Sights in Vancouver Island
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Butchart Gardens
With all the rugged natural beauty in British Columbia, it’s a bit ironic that one of the province’s top tourism draws is the 20 hectares of elaborate manicured foliage at Butchart Gardens, 21km north of Victoria in Brentwood Bay. With its year-round kaleidoscope of colors, the grounds are divided into separate garden areas – the tranquil Japanese Garden is a favorite. Summer can be crowded but the Saturday-night fireworks display (July and August) makes it all worthwhile.
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Piper's Lagoon Park
In a city filled with parks, waterfront treat Piper's Lagoon Park is a winner. It's a great spot for an afternoon picnic; you can check out the birds hanging around the lagoon, take a short hike through the gnarly Garry oak forest, sit on a beached log and watch the cruise ships slip by or give the climbing wall your best shot. Then head to Shack Island. It houses a straggle of storied old fishermen's sheds that are kept as unserviced cottages for those traveling with their own sleeping bags.
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Royal BC Museum
The excellent Royal BC Museum is the best in the province and should be a highlight of any visit here. It’s an evocative introduction to the prehistoric and human history of the region – the old woolly mammoth diorama still packs a punch. Don’t miss the museum’s stirring First Nations gallery and pioneer town re-creation.
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Point Ellis House and Gardens
The colonial elite used to hobnob at the beautiful 1860s-era mansion that is Point Ellis House and Gardens, which now houses one of Canada's finest collections of trinkety Victoriana. The house has 5000 artefacts, ranging from flowery teapots to intricate needlepoint artworks. Fascinating photos show how the upper-echelon O'Reilly family adapted to life on the fringes of the far-flung British Empire - apparently Mrs O'Reilly had a couple of affairs to salve her homesickness. Tea and fresh-baked scones are served in the fragrant gardens. If you have a monocle, this is the time to wear it.
Ask staff about the mansion's ghost stories, and save time for the fragrant gardens.
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Fan Tan Alley
Small but perfectly formed, Fisgard St is the center of Victoria's compact Chinatown. One of Canada's oldest Asian districts, it's fronted by a towering red gate that looms over sprawling fruit and vegetable stores and the po-faced ancients meditating outside family-run restaurants. Twinkling neon signs add a dash of nighttime excitement, while Fan Tan Alley - a narrow passageway between Fisgard St and Pandora Ave - draws daytime explorers.
Once the best spot in town to pick up your opium supplies, the slender thoroughfare is a miniwarren of traditional and trendy stores hawking cheap and cheerful trinkets, cool used records and funky mod fashions.
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Victoria Bug Zoo
The city's best attraction for kids, the Bug Zoo houses creepy-crawlies such as glow-in-the-dark scorpions and ultra-industrious leaf-cutter ants. Informative 'bug guides' wander around explaining how the insects eat, mate and give birth. Those who can't restrain themselves can handle a few critters, including an alarmingly large 400-leg millipede. Hit the gift shop on your way out to pick up a souvenir tarantula for your best friend back home.
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Thunderbird Park
On your way out from the Royal British Columbia Museum, visit Thunderbird Park, the museum's oft-photographed clutch of brightly painted totem poles, then duck into the adjacent pioneer buildings, including Helmcken House. One of BC's oldest structures, this tidy 1852 doctor's residence is lined with the minutiae of everyday family life. Refreshingly little is roped off and wandering guides provide the stories behind the displays.
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Ocean Explorers Diving
For scuba fans, Nanaimo and its nearby islands offer some great dives. Sunk to order in 1997, the HMCS Saskatchewan is BC's most popular dive site. It was joined in 2001 by the 134m Cape Breton, the world's second-largest diver-prepared reef. For information on regional sites, and for guides, lessons or equipment, contact Ocean Explorers Diving.
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Craigdarroch Castle
The Craigdarroch Castle is worth a stop. A handsome, 39-room landmark built by a 19th-century coal baron, this multiturreted stone mansion is dripping with period architecture and antique-packed rooms. Climb the tower’s 87 steps (checking out the stained-glass windows en route) for views of the snow-capped Olympic Mountains.
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Parliament Buildings
The handsome, multiturreted Parliament Buildings offers history and an entertaining 30-minute tour, where costumed Victorians will regale you with plenty of quirky stories about the old dame. Consider coming back in the evening, when the building’s handsome exterior is lit up like a Christmas tree.
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Bastion Square
On the old Fort Victoria site between Government and Wharf Sts, Bastion Square once held a jail, gallows and a brothel. Many of the scrubbed stone buildings are now restaurants and boutiques. You can purchase quirky handicrafts at the all-day Bastion Square Festival of the Arts, a small but colorful summer market.
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Petroglyph Provincial Park
Petroglyph Provincial Park is seldom visited, despite some neat old First Nations sandstone carvings that depict everything from mystical wolf-like creatures to fish and human figures. Sadly, the petroglyphs are fading fast and most are barely visible, but kids like making rubbings from the re-created castings.
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Maritime Museum
The Maritime Museum explores the region's salty past and present. Exhibits include 400 model ships dating back to 1810; displays on piracy, shipwrecks and navigation; and the Tilikum, a converted dugout canoe in which John Voss sailed almost completely around the world from 1901 to 1904.
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Bastion
Built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1853, the landmark fortified Bastion tower only fired occasional cannons to simmer down regional ruckuses. A brief but charming ceremony sees one of the canons fired for tourists at noon each day - the polystyrene 'cannonball' is surprisingly loud.
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Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park
Offering picnicking, cycling, hiking and beaches, Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park is one of Nanaimo's favorite parks. Walks or hikes range from 1km strolls to the 7.5km perimeter trek. A serviced campground (www.newcastleisland.ca) is available.
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Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
If her swirling nature-dominated canvases appeal, drive or take transit bus 11 to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, where you’ll find many Carr paintings on display, along with a revolving roster of additional shows.
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Nanaimo District Museum
Overlooking downtown, the colorful Nanaimo District Museum explores the growth of the city, from its First Nations heritage to its Hudson's Bay Company days. There are regular temporary exhibitions to keep the lineup fresh.
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Emily Carr House
The Emily Carr House is the birthplace of British Columbia’s best-known painter, complete with re-created period rooms and displays on the artist’s life and work.
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Black Nugget Museum
The Black Nugget Museum, a treasure-trove of memorabilia in the former Jones Hotel. Down the hill is Transfer Beach Park it attracts swimmers and picnickers and has summertime live music in its amphitheatre.
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