If you’re looking for a European-style getaway during the holidays without the cost of traveling to Europe, I’d say Victoria BC is the next best thing!
Victoria BC is a 2-3 hour boat ride away from downtown Seattle and is one of the most charming towns I’ve been to. Victoria, like a lot of places in the PNW, are beautiful any time of the year; but there’s something truly special about visiting during Christmas time.
And the other beauty of it? It’s not overly crowded! This may just be a Seattle/major city problem, but a lot of touristy places and towns can lack that charm because of the crowd sizes, but we were surprised with crowd sizes visiting Victoria – nothing was too busy and not too empty either, it was perfect and very much enjoyable!
Victoria is also the perfect place to visit for all ages! Families visiting with kids, young couples, retirement-aged folks – it’s the perfect getaway for everyone.
The whole town is so cute and festive too, and also perfectly decorated this time of year. The stunning European-like architecture and vibe really add to it being one of the best places you can travel to during Christmas time – truly straight out of a Hallmark movie during the holidays!
The city is very walkable (we didn’t bring a car and we didn’t need one) and this only added to getting in the festive holiday spirit. We stayed at the Laurel Point Inn on the waterfront, and walking by the Parliament Building every night to dinner and seeing its perfectly lit decorations was one of my favorite things. Not to mention all of the boats lit and decorated in the harbor, too!
Victoria BC takes after England and Ireland in many ways, and we learned a bit more about its history and European connections after visiting the Royal BC Museum and taking a tour of Parliament – would recommend both of these during your visit! And let me tell you, there is no shortage of places to go for afternoon tea!
As a younger couple ourselves, we absolutely loved walking around the city at night and checking out local bars and restaurants – there is no shortage of Irish pubs in town, and we were surprised at the amount of restaurants hosting live music on a nightly basis!
We were also surprised to learn about Victoria’s haunted background on our trip. I don’t think that’s the first thing many people tell you about the city because it absolutely does not give off haunted vibes at all, but if you’re curious to know more, there are definitely places you can go in town to learn more about that!
I also shared an entire vlog from our travels over on my YouTube channel that you can check out here!
Things we did:
- Haunted Manor Mini Golf (this was so fun! It gives friendly spooky vibes but they also decorate for Christmas too; so if The Nightmare Before Christmas is your thing, I’d say it’s a similar vibe to that)
- Fisherman’s Wharf
- Chinatown & Fan Tan Alley
- Munro’s Book Store
- Rogers’ Chocolate Shop
- The Empress (Fairmont Hotel) – great place to go for tea if that’s your thing!
- The Butchart Gardens (+ ice skating!)
- Royal BC Museum
- Parliament Building tour
- HAVN Saunas
Restaurants we loved:
- Bard & Banker (our personal favorite; we went here twice on our 4-day trip!)
- Irish Times
- Murchie’s Tea & Coffee
- Wind Cries Mary
- Il Terrazzo
Let this be your sign to book a trip to Victoria BC next Christmas!
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Kelsie