Royal BC Museum

I enjoyed the way the displays were presented. We all enjoyed the Angkor display. A little disappointed that the display on the upper level was closed. The carvings on the exit doors are amazing.

Great museum! Definitely doable in a half day with kids. We went back later that day to see Jurassic Park in 3D which was amazing!

One of the best museum experiences you can find. Even better now that COVID has thinned the crowds out. Orca exhibit and IMAX movie was very thought-provoking.

Really cool day trip. They are changing up the colonization section of the museum so I hope they keep the cool walk through “real” settings idea when they replace it.

Great permanent displays with well done dioramas of life in days of yore. Worth spending a few hours at.

Worth going once, don't think I will go back again. Disappointed that the Chinese exhibit is hidden and tucked in a tiny corner without any signage.

Museum hasn't changed in a very long time (ever since I was born). They do have a floor that cycles through travelling exhibits.

I live this museum. It's possibly the best museum I've ever been to. We took our 2 year old here and she really enjoyed it. It's very interactive.

Very cool and informative exhibits. Would definitely suggest for something cool to do when looking for a well thought out museum.

Never gets old! I come here once every few months and I still love it just the same. The exhibits are always so well done and the quality and detail put into the visuals for this museum is exquisite. I personally live in Van and I still take the ferry over to show my friends this place. The indigenous culture displayed in this building are beautiful and the IMAX theater is always great fun!

I found it tiring and would have rather got there early and split up the Museum exhibits with the IMAX. Cafe closed at 3, I guess. I wanted to take a second break there. Some parts were too crowded to physically distance, but at least they check vaccine passports… although they don’t that carefully.

A solid addition to any trip to Victoria!

The Royal BC Museum is not a large museum when comparing to the likes of Toronto, but with its size, it offers a pleasant experience! With the likes of museums in Toronto, there are times where I feel that there simply is too much and get overwhelmed by what to spend time looking at. With the Royal BC Museum, I feel that the space is utilized to an incredible level and the paths that are laid out for the museum goers will not confuse.

Exhibits are laid out in relevant order, especially the likes of the history of BC exhibit that takes you through time and displays some amazing ambience and looks into what the past looked like! My only negative would have to be the price for admission for the museum. I wasn’t able to fit in any time to experience the IMAX aspect of the museum, so I’m simply talking of the museum admission fee. Thankfully there is a student discount, so be sure to bring student id to show as proof to get the discount!

If you’ve got the time, try and fit a trip to the Royal BC Museum into your visit to Victoria, it’s sure to be a great experience for both child and adult alike!

Great place to take adult visitors or your children. There are a number of permanent exhibits depicting earlier times in BC and lots of interesting artifacts. Recent additions paying respect to first nation communities are much appreciated.

The permanent exhibit (covering First Nations' and Canada's history) was pretty great: coherent ideas presented through real artifacts and very impressive (in scale and detail) recreations of real things.

The temporary exhibit on orcas: not so much.

5/5 because the permanent's what matters

Great place to read up on the history of BC, the people and the current exhibit on orcas is very interesting. You can go in and out if needed. The IMAX is something that should be seen, we watched Turtle Odessy.

J'ai surtout admiré la vue du port et de la baie de Victoria vue du haut du 3 e étage de cette édifice. Super!

Such a great museum! We loved how immersive some of the exhibits were, and we appreciated the help from a security guard that showed us the real ice on the wooly mammoth exhibit that we could touch. Definitely go see the Orca exhibit before it leaves!

One of the best in Canada for Natural History! It is absolutely amazing how much work went into the Natural History of BC - current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, palaeontology, climatology, and more.just mind-boggling how amazing it all was. I expected more of our Indigenous history but was exceptionally disappointed by the lack of effort that goes into other BC cultures history. That is the reason why I can only give it 4 stars, plus the Black history exhibition was extremely lacklustre. Note.can you imagine living the life of an Orca) Relax, travel, socialise, forage, blissful.

Unfortunately me and my family didn't have the best experience. There was no social distancing (People were crowding and pushing others), the staff were rude, and everything is way over priced. This museum is outdated (I seen the same stuff when I was a pre teen. I'm 32 now. Nothing has changed. Except the price that has gone up by alot lol.

We spent five hours at the Royal BC Museum that day. Great displayed subjects and I never knew much about the west coastal history, but I do now. Definitely recommend this stop on the Victoria Tour. We will definitely return again to see the new exhibits.

I always love coming here and haven't been since I was a kid. It's just as fantastic as I remembered. Their current exhibit is wonderful (on orcas). We were lucky and went when it wasn't too busy. A must see in Victoria.

First time here and it was a very cool experience! Just new to town so decided to go about an hour and a half before close which if you want the full experience was definatly not enough time. Their exhibits were super cool and a lot of interesting information if you like museums. Also if you have kids it would be a fantastic place! To anyone in the area that has a spare few hours I highly recommend!

It's hard to score the Royal BC Museum. For exhibits, it's lovely. The staff are friendly, the location is easy to access, and the facilities are well-kept and clean, however, the display corridors throughout the building from orcas to old-town are dimly lit, making access troublesome for those with even modest vision-impairment. Please turn up the lights!

Was there with my mom. Incredible Experience. I never heard such a lot of information about First Nation people, about their culture and traditions. Orcas exhibition was very educational, but more for children, some facts I already knew. What I enjoyed next was an exhibition with different people’s dialects. The most exciting for me was gold rush times hotel, bar, cinema and women boutique. I felt those emotions under my skin. Will definitely recommend Royal BC Museum to all my friends.

