Don’t miss these 4 Awesome Beaches in Victoria, B.C.
When it comes to beaches, Victoria has it all! From sandy calm bays and wide-open pebbly beaches to warm wilderness lakes. You’ll love the variety here when it comes to beaches. Surrounded by beaches on all three sides, if it’s windy on one side, you’ll likely find calm water on the other side.
Here are 4 of our favourites:
Willows Beach
Located in the beautiful community of Oak Bay, this is an awesome beach for families. It has a giant grassy area with a park, picnic tables, benches and a concession stand that’s open during the summer. There are also changing rooms and washrooms. It’s about a 15-minute drive from downtown and there’s plenty of parking.
This beach is popular for swimming, although the water is quite cold. It is perfect for launching paddle boards and kayaks or walking along the beach and admiring the gorgeous houses. It’s a great spot to make forts for the kids as there’s lots of driftwood. Our kids loved this when they were little, giving us a chance to relax.
If you want to paddle board and don’t have your own, you can rent them from a company that will bring them to the beach for you at about $50 CDN ($40USD) per person. Check out South Island SUP at https://southislandsup.com/.
Cadboro-Gyro Park
This is an ideal beach for families because it has one of the largest beaches and play park areas in Victoria. It has lots of unique play equipment including a big sea creature called “Cadborosarus” named after a mythical sea creature that was said to have been spotted in the 1930s. Other unique play structures include an octopus, salmon, a ship and a shipwreck. Our kids loved the zip line. This park has even been listed among 11 unique playgrounds around the world by Fodor’s travel.
The beach itself has fairly calm waters, a pebbly shoreline and some sandy sections. Also, lots of driftwood to create forts!
There is a parking lot, washrooms, picnic tables and a boat launch at this beach. It’s worth spending a few hours here!
Spiral Beach
We love this beach because it is right along Dallas Road, the main coastal road on the south side of Victoria. With stunning views of the Olympic Mountains, it’s fun to take in the views. Watch the large tankers, cruise ships and sailboats pass by. It isn’t a swimming beach but the kids love skipping rocks and running around all the logs washed up on the beach.
A great access point to the beach is Clover Point, known as the best place to fly a kite. On a windy day, you’ll see kite flyers, hang gliders, kite surfers and wind surfers. Clover point used to be a rifle range during both world wars and even has an old bunker on the beach. It’s spray painted with cool graffiti art and fun to climb.
Another thing we love to do here is to grab lunch and eat it on the beach while taking in the views.
Thetis Lake
Thetis lake Provincial Park is located just outside Victoria in the Langford area, about a 15-minute drive from downtown Victoria.
It’s a nice, warm freshwater lake with a sandy beach and it’s a great place to swim in the summer. The water near the shore is shallow making it good for smaller kids. It’s a popular spot to paddle board and use inflatable water toys. There’s a small island in the middle of the lake you can paddle to, or even swim to if you’re a strong swimmer.
There are public washrooms, picnic tables and even a bike rack.
If you love to hike, take the easy trail that goes all the way around the lake which you can do in about an hour. There are fantastic views of the lake from a few different vantage points.
Happy beach going! If you are looking for more information on Victoria, look no further than our travel guides which are chalked full of activities. Click here for more information.
