With kids · Victoria · Canada
Victoria with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Hugh Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answer
Victoria is a gentle, easy city for families: short walking distances, a children's farm with a goat stampede, whale watching, a harbour full of boats and seaplanes, and beaches and tide pools nearby. Top picks: Beacon Hill Park, Whale watching from the Inner Harbour and Royal BC Museum and Thunderbird Park. Families usually base themselves in Inner Harbour and James Bay.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 7
- Best area for families
- Inner Harbour and James Bay
- Rainy-day options
- 2
- Busiest months
- July–August
Best things to do with kids
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Park · Inner Harbour and James Bay
1.Beacon Hill Park
Victoria's main park, a short walk from the harbour, mixes ponds, formal flower beds and Garry oak meadows with playgrounds and free-roaming peacocks. A totem pole carved by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin, one of the tallest in the world, stands here, and the Mile 0 marker of the Trans-Canada Highway is at its southern edge on Dallas Road.
Walk up Beacon Hill itself for a view across the strait, then down to the Mile 0 marker on Dallas Road.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Experience · Inner Harbour and James Bay
2.Whale watching from the Inner Harbour
Operators leave the harbour in covered boats or open Zodiacs to search the Salish Sea for orcas, humpbacks and grey whales, as well as sea lions, porpoises and bald eagles. Sightings are most frequent from about April to October.
Choose an operator that belongs to a responsible whale-watching association, and pick a covered boat if you get cold or seasick.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Book a day or two ahead in summer; many operators offer a free repeat trip if no whales are seen.
- Nature
- Kids
- Iconic
- Active
Museum · Inner Harbour and James Bay
3.Royal BC Museum and Thunderbird Park
The provincial museum covers British Columbia's natural history, from coastal forests to the ocean, with changing exhibitions. It is midway through a long modernisation, and some older galleries have closed. Outside, Thunderbird Park displays carved totem poles and a carving shed, next to Helmcken House, one of the oldest houses in the province.
Check which galleries are open before you visit; Thunderbird Park's poles are free to see at any time.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
- Art
Waterfront · Inner Harbour and James Bay
4.Fisherman's Wharf
A working wharf at the mouth of the Inner Harbour lined with brightly painted float homes, fish-and-chip stands, kayak rentals and whale-watching operators. Harbour seals often swim around the docks.
Get there by harbour ferry from downtown, and eat fish and chips on the dock.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Food
- Kids
- Photo spot
Experience · Inner Harbour and James Bay
5.Victoria Harbour Ferry
Small, round-bowed water taxis known locally as 'pickle boats' shuttle between docks around the Inner Harbour, Fisherman's Wharf and Vic West, and run longer harbour tours. On some summer mornings the boats perform a 'water ballet' in front of the Empress.
Buy a harbour tour rather than a single hop for the full loop, including the Gorge waterway.
- Time needed
- 15–45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Views
- Iconic
Historic site · Colwood
6.Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse
About 12 km west of downtown, Parks Canada protects a coastal artillery fort that guarded Esquimalt Harbour from the 1890s, with underground magazines and gun batteries. A causeway leads to Fisgard Lighthouse, built in 1860 as the first permanent lighthouse on Canada's west coast.
Bring a picnic; the grassy grounds and views of the Olympic Mountains suit a long afternoon.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Kids
- Views
- Outdoors
Aquarium · Sidney
7.Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
A small, local aquarium on the Sidney waterfront that shows only animals from the surrounding Salish Sea — octopus, wolf eels, rockfish and anemones — with touch tanks run by enthusiastic staff.
Combine it with Butchart Gardens or a ferry arrival at Swartz Bay; it is a short, easy visit for young children.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Rainy-day ideas
- Royal BC Museum and Thunderbird Park — Check which galleries are open before you visit; Thunderbird Park's poles are free to see at any time.
- Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea — Combine it with Butchart Gardens or a ferry arrival at Swartz Bay; it is a short, easy visit for young children.
Where families should stay
$$$$ · Best for first-timers, couples, families and luxury
Inner Harbour and James Bay
The Inner Harbour is Victoria's postcard: the Parliament Buildings, the Fairmont Empress, the Royal BC Museum and the causeway where street performers gather in summer. Behind it, James Bay is a quiet residential area of Victorian and Edwardian houses running down to Fisherman's Wharf, Beacon Hill Park and the Dallas Road waterfront.
- Good
- Walk to almost every central sight; Harbour views; Quiet at night
- Watch out
- Most expensive hotels in the city; Cruise-ship days make the harbour busy
- Nearby
- BC Parliament Buildings, Fairmont Empress, Royal BC Museum, Fisherman's Wharf, Beacon Hill Park
Family travel tips
- Choose a covered whale-watching boat for younger children; open Zodiacs have age or height minimums.
- Beacon Hill Park's playgrounds, ponds and peacocks make an easy free morning close to the harbour.
- Pack rain gear outside summer; showers come and go quickly.
- Willows Beach in Oak Bay has calm, sandy shallows and a playground.
- Check tide tables before visiting tide pools; the best are exposed at low tide.
Day trips for families
- Chemainus (About 1 hour by car) — When its sawmill shrank in the 1980s, this small seaside town reinvented itself with large outdoor murals of its logging and pioneer history.
- Sooke and East Sooke Park (About 45 minutes by car) — East Sooke Regional Park has rugged coastal trails over rocky headlands, with petroglyphs at Alldridge Point and views of the Olympic Mountains.
- Juan de Fuca coast and Botanical Beach (About 2 hours by car) — Highway 14 follows the wild Pacific coast past China Beach and Mystic Beach to Port Renfrew, where Botanical Beach's sandstone shelf is full of tide pools with anemones, urchins and sea stars at low tide.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–September. July–August are the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Victoria good for kids?
Victoria is a gentle, easy city for families: short walking distances, a children's farm with a goat stampede, whale watching, a harbour full of boats and seaplanes, and beaches and tide pools nearby.
+What can kids do in Victoria?
Beacon Hill Park, Whale watching from the Inner Harbour, Royal BC Museum and Thunderbird Park, Fisherman's Wharf and Victoria Harbour Ferry.
+Where should families stay in Victoria?
Inner Harbour and James Bay: Parliament, the Empress and seaplanes on the harbour, with heritage houses behind.