I loved this museum! The history  section is like stepping on the set of a period piece, which is a refreshing break from other museums that take themselves *a bit* too seriously. The environmental section does a great job educating people about the risks of climate change in an easily digestible manner. Be sure to check out the IMAX theater when you're there for a short but engaging film:)

I have lived in BC all my life. Finally made it to the museum. It was 100% worth it. I wish I had more time to spend in all the exhibits but with young children they just wanted to run from room to room! Would definitely visit again.

We received free tickets to the museum via our Prince of Whales tour (for a corresponding exhibit on Orcas) and I'm glad we did! The life-sized Orcas models really help solidify these apex predators.

The First Nation's exhibit was awe inducing, my favorite part was the log drum inside the recreated home. The drum and subsequent drumming (there were no signs prohibiting touching, sorry if we weren't supposed to) gave us an unprecedented glimpse into their culture and a sense of connectedness that none of us expected. Overall, wonderful "sets" and storytelling.

Really nice museum for the price I have gotten a lot less for the price that's for sure. Really would recommend if you're interested in human history.

Nice museum, you can get around in about 90 minutes if you take your time a little. The history of BC people areas are very good

A lovely journey through natural and human history. Immersive in its exhibit design and full of interesting displays.

The gift shop has a good selection, especially of books and field guides.

We went for the Egyptian exhibits and they were fantastic but it was so crowded that we didn't get to enjoy everything as much as we would have liked.
I recommend checking what peak hours are and never going for the first 2 weeks or the last 2 weeks of an exhibition.

Great experience at this museum. Very well organized even at busy, crowded times. Glad we got to see the first nation people and the Egyptian exhibits.

We stopped into the museum in Victoria on a whim, and it was fantastic! We caught the last days of the Egyptian exhibit, and toured the main exhibits as well. The historical displays for the natural environment of BC are beautiful. We saw kids going crazy looking at the animal displays. The Native People's exhibit was wonderful, and the history of BC has a little historical town display that's fun to look through. Don't miss this museum if you are in Victoria.

I've enjoyed the human history section! All about the first Nation. Awesome! And well organized. If you're interested in the history of Egypt then it's a perfect place to go too!

A fantastically immersive experience - the recreated little town, the mine, the first nations lodge, and even the modern film about First Nation's people and their relationship to their languages is super fascinating. I definitely recommend going - oh, and the IMAX is super fun too.

Great place to spend an afternoon. The Egypt display was amazing and I always enjoy learning if our own past herein Canada. Worth every penny of admission.

Beautifully done exhibit for the Egyptian display - was just a little disappointed at how little historical information was presented with it. The pieces were well selected, and well displayed though, even if they were not well explained.

Went to see the Egyptian display, a little underwhelming. The display area was mostly darker than necessary and the lighting for a lot of the artifacts was either too bright or in shadows. There were a few nightlighs but mostly not extraordinary.

Nice place to meet BC history and culture, tickets are about 27$. One can visit either the temporary expositions or the permanent ones. Resuming: a Victoria's must -visit site

The museum was ok. The Native peoples exhibit was well down however the rest of the displays seemed small and lackluster compared to other museums in Ottawa. The information also seemed false. The Egypt exhibit claimed to not use any slaves to build which is wrong.

It's to small and not enough different subjects each subject should viewed with people sitting on a chairs and the subject should be on a rotation display with a voice telling you about what it is and what was it used for.

My favorite museum. It's huge and has amazing exhibits and displays. Great place for kids and adults alike! I also felt it was very reasonably priced for what it is.

We have always loved coming to this multi-level museum and to our delight currently they're housing the Egypt Exhibition! It made a great experience even better. A few of the diaramas are showing their age but that's not a criticism, merely an observation. A National Geographic AND Royal BC gift shop, coffee shop, and a snack bar for the IMAX theater which you can add to your experience round out the complex. Behind the building are many food trucks as well if you're craving more than coffee shop fare. Within walking distance of many more eateries, the harbour, motels and shopping.
Honestly, if you are spending any time in Victoria you should add this to your itinerary!

I found the Egyptian display well laid out informative. In combination with the IMAX presentation was a double bonus. As a visitor to Victoria, I throughly enjoyed the native and historic displays of the west coast of BC. A must see when your in town.

Really excellent museum with incredible exhibits on Victoria, BC, and Indigenous Peoples. Current visiting exhibit on Egypt was also exceptional. Have also previously been to the IMAX and it was amazing.

The price of admission was a little steep for adults; the annual pass seems like a good deal for locals so I plan to check that option out in the future. (I also understand that you can check out free passes from the Victoria Public Library, but there's a waiting list.)

I was not super impressed with the school groups who were there the day of our visit. They didn't seem well supervised or organized and made it really difficult to get around or fully enjoy the Egypt exhibit. I know museums are really important for schools and education - I would think museum staff would be more involved with the organized school outings to ensure all patrons are having a good experience. I may have just caught a bad group on a bad day.

I think we're lucky to have this place in Victoria and I know I'll spend more time here in the future.

Loved it. Natural history, BC's history, and the exhibit on Egypt was very cool. The kids thought it was pretty amazing, I don't know how much information they will retain, but it's all about learning new things.

A great place to visit with local history and the first nations people exhibits. The Egyptian display was okay but I especially liked the totem poles. The fishing/logging exhibits were also a hit. Well done and worth a visit. Parking nearby. Go in the morning as soon as it opens at 10 as it can get busy.

The Egyptian exhibit is a must-see be sure to get there early to enjoy every bit of everything they have on display. I spent over 4 hours and I still didn't see everything.great staff and a wonderful environment