Visit Butchart Gardens

Follow Highway 17A north for 22 kilometers to Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula to visit Butchart Gardens. Although the garden is only a short drive from downtown Victoria, it is one of the area's most popular tourist attractions and well worth visiting. It's also a site you may go to many times a year to see how the seasons change. Even in the winter, the gardens are beautiful, featuring an outdoor skating rink and a spectacular light display around Christmas.

Jennie Butchart, the wife of a wealthy quarry owner, founded the garden in 1904. In an abandoned limestone quarry, she created a fragrant garden. The gardens have subsequently been developed into a 20-hectare horticultural tour de force in Canada, partly thanks to the mild climate. They're the most beautiful are the Italian garden, rose garden, Japanese garden, and sunken garden. And summer at The Butchart Gardens is breathtaking from dawn to dusk, with vibrant flower displays throughout the day. Don't forget to check out the Night Illumination displays at the Gardens when you come here.