Scenic Marine Drive

Victoria, British Columbia

Begin with the Empress Hotel on your left. Turn right at Belleville Street in front of our majestic Parliament Buildings and proceed west along the Marine Drive. As you continue, your route bends around the curve of the bay, past Victoria’s enchanting Inner Harbour Hotels & Inns.

Beyond the elegance of the Inner Harbour, you pass Victoria’s Working Harbour, with it’s fishing boats & often a sign up with a special sale on some fresh catch. Most favoured fish & chips served here at the little boat-house, Barb’s Fish & Chips, a local secret. Continuing along your way you will pass the Canadian Coast Guard, Ogden Point Docks, where you may see one of the Love Boats or other cruise ships docked, on their way up to Alaska.

You are now driving east along Victoria’s south coast drive, Dallas Road. The Straits of Georgia are are to your right. 22 miles across to Port Angeles, an hour & a half away. America’s majestic Olympic Mountains, raising to almost 8,000 feet above the sea in front of us. Kipling described Victoria as "a touch of Sorrento, with the Bay of Naples, and a background of the Himalayas.

Beyond the duck pond at Government Street, you approach Beacon Hill Park and at "Point O" Douglas Street, you are at Canada’s "Mile O" of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Pause here & consider: from near this point you may dip your vehicle or bike tires in the Pacific Ocean & then journey 4,000 miles across Canada & then dip into the Atlantic Ocean in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.

Continue through this beautiful scene of park on your left side, cliffs, coves & beaches on your right.

You will soon pass out of 164 acre Beacon Hill Park. As you curve around a bend on the marine greenbelt drive, there may be hang-gliders and surfboards to your right, in the clean blue ocean. 

Just beyond Moss Street, turn right down to Clover Point. This is where Sir James Douglas landed with his fur traders in March 1842 on the Hudson’s Bay ship SS Beaver. They had arrived from their fur trading fort at Vancouver, in the Oregon Territory (then British, soon to be ceded to the expanding United States of America). From here they walked through these "fair fields" (in what is now the community of Fairfield in the City of Victoria) to build their Fort, create Victoria & confirm the western boundaries of two great nations.

Douglas was so enchanted he wrote to a friend, "I walk delighted through fields of clover, ferns reaching above our heads, tall grasses...there are no mosquitoes! This place is all so different from the dreary northwest coast one might be pardoned for supposing it had dropped from the heavens into its present position. It is a perfect Eden."

Leaving historic Clover Point, turn right. As you continue east along Dallas Road, you pass Ross Bay Cemetery (winter storms here are fabulous), many of British Columbia's early notable pioneers, including Sir James Douglas & his family, are buried here: tours go through here Sundays in summers.

Continue around the Bay now on Crescent: at Ross Street, to your right is a small park at Gonzales Bay. Park here for a lovely walk down on the beach. If you go down to the sandy beach, notice the large boulder at the far end of the cove. It is different than the rock it rests on. It was pushed here 20,000 years ago by the last ice age glacier. The ice ages pushed ice from the North Pole to here. Notice the stretch marks on large rocks, from ice & debris. The glacier pushed up against those Olympic Mountains over in Washington & stopped. You will notice on maps how our coast has so many fascinating bays & coves; in contrast, the coastline of Pacific America, not glaciated, runs fairly evenly down. Our unique, precious Vancouver Island is still rising from the pressure of those glaciers, by about an inch every century, back out of the sea.

Continue east, into Oak Bay. As you go up Gonzales Hill, turn a sharp left on Barkley Terrace. This delightful street is a dead-end, but affords you grand views...
	...note the cottage with its carport in the attic on the left. The Observatory up the hill was built in 1912, is now a museum. Return to the scenic marine drive, now called King George Terrace & pause at the Trafalgar Park lookout up at the corner.

Here you get panoramic views from the volcanic Mount Baker to your left, to the full sweep of the Olympic Mountains.

Continue east, past McNeil Bay. Notice the English type homes as you come to Victoria Golf Course. On sunny days you will see Mount Baker in Washington State straight ahead. You are now rounding the southeast corner of Vancouver Island.

