🗺️ Neighbourhoods & the suburbs of Victoria
This guide first lists the neighbourhoods within Victoria, and then the suburbs around Victoria. Each section has a price range ($-$$$$) and the general culture of that area.
Map of Victoria, BC and the suburbs
Map of Victoria neighbourhoods
Contents:
🏠 Finding housing: Victoria
James Bay
Historic Victorian houses, LGBTQ+ friendly, where the cruise ships dock at Ogden point, provincial government workers and families. $$$-$$$$
Fernwood
Hipster, affordable area with more and more young families. Used to be sketchy, now gentrified. More single family homes with basement suites and gardens. $-$$$
Cook Street Village
Apartment buildings, hipster young vibe, and a core commercial area with coffee shops, a few pubs, vintage stores, and juice joints. Feels sometimes like a college campus, with lots of bicycles. $-$$$
Downtown / Inner Harbour
The heart of Victoria proper, can be tourist central. Where all the bars, nightclubs and concerts in town happen. Doesn’t have a large selection of grocery/hardware stores, but most of our best stores are still downtown. Driving? Good luck getting an apartment with parking. $$$-$$$$
Fairfield & Rockland
Family-land and retirees. Lots of children, teens and college-age kids. Larger single-family homes with gardens, some apartment buildings. One of the older neighbourhoods with beautiful homes. If you see listings for “Dallas Road” homes, they’re the ocean-front view homes. $$$-$$$$
Oak Bay
Old. Money. Feel. Beautiful homes from pre-1900, with stunning gardens, oak tree-lined avenues and ocean views. Quiet as it gets in Victoria. This is actually its own “town” within Victoria and has more history than the rest of the city, or so it seems. More basement and garden rental suites are showing up in Oak Bay. $$$$
Jubilee
Area by the Royal Jubilee Hospital. A little more mixed than Fairfield, but not by much. Families and older retirees in single-family homes still mostly live here, with more small shops and local bike shops, coffee shops, pharmacies, etc… $$-$$$
Hillside, Quadra & North Park
Very popular with students and younger professionals. Near Fairway Market and Crystal Pool, with great bus service. Possible to walk downtown from this district in around 20 minutes. Also a popular area for bicycle commuters who take Quadra St. or Fort St. downtown. $-$$
Mayfair
Close to Mayfair Mall. Primarily a commercial retail district, with fairly decent bus service. Not as walkable as other areas, but better deals on apartments. $-$$
Vic West
Short for “Victoria West”, this is over the bridge from downtown. Fancier, newer condo high-rises, new apartment buildings, waterfront views and some underground parking. If you want more amenities, like a pool, in-suite laundry, or heated floors, this area is worth checking out. $$-$$$$
Esquimalt
One of the most affordable neighbourhoods. Also one of the oldest as well. A huge area with shopping centres, some ocean views, older homes and new tiny homes, and is next to the naval base. Great bingo halls for retirees, charming cafes and a refreshing eclectic island feel. $-$$
Gordon Head
Closest to UVIC (University of Victoria), mostly spacious single-family homes with older couples, families, professors and some students. Quiet, with lots of trees and winding paths, and feels closer to the campus than it does to Victoria. So. Many. Deer. $$$-$$$$
Cadboro Bay
No, this is not Cordova Bay. A community nestled on a bay between Oak Bay to the south and Gordon Head to the north. Down the hill from UVIC, right on the ocean. Not very accessible by transit, with larger modern homes and beachfront access galore. $$$$
🏘️ Suburbs north of Victoria
Saanich
Broken up into “South Saanich”, “Central Saanich”, and “North Saanich”. A mix of families, farms and country life, with views of the ocean on both sides of the peninsula. You won’t think you’re anywhere near a city. A huge area of the capital region. $-$$$$
Cordova Bay
A retreat from the city, with spas, beachfront, and challenging hills for cyclists. A view worth a visit. To get here, you take the “Pat Bay Highway” (Highway 17). It’s a weird term - we’ve defined all the weird words we use here on the Glossary page. $$$$
Brentwood Bay
A cute small town nestled up at the top of the peninsula where the ferry goes over to Mill Bay. Affordable with a distinct character all its own. Next to Butchart Gardens. If you’re thinking of commuting into Victoria, it’s a bit of a drive. It could take you 1 hour in the morning to drive into downtown Victoria. $-$$$
Sidney
Young couples, check. Older retirees, check. Families, check. A smaller city right on the ocean, with significantly low-speed limits to encourage walkability. A bigger commercial center for the entire peninsula. A mix of single-family homes, condos and apartment buildings. $-$$$$
Swartz Bay
A small community of cliffside homes on the ocean, where the ferry from Vancouver docks. Twisty roads through the forest, homes tucked away on interesting properties. $$$-$$$$
Royal Oak
Another incredibly varied area. Close in to the city, with a broad range of homes, condos, apartments and some small farms. Houses one of two Camosun College campuses. More transit options than some of the other suburbs. $-$$$
🏘️ Suburbs west of Victoria
View Royal
An older suburb closer to Victoria, with a confusing geography of winding hills, trails, waterfront views and cute micro-neighbourhoods. Historic-ish homes with fewer apartments than other areas. $$-$$$$
Langford
The hottest suburb for families looking for a house with room to grow. Playgrounds, sports teams, growing schools, daycares, a bowling alley and hiking trails. A classic suburban town. If you’re driving to Victoria every day traffic can be pretty horrible. Consider busing or carpooling. $-$$
Colwood
Pronounced “call-wood”. Another very popular suburb for families like Langford. A little closer to Victoria, but the traffic is still something they talk about. Closer to the naval base, so many navy families live here. $-$$
Metchosin
Farms. Organic living. Free range chickens. Rural but with access to a big city (Victoria). If you would like property with artists around, ceramic studios and lots of trees, Metchosin is it. $-$$$$
Sooke
West of Victoria on the southern coast of the Island. Great fishing, cheaper acreage and housing with a small town vibe. Everyone knows everyone, but they’ll respect your privacy. Thinking of commuting to Victoria? Give yourself almost 2 hours each way on some days, since there’s 1 road into Sooke, and only 1 road back. $-$$
Mill Bay
This is a charming little town, either reachable by Highway 1 or the ferry from Brentwood Bay over to Mill Bay. Highway 1 is called “The Malahat” (a mountain highway), north past Langford. $-$$$
