naramata-blend

Victoria on Vancouver Island is fun to visit at any time of the year but for us, March is the perfect time. It may be pretty rainy but getting a jump on spring and beating the tourist season makes it ideal.

While much of the rest of Canada is dealing with the last of the snowstorms or at the very least grey melting snow and brown lawns, in Victoria in March it’s already fully spring.

There is no better place to enjoy spring blossoms than on the grounds of the Empress Hotel where staff have been hard at work planting thousands and thousands of spring annuals. Going from a world of black, brown and white to colour in a four-hour drive and short ferry ride is astounding and cheering.

Here is a perfect Victoria day itinerary:

Wake up to the view of the harbour from a room at the Empress.

Breakfast at Willie’s followed by some shoe shopping.

A general wander about.

Some antique’s shopping and the purchase of a new hat for the collection.

Dinner at Pagliacci’s followed by a movie at the Vic Theatre.

And then home the next day via another favourite experience — the ferry ride back to Vancouver where I happily brave almost any weather to spend the hour and half trip out on the sun deck as we pass through the Gulf Islands. Regular commuters spend the time inside on laptops or reading the paper but I come prepared for the wind with extra layers.

I look at houses as we pass through the narrow passages between islands and wonder what our life would have been like had we bought the property on Mayne Island 10 years ago instead of choosing Naramata.

Probably would have been pretty great living there too. Home and all springed-up. There is more colour here too even in the few days we’ve been gone.