2-day Victoria and Butchart Gardens Tour with Overnight at The Fairmont Empress

Great trip! All very straightforward with pick up and the driver, Jack, did an excellent job. The Butchart Gardens are lovely and the hotel in Victoria, beautiful. Highlight of the trip - the seaplane back to Vancouver. I had great weather but it was really special!! Would definitely recommend.

Gardens are beautiful!!! Bus driver informative.Empress was excellent...try Q1908 purple gin fizz martini on the veranda! Dinner at IL Terrazzo with Mussels then penna with Frutta di Mare and Leg of Lamb were perfect...sat outside by fireplace (they have 5). Toured the town the next morning and seaplane out mid afternoon... you call for your seaplane time and can do AM or PM. Highly recommend this trip

This trip from Vancouver to Victoria was fun and informative. The ferry ride to the island was enjoyable. The return by float plane was really fun and comfortable. The Empress hotel was, of course, a very fine old hotel that has been very well updated. Our room was convenient and comfortable.

We had a great time, viewed the Butchart Gardens, beautiful and amazing displays, and enjoyed our stay at the Fairmont Empress, really enjoyed our seaplane flight back to Vancouver.

Very nice overall, hotel was excellent, seaplane ride was very good, bus driver did a great job, the only problem was at the end of the seaplane ride. The confirmation for the trip reads as follows: "When you fly into the Harbour Air Dock .... tell them you are looking for their courtesy shuttle back to your downtown Vancouver hotel." We expected to be dropped off at our downtown hotel, but instead the shuttle only went to a certain spot in downtown and we then had to take a taxi the rest of the way to get to our hotel. The cost of the taxi with tip was only about $20 but it was the surprise and inconvenience of getting out of the shuttle and then getting a taxi. Otherwise it was a very good trip.

Victoria was delightful and I m so glad we did a 2 day trip. The traveling is so long that it is not worth it to spend just the few hours you spend in the city. The fairmont empress is an average hotel that is banking on its location, which is fabulous, and it's historic nature. The rooms were average and small, the bathroom, clean but super small, my view was terrible and the overall hotel felt old and smelly. The pool is indoors and has a hottub. Just remember if you are booking this tour, you need to plan your trip, food, activities, etc. This is basically just transportation and hotel. I recommend the hop on hop off bus.

This review concerns mainly the tour operator’s performance not the price or Victoria or Butchart Gardens: Problems we had were a) not enough time at Butchart Gardens b) the promise that Harbour Air would return us to our Vancouver hotel was not kept. a) We didn’t have enough time at Butchart Gardens because the ferry was late, however the tour only allows about 2 hours in the Gardens anyway. The tour operator couldn’t control the ferry, but the schedule was too tight, in my opinion. b) the flight on Harbour Air was amazing and fun, but Harbour Air seemed surprised that they were asked to provide us a ride back to our hotel, and in fact though Harbour Air does provide a shuttle to some downtown hotels they didn’t go to ours..so we had to get a cab. Overall had a great time. One tip: if you want to visit the Gardens a second day, they charge you only $3.50 per person with your old ticket. Also a public bus goes to and from the Gardens and is quite good value at $5 for a senior day pass. ( bus takes 1 hour to and from) We found the Fairmont Empress Victoria staff very helpful but not quite as friendly as the Fairmont Whistler staff. For example at the end of the Gardens tour on return to Victoria you are given vouchers for the hotel, Harbour Air flight, and the cab from Hotel to Harbour Air. I asked the Empress concierge to call Bluebird Cabs to pick us up and she said, “Well, it’s a 3 minute walk to Harbour Air or 5 minutes by cab...” When you have luggage even for just overnight walking across busy streets and tourist crowded sidewalks isn’t fun. The vouchers are hand written by the tour guide and not preprinted so it has a feel of not quite being ‘real’, though they were accepted without question. FYI regarding Victoria food: everyone recommended Nautical Nelly’s and the food is good but they are very busy, however 2 people can be seated at the bar quickly even without reservations (but... it’s not a long bar). For after Gardens tour drinks the patio pub by the Tourist Information Office is great (as were the people in the Tourist Information Office).

Perfect tour for two days. Experienced the ferry to get there, and seaplane to return, which were both fun. Loved the ease of being taken to Butchart Gardens, which was beautiful, and then having plenty of time the next day for Parliament and the BC Museum on our own. And of course the Fairmont Empress was lovely and luxurious. Perfect trip!

This was a wonderful short stay for anyone who wants to take in the best of Victoria. The shuttle picked us up at our hotel and our driver/guide Henry was just wonderful. He was very funny and extremely knowledgeable. The ferry ride over to Victoria was easy and enjoyable and after we arrived we were taken for a short familiarisation drive through Victoria and then on to Butchart Gardens. Everything you read about this place is true - it's amazing. Our accommodation at the Fairmont Empress was a treat. It has recently been refurbished and the rooms are lovely. After our overnight stay we checked out but the Fairmont was happy to store our luggage until later in the day when we came back to collect it prior to our float plane ride home. The float plane was also a highlight for us.

So worth it. The gardens are spectacular and a bit out of town. The ferry over was fab BUT the seaplane back was amazing. Pods of whales and archipelago of islands below. Cant recommend highly enough.