Victoria's Best Food Tours

Is Fan Tan Alley Really That Narrow? Our Victoria Donut Tour Finds Out

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It is. Stretch your arms out and you can nearly touch both walls. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

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Victoria's downtown is small enough to walk and old enough to have a lot to say, which is why a donut tour works so well here. We start at Empire Donuts, where flavors like brown butter toffee pecan get things going. From there your guide heads into Old Town, among restored brick warehouses and heritage storefronts from the Gold Rush years, when Victoria was where prospectors outfitted themselves before heading north.

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Discovery Coffee pairs a crisp cruller with locally roasted coffee. Then the route slips into Chinatown, the oldest in Canada, and through Fan Tan Alley itself. Gambling dens and opium factories once hid behind these doors, and your guide has the stories.

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Crust Bakery is next, with brioche donuts and cronuts. Friends & Family Bake brings Filipino flavors like ube, along with bichu, a twisted sugar doughnut. If it's Sunday, warm churros from Maiiz Nixtamal join the lineup instead.

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Island weather

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Wind off the water. A bit of drizzle. That's a normal morning on the island, so jackets come along and each stop doubles as a warm place to regroup before the next stretch of the walking tour. Nobody's in a rush here, and the pace of this food tour matches the city.

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A lot of our guests step off a cruise ship at Ogden Point with a few hours to spend and want a real taste of downtown before they sail.

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Two ways to walk it

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The Victoria Scenic Downtown Donut Tour runs year-round, two hours through Old Town and Chinatown with four bakery and cafe stops. When the holidays come around, the Victoria Holiday Donut Tour takes the same downtown route while the windows and alleys are lit up and decorated for the season. Same alley. Same stories. More twinkle.