Victoria, British Columbia, Canada--Crown Princess Wine Country Coastal Cruise, Day 7, May 1, 2015
Our last port of call on this week-long cruise and we had a WHOLE day here from 8:00AM to 11:59PM. The last time we were here on another cruise (HAL) the hours were not to our advantage with a stop from 6:00PM to 12:00AM. We did not have a chance to really see much in the evening hours. Naturally, Butchart Gardens was on the top of our list when we docked at this beautiful port.
My last visit to Butchart Gardens was more than twenty years ago when our family took a summer RV trip up to Vancouver. Vivid memories of the beautiful gardens with strikingly colorful flowers, many of which I had never seen before. It's time to pay another visit to this world famous site.
The shuttles between port and city center was $5pp o/w, and a taxi cost $10, so it was an easy pick. The six of us took two separate taxi to the Fairmont Empress where the tours to Butchart Gardens begins. We did not pre-book the tour but understood that we could get tickets there. We purchased our $61 tour tickets from the Greyline stand but were told to go over to the CVS stand to get our bus tickets and board their bus. So, I assume that they just operate one thing with two companies. We could choose which ever bus we wanted to get back on so it was quite convenient for people with multiple plans. The $61 included the R/T bus ride and the entrance fee to the gardens. People who wish to also go to the Butterfly Garden will have to pay for that separately. There are also local buses that many people took at a much cheaper price but we did not want to spend too much time with stops along the way. The 50-minute ride was interesting with the driver pointing out important facts and sights of the city.
Arriving the entrance of the gardens. I will just let the pictures do the talking.
There's a carousel inside this round building.
After a couple of hours walking around the garden once, we decided to head back to town as the others in our group wanted to spend more time there. The line for the bus back to town was quite long. Fortunately, two buses came in at the same time and we were able to get on the seats at the front on the second bus.
The driver would take passengers back to the port but we had other plans so we got off at the Fairmont Empress.
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