Victoria is a must-visit for travelers to the British Columbian coast. After a ferry ride to Victoria, take a city tour which includes stops at the Inner Harbour, the Fairmont Empress Hotel, Mile 0, and Chinatown. Then enjoy free time to explore Victoria on your own before ending the day with a stroll through Butchart Gardens.

Hassle-free day trip to Victoria: No need to worry about ferry timetables and driving
Includes roundtrip BC Ferries tickets and admission to Butchart Gardens
Get insights into local Victoria history and culture from your guide
Includes free time to explore Victoria at your own pace

What's Included

Experienced, friendly, and fun Driver-Guide
Deluxe coach transportation
Roundtrip Ferry aboard BC Ferries
Onboard entertainment & commentary throughout
Great discount on optional activities
Admission to the Butchart Gardens
All Fees and Taxes

Food and drinks
Gratuity

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Vancouver Cruise Pier
999 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1, Canada
Please meet us at the covered benches next to the Flyover Canada Ticket Centre, 15 minutes before departure and meet your Discover Canada Tours guide (wearing bright green). Your guide will be guiding you to the correct bus.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Canada Place

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Tsawwassen

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve of Canada

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Victoria

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

The Butchart Gardens

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Swartz Bay BC Ferry Terminal

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Canada Place

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Guests 16-18 years of age may travel on the trip without a parent or guardian but MUST have one present on the departure day to sign the waiver forms held by the tour guide.
Anyone 15 or younger must have a parent or guardian travel on the trip with them.
Near public transportation

Infants must sit on laps
No booster seats available.
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

192 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 192 reviews

Victoria/ButChart Gardens

Ash_S, May 2023

It was a very nice trip to Victoria from Vancouver. The ferry ride passed through some beautiful scenery. Victoria is beautiful and the Butchart Gardens were just amazing. The only lengthy part is the wait for the ferry(both directions) and the ferry ride to Victoria and back. Omar was a very good and informative guide. Ayesha was an excellent driver, and we had a great group with us. Had lunch in China Town.

Fantastic way to see Vancouver Island

Amanda_B, May 2023

A fantastic and great value for money trip. Tour guide Ian was exceptional and help make the day even more memorable.

Response from Host, May 2023

Thank you so much for your review. We are happy to hear that you had a great time in Victoria with Ian.

Butchart Gardens

Helen_D, May 2023

Had a wonderful day we had gained 1hr more of time so Ian our driver split it between downtown and Butchart Gardens his humor and stories was wonderful. The gardens and miniature world was brilliant.

Buranee. BUNNIRAN from Mississippi

Buranee_B, Apr 2023

Renee” is our guide tour he is good driver and good guide tour we enjoy very much everyone in our tour are on time. It is small group tour that great high recommend

Victor-ious

Matthew_M, Oct 2022

Great day trip, good value for money. Got an early ferry which meant more time to explore. Ferry ride was good, offers amazing views. Great guide who was really helpful and knowledgeable.

Outstanding Day Tour

Raymond_V, Oct 2022

Great tour experience. Joe, our tour guide was very knowledgeable, kept us well informed on how the day would unfold and very helpful with any questions. Highly recommended tour - you won't be disappointed.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Thank you for your review. We are happy to hear that you had a great trip with Joe. We hope to see you on one of our tours again in the future.

Miserable day 😖

Steven_B, Oct 2022

We experienced only 1/2 of the tour we had booked. The driver/guide was incompetent and uninformed. We question if she reported to the company what took place. We are requesting a 50% refund.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Hi Steven, we have received your email and completed a thorough investigation into what went wrong on your tour. Our Sales Manager will be reaching out personally to follow up. We are sorry that you had a bad experience.

Fun time

TONY_M, Oct 2022

Beautiful scenery. Wonderful tour guide. Well organized. Wonderful way to spend the day. Learned a lot of fun facts.

Great full day experience of Victoria and Butchart Gardens

Kathy_C, Sep 2022

The amount of time to get to Vancouver Island was a big part of the day but we could never have arranged the transportation, the ferry ride, or the driving to get there and it was a must on our stop in Vancouver. Driver was knowledgeable and thorough in providing bathroom stops etc and explanations of the itinerary. We appreciated going to Butchart Gardens in the afternoon after the crowds. Could have used a little more time there.

Wonderful Garden Experience

Judy_S, Sep 2022

Butchart Gardens was so worth the long trip. Discover Canada 21-passenger van picked us up at the cruise ship terminal; we were able to load our bags into the back of the van. 1-1/2 hour ferry ride each way -- decent food onboard, though a bit pricey. Tour of Victoria disrupted by memorial service unknown by tour company. Weren't able to visit Empress Hotel or view Parliament building up-close. But the Gardens made the entire 13-hour trip well worth the effort. Don't bother stopping at Fisherman's Wharf; overpriced food/little shopping options.

We are ready to board a...

Diane_H, Sep 2022

We are ready to board a flight home and have yo sign off now. Megan, our trip guide and driver, was terrific and deserve a raise of bonus!!

