Victoria

Victoria sits at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, looking out across the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the Olympic Mountains. It is British Columbia's provincial capital, and the seat of government is impossible to miss — the Legislative Assembly, the Empress Hotel, and the Royal BC Museum all frame the Inner Harbour, where float planes, harbour ferries, and whale-watching boats share the water. Incorporated in 1862, Victoria is one of the oldest cities in western Canada, and that history shows up in the brick warehouses of Old Town, the lantern-lit lanes of Chinatown (the oldest in the country), and the heritage homes that line streets just blocks from downtown. The [City of Victoria](https://www.victoria.ca/) itself is small — roughly 19.47 km² and just under 92,000 residents per the [2021 Census](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/) — but the broader Capital Regional District wraps the city in thirteen separate municipalities including Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, and View Royal. That means "living in Victoria" can mean very different things depending on which side of a street you're on. The city proper is a compact, walkable core; the wider region adds beaches, farmland, university campuses, and quieter suburbs. Within the city boundary, the neighbourhoods that follow each have their own rhythm — the government and tourist energy of downtown and James Bay, the village feel of Cook Street and Fairfield, and the heritage residential pockets that buffer the core. The guides ahead walk through each one in detail so you can match the right corner of Victoria to how you actually want to live.