Any suggestions for hotels/b & b on Vancouver Island, near UVic?

[mahina]

Fun things to do?
We are visiting to look at schools for my son, checking out UVic on the island and Simon Fraser in Vancouver.
Any insights would be welcomed. We are not the 5 star types but someplace cool with some personality would be great. Cheap is good too!
Thanks, I'll hip you to some very cool off the beaten track spots here on Oahu if you are interested. Mahalo!
(Any insights on the schools, safety, community, random data on living there would be welcomed too. And if you want to send YOUR kids here for school, can't imagine why you would because UH stinks, ,3rd generation alum speaking here, you'd better do it quick because our regents are going to double the tuition in the next 6 years.)

[stellanoir]

1. PM

yvr girl. I'm sure she'll have some suggestions.

[BeanCounting]

2. Our family just finished vacationing on the island........

And I found a great rate by booking through expedia.com and staying at the Ramada right at the harbor. It was located within walking distance of all the downtown shopping, Parliament building, Chinatown, and lots of other great sites, and was only $53 American per night, very reasonable! Have a great time, it's a beautiful town!

[tuvor]

3. Paul's Motor Inn is all right.

It's adjacent to the downtown core, but I have no idea how close it is to UVic. The rooms are kind of retro by default. A courtyard room is better--a little more privacy.

http://www.paulsmotorinn.com/welcome.htm

Thanks for the Hawaii tip, earlier, BTW. Now, to scrape enough change together.

Have a great visit.

P.S. Avoid Travelodge. I have heard enough about them to know that I'll never use them.

[Lisa]

4. how about staying here on campus?

http://www.housing.uvic.ca/visitor/visitoraccom.php


You could get a double room ($55 Cdn per night, which I think is about $45 or so US?), or a cluster unit if several of you are coming up.


My colleagues swear by the Travellers Inn downtown on Douglas near the old Hudson's Bay store (it's on the #14 bus route up to the school, and convenient to a lot of other downtown stuff too). I knew a nice lady with a B&B 2 blocks from campus but she's moved.



personality -- check out Rick Mercer's report from UVic, from CBC comedy.

http://www.cbc.ca/mondayreport/backissues.html




Re: where UVic is -- 20 years ago this was on the edge of town, but in the meantime a bunch of suburbs have grown up (like everywhere else on the continent, it seems). Look for the circle on the centre right. It's about 20 minutes from downtown by bus.





Let me know when you're going to be in town. I'm teaching summer courses (again) and would be happy to show you around.

[mahina]

5. Thank you, you are very kind!

I really appreciate that!
We will be getting in over there on the 4th of June and will be there till the night of the 7th. I will pm you with our hotel info and would really be grateful for an orientation by someone from there.
To give you an idea of how out of our range it is, we all thought foolishly that your island was small like ours, and hour or two to drive around. But we really aren't stupid, usually, just didn't check the map scale. Wow, Vancouver Island is huge! Any suggestions would be so helpful.
I did check out the UVic accomodations but couldn't sell the idea to my sweet 65 year old mom. Thanks for all the info!

[Lisa]

6. local B&B directory

http://www.greatervictoria.com/greatervictoriabb/greatervictoriabbdirectory.htm

Some of them assume that you have access to a car, when they quote distances to UVic.

Arbutus Haven and Gordonwerth Manor are not too far away.