Butchart Gardens: Tours & Tickets

Visiting the Butchard Gardens is worth the trip to Canada, even if that was all you saw. They are magnificent. The tour we took with Get your Guide was good except for the coach that we road in. The company didn't check to make sure that the air conditioning was working and it wasn't. The temperature was well into the 80's and we were all dying of the heat in the coach. The driver couldn't even get the fan going to circulate the air. Since we were in the tour coach through out the day for a total of 3 hours we were all extremely uncomfortable.

The garden was beyond belief and very worth the time in getting there. Our bus driver and guide, Shapoor, gave us a wonderful narration of what we were seeing. The bus tour of Victoria was interesting but I would rather have spent the time in the gardens instead of the 2 hours we had in Victoria. The gardens are the star of this tour and 2 hours there is not enough time. The only disappointing part of the day was the terrible suspension of the small bus we were on. It made for a very uncomfortable time on the bus.

I have gone on many tours with Greyline, but never have I had a guide as intelligent, articulate, or entertaining as Alex. He never stopped giving us interesting information about whatever was just outside the window. His vocabulary and diction (including word choice) was far above any other guide we encountered on our cruise/land trip. My only criticism is that I wish we had had more time to spend in Butchart Gardens.

The tour guide, Andy, is knowledgeable and was awesome. He pointed the most interesting places on the tour and provided helpful thoughts on how to tour the gardens. His account of the history of Vancouver, the Butchard gardens, and Victoria in relation to Canada, and Natives provided complete essence of the tour. I enjoyed it and would highly recommend the tour to all.

The trip was well organised and the tour service exceptional. However if you have a bit more time I strongly recommend you spend a night in Vancouver Island to appreciate this beautiful place. Two hours in the Butchart Gardens is way too rushed. The gardens will exceed your expectations and several hours is needed for one to really enjoy its multi-faceted beauty.