Avoid this tour company

Padma_B, Sep 2022

I was very disappointed with Victoria trip and the way it was organized. I will not recommend it from this tour company - Discover Canada. There are several reasons and I will list a few, hopefully it helps others. 1) The bus is small, not much leg room and we were a large group. It was uncomfortable, and people were literally snatching each other's seats every time we got off and got on the bus. The company should have assigned a regular size bus and not a small van when its such a long bus ride, going to BC terminal and the ride on the island itself. 2) The tour description very clearly says, they would stop at key places in downtown Victoria such as Fisherman Wharf. But we were simply dropped near the Empress hotel and we were on our own for next 3 hours. The tour guide told us to either walk or take water taxi to go around in Victoria. If that's the case, it should have been clearly mentioned in the description of the tour (and its not). It is a long day with bus ride and ferry ride. We are paying the company for Victoria tour with a tour guide and not for bus ride and a driver, nor for a driver dropping us of at a location and being asked to water taxi or walk around. My suggestion to you - please not go with this tour company. Either go with another or just drop the idea of going to Victoria. You will save yourself time and money.

Response from Host, Sep 2022

Good Afternoon Padma, I am sorry to hear that you had a bad time on your tour to Victoria. I wanted to take some time to address some of your concerns so that you can better understand the issues you had. 1) The tour you booked is a specifically catered to small group excursions on a mini coach/bus. Our mini buses have a maximum of 24 seats. On this tour there was a total of 17 guests. Generally people return to the seats they were sitting in when the tour started. 2) We apologize that we could not stop of Fisherman's Wharf but they have said that tour buses cannot stop there. We have asked viator to remove this from the tour description. What the Driver Guide was simply trying to suggest was that is was still possible to visit the Wharf if you were willing to catch a water taxi or walk. The water taxi to the wharf is a wonderful way to see the inner harbour by boat and avoid the long walk. The driver guide mentioned that despite not being able to stop at the Wharf she stopped at all the other stops mentioned on viator. We offer a short driving tour of the city so you can see the highlights and then due to the limited time (2hours) that we have in the city, we usually let the guests have some free time to grab lunch or explore the inner harbour at their leisure. The guide you had is one of our highest rated on trip advisor and is also a multi award winning local guide. We are truly sorry the trip did not live up to your expectations. For many people this is the highlight of their trip to British Columbia and hence it is so popular despite the long day. Please feel free to reach out directly if you have any other concerns. Info@discovercanadatours.com

Better explanation of travel times

John_G, Sep 2022

The tour guide and company were fine. We didn’t understand the time the travel to the ferry and on the ferry would take. No fault of anyone. This of course limited our time to explore Victoria to two hours. Not enough in our opinion. The only criticism was the pickup location was wrong on the Viator instructions. The tour company called us and we were only two blocks away so everything worked out but that address needs to be changed.

Response from Host, Sep 2022

Thank you for your review John and for your honest feedback. We will make sure to improve our tour on the Viator platform so it is clear for everyone. Victoria is a highlight for many visitors to British Columbia but the long travel times does make the day very long. We hope to see you on one of our tours again in the future.

Handled Professionally

Mercedes_Y, Sep 2022

Our tour guide & bus driver Meghan was cheerful and had a sense of humor. Also she handled professionally when one of the guests was sneezing on the bus! Kudos Meghan. Keep it up!

Not really a tour

Mark_B, Sep 2022

Buchart Gardens was amazing and beautiful. Victoria was nice as well, but I wouldn't really call this a "tour" at all. It was more of a taxi ride you share with others to these destinations. Once you arrive, they drop you off and you're on your own.

Response from Host, Sep 2022

Good Day Mark, I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the Gardens. Unfortunately we are not permitted to offer any guided experiences within the Gardens. I am sorry to hear that you did not get the full guided experience of Victoria that we promise. Our guides are supposed to be giving a commentated driving tour of the city and offering an optional walking tour on top of free time once you arrive in the city. We will follow up with the guides to ensure this does not happen again. I hope that you will join us on another tour in the future so that we can redeem ourselves. If you have any other feedback to add please reach out to info@discovercanadatours.com and we will be happy to follow up.

Great

Monzila_R, Aug 2022

Tour guide Rhonda is very excellent I recommend to other people Beautiful place, wonderful experience

Absolutely wonderful tour!

Irene_S, Aug 2022

Excellent tour and worth the long drive to the ferry (about 45 minutes) and then a 90 minute ride on the ferry. Our tour guide Zac kept it all very interesting by sharing his knowledge of the areas we went through and was very helpful with any questions or concerns we had. Victoria is a beautiful little city and Butchart Gardens was spectacular! A must do!

Awesome Victoria BC Tour!

Clayton_K, Aug 2022

Heather was the BEST tour guide ever! She was an excellent driver, Bert knowledgeable of the entire Vancouver - Victoria area!

Best way to see Victoria!

Margie_Y, Aug 2022

We loved our tour! It was well organized and our guide was very knowledgeable of the sites visited. We had a small van that had good visibility from all seats and a small group to tour with. It was a long day but surprisingly not taxing!

Victoria tour

Christine_A, Aug 2022

The ferry trip over, Victoria, Chinatown and especially Butchart Gardens. Very good guide/bus driver.

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