Fairmont President's Club - Victoria Empress - parking option

Does anyone know what Empress charges for parking? Any other good parking options?

Does anyone know what Empress charges for parking? Any other good parking options?

Q1; Too bloody much; $ 28.00 a day, both for valet parking and self-parking. That is even more than the cost of parking at LHR, which I have generally found to be the very apogee of extortion.

Q2; A very good question and one I am also trying to answer, as I am on the point of cancelling a car hire reservation for our stay at the Empress next month as I am not prepared to pay more to park the car than it costs to hire it.

Q1; Too bloody much; $ 28.00 a day, both for valet parking and self-parking. That is even more than the cost of parking at LHR, which I have generally found to be the very apogee of extortion.

Q2; A very good question and one I am also trying to answer, as I am on the point of cancelling a car hire reservation for our stay at the Empress next month as I am not prepared to pay more to park the car than it costs to hire it.

How did you rent a car for less than $28 a day? Will you rent the car in the States? I will be staying at the Empress in August and am debating whether to rent a car to visit the Buchart Garden.

I will be staying at the Empress in August and am debating whether to rent a car to visit the Buchart Garden.

I've used the local bus system there before to/from the airport, as well as an international swim meet in Saanich, and it worked well. Looks like they have service to Butchart Gardens, too. I'll be trying it myself in just over 2 weeks.
http://bct2.baremetal.com/regions/vic/schedules/explore/attractions.cfm

I have quite a few Victoria photos HERE (http://tom911.smugmug.com/gallery/2806395_R2s4c#149833739_GD64V)

How did you rent a car for less than $28 a day? Will you rent the car in the States? I will be staying at the Empress in August and am debating whether to rent a car to visit the Buchart Garden.

I took a Greyline tour thing to Buchart Garden. Very comfy and as I recall, not crazy expensive either. I'd recommend that.

Q1; Too bloody much; $ 28.00 a day, both for valet parking and self-parking. That is even more than the cost of parking at LHR, which I have generally found to be the very apogee of extortion.

Wow, is parking that cheap in the UK? I'd think that C$28 a day for parking in a touristy place or major city in North America is quite cheap. Anyhow, I think it'd be a bit of a pain to rent a car and drive it around Victoria.

Thanks choptliva and tom911 for the infomation. I will take a bus to visit the Gardens.

I stayed there this past weekend and parked on the street.

Street parking is free evenings from 6pm until morning and all day Sunday. The Empress's underground parkade is run by the city and contracted out, and known to be the most expensive in the city. You'll easily find cheaper options depending on distance/convenience (in/out priveledges).

One idea, if you must rent a car is to return it each night and sign out a new rental in the morning, as the major rental car lots are behind the Empress/Convention Centre.

I'd expect that you'd be able to go without a car on a few days, if you're there to enjoy the town, and activities around the harbour and downtown core.

Just stayed there a few days ago... I parked about 3 minute walk away right by the water/docks for $12 a day. Lots of cameras and constant stream of ppl walking in that area so felt safe leaving the Porsche there for a few nights:)

$28 CAN per day is cheap compared to $49 USD per day at the Fairmont Chicago:( I wouldn't think twice about paying that rate...although now that I know there is $12 parking 3 minutes away, I guess I would ;)

Just stayed there a few days ago... I parked about 3 minute walk away right by the water/docks for $12 a day. Lots of cameras and constant stream of ppl walking in that area so felt safe leaving the Porsche there for a few nights:)

Hi Kokinos,
Do you know the street address of the garage you used? We have
a trip in August and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Hi Kokinos,
Do you know the street address of the garage you used? We have
a trip in August and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

This wasn't a garage but outdoor parking... but if you really need covered parking there are a few options very close to the empress but I didn't go looking for them.

I parked on the west side of the 900 block on wharf street, it's right next to the marina, float planes and some whale watching operations and about 300 meters from the front door of the empress. The entrance is accross from Broughton st from wharf st as indicated in this map:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=victoria%2Bbc&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=48.4229,-123.368257&spn=0.004685,0.013078&z=17

Let me know if this makes sense?

Here's a link to some info regarding city parkades in Victoria. While not the most picturesque tourist destinations, the parkades are much cheaper than hotel parking. The Empress is located on the Causeway next to the convention centre (which is indicated on the map).


http://www.victoria.ca/common/maps/dt_parking.pdf
http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/departments_engprk.shtml

Have a wonderful trip.

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. I ended up parking on the street (Humboldt St) right beside the hotel for free over the Aug long weekend. There was no problem finding parking on the streets at all.
If anyone is looking for parkade parking, there's a parkade on Broughton St that charges $11 per day. The front desk staff told me it's run by the same people that runs that Fairmont parkade.

The Marriott on Humboldt charges $15/day.

Ron.