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Alaska Cruise Ship Ports - Victoria

General Information:



Victoria is located near the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This beautiful B.C. city of gardens is noted for its spectacular natural surroundings and moderate Mediterranean climate. Averaging over 2000 hours of sunshine per year, Victoria is the sunniest spot in British Columbia. The total population of approximately 74,100.

History

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, South-eastern Vancouver Island was the home of the Northern Straits Salish peoples and in what is now the greater Victoria area were 12 interlinked Songhee villages. Victoria is the oldest city in Western Canada; founded in 1843 as a Hudson Bay Company trading post by James Douglas. It was known first as Fort Camosun and then as Fort Victoria and finally just, Victoria. Victoria became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871.

In 1858 when the Cariboo Gold Rush began, Victoria was the main port, supply base, outfitting centre, home base, launch pad, last warm shower for miners on their way to the Cariboo gold fields and remained the largest, richest, shiniest city in all of British Columbia for most of the nineteenth century. However, with the construction of the Transcontinental railway with a terminus in Vancouver, Victoria was left languishing on the sidelines while Vancouver boomed into development. Determined not to become a sleepy backwater Victoria began to cultivate an image of genteel civility.

The main man behind Victoria’s transformation was Francis Rattenbury, one of British Columbia's best known architects. He was responsible for the city’s most famous landmarks including: the British Columbia Parliament Buildings (1893-1898), the Empress Hotel (1904-1908) and Crystal Gardens (1923). It was during this period that the famous Butchart Gardens, a glorious sunken garden that transformed an abandoned limestone quarry, was begun and by the early 1920s was attracting 50,000 people a year. When Rudyard Kipling visited Victoria, he described The City of Gardens as “Brighton Pavilion with the Himalayas as a backdrop.”

Things to do

The Inner Harbour is the jewel of Victoria. It separates downtown Esquimalt, and the city's most famous landmarks are all built along its shore. The ferry from the US docks close to a smattering of Hotels. Next you pass the Undersea Gardens, the Wax Museum and the National Geographic Imax Theatre along the short walk towards the BC Legislature. A little further around you have the marina and The Fairmont Empress Hotel, famous for its afternoon High Tea, and the Convention Centre, which nudge against Victoria's Old Town, legendary for its many pubs and restaurants.

There is lots to see and do around Victoria in the city. There are dozens of museums and historical sites, lots of parks and greenspace along the city's shoreline, and festivals, sports, and other activities to keep anybody busy. You can take a three-hour whale watching trip where you'll search for friendly orca whales in all their glory, taking with you memories that will last a lifetime. Golf is another favourite activity in Victoria. Choose one of the three championship golf courses in the area. Take a trip to the famous Butchart Gardens. The evening illumination tour presents an extraordinary world emerging at dusk as hundreds of hidden lights at The Butchart Gardens transform this famous landscape into a fairyland, richly scented with summer blooms.