Victoria’s Butchart Gardens

Explore stunning Butchart Gardens, a National Historic Site of Canada; see the sights in BC's picturesque capital city, Victoria.
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Explore Vancouver Island’s Butchart Gardens, one of the world’s premier floral show gardens and a National Historic Site of Canada. You’re one of the million-plus people a year who stroll along the gardens’ 55 acres of colorful flowerbeds, velvety lawns and quiet paths. The experience is sublime: imagine a profusion of roses, scented jasmine and gorgeous peonies. Take in a breathtaking array of tulips and hyacinths as you wander through the Sunken Gardens. Find peace and tranquility in the meditative Japanese Gardens.

While on Vancouver Island, visit the vibrant city of Victoria, British Columbia’s capital. It’s a short, scenic car trip to and from the gardens. Be sure to experience the tradition of afternoon tea, which Victorians have raised to an art form. A serene location for the repast is at Abkhazi Garden: delicately munch the signature smoked salmon sandwiches as you overlook a tranquil garden—one that has been likened to unrolling a long scroll of a Chinese landscape painter.

Book a hotel package that includes a night in an elegant hotel overlooking Victoria’s scenic Inner Harbour. Dine in lavish surroundings and enjoy fresh fare such as Salt Spring Island mussels, local oysters and scallops and handcrafted beer.



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Vancouver Photos

This page contains a large selection of Vancouver photos, city views, monuments, churchs, streeets, attractions, etc.

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Weather in Vancouver

Daytime temperatures and night-time temperatures are fairly consistent because of the moderating influence of the sea. Vancouver is sheltered from the worst of Pacific Ocean weather systems by Vancouver Island. In the summer time, you can generally expect hot and sunny weather, with only occasional precipitation. In the fall, winter, and spring time, expect rain more often than not...after all, there's a reason the grass and tree-leaves are green year-round. Always carry an umbrella with you in case of rain.

Vancouver gets 54 cm ( 21 inches) of snow each winter and a total of 1167 millimetres (46 inches) of precipitation per year. The city has 164 wet days (where it rains at least part of the day), mostly in the non-summer months (any months whose name contains the letter "r"). When visiting Vancouver, ALWAYS bring an umbrella, just on case.

Best of Vancouver

Vancouver Mineral Museum
Vancouver's newest museum profiles beautiful minerals, gemstones, meteorites, fossils and other natural geo-materials from around the world

Vancouver Museum
This is Canada's largest civic museum. True to its name, it focuses on Vancouver's past, present and future. Displays and educational programs describe the history, culture and natural development of the Lower Mainland, open daily from 10am-5pm and on Thursdays from 10am-9pm, prices are $8 for adults, $7 seniors, $5.50 youth under 19 and students, and children under 4 are free.

Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a favorite site for Vancouverites and visitors alike (for over 8 million people a year). The park, discovered by Captain Vancouver in 1792, sprawls over 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of land. A couple of great places to visit in the park are the Lost Lagoon, a miniature railroad, and the Vancouver Aquarium.

Vancouver Aquarium
The aquarium offers visitors a look at more than 8,000 aquatic animals representing 600 species. This private, non-profit institution was founded in 1950 and today has more than 55,000 supporting members.

Science World
Science World is jam-packed with unique experiments and activities the whole family can enjoy, it is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, admission for adults is $14.50, and $10 for seniors and people aged four to 18 and kids under four get in free.

Lions Gate Bridge
This 1,476-foot structure was the longest suspension bridge in the world during the first few years of its life. More than 60,000 drivers go across the three-lane bridge every day.

Granville Island
The famous Granville Island Market is a Vancouver attraction that most people don't want to miss. Its a 4,000 square foot indoor emporium featuring stalls selling seafood, fresh fruit and vegetables, poultry, meat and cheese. Bridges' deck is a great place to go to wave at passing fishermen who are coming or going with their catches.

Chinatown
This is the second-largest Chinatown in North America, next to San Fransisco's. The community is encompassed by Pender and Keefer Streets, and Carrol and Gore Streets. The first Chinese immigrants settled in the province during the Fraser Gold Rush in the 1850s. Today the past is alive in Chinatown.

Festivals in Vancouver

Chinese New Year
Traditional 15-day celebration of food, family, gods and ancestors. Parade, live music, storytelling, and fortune analysis.

Hyack Easter Antique Car Parade
This popular parade, in New Westminster, features over 120 antique cars.

Kerrisdale Carnival Days
This annual spring festival is one of the Lower Mainland's largest free admission family events, including the "Biggest Little Community Parade in Vancouver" on Saturday morning.

New Music West Festival
International music festival and conference including club crawls, seminars, workshops, and industry forums. Robson Square Conference Centre and various venues

Vancouver Jewish Film Festival
Pacific Cinematheque and Norman Rothstein Theatre.

Hyack Festival, New Westminster
This popular festival includes fireworks, family day, May Day celebrations, an anvil salute, an antique fair, and a parade.

Vancouver's International Children's Festival
This family festival held at Vanier Park features theatre, music, dance and puppetry from around the world.

Canada Day Celebrations
Attend the largest Canada Day celebration west of Ottawa. The event will be packed with a full day of non-stop live entertainment and activities for the whole family. International Jazz Festival Some of the biggest names in jazz take the stage at 25 venues in the Vancouver area. In addition, a free, two-day New Orleans-style street festival is held in historic Gastown.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Music from local and international folk singers, songwriters, musicians, and storytellers. Daytime and evening performances and special children's programs.

