on Saturday). I loved the gardens! I didn’t end up going inside Craigdarroch Castle as I was pressed for time and entry for adults is CAD $20.60.
BOOKSTORES. As my last activity before I caught the clipper back, I hit up Russell Books and Munro’s Books in the downtown area. Russell Books was by far my favorite. It looks very unassuming on the outside but has a second lower level and a wide selection of new and used books (reminding me of Powell’s in Portland). Munro’s Books was in a picturesque space with vaulted ceilings but the bookstore was actually quite small and I wasn’t particularly impressed with it.
All in all it was a great weekend and I’d definitely recommend checking out Victoria!
Fun-sized: A Travel and Life Blog 