The Malahat line travels 225 km from downtown Victoria north to Courtenay, passing by beautiful…read moreforest and ocean views and over a dramatic canyon or two during its 4 hour and 45-minute journey one way. The car (or cars - the train travels with 1 or 2) is older and riders are definitely in for a bit of a bone-jarring journey at times, but it's a great way to travel, leisurely and unrushed. It may be a good idea to bring snacks and water - there are no resources on the train. Interesting fact: When they're using a single car, rather than turning the train around, the seats are simply swivelled to face the other direction between every departure. Even the engineer's seat is merely screwed in and he simply unscrews it, wheels it down the car to the other side and screws it in again. The train leaves Victoria each morning and returns from Courtenay each afternoon.

We love trains, so we decided to take the E&N Via Rail trip from Victoria to Courtenay, BC and back…read moreon our last visit to Victoria. We were disappointed that the train didn't travel the coast as much as we were led to expect. We took a picnic as there is nothing on the train. The personnel were friendly and informative, but the constant blasting of the train horn, even when there were no approaching road crossings, got to be VERY annoying. If you go, plan to spend the night some where in Courtenay or environs. Round trip in one day is way too long.

BC Transit is a bus system that runs throughout the British Columbia/Victoria area. It was…read moreconvenient and easy to use, as we were looking for a public transit option to get to Butchart Gardens from downtown Victoria. If you're staying in downtown Victoria and want to visit the Butchart Gardens, I highly, highly, highly recommend using BC Transit instead of the tour deals that the tourism offices will try to upsell you on because it only costs $5 CAD round-trip per person to get to the gardens and it drops you right off at the entrance. The downside like with any public transit system is that everyone else uses it. When we used the bus on a Sunday in the late morning, the bus was packed, so finding a seat can be challenging. Yet, it's easy and cheap to use, with signs indicating where to go. I would use this again for how affordable it is.

BC Transit is a provincial government crown corporation that operates transit outside of Metro…read moreVancouver. BC Transit is better than Translink (Metro Vancouver) the reason is because BC Transit is not privatized. This means no crazy spending because everything is closely monitor and tracked and audited. Crown corps make sure that spending are not wasteful and most of the time need multiple level of delegation of authority/approvals. So you ask me why BC Transit doesn't operate in Metro Vancouver. Well they used until 1999. BC Transit being a crown corp they are subjected to many public service rules and benefits. This means that they don't pay taxes. Their employee pay increase is based on the released public servant percentage and etc. This also means the fare of course are lower than if it was privatized when compared to distance wise. Yes BC Transit is funded by tax payer. But if you look at Translink, tax payers fund it too. Yeah it doesn't make any sense. Anyways, any upgrade to buses and improvement would require a business case, budget layout, consultations and etc because it is a crown corp. So you would expect that any upgrade would take awhile. Yes BC Transit still uses the rip rip tickets. They work and they don't feel that they need to burden taxpayer on increase cost that will not provide increase revenue or rider satisfactions or increase productivity. They do use a machine that counts coins. So it is not counted by hand. The bus is definitely cleaner than the one operated by Translink. They do have an app that tracks the time the bus is coming. or you can text for the time. Or even just use google map (type in current location and where you are going).

I've taken this ferry from Victoria to Vancouver a handful of times over the years. This was the…read morefirst time I had reservations. Because of an accident, I had to change my reservation to a day earlier. We needed to get off the island ASAP and get back to the states in case my wife needed to see a doctor or be hospitalized. Customer service was good to work with. They listened to my story and helped me change my reservation a couple of times. No waiving of fees, not that I was hoping for fee waiver. They did their job and was able to make reservations on the ferry that my wife wanted. Car boarding instructions was a little unclear. I wanted to keep my wife in the car as we made our crossing. I was told that we were supposed to go up to the seating area. Later on I found out that she could've stayed in the car. It was a nice ferry ride from Victoria to Vancouver. It was very smooth compared to the Port Angeles to Victoria ferry ride where it was a little rough. Also, the BC Ferry to/from Victoria and Vancouver is scheduled for almost every hour. BC Ferries is like a well oiled machine. I most likely will take it again to make up for what our medical emergency made us miss.

