Guides
Car-free public gardens in British Columbia by ferry and transit
Public gardens in British Columbia by ferry and transit: BC Ferries crossings, TransLink and BC Transit links to Butchart, VanDusen and UBC gardens.
What to take away
- Foot passengers walk onto most BC Ferries sailings without a reservation. Vehicles need one, and summer sailings fill first.
- Butchart Gardens, VanDusen Botanical Garden and UBC Botanical Garden all work without a car. Each needs a different connection at the far end.
- BC Transit route 70 meets most Swartz Bay sailings, and TransLink route 17 runs along Oak Street past the VanDusen gate.
- Check opening hours on the operator's own page, not a search result.
Ferry routes and the gardens at the end of them
Butchart Gardens sits on the Saanich Peninsula, about 20 kilometers north of Victoria. The car-free route starts at a ferry terminal. BC Ferries runs Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay in roughly an hour and a half, and Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay in about the same time — but none of the gardens in this guide sit at the Departure Bay end, so the Swartz Bay crossing is the one to plan around.
On Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, the first sailing is typically 7:00 a.m. and the last is typically 9:00 p.m., with departures about every two hours in peak season. Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen keeps the same pattern. Treat those times as typical and check bcferries.com for your date.
Ferry and transit routes to gardens
Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay
- Starting point
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- Crossing or line
- Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay
- Onward leg
- Bus into Victoria, then seasonal service
- Garden
- Butchart Gardens
Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay
- Starting point
- Vancouver, Horseshoe Bay
- Crossing or line
- Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay
- Onward leg
- Bus into Victoria, then local routes
- Garden
- Abkhazi Garden
SkyTrain and TransLink bus
- Starting point
- Downtown Vancouver
- Crossing or line
- SkyTrain, then TransLink bus
- Onward leg
- Bus along Oak Street
- Garden
- VanDusen Botanical Garden
Foot passengers walk on and pay at the terminal. The Butchart Gardens history explains how a limestone quarry became the island anchor of many garden trips.
From downtown Vancouver, the Canada Line to Bridgeport Station connects with TransLink route 620 to the Tsawwassen terminal, and route 257 runs from downtown to Horseshoe Bay. From Swartz Bay, BC Transit route 70 meets most sailings and continues into downtown Victoria.
In summer a paid shuttle runs from downtown Victoria to the garden gate. It is a seasonal service, so confirm the current dates and pickup points on Butchart's own site before you build your day around it.
Crossing or line
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay
- Downtown Vancouver
- SkyTrain, then TransLink bus
- Downtown Vancouver
- SkyTrain Canada Line, then campus bus
Onward leg
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- BC Transit route 70 to Victoria, then the seasonal shuttle
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- BC Transit route 70 to Victoria, then local routes
- Downtown Vancouver
- TransLink route 17 along Oak Street
- Downtown Vancouver
- R4 RapidBus to UBC campus, then a walk
Garden
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- Butchart Gardens
- Vancouver, Tsawwassen
- Abkhazi Garden
- Downtown Vancouver
- VanDusen Botanical Garden
- Downtown Vancouver
- UBC Botanical Garden
What you have to book ahead
Butchart sells admission at the gate, but its summer evening programs and holiday light shows are timed. When a slot sells out, staff turn people away that night, however far they have travelled. Book at least a week ahead in July and August. For light shows, buy the day tickets are released, often in early November.
Book ahead for timed garden visits
- Book at least a week ahead in July and August
- Buy light show tickets when released, often early November
- Budget CAD 40 to 60 for peak adult admission
- Confirm admission on the operator's page
- Reserve vehicle space months ahead for peak summer sailings
Admission is charged separately from ferry and transit tickets, and each ticketed garden handles entry on its own. Plan to buy at the gate or on the garden's own page rather than through a reseller.
Anything sold as accessible deserves a second look. trusting the word accessible is the first mistake many car-free visitors make, because a step-free ferry berth does not mean a step-free garden path.
Ferry reservations matter only if you bring a vehicle. A car needs a reserved spot on peak summer sailings. Reserve at least eight weeks ahead for July and August, and earlier for long weekends.
Opening times that catch people out
Most BC gardens run shorter winter hours and close earlier than visitors expect. VanDusen, managed by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, publishes seasonal hours on vancouver.ca, and that page outranks any listing site. UBC Botanical Garden closes its gates at a set time and does not offer re-entry on a single ticket.
As a rough guide, gates close near 4 or 5 p.m. in winter and stay open to 8 or 9 p.m. in summer. UBC Botanical Garden posts its dates on ubcbotanicalgarden.org and Butchart Gardens on butchartgardens.com, and each of those pages carries the exact season range.
Ferries keep a timetable too, and a late garden closing is no help if the last practical sailing leaves before you finish. Work out what stays open till last before you fix your crossings, since shoulder-season sailings are quieter and the queues are shorter.
Access on arrival without a car
Each step below removes a way to be turned away.
Car-free arrival sequence
- Pick the sailing before the garden ticket
- Reserve vehicle space if driving, months ahead
- Buy the garden ticket online
- Check the last return sailing before committing
A full car-free day works when the crossings are built around the garden's closing time.
- Take the Canada Line to Bridgeport Station, then TransLink route 620 to the Tsawwassen terminal.
- Sail on the 7:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay crossing so the afternoon stays free.
- Board BC Transit route 70 at Swartz Bay into Victoria, then the summer shuttle to the garden gate.
- Walk the garden in the middle of the day, then head back into Victoria before the early evening.
- Catch the 7:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. sailing home, and confirm the last sailing for your date first.
In Vancouver the same logic applies without salt water. Route 17 runs along Oak Street past the VanDusen gate, and the R4 RapidBus reaches UBC campus. The VanDusen Botanical Garden gate on Oak Street sits a few blocks from several stops. TransLink runs those routes, not the garden, so check its trip planner for service on your date.
Access limits and restrictions
Butchart's sunken garden has stairs and steep paths. The site shuttle does not remove every climb. Dogs are refused at the gate at most BC gardens, service animals excepted.
The tree canopy walkway at UBC Botanical Garden is a separate ticketed route with a suspended bridge, and it closes in high wind or ice. If you are weighing a walled garden against a tree collection, a botanical garden vs arboretum comparison is worth ten minutes before you book.
Who to contact when the site says nothing
Ask the garden's own visitor services first about admission and access. For Vancouver park gardens, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation answers those questions. BC Ferries customer service owns the timetable, and TransLink or BC Transit owns the buses.
If nobody replies in time, plan for the strictest version of the rule. A wrong guess about a gate closing time can cost a whole day, and wasted days, dead tickets are the usual result when transport and admission are booked separately.
Accessible door-to-door travel takes planning. HandyDART, and the handyDART services run by BC Transit, require registration before booking, and that is not same-day.
