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Premium
#2669
Visiting Vancouver? Add a few days or a week in Victoria! In addition to our home we have a separate private one bedroom suite which is usually available!
House • Victoria BC Canada
Exchange types accepted
Statistics
Listed October 2019
Views 5552
General Overview
Available for non simultaneous most years from November-March while we are at our Mexican home. A perfect winter getaway from Canadian winters awaits in the mildest climate in Canada.
We have a completely separate and private one bedroom suite on the ground level of our home. We can move into the suite almost anytime from April to October. This leaves the main house for you if you need two bedrooms. The suite is available for two people almost anytime in exchange for a non simultaneous swap or Pluto.
Easy location to airport, ferries and downtown. Our home is located where what we consider to be the "hub of a wheel" in Greater Victoria. We are 15-20 minutes or less to just about anywhere in the capital region as we are so centrally located.
Private garden with many sitting areas, large deck with BBQ, nice neighbourhood views.
Minutes to walk to Brydon Park with extensive trail system throughout Victoria. Public bus stop 3-5 minutes walk. Victoria is very bicycle friendly. In fact, bike lanes have recently been installed on both sides of our street.
The Space
Our home has two areas, the main floor is on the upper level. It has two bedrooms both with queen beds; living room with natural gas fireplace; dining room; family room with Smart TV/DVD. Netfix, Brit Box and Apple TV subscriptions are available from our accounts plus more for apps for watching; main bathroom with tub and shower; smaller bathroom with seated shower stall; modern kitchen has counter seating for two, a dishwasher, microwave and all the other usual appliances. Just outside the kitchen door is a large deck with a natural gas grill/barbecue, propane fireplace, screen room, lots of patio furniture and a nice view of the surrounding area.
The lower above ground level of the house contains a one bedroom apartment with a queen size bed. We use it for visiting family or friends. For non simultaneous exchanges we can move into the apartment to allow you to use the main part of the house if you need two bedrooms. If there are only two of you the apartment is very comfortable. It has worked very well for us for many non simultaneous exchanges.
The apartment is completely separate and private from the main part of the house and has its own entrance; tv; natural gas range, large fridge with ice maker, dishwasher; table, chairs and comfy leather love seat with dual electric recliners. Bathroom with heated ceramic tile floor, walk in shower with bench. Laundry is shared. We may be here but you have complete privacy and only see us if you need or want to! Just outside the apartment is a quiet sitting area with lots of furniture and an area for eating. For simultaneous exchanges you will have the entire house.
We have no carpets but there are a few scatter rugs/mats at the entrances, small silk rugs in the living rooms of both areas and a handmade Mexican wool rug in the family room. I'm only mentioning this in case of allergies.
The yard contains a lovely brick patio complete with patio furniture and a market umbrella which you are sure to enjoy on a hot day. The yard and gardens are beautiful and well tended. It has been a featured "teeny tiny garden" on a charity tour to support our local hospice. (It's a regular city lot so not so teeny!)
There are lots of flowers, trees and plants. The yard is very private. It also has a stunning outdoor natural gas fireplace. There's a sprinkler system so no watering needed other than two or three pots not on the system. We'll arrange for grass mowing if the exchange is more than a week.
Guest Access
The main living area is on the second floor but if stairs are a problem, the ground floor has a self contained one bedroom, completely private, separate entrance apartment/suite.
Access to both the main house and the apartment is via keyless entry with a provided code.
Notes
No indoor smoking.
We normally spend 4-5 months in Mexico so our Victoria home is open for non simultaneous swaps. If you want to get away from a typical Canadian winter, Victoria is the best place in Canada to escape snow! We won't guarantee no snow as it happens (2-3 weeks on average over the entire winter).
While we love visiting the USA at this time we have no plans to travel there.