The Swartz Bay terminal is really well organized and labeled. I have used both the vehicle side and…read morethe walk-in side many many times. For walk-on, the waiting area is very close to the entrance to the terminal and so you can arrive quite late and still make it on to the ferry. There is a free luggage check-in service from Swartz Bay to Tsawassen that I use all the time. Just weigh the bag, attach a heavy tag if necessary and slide it down the baggage slide! I love it as I don't have to carry luggage onto the ferry. Luggage arriving from Vancouver get put on the carousel outside - it can sometimes take awhile to arrive. From the vehicle side, it's very easy to get on with a ferry reservation. If arriving early enough, there is very little lines to get in and service is very fast. There is a small cafe once in the waiting area to use the washroom and grab snacks. The terminal staff are all very nice and informative. Everything is well labeled so visitors won't get lost. It is also pretty clean considering how many people travel through each day. On holidays and weekends, it can be crowded. There are two bus lines that go to downtown which are very slow and get crowded quickly. Sometimes it won't even be able to fit everyone and people have to wait at least an hour for the next one. There are taxis that typically wait outside the terminal, but there are usually very few so be sure to get outside quickly.

If looking for a shuttle to Butchart Gardens, I highly…read morerecommend Knight limo. The owner Mark and driver Terry were very friendly and helpful planning our Victoria tour of the Gardens and touring the City afterwards.

This company is so friendly, professional, accommodating, and prompt. First, Mark is the owner and…read morewas super quick in responding to our texts. He was so kind and accommodating with unexpected changes to our schedule. Terry was our driver as well and was so friendly and provided helpful tips for our visit. We used them for airport pick up and drop off and for a ride to/from Butchart Gardens/the Butterfly Garden and our hotel. They showed up early each time. We rode in a limo and two SUVs, and all were modern and clean. The prices were fair and reasonable for black car service. We will definitely use them again the next time we visit. Thank you Mark and Terry for making our trip so easy and lovely!

Beautiful ferry terminal here at Tsawwassen. We arrived here unreserved and had to wait out 2…read moreferries before we got on one. But the little play area and the cafe mall kept her 5 year old pretty engaged through the 2 hours of wait time. Lots of food options at the terminal, so no worries about refreshments. and lots of open grass areas for pets to laze and go. Staff make very timely announcements and ensure transparency with delays as quickly as they can. One sincere advice - please make reservations during peak hours, it is so much better. Once abroad, the ride is amazing. Ferries are well maintained and clean.

Call me crazy but the spicy ultimate crunch on the ferry is one of my favourite chicken burgers,…read moreand I eat a lot of chicken burgers. Maybe it's the destination that makes it good, maybe it's that you're usually travelling with family, who knows? The ferry it's self although sometimes annoying to drive on, has been improved lots by the reservation system! Walk on has never been a problem ever. Ferries are nice inside for the amount of traffic they see and perfectly fine for a hour and a half boat ride. Some complain lots about the ferries for some reason? Book in advance and show up 30 minutes before the sailing and it'll be a much more pleasant experience!

We had an amazing experience with LA Limo in Victoria. My family and I were on the Norwegian Bliss…read moreand we found LA Limo through the Butchart Gardens website. We priced out the options and LA Limo's luxury bus was a better value than booking the excursion through NCL. Bob was our driver and was an incredible tour guide. He took us to the Gardens as soon as we got off the ship so we could maximize our time there. We had considerable more time than the people who booked through NCL. After the gardens closed, he took us on an amazing sightseeing tour on the way back to the ship and he told us great stories and the history of Victoria. He was extremely genuine and enthusiastic about his job and he clearly took care of us throughout the tour. He said we were the first cruise ship to dock in Victoria for 2024 so the atmosphere was filled with excitement - which enhanced our experience. Their office staff is very organized and prompt in communication. Jennifer and Dylan were extremely responsive and kept us updated at all times. I cannot wait to return to Victoria and I would not hesitate to use LA Limo for all my transportation needs. That was the highlight of our trip and definitely the most memorable.

Awesome experience with LA Limousines and I highly recommend them. They picked up my son at…read moreVictoria airport to bring him out to Sooke to see his grandfather during a snowstorm. His flight was delayed and then there was an accident on the Sooke Highway. It took them 3 hours and Michael was calm, professional and entertaining. My son said the conversation was excellent! Thanks for being there for us, Nancy Lewis

Lisa is a great person and a great person to call when you need it as needed driver service in the…read moreyyj

This is a very nice airport. Clean and well managed. Great staff…read more On arrival, customs and immigration was quick and efficient. Leaving was easy too. I got here 90 minutes before my flight to Seattle with no worries. I even ran into a Brother Freemason working security. Lovely man. It's bright, comfortable and pleasant at YYJ.

Small and easy to get in and out of…read more Security lanes were very short and there were no issues getting through. Limited options for dining but that's to be expected. Gate agents were all very friendly.