Empress Hotel

This is a fantastic place to go with girlfriends, or your mom, or your grandma. It took the three of us three hours to eat five tiny little sandwiches, drink four pots of tea, and spend $120. Good times. Expensive times, but good times…

If you are in Victoria,tea at the Empress is a must. It is a bit expensive,but when will you get the chance again? Three of my friends and myself spent 10 days in Victoria. This hotel was marvelous. Walk into the Bengal Lounge and look around. It’s like being back in the 1800’s. A person could get used to living like this quite easily. Don’t go in jeans…this is a dress-up place. There is a lot to do in Victoria. The inner harbor reminded me of Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. There were a bunch of street performers, all doing something different. Plaster Man was the best. A one man band, someone juggling, a balancing act, too many to describe. We went to Craigdarroch Castle. It had been turned into a girls school many years back, but had the good fortune to round up most of the antiques that had been removed. Take your time, there is a lot to see there. Oneof the days we took the train to Nanaimo. About a 2-2 1/2 hour trip. Great scenery. also took the ferry to Vancouver. While there we went on a street car tour of the high points of the city. Buchart Gardens was fantastic. There was something to do every minute.The House of Miniatures and the Butterfly Garden are right behind the Empress Hotel.

and I hear the tea really is good. I didn’t get a chance to do high tea unfortunately.

This is an absolutely beautiful hotel. Really nice rooms, very high ceilings. Rooms are typical, but I like the oldness of them. They had ceiling fans WAY up there. No a/c only heat. But with the evening breeze, you don’t really need a/c.

My one complaint would be the shower water pressure. The only word that describes it best is “dribble”. I doubt I’d stay there again, for that reason. Since my brother was in another room, WAY down the hall, it wasn’t just my room.

Enjoy the beauty, but stay elsewhere if you like to shower with enough water to get wet.

You just have to have tea at the Empress. nuff said

When I was about 20 my girlfriend and I made a trip to Victoria and of course we had to see the Empress. I remember the feel of the place was very formal and fancy. My friend and I sat for a while on sofas in the lobby area watching people go by.

I was wearing jeans and carrying a denim “jeans” bag with a bunch of my stuff in it. I was trying to be nondescript and hoping not too many people would notice us as I felt I wasn’t dressed quite well enough for this place.

One of the things in my bag was an alarm clock. The thing was having a problem working right and sure enough, the alarm went off right there in the lobby of the Empress. I was mortified and we decided the best course of action was to leave immediately. I felt lucky my friend didn’t disavow knowing me right then and there.

We had seen the Empress before from the outside, but had never been in there before, so we decided to give it a try.

We walked in through the side entrance. I guess we looked respectable enough. Nobody gave us any trouble.

The hotel inside if very beautiful. There is a lot of ornate woodwork. The shops inside are a bit on the expensive side and carry a lot of high-end merchandise.

There is a dress code. We took our kids up to Victoria in Aug.of 1993 on the hydrofoil & decided to have Afternoon Tea at the Empress. Upon arrival the hostess very politely informed us that the brand new shorts my daughter was proudly wearing- were not allowed. With that said the hostess produced an old, moth bitten, plaid wool skirt from an antique sideboard & directed us to the womens lounge to change out of the offending attire!(I could understand this attitude if she had on DaisyDukes). My daughter looked miserably hot in the skirt & it resembled her school uniform- the last thing she wanted to be wearing during summer vacation! So it was decided, she & her brother headed off on their own to McDonalds & then to the park to play hacky-sack while my husband & I enjoyed a relaxing Afternoon Tea.

I opted not to have afternoon tea because it was $35 just for cakes and scones. Expensive!

I went on a choir tour to Victoria in early HS. We sang all around town, on street corners, and on the steps of the Parliament building. Someone heard us and invited us to sing at the Empress during tea. It was very, very cool. I’d love to go back some day.

Great place to have Tea, if you can spare the price,if not there’s a great book called Victoria:The hidden city, excellent reference guide to visit the city plus a section on great places to have afternoon Teas a better price.But it is free to walk through the Empress Hotel.happy hunting1