Features
Washer
Dishwasher
Clothes dryer
Oven
Microwave
Coffee machine
Fridge
Iron
Hair dryer
Heating
Air conditioning
TV
WiFi
High Speed Internet
Bathtub
First aid kit
Smoke alarms
Fire extinguisher
Bed sheets
Towels
Workspace
Fireplace
BBQ
Balcony
Garden / yard
Deck / patio / courtyard / terrace
Covered porch / verandah
Travel Styles
Long term
Weekend
Adventure
Budget
Family
Sport and leisure
Foodie
Relaxing
City
Mountains
Water
Hiking
Cycling
Last minute
Good public transport
Golf
Accessibility
House Rules
Unsuitable for infants under 2
Suitable for children ages 2-12
Pets welcome
No smoking
Allergens
Cat free
Carpet free
Smoke free
Dates of Availability
Click on availability periods to see exchange types and descriptions.
Available
Neighbourhood
Victoria is located on Vancouver Island. We are a 90 minute ferry ride to the mainland with the City of Vancouver. The ferry itself is a highlight of any vacation to the British Columbia coastal area, going between the spectacular Gulf Islands. The island is famous for salmon fishing, golfing, hiking, rainforests, beaches, year round snow capped mountains, whale watching and much more. We sometimes see Bald Eagles soaring over the parkland behind our home. We have the best weather in the summer with temperatures averaging 25C and no humidity.
We are within a five minute walk to the neighbourhood shopping centre: grocery store, bank, bookstore, coffee shops, bakery, liquor store, hairdresser, drugstore, and much more.
There are casual and fine dining restaurants plus a neighbourhood pub 5-15 minutes walk away. The wee shopping plaza has become almost an international casual dining location. You will find: Persian, Mexican, Indian, Greek, Thai, Sushi, Chinese, Pizza and of course McDonald's. Just behind our house is a neighbourhood park which connects to the entire city hiking, walking, cycling trails. The beautiful Colquitz River runs through our neighbourhood. We are on the edge of farmland yet still in the city.
The city centre with the beautiful inner harbour is about 15 minutes by car.
The airport is less than 20 minutes and the ferries to the mainland and Vancouver about 25 minutes. We are within ten minutes to the TransCanada Highway to take you to the upper part of Vancouver Island. Five minutes by car will take you to the local recreation centre with large indoor swimming pool, library and more- an 18 hole golf course is about 10 minutes by car. Another major shopping area is five minutes by car. We think of our location as the "hub of a wheel" and love our area of Victoria for its amazingly convenient location to every part of the city. There is so much to see and do on Vancouver Island, Check out this amazing bucket list of ideas!
https://vancouverislandbucketlist.com/d/victoria-things-to-do/
Getting to my home
We are only 15 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes to the Port Angelos Washington State ferry and 25 minutes to the mainland/Vancouver ferry.
We are always open to non simultaneous swaps as we have two completely separate living areas in our home. We have met many fun and interesting exchange partners this way! If you are planning a trip to the "big city" -Vancouver, why not spend an extra week in Victoria?
Nearest airport
YYJ 15 minutes
Getting Around
Public transportation - less than five minute walk to the nearest bus stop or 15 minutes walk to the bus exchange for the entire city BC Transit System. Day passes are available if you want to explore many areas.
Walk about five minutes to a shopping centre as noted above.
Our Toyota Rav 4 is negotiable for exchange.
We are about 15 minutes by car to the world famous Butchart Gardens via a lovely country road with farm stands and country markets.
15 minutes west will take you to the TransCanada Highway to drive "up island" to the towns of Duncan, Chemainus (world famous murals) or Coombs (goats on the roof)- on the way to the Pacific coast towns of Ucluelet and Tofino with kilometres of sandy beaches.
15 minutes in the other direction takes you to our beautiful Inner Harbour featuring our Legislative Building (stunning at night with the thousands of lights), fantastic Royal BC Museum, The Empress Hotel, funky shops, pubs and restaurants. From the Inner Harbour you can take a Victoria Harbour Ferry tug boat to points along the water. It's similar to a "hop on hop off bus" but on the water!; take an Orca whale watching tour; go on a salmon fishing charter; take an overnight trip to Seattle Washington via the catamaran or take a day trip on the ferry to Port Angeles Washington.
