During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have looked for creative ways to stay busy while adhering to safety protocol. On a recent business trip to Victoria, we welcomed the excuse to be out already and brought our dog along with us to spend a few nights in the capital of British Columbia. We don't normally do city trips, but since there have been travel restrictions, we've kept things more local and being able to stay a few nights in Victoria was a great outlet for us.

In this update, we will be sharing about our two accommodations in Victoria, some of the things we were able to do around downtown and a few other things we did while trying to waste time waiting for our ferry sailing.

Where We Stayed in Downtown Victoria

1st Location: Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites
Pet Fee: $25/night per pet

We managed to get a suite for our stay at the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites, which is starting to become one of our favourite things to do when staying at a hotel with our dog. They tend to be more expensive than regular rooms (though not always by much), but the benefit of having another room within a room makes a big difference for a reactive dog that could bark if or when he hears noises or foot traffic at the door. Sometimes the difference in pricing for a suite isn't all that much and for us, it could mean waking up throughout the night to calm him down or being able to sleep the entire way through.

We enjoyed the room as a whole and what we appreciated the most was that they were able to place us in a room at the end of the hallway. For the reasons expressed above, we like to request for rooms that are away from elevators that tend to be quieter and they were able to provide that for us. We didn't have an issue with noise or neighbours during our stay at the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites and for the price that we paid to stay in a suite, we're likely to stay there again.

Ironically, the one downside to our stay at this hotel was that the A/C unit was extremely loud in the room and it was hard to sleep through. The unit would only turn on when the temperature rose above a certain threshold in heat and when it did, the noise level would go from silence to a screaming loud A/C that would wake all of us up more times than not.

Around the hotel, there are a lot of places to walk around if you needed to take the dog out. The hotel is located right around the edge of downtown and the Inner Harbour, which gives you a number of options and makes for a great morning and evening walk. In comparing the cost of the hotel, the location and the fees, the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites is hard to beat.

2nd Location: Inn at Laurel Point
Pet Fee: $30/night per pet

On the second half of the trip, we moved hotels and got to stay at the Inn at Laurel Point. Wow, were we impressed by this hotel. The hotel has two separate wings and we were fortunate enough to have stayed at the newer one (the Eriksson wing), which was absolutely beautiful in its architecture. The room boasted a contemporary design, which was completed with modern furniture and to top things off, the room was prepared with a bed and some treats set aside for Markus.

Once again, we were fortunate enough to have had stayed in a suite. As you enter through the doors, there's a full living room, a massive bathroom with both a shower and bath tub, a separate spacious bedroom with a king-sized bed and a balcony that connects the living room to the bed room. Rooms like this are a luxury and it's so well spaced out from the other rooms that noise was never an issue for us.

The Inn at Laurel Point is tucked around the corner of the Inner Harbour and down the street from the parliament building. From the hotel, you can walk straight down to the water walk with your dog or head up the street and go back towards the Inner Harbour and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. There was something extra nice about waking up in the morning and immediately being able to take a walk around the water. Oh and, speaking of morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and let me just say, the Seafood Eggs Benedict on their breakfast menu is spectacular.

While Waiting For Your Ferry Sailing

We usually have a list of things we like to do when we're in Victoria including visiting certain beaches, parks or restaurants, but we had some business this time around that finished earlier than expected. Since we had our dog with us, we had reserved a sailing for the ferry back home so that we could stay in the car, but we were way too early for it. This ended up giving us hours to wander around, so in this update, we wanted to share a number of things we did to waste time while making our way back to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay.

Holland Point Park

While we were still around the downtown area, we visited Holland Point Park which is about a 20-minute walk away from the Inn at Laurel Point. We've done this walk down Dallas Rd. along the water many times before, but this was the first time that we went all the way down to the beach. As you keep walking down Dallas Rd., you will eventually come across the Mile Zero Monument and a statue of Terry Fox. This location was to be the finish line for the Marathon of Hope. We share about our time at Holland Point Park here!

