A Visit to Ross Bay, Victoria B.C.

I have a little bit of an obsession with maps. When I travel, I spend far more time staring at Google Maps and exploring the area, than actually planning what to see and do. I also (sometimes wrongly) assume that where something is marked on the map, it might be worth seeing. But with Ross Bay, Victoria, I wasn’t wrong!

So when I was in Victoria, B.C. in the spring, I spent lots of time scouting the area around the city on Google Maps. I lucked into finding Ross Bay Public Pebbles Beach (being a Maritime girl, I’m a sucker for a good beach).

Ross Bay is only an 8 minute drive from downtown Victoria, but of course, why drive when you can walk! It was about 50 minutes on foot, but we walked through cute neighbourhoods, past a little school and a farmers’ market, and really isn’t strenuous if you take your time.

The path to the beach is through the Ross Bay Cemetery, which is beautiful, and where many prominent British Columbians are buried. But also – when we were there – it was full of frolicking deer!

The day we went was beautiful and sunny – but very windy. As it turned out, this is a great spot for all kinds of water sports. We saw kitesurfers, and lots of people using hovercraft looking things to do terrifying tricks on the waves.

Looking for more to do on Vancouver Island? Check out adorable Sidney By The Sea

Eventually, the beach connects to the walking path that goes all around the coast.

On a warmer day, I’m sure the Ross Bay beach would have been packed. There was loads of room for kids to run on the rocks, and to hunt for sea glass and driftwood. Lots of locals were sitting on the sea wall with coffees, watching the adventurous surfers.

Ross Bay was a great day trip to get out of the city and really appreciate how connected Victoria is to the water.