Butchart Gardens

We went February 1. The upside: there’s no one there, and your entrance fee is discounted. Downside: there’s nothing to see. Well, maybe not nothing. But there were zero flowers. None. Not even a clump of winter pansies.

The Japanese Garden is the best under these conditions, as it doesn’t depend on blossoms to be aesthetically pleasing. But all the other gardens were duller than dry toast.

The best part was tea – during the off season, you can get an entrance ticket plus afternoon tea for the same price as tea at some place fancy like the Empress Hotel. And the tea is just as good, certainly enough to be a full lunch, and in a very relaxing and elegant setting.

Another tip: it is easy to get to on the #75 bus from downtown. You do not have to take an expensive or fancy tour bus to get there.

Plan on spending ALL day here. Even then you can’t see everything. I’ve been to quite a few gardens, but nothing like this. We had a rental car, but you can get a tour bus right behind the Empress Hotel. One of my goals is to see these gardens in every season.

If you go in early spring when its a little drizzly its delightfully empty.

Oh and look for dining specials. For us it was $35 including a fabulous lunch. Great deal considering tickets alone are $25 each

We went here on our honeymoon…just a few years ago. ;-)

I’ve never been back. I’ll have to try and get up there again someday.

this was one of the most memorable places of my honeymoon!
GORGEOUS!

i dont really like flowers or anykind of plant,,i visited on winter acouple years ago,it wasnot really good, indonesia has better one,,its tropical anyway

The gardens are absolutely beautiful, but the tickets are a bit pricy ($50 for the both of us). The day we went was way too hot and we kind of rushed through it. It is good to see though, especially since it is so famous and everyone assumes you’ll be seeing it if you are in the area. :)

It’s so pretty. A tip is just take your time and relax while you stroll through the gardens. It’s so peaceful there.

the mainland – Vancouver

This was a rock quarry and the garden built here is Beautiful!
If you enjoy afternoon tea, they serve a nice one that overlooks one of the gardens.