Holland Point Park

Markus standing by the water at Holland Point Park

For those of us who live in Vancouver, Vancouver Island is a place that a lot of us locals love to visit. Especially with COVID-19 travel restrictions where we haven't been able to cross the border for our trips, we've been making a lot more trips out to the island. Most times, you can find us exploring the all nooks and crannies to discover hidden places, but since we had business to do on this trip, we stayed around downtown Victoria.

Downtown Victoria has a lot to offer even though it's not the trails or hikes that we would normally do with our dog. Instead, what it does have are beautiful walks along the water and dog-friendly beaches within walking distance of downtown. On this particular day, we made our way from downtown Victoria, past Beacon Hill Park (which was temporarily closed) to walk along the water down Dallas Rd. and see the beach at Holland Point Park.

About Holland Point Park

Markus enjoying the calmness of the beach at Holland Point Park

Type: Beach
Size: Medium
Enclosed: N/A
Doors: N/A
Traffic: Low

If you're coming from downtown Victoria, there are a number of streets you can take to make your way down to Holland Point Park. This park sits at around the south western coast of the James Bay area along Dallas Rd. and it overlooks the Salish Sea. For all the times we've taken Markus down Dallas Rd., we had yet to go all the way down to the beach. Since it was in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day, it was pretty quiet with only a number of dogs, so we decided to go down.

On the beach, there were a few other dogs playing in the sand and it was an enjoyable time for Markus. It's neat that we're able to find ourselves on a beach about a 20-minute walk away from downtown and although Markus doesn't generally like the water, this was a great time to spend some time.

The beach area sits below the main road, so you'll have to walk down a pathway from the busy sidewalks of Dallas Rd. where there are pedestrians, cyclists and other dogs. Dallas Rd. keeps going for quite a while and there are other things to see along the path like Beacon Hill Park and the Mile Zero Monument, but keep in mind that you'll eventually have to double back.

The Mile Zero Monument

Down the street from Holland Point Park is the Mile Zero Monument, which is a marker with the words "Mile 0" and a statue of Terry Fox beside it. This monument marks the beginning of the Trans-Canada Highway, which is over 8,000km long and goes across Canada from this point all the way through to Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. People who do cross-Canada marathons or bike trips like to touch the water here by Mile 0 to mark the beginning and then touch the water again on the other side of Canada to mark the completion of their marathon.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Terry Fox is a Canadian hero - he was a teenager who had lost his right leg to cancer at 18 years old. With an artificial leg, Terry's dream was to run from Newfoundland back to this point here at the Mile Zero Monument to raise money for cancer research. Unfortunately, Fox succumbed to illness and passed away from cancer halfway into his run. His legacy continues to live on through the number of Canadians who do the annual Terry Fox Run that continues to raise money for cancer research. Millions of dollars have been raised for cancer research in his name.

What we liked

It was nice and quiet while we were there, which is great for a reactive dog like Markus.
There are other places to walk and discover around the beach and down Dallas Rd.
It's within 20 minutes walking distance from downtown Victoria.
From the top by the sidewalk, you can actually look down to see if the beach is busy or not before you made your way down in case your dog is reactive with other dogs.

What we didn't like

Nothing

Our Recommendation for Reactive Dogs

The walk along Dallas Rd. is mostly sidewalk, so there are the same rules that you can expect in terms of leashing up dogs and being respectful of pedestrians and cyclists. While there were quite a few dogs in the same area, it is a public pedestrian space so you can be as comfortable as you would in other sidewalk areas. That said, Holland Point Park and going down the path to the beach will be different.

The beach area isn't particularly large and there are off-leash dogs running in the area. Even though our dog is reactive, we were fortunate that the beach was wide enough that the dogs were on other sides of the beach and didn't end up meeting each other. It wasn't particularly busy, but I would imagine that this beach could be a lot busier with dogs and people on warmer summer days. If you're not sure, you can always take a look at the beach area from the top by the sidewalk and decide if you want to go all the way down or not.

Viewing the beach at Holland Point Park from the top of the path

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.