for a trip what are pros and cons for Victoria verses Vancouver?

Vitoria

Pros:Beautiful island

Lots of stuff to do in cities and country sides

Cons:Ferry prices are really expensive depending how many people you bring.

Going to botanic gardens in the summer are bad

Not much to do unless you've planned it

Admission in going to museums are expensive

Vancouver

Pros:Clean water(God thank you!)

Nice houses

If you live in the US they will give you about the same amount of money

Nice weather

Perfect to go for the winter if you live there

2-3 hr. ride to Whistler which is nice(bring a sweater)

Cons: Narrow streets=impossible parallel parking and no space to move around

Winter is the worst season to come due to Christmas, heavy storms, and Olympics

the prices will increase from $1-$6.(McDonalds & BurgerKing)

I'm from Vancouver, and my favourite place to travel to around here is Victoria.

Vancouver has a ton of stuff to do. Between Vancouver and all the surrounding cities, it can be hard to narrow down what to do, and it could potentially be overwhelming. We've got so many nice parks, galleries, museums, gardens, etc that it's just hard to choose, and if you want to see everything major, you may have to be fairly spread out geographically.

Vancouver is pretty awesome for foodies. So many excellent restaurants, so little time, so little money. We've also got some great local beers and wines to go around trying. There are a lot of clubs to choose from downtown, and lots of pretty good shopping if you're into that sort of thing.

If you come here, you'll need to rent a car, unless you stay downtown and don't plan on venturing far, but staying downtown is pretty expensive.

Victoria comes with the #1 downside of having to take a ferry. The ferry ride itself isn't bad, but the prices and having to wait just suck. If you're going, try not to do it on a holiday, or expect to spend hours waiting for ferries. The terminals don't have much to do, and anything you buy there will be super-expensive. Bring your own food.

However, I really, really like Victoria and the Island. Its weather is milder, much sunnier in general, and the people are more relaxed. Their unofficial motto is "newlywed or nearly dead", because most of the population is either retired, in university or otherwise young. It's got a tourist town vibe mixed with the relaxed pace of retirement, with everything that would please university students as well. There are beautiful parks and gardens, museums, old architecture, etc. There are breweries and pubs everywhere. There's a definite polite British feel to everything.

There's some great food out there, and since it's the Island, there are a lot of hippie-types out there. What that means is that there are a whole lot of organic small-time farms, dairies and other such things. If you're into eating local, you'll be in heaven. Lots of local cheeses, beers, wines, and even mead. A lot of small businesses specializing in natural products are around, and you can find some pretty neat stuff.

The Island is also beautiful for taking drives by the sea. I mean, everything's by the sea, pretty much.

I've found that if you look on the BCAA website, you can find some pretty good hotel deals in Victoria, around $55 a night in a few hotels close to downtown, whereas you could spend a minimum of $80 pretty much anywhere else in Western Canada. We tried to find somewhere different to go, but ended up going back to Victoria because the hotel prices were so much better, and why mess with a good thing?

In Vancouver there's Dine Out Vancouver at the end of every January, and in Victoria, Dine Around Victoria just a few weeks later. The idea of both is that a whole whack of restaurants sign up to be a part of it, and have a 3-4 course prix-fixe menu at one of 3 prices, around $15, $25 or $35 to advertise their food and get people to try new restaurants. If you plan your trip right to either, you can eat at some pretty fantastic places for cheaper than usual.

Vancouver:

Very metropolitan. Lots of culture, and there's something for everyone. You can hike and ski in the same day, there's a pretty good nightlife, lots of diversity an subcultures, many great art galleries, lots of shows, the public transportation system is good (though not nearly as good as most of Europe's larger cities.) Great if that's what your looking for. But sometimes a metropolis can feel like any metropolis in the western world.

Victoria:

Much more of a small-town vibe, but it's a very touristy small town, so there is a lot to do. Beacon Hill Park is lovely, there's a really sweet wax museum, and all sorts of attractions. The Royal BC Museum is worth checking out. There's not as much of a night life, but one exists on the weekend, and if you're drunk with friends, anywhere can be fun. The public transportation is not very good, but most places are walkable. Though it IS the kind of city you can tell is catering to tourists, which in itself can be unattractive to visitors.

Strangely enough, people are much friendlier in Vancouver. Victoria residents are a bit stuck-up and very few people seem truly happy there.

Depends on where you are coming from and why you are traveling. Victoria is on an island, so you have to take a ferry or fly. Vancouver is on the mainland so you can drive.

Victoria is charming in a very laid-back, slightly British way. Vancouver is cosmopolitan and a bustling economic centre.

But, as I said earlier, it depends on where you are coming from and what you want to see.

all i have to say is if your paranoid about saftey DO NOT expect to do anything really exciting in vancouver