Traveling to Victoria BC with dogs

How we got to Victoria with our dogs

We live in Tacoma, Washington, so we drove up to Port Angeles and took the Black Ball ferry. It was an easy and pretty 2-hour drive from where we live.

Traveling by ferry with the dogs was actually really easy. The dogs were allowed on the passenger deck, except for the cafe and observation lounge. That actually gave us a lot of options. On the way to Victoria we scored a window booth, but on the return the chairs weren’t bad either. Dany was really curious about all of the people and dogs that walked by–especially the kids! Both Dany and Dakota were very behaved and not at all afraid. Dogs are allowed to stay in the car on the ferry, but people are not.

Customs requirements for the dogs are proof of up-to-date rabies vaccines. We carried them but weren’t asked, however, we usually are. This may have been because the dogs were way back in the third row seat of the car!

We arrived plenty early for our ferry, so we took the dogs out for a walk around Port Angeles. There were a lot of cool shops and restaurants to choose from and grassy areas nearby for the dogs. We chose to grab some sandwiches from the natural food store for lunch. They were big, fresh, and delicious.

Victoria BC pet-friendly hotel: Inn at Laurel Point

Inn at Laurel Point is on a beautiful point on the water. It’s just a couple of blocks from the ferry and walking distance to all of the great shopping, restaurants, fisherman’s wharf, and parks. We love this hotel for many reasons, but mostly because they pamper our spoiled dogs. They provide dog beds, dog bowls and homemade treats.

We requested the ground floor room we had last time. What we love about the ground floor room is the ease of getting the dogs out to use the bathroom. (We actually chose to take them to the grassy lot behind the hotel.)  We love the rooms in the Erickson Wing. They’re very large and have great views!

Directly outside of the ground-floor rooms is a large patio and beautiful gardens. There’s a grassy area beyond that, a walking path, and the water. We sat on our patio each day at happy hour while the dogs sunbathed and watched the seaplanes and ferries come in. The upper floors are fine for dogs too, and my sister-in-law had an amazing view from her room.

We also ate breakfast at the restaurant, Aura, each morning. The food is really good and the restaurant also has a great view. It’s open for breakfast every day at 7. We had dinner there the first night. It was helpful to have a dinner reservation. The menu offers shared plates, but we found some of them were actually meals. Our hands-down favorite thing we had at this restaurant was the shared side dish of Kennebeck potatoes. They were crispy on the outside and soft inside. Delicious!

Shopping with the dogs in Victoria

The first day in Victoria, we headed out on foot. Everyone needed to stretch their legs after a day of travel. We walked from our hotel into the tourist part of town. It’s an easy and beautiful walk past the Empress Hotel into the heart of the shopping district.

We found several pet-friendly stores with signs welcoming our dogs on their doors. We wandered over to Chinatown and Fan Tan Alley. Fan Tan Alley is a tiny little alley with some cute little shops. I recommend that you don’t miss it. We took turns with the dogs here as we went in a record store, herbalist’s shop, and soap shop. We also found a great home goods store in Chinatown.

We picked up a bottle of wine from a little wine shop that let us taste some wine and brought it back to our hotel to enjoy on the sunny patio.

Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse

After Butchart Gardens, we were hungry and following our travel tradition of Mom getting one wine tasting event, we decided to visit Sea Cider. Sea Cider is pretty near the gardens so that was an easy sell.

We ordered cider tastings (our teen got a sparkling cider), and some delicious snacks. The dogs took a nap under the picnic table as we enjoyed the sun and the view across the orchards and islands to Mt. Baker. The cider was delicious and we were pleased to find out that the apples are grown there organically.

Day trip from Victoria with the dogs

Another day on our trip we decided to venture out of the city for a hike and some beautiful scenery. We drove west past the town of Sooke to a trail that led us down to Sandcut Beach. It was doggie heaven for Dany and Dakota as they played in the water and ran around the beach. The beach was rocky but very wide so it was easy to let them go off-leash.

If you walk to the left a short way along this beach you’ll see a waterfall that falls right onto the beach. It was really pretty, but this is where most of the people were.

Fisherman’s Wharf and the water taxi

Sometimes we avoid the most touristy attractions in the cities we visit, but this time we had to hit a couple. Fisherman’s Wharf is just a couple of blocks’ walk from the Inn at Laurel Point. We wandered over there to check out the houseboats and a couple of shops. My husband can never resist getting ice cream. He noticed that the ice cream shop had frozen dogs treats and got some for the dogs. They, of course, love them!

From Fisherman’s Wharf, we caught a water taxi around the bay a bit and got off near the Fairmont Empress. The dogs were a little nervous about getting on the little water taxi, but they did great!

I highly recommend catching the “Water Ballet” performance put on by the water taxis.

Walking Victoria with the dogs

Our favorite memory of our last trip to Victoria was walking with Dakota on an approximately five-mile walk around the city. We received a map from the Inn at Laurel Point which shows the whole walk. It took us most of the day to walk it leisurely. This trip, we had to shorten it a bit because it was the day we were returning by ferry, but we hit some of the highlights.

The ideal walk is to head out from the hotel and go right to Fisherman’s Wharf.  From here you follow the water around until you come to Beacon Hill Park and head back up through the park. Along the way, you can walk out onto a huge jetty and venture out onto the off-leash beach.

Beacon Hill Park has some great attractions too. The Children’s Zoo actually allows dogs. Fortunately, the chickens and other animals our dogs are interested in are protected by fences. People can go in to pet and brush the goats.

There’s a playground for kids and plenty of beautiful gardens and ponds. I loved to see the wildlife like tons of nesting herons and turtles sunbathing on logs in the ponds.

Beacon Hill Park got the dogs plenty of walking and sniffing, so they were happy and tired for the trip home.