Lose the Afternoon in Mystic Vale

Free-roaming peacocks, ornamental ponds, stone bridges and a hilltop view of the Olympics, five minutes from downtown Victoria.

A flat tidal-inlet path lined with century-old umbrella pines, rose gardens, and the ghost of a 1907 floating tearoom.

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

Victoria's Parliament Buildings flip on 3,000-plus light bulbs at dusk, and you get to just stand there with ice cream.

A 360-degree summit view ranked among Canada's most beautiful, and the whole trick is you drove here.

Victoria's Lieutenant Governor opens 36 acres of roses, Garry oak meadows and an Olympic Mountains view to the public. Free.

Two completely different waterscapes on one thin strip of sand, swans on one side, Olympics on the other, and it's free.

The sunset Victorians quietly beg you not to put on a list, from a 1914 observatory perch only locals know.

A floating boardwalk into a city wetland ten minutes from downtown, where the turtles are sunning and the eagles are showing off.

Ross Bay Cemetery holds 20,000 stories, Emily Carr, a herd of resident deer, and the ocean glinting over the wall.

Victoria's most over-delivering sunset walk, from driftwood logs on the bluff to Clover Point's kite-filled sky.

A 120-year-old garden in an old limestone quarry, where Jennie Butchart invented romance out of an industrial problem.

Hike 20 minutes through old Garry oaks, or drive up after noon, for a 360-degree view over Victoria and Mount Baker.

Nine acres of themed gardens in Saanich, a Takata Japanese garden, and Canada's largest outdoor bonsai collection for a few dollars.