Victoria Harbour Ferry

A fun adventure on the water provided by Victoria Harbour Ferry. Watch planes land and take off from the water while learning some fun and unique facts about Victoria Harbour. A guaranteed hit with adventure seekers both young and old.

The Victoria Harbour Ferry offers a couple of different tour options. We went on the Harbour Tour, about 45 minutes round trip. Simply check in at their kiosk on the waterfront across the street from the Empress Hotel. Waited maybe 5 minutes for the next tour before we were all loaded up and ready to set sail.

The informative tour guide shared facts about Victoria’s active harbour, the history of the buildings, pointed out wildlife, and of course the highlight of the tour for this crew: directed us towards all the airplanes taking off and landing on the water. Did you know that the Victoria Inner Harbour Airport has the busiest route in Canada with over 400 flights a week? Who would have ever guessed that? Just one of the small nuggets of information we learned on the tour!

There is an option to stop and get off at the various points of interest or even just use the Victoria Harbour Ferry as a water taxi. You can take it to get to other areas of the harbour without having to lug tired kiddos around on land. We tried to convince the little ones to get off at Fishermans Wharf but to no avail. We thought we could get an ice cream treat or adult beverage and walk around to explore the area before catching a water taxi back, but alas the kids didn’t want to get off the boat ride. They were having too much fun.

Next time we are in Victoria we are 100% going to check out the water ballet put on by the Victoria Harbour Ferry. The captains take their little vessels out into the harbour and put on a choreographed “water ballet”. It is a free event that takes place in the harbour from May through September. Be sure to check out their schedule and/tours before your visit, and add it to your must-do list. You will be glad you did!

Looking for a place to stay while in town? Be sure to check out our post on the Hotel Grand Pacific.