Royal B.C. Museum

Frommer's Review

One of the world's best regional museums, the Royal B.C. has a mandate to present the land and the people of coastal British Columbia. The second-floor Natural History Gallery showcases the coastal flora, fauna, and geography from the Ice Age to the present; it includes dioramas of a temperate rainforest, a seacoast, and (particularly appealing to kids) a life-size woolly mastodon. The third-floor Modern History Gallery presents the recent past, including historically faithful re-creations of Victoria's downtown and Chinatown. On the same floor, the First Peoples Gallery is an incredible showpiece of First Nations art and culture with rare artifacts used in day-to-day native life, a full-size re-creation of a longhouse, and a hauntingly wonderful gallery with totem poles, masks, and artifacts. The museum also has an IMAX theater showing an ever-changing variety of large-screen movies. On the way out (or in), be sure to stop by Thunderbird Park, beside the museum, where a cedar longhouse (Mungo Martin House, named after a famous Kwakiutl artist) houses a workshop where native carvers work on new totem poles. To see and experience everything takes 3 to 4 hours.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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