During the summer months there are always events happening in the downtown area, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, Buskers Festival, The Symphony Splash and so much more.
See the links below for more information.
https://www.butchartgardens.com
https://victoriaharbourferry.com
https://www.tourismvictoria.com/see-do/festivals-events/seasonal-events
Map of Approximate Location
People Like Us Local Guide
Happy to take you on a city tour!
Feedback
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We often talk about * PLU magic.* Just wanted to acknowledge what an incredible serendipitous exchange this was. A few weeks ago my husband called to find out if I wanted him to bid on an auction for a little classic car in Canada we both had looked at and fallen in love with. I told him sure, but told him to only bid about half what we thought it would go for. We were both thrilled and shocked when we actually won! We had never done anything like this before and now we had to work out how to import this car into the U.S. and get it home. This is when the magic happened and PLU once again came to our rescue. At the exact same moments my husband and I were discussing just making it a vacation and picking up our car ourself on gorgeous Vancouver Island, Karen and Gail were watching a travel documentary about the beautiful National Parks of Utah and they favorited our PLU home, just before I went to look for homes on their island! Their awesome guest home was perfect for our PLU stay and happened to be open the next weekend when we wanted to come!! So within 15 minutes of them liking our homes profile, we had already arranged an exchange! PLU *magic* at its finest.❣️😁❣️ Even more magical than how quickly our exchange came together, was arriving at their comfortable home and the fresh homemade bread and jelly they had waiting for us when we stayed. They were also so incredibly thoughtful and gave up their garage for us, so we could store our new (to us) car out of the rain, once it was dropped off. We couldn't be more grateful for our stay and can't wait for them to experience the canyon lands of Utah when they are able. Thank you Karen and Gail for hosting us on your beautiful island. ♥️ I highly suggest visiting and staying at their home when you visit too. Such wonderful hosts and fantastic home and location! -
Was a amazing stay in Victoria and what made it best is getting to meet and have time with both of them She graciously gave us the main home knowing our son would come into visit which was a added bonus although the one bedroom suite looked amazing too She has everything one needs and full of information to learn more about the area Took the ferry both ways and was a great experience Definitely will meet up again a great area to revisit -
We immediately loved Karen and Gail’s beautiful home. The house was spacious, clean and well organized. The backyard and patio was absolutely the highlight of our stay - a private little oasis! We have very happy memories from our trip to Victoria dining in the backyard and watching the kids play and admire the flowers. Karen and Gail are truly exceptional hosts. They are responsive and very easy to communicate with. Thank you so much for such a lovely weekend in Victoria! -
Karen & Gail's separate first floor unit is perfect for us. It is immacutely clean, cozy with a wonderful backyard with areas for relaxing/sitting. It is a great launching pad for exploring Vancouver Island. We particularly like Sidney. Karen & Gail are very hospitable and easy to talk to. Thank you for the welcome gift! We look forward to welcoming you at our Medford, OR house. -
Karen and Gail were the loveliest hosts you could imagine. They picked us up from the ferry, showed us around, lent us their car and dropped us off at the airport. Their apartment is perfectly suited for two people, the kitchen is well equipped for cooking and there is a nice outdoor area. We enjoyed our week in Victoria and can recommend it to everyone. -
Karen and Gail's house is fantastic, the attention to detail, brilliant. Location is handy to everything. Shopping, walking trails, attractions. Their back yard is beautiful. We would love to come and stay again.
My Desired Destinations
Open to any destination
Dates Flexible
"Spring/Summer/Fall
Short trips that will welcome our well trained, non shedding, quiet dog."
Dates Flexible
"Prefer Spring or Fall"
Dates Flexible
"Prefer Spring or Fall"
Dates Flexible
Dates Flexible
Dates Flexible
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