You’ve come to the beautiful city of Victoria to study, and you’ve made the right choice! Not only is Victoria a safe place to live with a very agreeable climate and a fun nightlife, there’s also lots of great spots to visit during the day. Victoria is actually quite a nice place for tourists, so when you’re new in the city, you will find it a great place to discover new things and visit new attractions. There’s always some place you don’t know yet, even when you’ve lived there for longer, which is what is so great about Victoria.

Parks

Since Victoria has such a mild, nice climate, it has lots and lots of beautiful outdoor attractions such as its many parks. In fact, did you know that in Victoria, also called the “City of Gardens”, you could find many plant species that don’t exist elsewhere in Canada, thanks to the climate? Palms, eucalyptus, and even some kinds of bananas can be found if you look close enough! They grow there because it is the northern limit of a range that goes all the way down to California and Mexico. Isn’t that amazing? There is no way you can fully appreciate Victoria’s gardens without going there yourself though, so you should really visit Beacon Hill Park, for example, the main park in Victoria, which also includes a petting zoo and lots of exotic animals to look at. Take a walk there and catch some fresh air, admire the nature around you, or just spend your day lazing around in the park. If you’re willing to travel a bit further, North of the city are the Butchart Gardens, a tourist attraction famous worldwide with absolutely stunning plants, most of which you will have never seen before. Why not go there on a weekend and enjoy the view?

Architecture

In Victoria you will find lots of beautiful monuments that it is a pleasure just to look at or, for the aspiring artists amongst you, photograph or draw. To cite just a few, there is the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, which are built in a neo-baroque style, and free tours are being offered during the week, so you don’t have to just stand and stare, you can take a closer look, as well! Close to that is the Empress, a very famous hotel that almost looks like a castle, visited by movie stars and aristocracy alike. I’m sure spending a night there just for the sake of it would be fun as well, even though you might like it better than your bank account balance will. Another building worth visiting might be the Christ Church Cathedral, a quite beautiful church with a relatively long history. There are lots of other buildings around that may not be as pretty, but that have great historical value, like the Temple Emanuel, which is the oldest synagogue continuously in use in the whole of Canada.

Museums

On the few days when Victoria isn’t its usual sunny warm self, and it’s raining or a little chilly, you might want to visit one of its interesting museums. The Royal British Columbia Museum, for example, which is actually near the Empress and is a history museum that has three permanent galleries to offer, as well as an IMAX theatre. Another museum definitely worth visiting is the Royal London Wax Museum, which is an actual Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum, and is home to the wax figures of many political, historical and otherwise memorable characters, so be sure not to miss that. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is also worth going to, as many notable works are being displayed there, and the Asian art there is of especially great value.

In short…

I can guarantee you that you will never get bored at your time during Victoria since there is so much to see in the beautiful city. Make sure you take advantage of all the great opportunities that will offer themselves to you to get to know your new hometown as well as the people in it, and university will be a memorable experience for you!