Donuts at the Esquimalt Bake Shop

A charming independent village cafe in the heart of Brentwood Bay, with award-winning coffee, fresh house baking, and board games.

A local artisan ice cream shop in the walkable heart of Langford, sharing its counter with Victoria Pie Co.

The Fort Street bakery's Uptown counter, putting proper French pastry and real espresso in the middle of Saanich.

A tiny from-scratch bake shop and ice cream counter at the top of Beacon Avenue, with outdoor seats a few minutes from the pier.

A flat paved shoreline path from the West Bay marina toward downtown, with float planes overhead and otters on the rocks.

Seventy-six acres of rare Garry oak meadow in Oak Bay, with unsigned paths, April camas and flat rocks at the water.

A deaf owned cafe on the West Bay Marina boardwalk, serving waffles, smoked salmon toast and an ocean view from 7am.

A 1909 bank vault of a bookshop on Government Street, on every world's-best-bookshop list, and it costs nothing to wander.

Victoria's first board-game café, eight dollars buys you all night, a game guru, paninis, milkshakes, and at least one minor dispute.

Forty classic cabinets, twenty-five pinball machines, and the largest pinball collection in Western Canada, in atmospheric Trounce Alley.

A 50-seat Fernwood wine bar in a charmingly creaky heritage building, built for daily-changing small plates and old-world wine.

Belly up to Chinatown's tea tasting bar, argue over blends, then disappear into a spa for two.

An 18-hole haunted-house mini-golf course downtown with rocking chairs, transforming portraits, and a private ping pong lounge for the rematch.

A cliff-edge gravel loop in Esquimalt with wind-shaped firs, a sneaky gravel cove and the Olympic Mountains straight ahead.