Day Trips from Victoria, BC: Six Easy Escapes by Car and Ferry

Victoria sits at the southern tip of the island, which makes it the easiest base on the coast for day trips. Within a morning's drive or one ferry you can be in a garden built in a quarry, on a 44-metre timber trestle, in a mural town, on a wild coastal trail or at the Gulf Islands' best-known Saturday market. Each trip below starts and ends downtown, and each one fills a day without rushing it.

The shortest trip on the list, and the one to pick if you only have one day.

Start at The Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay. Jennie Butchart began planting in a worked-out limestone quarry, and the family still owns and runs the place: 55 acres now, and a National Historic Site of Canada since 2004, the gardens' hundredth year. Walk the Sunken Garden first, then the Rose, Japanese, Italian and Mediterranean gardens. Afternoon tea is served in the Dining Room, and tickets sell online. Our full Butchart guide has the rest.

From there, Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse in Saanichton pours organic cider in a tasting room above its orchard, looking out over the Salish Sea. Order a flight.

Finish in Sidney. The Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea is the largest aquarium on Vancouver Island and the only one in Greater Victoria, a self-guided walk through the marine life of the water outside. Then walk out on the Sidney Pier and along the shore at Tulista Park.

Take the Trans-Canada north over the Malahat. The Malahat SkyWalk is a 35-minute drive from downtown: a treetop walk, a spiral tower to a glass lookout over the forest, the ocean and the mountains, and a 20-metre slide back down. Allow about 90 minutes, and buy tickets online.

Keep going into the Cowichan Valley, the island's wine country. Merridale Cidery & Distillery in Cobble Hill makes cider, gin and rum, runs tastings and tours, and has an eatery on site. At Unsworth Vineyards in Mill Bay, the family makes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and sparkling wine, and the restaurant sits beside the tasting room. Lunch at one, taste at the other.

End the day in Cowichan Bay, a working harbour of houses built out over the water. The Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre is full of model boats and nautical history, the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre explains the estuary's wildlife, and Cowichan Bay Kayaking and Adventure Centre will put you on the water. More stops are in our Cowichan cider trail.

Duncan calls itself the City of Totems, and it earns it. The totem tour starts on Canada Avenue by the old train station: follow the yellow footprints painted on the sidewalk from pole to pole through downtown, carved by Indigenous artists. The Cowichan Valley Museum sits at the start of the route, and the BC Forest Discovery Centre just north of town has train rides and hands-on forestry exhibits that work well for kids.

Then drive south to Shawnigan Lake for the Kinsol Trestle. Built in 1920 for the logging railway and reopened in 2012 as part of the Cowichan Valley Trail, it stands 44 metres over the Koksilah River and runs 187 metres long. It's one of the tallest free-standing timber rail trestles in the world, and you walk right across it. More on Duncan.

When the sawmill that employed the town was set to close, Chemainus painted itself a new future. The Chemainus Festival of Murals Society now looks after more than 70 murals and sculptures that tell the town's story. Park once and walk it; the town is small enough to see on foot, and the society's gallery on Waterwheel Crescent is the place to start. Our Chemainus guide has the rest.

Pair it with Duncan or Cowichan Bay on the drive home.

Head west instead of north, and the coast changes fast.

Sooke Potholes Provincial Park is a run of deep swimming holes carved into the rock of the Sooke River, with trails along the water. Come in summer and swim.

In town, the Sooke Region Museum & Visitor Centre covers Indigenous heritage, local wildlife and regional history.

Save the afternoon for East Sooke Regional Park: 1,474 hectares and 50 km of trails. The 10 km Coast Trail runs past pocket beaches, rocky bays and tide pools. For something easier, the Aylard Farm entrance is a five-minute walk across open fields to the beach and a good picnic. The Sooke guide has more.

The one day trip that starts on a ferry. BC Ferries sails from Swartz Bay, at the top of the Saanich Peninsula, to Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring; from there it's a short drive to Ganges.

Go on a Saturday. The Salt Spring Saturday Market fills Centennial Park every Saturday from April to the end of October, under one rule: vendors make it, bake it or grow it themselves. After the market, Ganges Village has galleries, cafés and shops within a few blocks. Our Salt Spring day trip maps the rest of the island.

Short on time? Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse is a 19th-century artillery fortress that stayed on active duty from 1895 to 1956, beside the oldest lighthouse on Canada's west coast. Walk the gun batteries, then out along the causeway to the lighthouse.

Each of these works as an overnight too. Stay by the water in Sooke, in Cowichan Bay, or on Salt Spring and catch the market first thing.

• Find a place to stay in Sooke
• Find a place to stay in Cowichan Bay
• Find a place to stay on Salt Spring Island

Want to go further? Three days in Tofino is the classic long weekend from Victoria. And here's what's on this weekend wherever you end up.

Tell the planner which day you have and what you like, and it builds the route with real stops.

Plan my day trip from Victoria