I’m not the best person to ask since I’ve got sort of a weird opinion. I saw both cities and I’d have to say I liked the island better. Vancouver reminded me of any other city. Lots of people, lots of commotion, lots of life – if you like that. The island however is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just different. I went camping for a few days in Tofino and went into Victoria and saw the paliament building and of course it too has the ig city element. I just found it more interesting. The ferry ride was pretty magnificent too if you think the ocean’s pretty. I saw the sun set over it and it was gorgeous. Hope that helped at all.

Victoria is the place to go. If you only have a day, take the ferry and rent a motor bike and you’ll have the freedom and time to see much of the Island.

If you just have one day I’ll definitely say Victoria, you could eat at the Garlic Rose, you can see the planes landing in the water since it’s near to the harbor. I recommend you to eat outside to feel the breeze if the weather is fine.

If you have one day, Victoria would be the best option. Both places are great but it’s easier to do Victoria for that time period. From Seattle, you can take the Victoria Clipper. It’s a lot quicker than taking the ferries. http://www.clippervacations.com/

it really depends on what you’re thinking about doing. if you’re just taking it all in and sight-seeing, i’d probably have to agree with everyone else and say Victoria. It’s a cute town, has good food and everything is within walking distance. Vancouver has excellent art galleries, restaurants, shopping, etc, but if you’re coming from Seattle, that may not be your focus.

victoria is the way to go. you’ve got killer parks on the tip of the city, you’ve got sweet walks through the downtown, FANTASTIC local restaurants, and a pretty cool music scene. Hope you have a great time no matter where you end up!

Make in unanimous. Victoria it is. In fact I’m looking to move there.

One day? Victoria.

A weekend? Vancouver.

Victoria is incredibly cozy, charming, and distinct from the rest of the Pacific Northwest.

But Vancouver is just an excellent city all ‘round. You’ll find Vancouver more exciting than both Seattle and Portland, possibly.

But you only have a day. So, I’ll chime in with the rest here.

But don’t forget Vancouver next time!

Victoria, I have to agree with everyone. The people are great and it’s really quaint and cozy.

Victoria’s really more cozy while Vancouver is probably more like Seattle. With Victoria you can go and walk around downtown or in neighbourhoods, parks, etc. It’s less busy and there’s tons to do.

weird, I was going to say Vancouver…huh. Maybe I’m bias cause I’m from there, currently living in Vic though. Victoria’s nice cause it has a small town feeling, cool ally ways, etc. But it really depends, in Vancouver you can go hiking, and there’s a lot more physical activities. But if it’s simply just walking around the city, then yah I guess Victoria has a lot of cool stuff. Vancouver just has the beauty of nature, with the mountains and ocean right there together. Hope which ever one you go with you love it! Try to come back and spend a bit more time though, you’ll be glad you did!

I’d def say Victoria as well. It’s absolutely gorgeous and quaint and full of friendly people, beautiful buildings, and the ferry ride up will blow your mind. Enjoy!

Definitely Vancouver. Victoria is way over-rated.
There is a lot more to see and do in Vancouver. It’s
beautiful. Have a great trip.

i would definitely say vancouver. if you only have one day, the ferry ride and travel into victoria wastes a lot of the day…plus if it’s raining (and it usually is) there’s not a lot to see from the ferry. vancouver has so many places to go and see. i’d hit victoria when you have a longer trip…then head up to tofino and visit some of quaint small towns on the way. either way, enjoy your trip!

hm. victoria is an awesome place to live, and vancouver is an awesome place to visit—but for more than one day. things to do in vancouver:

physical exercise/nature: there’s stanley park, the grouse grind (hiking up grouse mountain), and biking around the sea wall (surrounds stanley park) all accessible with public transit. if you have a car, lighthouse park is nice, so’s deep cove, where you can rent kayaks.

