For the Victoria Day long weekend, we once again visited Victoria Island! The last time we did this was back in 2015. This time around, our dog won us a hotel stay so we decided we’d make the whole trip dog-friendly so he could do everything with us!

We woke up bright and early at 5:30 AM and drove to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. I am NOT a morning person so this was rough. But we wanted to make sure we could get on the top deck of the ferry for parking so that we’d be allowed to stay in the car with Onyx during the ride. BC Ferries does have a room for relieving your pets, but it’s not the most inviting place. So we made sure Onyx had a pee before we went on board, and we ended up hanging out with him in the car for the 1.5 hour ride. And by “hanging out” I mean I immediately fell asleep and stayed asleep until the fiancé drove us to downtown Victoria.

Our first stop in Victoria was Chinatown! We walked down Fan Tan Alley, but it was pretty early in the day so not many things were opened in general. We also bought some souvenirs at a local gift shop—the fiancé had really been hoping to get a jianzi (which is like Chinese hacky sack) and we found one there! I will say that in the 8 years since we last visited, it feels like Victoria’s Chinatown has been gentrified even more. It’s the first Chinatown in Canada to have been established, but I wonder how long it can properly last.

After Chinatown, we did a short drive over to the harbor and had lunch at Red Fish Blue Fish. They’re outdoors, so they were dog-friendly. I was surprised to see that salmon and cod were priced the same for their fish and chips! The fish was pretty juicy—not at all overdone. I also really liked their chowder, which tasted more like a coconut curry dish. We got the albacore tuna salad so we could get some veggies in us. Yummy!

After lunch we took a walk around Government Street. Munro’s Books was gorgeous and they let Onyx in. They even ran to get him a treat! I ended up buying two books. I’m currently reading one of them (The Last Garden in England) and it tugs at my heartstrings so beautifully. The other book I got was a mystery “date with a book” where you don’t know what book you’ll get, but you get a brief description on a parchment paper wrapped around the book. After the bookstore, we walked around some more along Government Street until we were satisfied and then headed off to check in to our hotel.

The free stay Onyx won was at the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites. The voucher we got included a pet-friendly room (they usually charge an extra fee for that), and parking as well. The room was bigger than I thought! It was very spacious and even had a divided up bedroom section from the living area. We also had a kitchenette which was cool, but not super useful for us this trip. The proximity of this hotel to downtown Victoria was awesome.

The hotel was super close to Miniature World. We popped in real quick to ask if they were dog-friendly and they were! With the caveat being that your dog had to be in a carrier. We actually have a stroller for Onyx, so that was easy peasy. I will say that while the trip through Miniature World was not long (we finished in about 45 minutes—but we felt a bit ushered along as we had a stroller and the space inside was tight), it was lovely seeing all the displays. There is so much love and care put into making and maintaining this museum!

We headed back across the street to change after Miniature World. We had made a dog-friendly reservation at Café Brio! They don’t explicitly mention they’re dog friendly, but we called in ahead of time to reserve a seat on their outdoor patio. While we were there, another table brought in their two golden retrievers too. The restaurant staff were so lovely with Onyx, and they had even gotten a little water bowl out for him in advance of our arrival! We ordered the Brio Family Meal, in which we had a selection of 6 dishes chosen by the chef, served family style for the entire table. I actually loved the soup that they started us off with! The duck was a little overdone, but I know they were short staffed in the kitchen that day.

After dinner, we popped back to our hotel to grab a jacket and then headed down to the Victoria Marina area for a stroll. The sun was setting fast at this point, but we ended up getting a lovely view of the parliament and the Empress hotel lit up at night. We left after Onyx freaked out about seeing a horse in the streets and furiously started barking at them from afar. I’m not sure he’s ever seen a horse before, but I guess I can understand why a horse in the middle of the city could scare a dog. The above photo gallery shows the two pictures in which Onyx spotted the horse coming from afar, and then him starting to freak out—all while a nice boy was taking our group photo.

The next day saw us checking out of the hotel and heading over to the Pendray Inn and Tea House. We had an afternoon tea booked here and their patio allowed us to bring Onyx along! Having tea while looking out towards the water and the lovely garden was refreshing. I also loved the Cream of Earl tea that my fiancé ordered! I ordered the chai tea, but was pretty disappointed. I should’ve known better than to order teabag chai.

We left Victoria after tea and drove to Butchart Gardens! I don’t know if I’ve ever been—perhaps when I was a toddler with my parents? But either way, it felt like my first time. They are dog friendly so Onyx got to enjoy the gardens too! We put him in his stroller since he can get reactive around other dogs. Which led us to realize that Butchart Gardens is quite wheelchair/stroller accessible! They always have an alternate ramp access route to see the different attractions! A great thing to keep in mind.

I got peckish during the garden walk and we went to the café for an overpriced turkey sandwich and coffee. I kid you not—the sandwich was $10+ and was the size of a slider. I also had to microwave the sandwich myself to heat it up. My suggestion is that you eat before and after Butchart Gardens, unless if you were going to try out their sit-down dining room.

We left Butchart at around 5:15PM, as we wanted to pick up some food before we headed to the ferry terminal. We drove to Mary’s Bleue Moon Cafe and got a hearty takeout dinner of seafood quesadilla, scallops & bacon penne, and wings. Their café has a lot of cute aviation-themed décor and then we realized they were located across from various aviation fields and hangars. The food was delicious and we ate as we waited to board the ferry in our car. Once we were boarded, I once again drifted off to sleep. Something about the waves and the white noise of the ferry knocks me out immediately I guess.

It was a lovely trip with Onyx and I was so glad we could do such a dog-friendly short vacay with him! I’m eager to see where else we can road trip with him in the future!