Many Seattleites pick Victoria as a honeymoon destination for its old-world charm and romantic gardens. Yet the true romanticism of the area lies beyond the city center, where things get a little slower. Vancouver Island is a food fanatic's paradise, rich with farms, seafood restaurants, high teas and wineries. If your honeymoon aim is to eat like Anthony Bourdain, drink great wine and sleep in until noon, this is the place for you.
By Jessica Obrist | October 3, 2008
Too busy to research guidebooks? With our "Do It in a Day" feature, you get a ready-made itinerary for a good day's visit to a popular Northwest...
By Carol Pucci | July 3, 2008
VICTORIA, B.C. — Only a few passengers ventured on to the deck of the Port Angeles-based ferry M.V. Coho, their heads bent and feet firmly planted against wind gusts and light rain, as we entered Victoria's Inner Harbor. The warm-weather parade of float planes, sailboats and small harbor ferries had disappeared — the harbor's waters the same color as the concrete walks surrounding it.
By Barbara Kinney | January 11, 2007
VICTORIA, B.C. -- This city is well known for its colorful flower gardens, English architecture, great golf and whale watching. Less known is its reputation as a culinary hot spot. But the city is home to the second largest number of restaurants per capita in North America, many within walking distance of its picturesque downtown Inner Harbour. They offer fresh, locally grown products to tempt the tastebuds and turn out tantalizing dishes.
Here are a few of Victoria's best places to enjoy a bite (all prices converted to U.S. dollars):
Pagliacci's
By Janice Mucalov | July 7, 2005
VICTORIA, B.C. — "I came in here, saw there was no television and decided this was my pub!" a British accent chirped into my ear.
I had to bend down and lean in close to hear Joan's voice over the band. Seventy-nine years old, with a blunt Bette Davis haircut, the diminutive denizen of Swans pub barely reached my shoulder.
She'd been a regular for eight years, six nights a week, coming to hear music and make new friends, she explained. "I meet so many lovely people."
By Heather McKinnon | April 1, 2005
VICTORIA, B.C. -- We glide past a great blue heron, which stands regally motionless on a tidal rock less than 10 feet away. A few moments later a harbor seal pops his head up and studies us with great, brown, limpid eyes. Meanwhile, cormorants call overheard as they struggle to take flight.
It's hard to believe we are just off downtown Victoria. But a few hundred yards from the city's Inner Harbour, the pleasures that come from a near-wilderness experience abound -- if you are in an ocean kayak.
By Anne Mullens | March 24, 2005
Short Trips
Victoria has long had a reputation as being a city for the newly wed and nearly dead. It's quiet, quaint and less expensive than Vancouver, perfect for young couples starting out or retired folks scaling back.
But British Columbia's capital is shaking its frumpy image -- well, some of it -- and visitors who take the time to hit the side streets downtown rather than sticking to the main drag (Douglas Street) will be rewarded.
By D. Parvaz | March 3, 2005
Short Trips
VICTORIA, B.C. -- When a Madagascar hissing cockroach gets angry, it's not a pretty sight. It rears up and makes a nasty, high-pitched squeal that only another roach could appreciate.
Skunklike when threatened, a giant Brazilian roach lets fly with a powerful odor strong enough to be smelled by humans if you get close enough.
And who would have guessed that some scorpions glow in the dark and that large, furry red-legged tarantulas make good pets?
By Jeff Larsen | November 4, 2004
Short Trips
VICTORIA, B.C. -- Over the years, I've found that exercise and travel don't often go hand-in-hand. Because of time and my eating habits, I usually end up frequenting more hotel restaurants than hotel exercise facilities. After a while, the lack of physical activity starts to take its toll.
So, for a change of pace, two weeks ago I responded to the call of the goose -- the Galloping Goose Regional Trail that is, not the roasted kind you might find on a menu. How could I resist?
By Jeff Larsen | October 28, 2004
Short Trips
J Pod just happened to be "home" that day as our guide and water taxi driver, Brad Armstrong, steered his 28-foot Eagle Craft boat into the calm waters off Pender Island in the southern Gulf Islands.
A half-dozen whale-watching excursion boats -- and one University of Washington research boat -- crisscrossed the bay to try to get the best vantage point to watch the 26-member pod of orca whales fraternize and feed.
By Jeff Larsen | July 29, 2004
