Heritage Walk and Chinatown

Douglas Street is the main business street of Victoria and is where many banks and business offices are located. It is named after James Douglas, the founder of the city. At the end of Douglas Street is Mile Zero, which is the western end of the Trans Canada Highway  (a highway that stretches 8,000 kilometres to the east coast of Canada).

Start the walking tour at the Victoria Conference Centre, located at 720 Douglas. This glass-enclosed facility features high-tech meeting and conference space surrounded by First People's Art and lush tropical plants. The Victoria Conference Centre was built in 1989 and is attached to the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

Across Douglas Street from the Victoria Conference Centre is the Crystal Garden. It was built in 1925 by architect Francis Rattenbury as a saltwater swimming pool for The Empress Hotel.

Directly across from the Crystal Garden is the bus depot, where Pacific Coach Lines offer bus service to downtown Vancouver via BC Ferries. Island Coach Lines offers bus service up-Island, including service to Port Hardy and to Tofino.

Cross the street at the corner of Douglas and Belleville Streets to visit Thunderbird Park, which was built in 1940. The thunderbird is a symbol of power and is commonly carved into totem poles. It was believed that thunder was created by the flapping of its wings and lightning came from the blinking of its eyes..

Beside Thunderbird Park is the Royal BC Museum. It is a wonderful museum with excellent displays of natural and human history of British Columbia and the First Nations Peoples. The National Geographic IMAX Theatre has a screen six storeys tall and seats 450 people. In front of the museum stands the Carillon Bells Tower, with 62 bells making it the largest bell tower in Canada. Dutch immigrants gave the tower to BC in 1967.

Cross Government Street to the Causeway to see the seat of provincial government. Victoria became a city in 1862 and the capital of British Columbia in 1871. Francis Rattenbury, who was only 25 years old at the time, built the Legislative Buildings in 1898. Each night, they are illuminated by 3,330 lights.

On Belleville Street, across from the Legislative Buildings, is the Royal London Wax Museum. This white-pillared building was originally designed by Francis Rattenbury as the Canadian Pacific Steamship Terminal.

Walk up Government Street towards The Fairmont Empress Hotel. This section of Government Street was once a bridge that connected the residential area of James Bay with the downtown area. On one side is the Inner Harbour and on the other, where The Fairmont Empress stands today, was a body of water called James Bay. This was a muddy body of water that was used as a garbage dump. When The Empress was built, 250 90-foot logs were dropped to the bedrock to form the foundation of the hotel. The Empress was also designed by Francis Rattenbury and was completed in 1908 at a cost of $750,000.

On the left side of the Inner Harbour are boat docks. The MV Coho is a large black, white and red car and passenger ferry that travels 30 kilometres across Juan de Fuca Strait to Port Angeles in Washington State, USA. The voyage takes 90 minutes and there are four daily crossings in the summer months and one in the winter. The Victoria Clipper is a high-speed catamaran for passengers only that travels between Victoria and Seattle in two hours.

The Statue in front of the Inner Harbour is of Captain Cook, who claimed Vancouver Island for Britain in 1778.

At the corner of Government Street and Wharf Street is the Tourism Victoria Info Centre, which serves over 800,000 visitors per year. This busiest information centre in Canada was once home to an Imperial Oil gas station.

Looking out over the Inner Harbour, several whale-watching boats can be seen. Over 20 companies have daily departures for three-hour whale-watching tours leaving from the Inner Harbour or Oak Bay. Over 90 resident orca whales in three pods (or families) live in the local waters from April through October. Seaplanes also depart daily from Victoria's Inner Harbour for downtown Vancouver and Seattle.

Walk along Wharf Street to Bastion Square, the original site of Fort Victoria in 1843. Bastion Square is the heart of Olde Towne and is home to Tourism Victoria's administration offices (on the fourth floor of the Board of Trade Building). Across the way is the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, which was originally Victoria's first courthouse. Many executions took place right in Bastion Square. For this reason, there are many ghost stories associated with Bastion Square and is considered the most-haunted spot in Victoria.

From Bastion Square, walk to Yates Street through Commercial Alley. Cross Yates Street and go through Waddington Alley to Johnson Street. Turn right on Johnson Street and walk up to the entrance of Market Square, on the left-hand side of the street. During the Gold Rush, Market Square was the center of activity for opium dens and prostitution houses. Today, the warehouses have been beautifully restored with many boutiques and restaurants housed in the heritage buildings. Exit Market Square onto Pandora Street and look toward the water, at the bridge.

The Johnson Street Bridge is a cantilever bridge that needs only two small motors to raise and lower it, because of the two giant cement counterbalances. The train station to the right of the bridge is the south terminal from the E & N (Esquimalt and Nanaimo) Railway. VIA Rail travels up-Island to Courtenay and returns, once a day, to Victoria. The railway was built by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir to transport his coal from Nanaimo to Victoria and then on to San Francisco.

From Pandora Street, walk through Fan Tan Alley to get to Fisgard Street. Fan Tan Alley is the narrowest street in Canada and was once the home of opium dens and gambling houses. This Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and the second oldest in North American (after San Francisco's Chinatown). During the Gold Rush, Chinatown was much larger, as half of Victoria's population was Chinese. The Gate of Harmonious Interest was built by the Victoria Chinese and business community. Walk through the gates and cross Government Street to the Chinese Public School. Built in 1909, the Chinese Public School still offers classes in Chinese languages, history and culture.

Walk up Government Street and turn left at the McPherson Theatre. This theatre was built in 1914 and is still home to live music and theatre. Walk through Centennial Square to City Hall, which is the large, terra-cotta-coloured building. City Hall was built between 1878 and 1892, and was renovated and restored in 1962.

Return to Government Street, and walk towards the Fairmont Empress and Inner Harbour. Along the way, visit shops and historic Trounce Alley, Murchies Tea, Morris Tobacconist, Eaton Centre, Munro's Books, Spirit of Christmas, and Roger's Chocolates.