Cordova Bay Park

One of the shorter stops we made on the way to Swartz Bay was at Cordova Bay Park. While you're driving along Cordova Bay Rd., you can pull into the small parking lot right off of the street. From the parking lot, you'll have to descend for a few minutes down a path towards the beach. The beach itself was surprisingly busy with a number of people relaxing and some even swimming and playing in the water!

We enjoyed this spot because of the views here. The beach sits around the south eastern edge of Vancouver Island and it looks out into the bay and San Juan Island off in the distance, which is in the US. Although we didn't go into the water, the beach was a great place to visit for the view alone. If you're planning on making a stop here, it's worth double checking which dates dogs are allowed on the beach. Although I don't remember the dates exactly, I do remember being limited months where dogs aren't allowed to be on the beach.

Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park

Conveniently located across the highway from Cordova Bay was the Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park which was our next stop. We didn't end up staying here for long for a couple of reasons, though. This lake is a combination of two lakes, Elk Lake and Beaver Lake to create a large park with a long trail that goes all the way around. Although we had time, we realized about a quarter of the way into the loop that we didn't have time to go all the way around, so we turned around. The path itself wasn't all that interesting and at least for the majority of the path that we were taking, we couldn't really see the lake.

Another reason we decided not to stay was the number of off-leash dogs. Right around the parking lot, there's beach access where there were a lot of dogs running around, in and out of the water. Since Markus isn't particularly good with other dogs when they're off-leash, we had to take a detour around the beach area. Along the trail, we came across a few off-leash dogs as well and since the path wasn't all that wide, it wasn't the most comfortable or interesting of walks, so we decided to not keep going. The lake is nice, but this stop is probably skippable.

Sydney

On the way to Swartz Bay up Highway 17, there is a town called Sydney where we stopped for some food. Sydney is a cute little town with quaint shops including a couple of my favourite stores - used book stores! Most of the life is along Beacon Ave., which ends on a pier where people were crabbing or hanging out around the parks and beaches there. On the pier, we picked up some lunch at The Pier Bistro there and we really enjoyed their chowder, fried oyster burger and crab cakes!

This area at the end of Beacon Ave. was pretty busy, but since we're in the middle of a pandemic, people were very respectful and properly distanced throughout the parks, beaches and the streets. If you're in the area and looking for some good food before your sailing, we'd highly recommend checking Sydney out. Just note that there were plenty of other dogs along the street, but because it's sidewalk walking, they were all leashed up.

Horth Hill Regional Park

Ultimately for us, the most underrated stop on this time-wasting day was at Horth Hill Regional Park. This was the perfect stop for us because the park is about 5 minutes away from the ferry terminal. This allowed us to be on this side of the Highway 17 so we could quickly make our way to the ferry terminal without any concerns of getting stuck in traffic. 

Aside from the proximity, this park is great because it is a combination of multiple smaller trails. This gives us incredible flexibility to determine how long we wanted to hike based on how much time we needed to waste before our sailing. The shorter paths are less than a kilometre and can be completed in less than half an hour while the outer perimeter of the park is about 2.4km and takes a bit more effort to do.

If you're looking for things to do and time to spend before your ferry sailing, we highly recommend making the stop at Horth Hill Regional Park to give both you and the dog a stretch of the legs before sitting on the ferries for a while, especially during the pandemic when we're encouraged to remain in our cars.

Disclaimer

Markus is a reactive, but not aggressive dog. His instinct is to avoid other dogs and he may growl, bark or lunge if provoked, but will not attack. We normally do not have issues with leashed dogs when both sides are controlled, but we will be on guard when an oncoming dog is not leashed. There are varying levels to a dog’s reactivity and only you can decide if this park, trail or hotel is appropriate for your dog. Our visits generally will not include off-leash areas; most experiences shared on The Markus Project are within leashed or undefined areas.

Please remember that our past experience visiting a park, trail or hotel may not be the same as your experience at the same park, trail or hotel. We have no control of who visits the park and whether they adhere to park rules - like leashing their dogs on leash-required paths - or not. Please use your discretion with the information provided and with your personal knowledge of your dog’s reactivity when visiting these parks, trails or hotels.