Victoria Castle and City Sightseeing

Alaska Excursions in Victoria | Alaska in Victoria

4.5 / 5 | 10 Reviews Review This Tour

Price: $68.00

Children ages 5 and under are free with advanced notice at the time of booking.

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Summary

Shore Excursion Size

Standard

Shore Excursion Type Cultural, Active, Scenic

Shore Excursion Duration 2 Hours 30 Minutes

Activity Level

Moderate

Shore Excursion Leaves From

An approximately 10-minute taxi (not included, approximately $10 US each way), or an approximately 30-minute shuttle (not included, approximately $15 US per person) is required to reach your departure location.

Food/Beverage Provided Not Included

Recommended Dress We recommend comfortable clothing and sensible rubber-soled walking shoes. Sunglasses and sunscreen are also suggested.

Restrictions Guests need to be able to step up and down from bus, and climb a narrow staircase to access the top deck. Guests must be able to walk over paved, gravel, and packed dirt surfaces at the stops. All participants must be able to walk and climb stairs. This tour is not recommended for guests with mobility issues.

Victoria Castle and City Sightseeing

Departing from the Empress Hotel, this fully narrated hop-on hop-off tour will show you the best of Victoria on an open-air double-decker bus with a stop at the beautiful Craigdarroch Castle. For guests wanting a quick, birds-eye-view orientation of the city, this is the perfect choice.

Departing from the cruise ship pier, you will be driven downtown where your tour will begin. Once on board your comfortable bus featuring free WiFi, your driver-guide will share history, fun, and interesting facts and stories as they take you to see the highlights of this charming town. The tour is designed to take in the best of what Victoria has to offer, including Old Town, Beacon Hill Park, and Mile 0, the starting point of one of the world's longest highways, the Trans-Canada Highway.

The route will pass through historic areas such as Craigdarroch Castle, Oak Bay Village, Oak Bay Marina, Cook Street Village, and Beacon Hill Park. Along the way, the bus will wait at select locations while you document your trip around British Columbia's capital city. The route ends back downtown.

Your tour also includes a stop at Craigdarroch Castle, where you have the opportunity to go on a self-guided tour for approximately 1 hour, as admission to the castle is included. Built in 1904, the castle is a National Historic Site and a beautiful piece of Victoria's history.

After your tour, you can choose to remain on the bus, which will return you to the cruise pier, or you can spend some time exploring the city on your own. Complimentary shuttles from downtown Victoria to the cruise pier are available. As the shuttle schedules vary, please check with your driver-guide for the shuttle schedule for the day. Book this perfect sightseeing tour of Victoria today!

Please Note: There are 16 stops on this route and it takes approximately 90 minutes to complete the route without getting off. The bus runs hourly, and the tours are narrated in English. First and last tour times will be detailed in your electronic ticket.

The route includes the following stops:

Empress Hotel (721 Government Street)
Delta Hotel (Songhees Lookout)
Pandora at Fan Tan Alley (Chinatown)
Wharf at Yates
CoHo / Black Ball Ferry Terminal
Coast Hotel (David Foster Walkway)
Finest at Sea (Fisherman's Wharf)
Ogden Point (Cruise Terminal)
Beacon Hill Park (Children's Farm)
Christ Church Cathedral
Craigdarroch Castle / Victoria Art Gallery (Fort Street)
Oak Bay Municipal Hall
Oak Bay Marina
Oak Bay Beach Hotel
Cook Street Village (313 Cook Street)
Empress Hotel (721 Government Street)

To see a map of the stops that are included in this tour, please CLICK HERE.

4.5 / 5 | 10 ReviewsReview This Tour

: Victoria Castle and City Sightseeing

August 04, 2022

Very informative and I enjoyed seeing the various items in each room that captured the culture during their time period.

Reviewer: Diane Walker

GOOD TOUR

November 16, 2019

OK TOUR. COULD BE BETTER.

Reviewer: Dating Liu

Victoria

July 05, 2019

Taken by free shuttle to downtown. Had free time to wander the inner harbor. You could spend ALL day just here! Food, music, artists, boats etc. We got on the Hop on Hop off bus to get to Craigdarroch Castle which was of special interest to us as the man (Robert Dunsmuir) who built this came from Scotland, our native land and my husband had read a book about this entrepreneur. The Hop On Hop Off buses were running late that day because of bike races and we had quite a wait for the next bus to pick us up.but we enjoyed the company of fellow tourists. Back downtown the shuttle back to the ship was waiting for us at the pick up point although we could have walked part of the way back to the ship as the Hop On Hop off bus stops at Fisherman's Wharf and from there you can get back to the cruise terminal.

Reviewer: Sarah Wood

Awesome!

June 10, 2019

Great tour from the top of a double decker bus around beautiful Victoria! Very professional tour with pre-recorded commentary. This was wonderful because we didn't have to listen to a tour guide speaking into a fuzzy, loud intercom system. We saw all the best parts of Victoria.

Reviewer: Joe

Great value

May 27, 2019

The Castle tour was great, it's more of a mansion than a castle but nonetheless a unique historic site worth visiting. We even have time to walk downtown Victoria and Chinatown with a stop in between at Irish Times Pub for a healthy hamburger, poutine, scotch egg late lunch washed down with a local apple cranberry cider.

Reviewer: Jimmy

Great city and castle tour!

August 20, 2018

If you want to ride, instead of walk, this is a great tour to get an overview of Victoria. The stop at Craigdarroch castle was really special too. Lots of beautiful flowers, neighborhoods, and a park at the top of the city to see panoramic views.

Reviewer: Diane

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