Victoria named second best city in Canada by prestigious travel magazine

Victoria and Vancouver Island are getting a lot of love this week!

Travel + Leisure Magazine, who has been handing out their World’s Best Awards for over three decades, has named Victoria the second best city in Canada and Vancouver Island the best island in the country.

Victoria came runner-up to Quebec City, but beat out Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver, which comprised the list’s top five spots.

According to the magazine, more than 207,000 people voted in this year’s awards.

Vancouver Island also got some love from the magazine, being voted the best island in Canada. It beat out Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island, who took the number two and three spots respectively.

Travel + Leisure especially loved the ruggedness of the place Vancouver Islanders call home.

“With temperate rainforests, rocky coasts and whale watching—plus beloved luxury lodges in towns like Tofino—this British Columbian island is the ultimate wilderness escape,” the website said about Vancouver Island.

The magazine’s voters also loved the Empress Hotel, ranking it the best hotel in Canada. The Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino was honoured as well, coming in as the third best resort in the country.

This is the second publication this week to place Victoria in the top three places to live in Canada, with CanadaLocalGuide.ca putting the city at their number three spot.

Related: 

• Victoria ranked among top cities to live in Canada for 2026

• Victoria’s Fairmont Empress ranked best city hotel in all of Canada

There’s a lot to love about this little island and all the people on it.

Every once in a while, it’s nice to get a little reminder of how incredible our home truly is.