Welcome! This website is for visitors who want to relocate to Victoria BC, or recently arrived residents looking for the best adventures, restaurants and services Victoria has to offer, and for information about the city and municipalities.
For your convenience, we’ve grouped information into broad categories below. We guarantee you’ll learn new things about the city, including hidden gems and secrets only long-time residents know!
When Victoria won number two spot in Conde Nast’s list of best small cities in the world in 2022, nobody who is familiar with BC’s capital city was even faintly surprised. The place named after a Queen provides a ‘royal’ experience to anyone who visits. When it comes to the good life, this city of gardens wrote the book.
If you are a newcomer, the first thing you will notice is the natural beauty of this city. It gets its nickname, ‘California North’, from a balmy temperate climate, miles of beaches, and a palm tree in most yards. Beacon Hill Park is the ‘front lawn of Victoria; a 200-acre park of trees, small lakes, and gardens, and home to blue herons and peacocks.
When people arrive by Seaplane to Victoria, the first thing they see is the iconic Fairmont Empress, the magnificent grand dame gracing the Inner Harbour. To her right, the provincial parliament buildings rise in stately contrast to the surrounding five acres of green lawns. Both buildings were designed by famous architect Francis Rattenbury using local materials.
Just past the front lawn of the Parliament buildings are stairs that will take you along the lower causeway of the Inner Harbour. The walkway hosts vendors, musicians, buskers, food trucks, and shops and accesses moorage for boats and sea planes.
Victoria is alive with arts, culture, entertainment, and festivity. A multitude of galleries feature the works of local artists. The Robert Bateman Centre honours the famous artist’s collection. The Royal BC Museum features natural and human history museum and houses the British Columbia Provincial Archive. The Save on Foods Memorial Centre is the second largest in BC and brings in high-calibre talent and is home for the Victoria Royals hockey team.
Victoria has the highest number of restaurants per capita in all of Canada, and the second highest number in North America, next to San Francisco. This is a foodie’s paradise where you’ll find any kind of cuisine you could want. The Victoria Public Market at the Hudson offers gourmet foods and local produce. Restaurants like Ferris’ Oyster Bar and Grill on Yates Street, or the Blue Crab Seafood House in James Bay solidify Victoria’s reputation for excellent seafood.
Amenities and services abound. Exceptional schools are too many to mention. Recreation centres are everywhere – the YWCA and the Crystal Pool centre to name a few. On many different surveys across the country, Victoria consistently ranks high on ‘happiness’ and ‘quality of life’. When you spend any time here, you will know why. A simple stroll along the breakwater at Ogden Point in James Bay under a sun-streaked sky, with a cool ocean breeze, munching on fish and chips from Red Fish, Blue Fish — and you know that it does not get any better than this.
Believe it!