Fun and Interesting facts about Victoria, BC!

When most people think of Victoria, the key words that come to mind are: The Empress, and Butchart Gardens. There's a lot more to our beautiful city and we are a whole lot more than just Tea and Crumpets!

It’s extremely popular with tourists – probably because it’s such a pretty city with a lot to see and plenty going on. Restaurants are great and it’s close to a number of wineries too. It’s an outdoorsy place with loads of hiking and biking trails and in the summer the sea kayaking in the nearby Gulf Islands is superlative.

And for some background on Victoria – a city that’s been called –More British Than The British – here are some weird, fun, interesting and downright useful facts about the city.

• With a perfect growing climate, Victoria is known internationally as the City of Gardens.

• Friendly is an understatement: Victoria has been named both the Most Romantic City in Canada (five years running) and one of the top 15 Friendliest Cities in the World.

• Other accolades include Canada’s Best City to Live in for Women, and both the Seventh Best City in the World and Friendliest City in Canada (by international travel and tourism magazine, Condé Nast).

• Bright lights, beautiful city: As the provincial capital, the Parliament buildings have 3,560 lights and roughly 1,500 lampposts across the city hold hanging flower baskets every Summer.

• Victoria is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country, with hundreds of kilometres of cycle paths, bike lanes and routes in the city, including the incomparable Galloping Goose Regional Trail.

• Time for tea? Half a million cups are served annually at the Fairmont Empress.

• Strong support for all things local: Vancouver Island has over 2,800 farms, with nearly 1,000 in the Greater Victoria Region and 700 in the Cowichan Valley.

• National Geographic recognizes Vancouver Island as one of the best cold-water diving destinations on earth and the renowned Jacques Cousteau Society rates the area second only to the Red Sea for diversity of marine life and water clarity.

• The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria has the most comprehensive collection of Asian art in Canada.

• Number of annual visitors to the internationally-renown Butchart Gardens, a National Historic Site of Canada? Over one million.

• The Royal BC Museum, founded in 1886, is one of the foremost cultural institutions in the world.

• Victoria has the second highest number of restaurants per capita in North America, second only to San Francisco.

• Victoria’s Chinatown is the second oldest in North America after San Francisco. You’ll find the narrowest alley in all of Canada here.

• Famous people from Victoria include singer Nelly Furtado, basketball star Steve Nash, musician David Foster, director Adam Egoyan, artists Nick Bantock and Jack Shadbolt,

• The highest temperature ever recorded in Victoria was 35.3 C on July 23, 2004. The coldest temperature on record was -15.6 C on December 29, 1968.

• Victoria is often criticized because it reportedly dumps 129 million liters of raw sewage into the Strait of Georgia every day. But according to Responsible Sewage Treatment Victoria , that number is far lower and as they say: The Victoria Core Area Sewage Is 99.93 Per Cent Water And Has Very Little Actual Solids. It Is Discharged From Two Deep Ocean Outfalls More Than A Kilometre From The Shore, After First Passing Through Six Millimetre Screens (Screening Since 1989). There Are No “Floaties.” You can get both sides of the story in this article – and it’s worth reading because this has been a hot issue in the city.