Abigail's Hotel

THE BUTCHART GARDENS 800 Benvenuto Avenue 1-866-652-4422— www.butchartgardens.com  Since 1904, the world famous The Butchart Gardens is fifty-five acres of wonderful floral display, offering spectacular views as you stroll along meandering paths and expansive lawns. 

BEACON HILL PARK & DALLAS RD Victoria’s largest park is just three blocks south of Abigail’s Hotel at the foot of Quadra Street.  Wander around the beautiful flower gardens, duck ponds and wild daffodil fields.  Cross Dallas Road for wonderful oceanfront walkways.

INNER HARBOUR & SONGHEES WALK Government and Belleville Street Approximately a 10 minute walk from Abigail’s Hotel is Victoria’s Inner  Harbour which is home to many attractions such as the Royal BC Museum, Robert Bateman Centre, Victoria Maritime Museum, and the British Columbia Legislature.  Many musicians and artists showcase their talents to thousands of spectators here during the summer months. Watch the float-planes, ferries and boats come and go while walking around Victoria’s lively harbour.  Cross the Johnson St. Bridge to continue along the Songhees waterfront.  

OLD TOWN Old Town was built up between the 1860s and the 1890s. This is the oldest section of Victoria. It encompasses a number of popular shopping districts, including Market Square, lower Johnson Street, lower Yates Street, Chinatown and Bastion Square. Market Square is a block of particularly charming heritage shop fronts surrounding an open public square where festivals and other events are held throughout the year.

ROYAL BC MUSEUM 675 Belleville Street 1-888-447-7977— www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca    The Royal BC Museum is one of the foremost cultural institutions in the world.  Since 1886, British Columbia’s provincial museum has displayed artifacts, documents, and specimens of BC’s natural and human history.

EMILY CARR HOUSE 207 Government Street 250-383-5843— www.emilycarr.com  Emily Carr House is the former home of Emily Carr who is one of Canada’s greatest and most loved artists who is famous for her landscape and native paintings of Western Canada.

CRAIGDARROCH CASTLE 1050 Joan Crescent  250-592-5323— www.craigdarrochcastle.com     Craigdarroch Castle is a beautiful historic Victorian-era mansion, built in the 1890s by wealthy BC coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. It is now owned by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society and is almost totally funded by its 150,000 annual visitors.

FORT RODD HILL & FISGARD LIGHTHOUSE 603 Fort Rodd Hill Road 250-478-5849 - www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill  Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse are national historic sites just 20 minutes from Abigail’s Hotel.  Fort Rodd Hill is a coast artillery fort built in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base.  Fisgard Lighthouse, built in 1929, is Canada’s first west coast lighthouse.

BUTTERFLY GARDENS 1461 Benvenuto Avenue 1-877-722-0272— www.butterflygardens.com   An indoor tropical paradise, that showcases brightly coloured fish, tropical birds, hundreds of ornate plants, and hundreds of varieties of butterflies.

GOLDSTREAM PROVINCIAL PARK Highway #1 www.goldstreampark.com    Just 25 minutes by car from Abigail’s Hotel, Goldstream Provincial Park lies amid the splendour of Southern Vancouver Island’s old-growth temperate rain forest and is home to the salmon run October-December. Hardy hikers can enjoy a rugged climb to the top of Mount Finlayson for a magnificent view.

EAST SOOKE REGIONAL PARK A huge protected forest with miles of hiking trails along the beautiful south facing beaches and rocky shores of the Juan De Fuca Strait.  Amazing scenery!  Take a pack, picnic or a beach blanket. From short walks to five hour hikes.  45 minutes west on Highway 14 and turn left onto Gillespie Road.

HATLEY CASTLE & ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY 20 minutes west on Highway 14 - http://hatleycastle.com/ Built in 1908 by former BC Premier and Lieutenant Governor James Dunsmuir, the Castle has been a dormitory for cadets, military college and training facility for the RCMP.  It is now home to Royal Roads University and has beautiful Italian and English gardens.