Parks and the outdoors in Victoria

12 parks, gardens, beaches and walks in and around Victoria.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

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Abkhazi Gardens
Love affairs make great stories, and this one resulted in a great garden. Prince and Princess Abkhazi along with designer John Wade came together and created a garden that took over 40 years to come together on a beautiful property overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains. There's also a teahouse that does afternoon tea and light lunches.
Apr-Sep: daily 11AM-5PM; Oct-Mar: Wed-Sun 11AM-5PMBy donation, $10 suggested
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Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Art gallery with some notable works from BC artist, Emily Carr, and one of the largest collections of Asian art in Canada. There are also rotating exhibitions. The outside grounds include an Asian garden and the only authentic Japanese Shinto Shrine in North America.
Mon-Wed Fri Sat 10AM-5PM, Thu 10AM-9PM, Sun noon-5PM (closed on Mondays mid-Sep to mid-May)$13 (adult), $11 (senior, student), $2.50 (youth 6-17)
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Beacon Hill Park
Large park close to downtown with trails, lakes, gardens, splash pads/playgrounds for the kids and sports fields. The south end is on the waterfront, with a walking path and a view of the Olympic Mountains across the strait. There are plenty of ducks, some wild peacocks running around and herons. Attractions within the park include the Beacon Hill Children's Farm, which features a goat petting area, Mile 0 (the western end of the Trans-Canada highway) and the Beacon Hill Park Story Pole, which, at nearly 39 m, was the tallest free-standing totem pole in the world when it was first raised in 1956.
Free
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Butchart Gardens
A large garden planted in a former limestone quarry. Quite remarkable. During the summer they have fireworks set to music and during winter evenings, the gardens are lit up and include displays illustrating the twelve days of Christmas. You can reach Butchart Gardens from Vancouver and Victoria on several bus tours and also by public transit from Victoria or the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.
Varies by season: generally 9AM-5PM but open until 10PM in summer (mid-June to Labour Day in September)Adults: April to mid-June $35.40, mid-June to September $39.50
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Cadboro Bay Beach
Cadboro-Gyro Park
Popular park with a stretch of sandy beach, many picnic tables, tennis courts, playground, play sculptures and a small zip-line. The view of the bay is pretty, and on clear days, you can see across to the Olympic Mountains in Washington state.
Do
Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park
Popular park with two lakes (actually it's one lake with different names, connected by a channel), a number of beaches that are popular swimming locations and a 10-km trail that circumnavigates the entire lake. Picnicing, rowing, wind surfing and fishing are also popular. A nature center near the main entrance on Beaver Lake Rd has displays on the park's natural and cultural history and staff on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Park open daily year-round, Nature Center open June-Sept Sat-Sun noon-4PMFree
Do
Galloping Goose Regional Trail
The Goose
A 55 km trail on a decommissioned rail bed from downtown Victoria through Langford and the West Shore and onto Sooke and the hills beyond. The varied scenery includes urban, rural and wilderness, and it connects with many other trails in the Greater Victoria area, including the Lochside Regional Trail and the E&N Rail Trail - Humpback Connector. In Victoria, the trail starts at the corner of Wharf & Pandora St and then crosses the Johnson St bridge to Harbour Rd. There are also a number of access points along the way to Sooke, several of which have parking. The Capital Regional District (CRD) website has directions to access points with parking lots. A few places rent bikes and this is a great afternoon or day trip.
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Hatley Park National Historic Site
This site in the Colwood area of western Victoria is home to historic Hatley Castle, which many movie fans will recognize as Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men and Deadpool films produced by 20th Century Fox. The castle's exterior gardens are open to the public from 10 AM to dusk. The castle interior is home to the offices of Royal Roads University. Only the first floor is available for public viewing, and it can be seen only during seasonal walking tours which must be booked in advance.
10AM-dusk (gardens only)
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Lochside Regional Trail
A 29-km multi-use trail that runs from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal near Sidney to the Galloping Goose trail in Saanich. It is mostly paved (there are a few gravel sections though) and rolls through suburban Victoria to the farmland of the Saanich Peninsula, passing close to several parks, beaches and wetlands. Designated parking lots to access the trail are at Lochside Dr & Mackenzie, Lochside Park, Cy Hampson Park and Tulista Park.
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Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary
Swan Lake Park
There is a nature trail that goes around Swan Lake on a boardwalk through beautiful marshlands. The Nature House, at the main entrance, contains information about the natural wildlife in the area, some interpretive exhibits, a reading room with materials for both children and adults, and a small gift shop. If you wish to trek further, across McKenzie Avenue from Swan Lake is the hike up Christmas Hill, which has a viewpoint overlooking Swan Lake and Saanich. There is also a bike route connecting to the Lochside Regional Trail.
Park open daily dawn to dusk, the Nature House open Mon-Fri 8:30AM-4PM, Sat Sun noon-4PM (closed statutory holidays)Entrance to the park is free, admission to the Nature House by donation
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Victoria Butterfly Gardens
The largest butterfly conservatory in Canada and located near the Butchart Gardens. Other than butterflies, there are a lot of tropical plants and some exotic animals to see. For those concerned, all the animals are rescues, donations, or adoptions, and they explicitly take a stance against trading and breeding exotic animals.
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Willows Beach Park
The most popular hangout place in Oak Bay. The water is fairly shallow and the beach provides nice views of Discovery Island and Mt Baker (on clear days). There's also a small playground, picnic tables, lots of grass and a concession stand/tea room.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Victoria (CC BY-SA 4.0).