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Photo: Smably at English Wikipedia, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
This site in the Colwood area of western Victoria is home to historic Hatley Castle, which many movie fans will recognize as Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men and Deadpool films produced by 20th Century Fox. The castle's exterior gardens are open to the public from 10 AM to dusk. The castle interior is home to the offices of Royal Roads University. Only the first floor is available for public viewing, and it can be seen only during seasonal walking tours which must be booked in advance.
Hatley Park National Historic Site is located in Colwood, British Columbia, in Greater Victoria. It is the site of Hatley Castle, a Classified Federal Heritage Building. Since 1995, the mansion and estate have been used for the public Royal Roads University. From the 1940s to 1995, it was used to train military officers.
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The largest cinema in Greater Victoria.
Minimum 3.5 hour whale watching trips with open and semi-covered options. Maximum number of people per trip ranges from 12-50, depending on the boat.
A hands-on tour of dinosaur fossils. You get to use professional tools to uncover real fossils and touch actual dinosaur bones. There are adults-only sessions and mixed-age sessions. Booking required.
Offers covered vessels with indoor seating, liquor license, and onboard washrooms, as well as open Zodiac tours. Maximum number of passengers ranges from 12-170.
A 29-km multi-use trail that runs from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal near Sidney to the Galloping Goose trail in Saanich. It is mostly paved (there are a few gravel sections though) and rolls through suburban Victoria to the farmland of the Saanich Peninsula, passing close to several parks, beaches and wetlands. Designated parking lots to access the trail are at Lochside Dr & Mackenzie, Lochside Park, Cy Hampson Park and Tulista Park.
The Goose
A 55 km trail on a decommissioned rail bed from downtown Victoria through Langford and the West Shore and onto Sooke and the hills beyond. The varied scenery includes urban, rural and wilderness, and it connects with many other trails in the Greater Victoria area, including the Lochside Regional Trail and the E&N Rail Trail - Humpback Connector. In Victoria, the trail starts at the corner of Wharf & Pandora St and then crosses the Johnson St bridge to Harbour Rd. There are also a number of access points along the way to Sooke, several of which have parking. The Capital Regional District (CRD) website has directions to access points with parking lots. A few places rent bikes and this is a great afternoon or day trip.