Getting Vancouver

Ferries

The city also has a variety of small ferries - glorified bathtubs - run over similar routes by two rival companies: Aquabus (tel 689-5858) and False Creek Ferries (tel 684-7781, www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca ). These provide a useful, very frequent and fun service. Aquabus run boats in a continuous circular shuttle from the foot of Hornby Street to the Fish Docks on the seawalk to Vanier Park and the museums, to Granville Island (both $2), and to the Yaletown dock by the road loop at the east foot of Davie Street ($3). False Creek Ferries also run to Granville Island ($2), and also to Vanier Park ($3 from Granville Island, $2 from the Aquatic Centre) just below the Maritime Museum - a good way of getting to the park and its museums .

Bus

The useful Transit Route Map & Guide ($1.50) is available from the infocentre and FareDealer shops, while free bus timetables can be found at the infocentre, 7-Eleven stores and the central library. The free Discover Vancouver on the Transit pamphlet from the infocentre is also extremely useful, though there is talk of discontinuing production of this guide.

SeaBuses

The downtown terminal is Waterfront Station in the old Canadian Pacific station buildings at the foot of Granville Street. There is no ticket office, only a ticket machine, but you can get a ticket from the small newsagent immediately on your left as you face the long gallery that takes you to the boats. Two 400-seat catamarans make the thirteen-minute crossing every fifteen to thirty minutes (6.30am-12.30am).

Vancouver History

The Indians that settled around Vancouver come from the Coast Salish peoples, (not as commonly thought, the Haida, whose society centred around the 150 islands in the Queen Charlotte group). The three main local Nations within Vancouver are Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh. The sea and forests provided an abundance of both food and building materials, and enabled them to develop a sophisticated culture including a system of trade. There are currently over 90,000 Natives in BC with 11 distinct linguistic groups. There are 197 bands living on 350 reservations, represented by 33 tribal councils.

Europeans appeared on the scene in notable numbers during the eighteenth century, when Spanish explorers charted the waters along what is now southwestern British Columbia. In 1778 Captain James Cook reached nearby Nootka Sound while searching for the Northwest Passage, sparking off immediate British interest in the area. In 1791 José Maria Narvaez, a Spanish pilot and surveyor, glimpsed the mouth of the Fraser from his ship, the Santa Saturnia .

Major colonization of the area only came after the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes in 1858, when New Westminster bustled with the arrival of as many as 25,000 hopefuls, many of whom were refugees from the 1849 Californian rush.

In 1885 Granville was selected by the Canadian Pacific Railway to be the western terminus of the transcontinental railway commissioned by the government of Canada under the leadership of Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald. (The CPR terminus led to the one-time nickname Terminal City.) The CPR selected the new name "Vancouver", in part because the existence of Vancouver Island nearby would help identify the location to easterners. On April 6, 1886, the city was incorporated under that name; the first regular transcontinental train from Montreal arrived at a temporary terminus at Port Moody in July 1886, and service to Vancouver itself began in May 1887.

A fire devastated much of the city on June 13, 1886, but with the arrival of the railway, Vancouver soon recovered and began to grow rapidly due to access to Canadian markets. Additionally, as part of the agreement to join the Confederation, British Columbia's debt of approximately $1,000,000 was paid in full by the Canadian government, creating additional business opportunities.

Within 5 years of the arrival of the CPR, Vancouver's population reached 15,000 and by 1911 Vancouver and its neighbouring municipalities included 120,000 people. Over the years, Vancouver and its region saw it population increase and much of this increase in population was due to streetcars, interurban railways, buses and automobiles. Remote areas began to be linked to Vancouver and this allowed people to live in one area and work in another.

Vancouver Travel Guide

Vancouver is the largest city on Canada's Pacific coast, the center of the third largest metropolitan area in Canada, and the nation's chief Pacific port, with an excellent year-round harbor. It is the major western terminus of trans-Canadian railroads, highways, and airways, as well as the terminus of a pipeline bringing oil to the west coast from Edmonton. The city's industries include lumbering, shipbuilding, fish processing, and sugar and oil refining. It has textile and knitting mills and plants making metal, wood, paper, and mineral products.
Cradled between the ocean and snow-capped mountains, Vancouver's dazzling downtown district fills a narrow peninsula bounded by Burrard Inlet to the north, English Bay to the west and False Creek to the south, with greater Vancouver sprawling south to the Fraser River. Edged around its idyllic waterfront are fine beaches, a dynamic port and a magnificent swath of parkland, not to mention the mirror-fronted ranks of skyscrapers that look across Burrard Inlet and its bustling harbour to the residential districts of North and West Vancouver. Beyond these comfortable suburbs, the Coast Mountains rise in steep, forested slopes to form a dramatic counterpoint to the downtown skyline and the most stunning of the city's many outdoor playgrounds. Small wonder, given Vancouver's surroundings, that Greenpeace was founded in the city.

These days Vancouver is more dynamic than ever, its growth and energy almost palpable as you walk the streets. In just five years, between 1987 and 1992, the city's population increased by an extraordinary seventeen percent. The downtown population, currently just over half a million, is the fastest-growing on the continent. In response the downtown area is spreading - visibly - to the older and previously run-down districts to the southeast of the old city core.