culture: the art gallery in vancouver is, in my opinion, utterly forgettable unless there’s an interesting exhibit on. the museum of anthropology is tops, though. be sure, if you go, to open all the drawers you can get your hands on. the museum is up by UBC. also on campus are the nitobe garden (small but beautiful japanese garden), and the botanical garden—if you’re into that sort of thing. spring is a great time to go with the cherry blossoms and so on.

in chinatown there is also the Sun Yat Sen chinese garden (the first, i think, traditional chinese garden outside of china. it’s beautiful) where it’s impossible to take an ugly or ill composed photograph. if you’re there, you may as well have lunch. try Hon’s for the fastest service in the universe.

commercial drive (in the four, or so, blocks either side of 1st st.) offers some good people watching and has great coffee.

the best festivals in vancouver are the parade of lost souls, around hallowe’en, and the trout lake lantern festival, which usually happens in july, i think. the folkfest is also good and big, but pricy. it’s almost better to bring a picnic and hang out outside the periphery on jericho beach. you can hear the music and that way you can also partake of the impromptu hippy village that springs up around the fence. some fantastic one-of-a-kind crafts are sold here once a year.

but if it’s raining vancouver is dreary, and the uninspired architecture looks even more pre-fab and cheap.

victoria is small and friendly. it rains much less and is peaceful. i moved from vancouver to victoria three years ago and wild horses couldn’t drag me back. that said, i don’t know how fun it would be to visit for one day—it really depends on what you like to do.

downtown: downtown is cute, brick, and touristy. the museum of british columbia is small and cute, with an IMAX theatre if you like that. there’s a very small, but i have to say disproportionately interesting, Bug Zoo where you can hold tarantulas and scorpions, there are the parliament buildings, and the outrageously expensive and extravagant high tea (wonderful if you’re into that sort of thing, or with your aunt) at the empress hotel all within a few minute’s walk of each other.

also in this neck of the woods during the summer are buskers and vendors in the “inner harbour” (below the empress and parliament on the water’s edge), and a craft market featuring only locally made stuff (no imports!) in bastion square, wednesday to sunday. also, on sundays only, there is the government street craft market during the summer, near the gate to china town.

beacon hill park is victoria’s inner city green space, and it features a petting zoo, as well as free movies outside on a big screen on saturday nights in august. (plus places to stroll or lie around and read.)

one of the festivals not to miss in victoria is the Moss Street Paint-In, where the entire residential street is closed down from the art gallery to dallas road and the city’s artists (of which there are many) come out to paint or sculpt or whatever, and sell their work.

of course, like in vancouver, you can rent a kayak or go whale watching or paragliding or whatever.

a lot of people rant about the butchart gardens, but i don’t think they’re worth the bother.

victoria also has a number of walking tours that i’ve never been on but have always been interested in—historical tours and haunted house tours, that sort of thing.

x-men was filmed at hatley castle and there’s also craigdarroch castle—both built by rival members of the same family, or something. there’s some story there that i forget the details of.

the rest of vancouver island also has spots worth seeing if you have the time. several hours north of victoria, on the west coast, are french, china and botanical beaches. botanical beach is made of flat stone with perfectly round tide pools filled with all sorts of creatures (if you time it right with the tide). there’s a nice walk through the gnarled cedar woods to get to it, too. or if you go up the malahat there’s goldstream park—where you can see the salmon spawn and bald eagles feast in the fall, or hike up mount finlayson. further up the road pull over at whippletree junction to check out the antiques, get a book or a coffee or buy some yarn for anyone you know who knits. continue, and duncan has a bad reputation but a good saturday market and “The Garage” has a nice cafe and second hand bookstore. from there you can take a very short ferry to saltspring island, which is a totally different story and lovely, or keep going up to nanaimo. nanaimo is basically owned and operated by the hell’s angels. weird. but they have Kick Ass falafel at The Thirsty Camel. (really. almost worth the trip alone if you like falafel.) turn left just past nanaimo and you’re on your way to tofino, which is also another story and lovely.

good luck making up your mind! :)