Description: With a location close to ideal for a visit to Victoria, the Harbour Towers turned out to be an excellent choice. It’s a block back from the inner harbour and in a five-minute walk you can visit the Wax Museum, the Undersea Gardens, the Parliament Buildings, and the Royal British Columbia Museum; and although it has its own restaurant (Impression), there are a number of other restaurants nearby. If you want to walk 10 to 15 minutes, you can access much of downtown Victoria. It’s actually in an area with a lot of hotels, so why this one?
We were looking for a non-smoking two bedroom suite and your options in Victoria in a reasonable price range are fairly limited. There is this hotel and the Royal Scot just steps away down a pleasant street. Then the price goes up. We really liked the suite: a king bedroom with TV, balcony and full bath, a queen bedroom with balcony access and a half bath, a kitchen with a two-burner stove top, microwave and bar fridge, dishes and glassware. The main room was extremely large and divided into living room with balcony, sofa, armchairs, and TV as well as a dining area with seating for six. There is no air conditioning but all the windows open and there are ceiling fans in the living room and the king bedroom. I am inclined to believe that except in odd cases, that would be sufficient. Our eleventh-floor room had nice view over the city toward the Olympic Mountains and the harbour entrance.
Other features of the hotel included the restaurant and lounge, a gift shop and underground parking (2007-$7.42/night). There are also a pool, whirlpool, sauna, and a fitness centre. A sun tanning bed is available and there is a children’s play area. As a full-service hotel there is babysitting (with notice), same-day laundry and dry-cleaning. There is also free Internet in the lobby and safety deposit boxes are available.
In the final analysis it had everything going for it…the only sore point was the lack of speed during check-out. (A convention was leaving as we left…I ended up being about sixth in line with only one girl on the desk.) Otherwise, it was a clean, middle-level hotel, attractive, and in pretty good shape. (My 2007 Internet rate for a two bedroom room charges plus all the add-on taxes and service charges was about $202/night.) Look it up at Harbour Towers.
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