As you now head north, notice the grand homes on your right. The big stone wall driveway leads to the home of the owners of Butchart Gardens. Beyond, on your right is the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, their Snug Pub is warm & a cozy local tradition: do return & enjoy it. Continue north along Beach Drive: with the ocean on your right. The Oak Bay Marina, with its restaurant & marina, are worth a visit.   Other notable properties in the area include the Oak Bay Guest House on Newport Avenue.

Just beyond here, turn left onto Windsor Ave, along it, past Windsor Park. Continue until Hampshire, turn right, up to Oak Bay Ave, turn right. You are in the very British Oak Bay Village. You might stop for lunch or tea at the Blethering Place. Continue along, turn left on Prospect, turn right on San Carlos, to Beach Drive. Ahead of you is the home of fabled Francis Rattenbury, architect of our BC Parliament Buildings, the Empress Hotel, & creator of our Inner Harbour. This is now the Glenlyon / Norfolk Private School. Rattenbury & self-trained architect, Samuel Maclure, designed many of Victoria’s grandest homes & buildings.

Turn left & continue north through lovely Oak Bay until Estevan Avenue, then turn right to Willows Beach. This is Canada’s play area to Victoria’s upper class kids. As you are now away from the colder water of the open ocean, you are able to swim here in the summer. Return back to Beach Drive, turn right; follow Beach Drive through the gates to The Uplands, an exclusive area where some of Canada’s richest live. Drive slowly and enjoy: Turn right at Tarn Place & turn around in front of a Maclure Mansion & another delight. In these gardens, while the rest of Canada shivers, these protected locations have flowers & shrubs abloom through winter.

Back to Beach Drive & turn right. Driving slowly so as not to miss Eagles Nest on your right, the grand home on your left, then Riffington on your right, has a salt-water pool. At Lansdowne, turn left, loop around through these streets, some of the best Canada has to offer: Weald, Uplands Cotswold, Upper Terrace, Midland, and Norfolk.

North of The Uplands, drive along Cadboro Bay Road to Cadboro Bay. Turn right on Sinclair, down to Gyro Park & the ocean at Cadboro Bay. The legendary sea monster Cadborosaurus is said to reside around these shores. Even if you don’t see him (her?) it’s a pleasant place to rest. If you have kids with you, a great place to play on the three sea creatures, picnic & see little fish in the water. Head back to Cadboro Bay Village. The village offers Smuggler’s Cove Pub, Ristorante Amici, shops, a book store, grocers, in an enchantingly beautiful setting by the sea. Just up the hill on Sinclair Avenue is Canada’s "best", University of Victoria. Worth a side-visit, around the circular Ring Road.

Continuing back, turn right, around the bay on Telegraph Bay Road, make a sharp right up Seaview, along Tudor, then Smugglers Cove Road, and Bay. This quaint name reflects part of Victoria’s unique history; from coves around these bays crusty old English type gentlemen hid their powerful motor- launch boats.

From bays & coves around here, they operated their "rum-running" operations across to the United States during Prohibition Days in the 1920’s, often outrunning U.S. Coast Guard vessels. Now return on Tudor, turn right onto Telegraph Bay Rd, then right up into Arbutus Road, an exclusive subdivision. Return to Telegraph Bay Road; turn right along Lochhaven to its end, turn around, and back, then along lovely Queenswood.

When you arrive at Arbutus, you can turn right & continue further out the Saanich Peninsula along this scenic marine drive & out to Butchart Gardens.

For this adventure, however, we’ll describe the route back into town. Straight ahead along Hobbs, right at Sinclair, up the hill to the University of Victoria, left on Finnerty, right onto Ring Road, take this circle drive all the way around "U Vic", right lane onto Henderson, left onto Cedar Hill X Road, right onto Cadboro Bay Road. The exclusive Uplands is now on your left, Uplands Golf Course on your right. At Lansdowne, turn right, along past Camosun College.

Right up Richmond Road. On your left at McRae is University School, a private school that has been featured in movies about "British" private school life. Right up Mayfair Drive. You are climbing Mount Tolmie. The viewpoint gives you grand panoramas of the area. Continue down the other side of Mayfair. Right on Cedar Hill X Rd, right on Henderson. Slight right onto Foul Bay Road. About a mile down, beyond Oak Bay Avenue, you are winding through lovely old mansions.