Butchart Gardens seems to be the most popular place people want to visit when they come to Victoria. Due to a successful marketing strategy, these gardens are known to just about every tourist in North America. Sure they are nice, and if you love gardens, you will surely appreciate this one. But in our opinion, you're not missing anything if you don't go. Butchart is small, crowded and overpriced.
As an alternative, visit Hatley Park at Royal Roads University. Not only does this place have an Italian Garden, a Rose Garden and a Japanese Garden, it is also home of the beautiful Hatley Castle, where many TV shows and films have been made. For example, it served as the mutant school in the X-Men movies. As an added bonus, peacocks, including some albinos, roam the grounds. And it's free .
Update! Despite leasing the publicly owned property for $1 a year and receiving public money (more than $30 million since 1995) Royal Roads University has decided to start charging the public for admission and has plans to build a hotel on the premises. These new admission fees mean that Hatley Park is no longer something cheap or budget oriented.
To get there from Victoria, take the Trans Canada Highway #1 northwest to exit 10 for Colwood and Sooke onto the Old Island Highway (#14). Travel southwest for 3 kilometers (2 miles) and turn left at the University entrance.
