The Magnolia Hotel & Spa
Victoria's sophisticated boutique hotel
At The Magnolia Hotel & Spa, it’s all about the details. Hotel staff members who are active on social media have been known to surprise guests who’ve posted about upcoming birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions with little touches that make their stay a bit more special.
But even if you aren’t celebrating anything in particular at the Victoria hotel, you'll receive special treatment; there’s always coffee or tea in the lobby, along with fresh lemonade when the weather heats up and hot cider to warm you when it turns chilly. Rooms come with tea from beloved local shop Silk Road, where the in-house tea master makes specialty blends. At turndown, more treats await — it could be chocolates or sweet-smelling sparkling rhubarb bubble bath, all of which are locally made.
The Forbes Travel Guide Recommended hotel itself has plenty to offer. There’s the seven-room spa that focuses on services that use organic products, The Courtney Room serving up local ingredients in a French brasserie setting and a white marble bar where you will want to sip cocktails into the wee hours.
But even if you aren’t celebrating anything in particular at the Victoria hotel, you'll receive special treatment; there’s always coffee or tea in the lobby, along with fresh lemonade when the weather heats up and hot cider to warm you when it turns chilly. Rooms come with tea from beloved local shop Silk Road, where the in-house tea master makes specialty blends. At turndown, more treats await — it could be chocolates or sweet-smelling sparkling rhubarb bubble bath, all of which are locally made.
The Forbes Travel Guide Recommended hotel itself has plenty to offer. There’s the seven-room spa that focuses on services that use organic products, The Courtney Room serving up local ingredients in a French brasserie setting and a white marble bar where you will want to sip cocktails into the wee hours.
Our Inspector's Highlights
- Inside the boutique hotel, the design is distinctive, mixing traditional furnishings with more contemporary touches — in keeping with Victoria’s historic past and rapidly evolving, high-tech, local-food-loving present.
- The Magnolia offers excellent Curated Journeys, day trips that range from wine tasting in the Cowichan Valley to whale watching and strolling through the lush Butchart Gardens, along with closer-to-home Curated Trails, self-guided itineraries for shopping, food, craft breweries and more.
- You can walk from the conveniently located Victoria hotel to many downtown attractions, including the Inner Harbour, Royal British Columbia Museum and Parliament Buildings as well as the city’s small but historic Chinatown and the fun, funky shops on Lower Johnson Street
- Pacific Northwest cuisine takes center stage at The Magnolia’s restaurant The Courtney Room. It's one of the chicest spots in town.
- The Victoria hotel’s seven-room spa focuses on services that use organic products. Try the Spa Magnolia Signature for a sampler of treatments, including a body scrub, hydrotherapy bath, facial and massage.
Things to Know
- If you want to avoid Victoria at its most crowded but still enjoy good weather, the late spring (May through mid-June) and early fall (mid-September through October) are great choices for checking into the luxury hotel.
- Borrow one of the hotel's bikes to explore charming Victoria.
- Ask for a Signature Corner room to get a view of the Inner Harbour and the domed Parliament Buildings, which illuminate at night.
The Rooms
- The 64 rooms at The Magnolia Hotel & Spa are fairly traditional in design, but they feel contemporary, too, particularly after a 2013 refresh that updated the bedding, curtains and more in stylish shades of taupe, cream and gray.
- The reading chairs are upholstered in pearl gray, and the two-poster beds, desks and night tables in dark mahogany contrast nicely with the lighter-hued linens.
- Black-and-white photos — close-ups of architecture around Victoria, British Columbia — decorate the walls.
- Ranging in size from 300 to 400 square feet, rooms are outfitted with small refrigerators, coffeemakers and flat-screen TVs, and staff will bring a DVD player up to you on request.
- While all the corner rooms are larger and brighter, the Victoria hotel’s best accommodations are the corner units on the sixth and seventh floors, which also have views of both the lovely harbor and the Parliament Buildings with their distinctive copper-topped domes.
The Restaurants
- The Magnolia Hotel & Spa debuted The Courtney Room in April 2018. Upstairs, is the more formal dining space, with silver-gray Frette napkins adorning tables, while downstairs is the more casual bar area. Wood chevron floors and a modern palette of gray, dark blue and white runs throughout both chic venues. A second-floor patio is open seasonally.
- The Victoria restaurant sources ingredients from local farms and a wild food forager. The chef's tasting menu is a highlight for foodies.
- The wine list features local and international selections, including favorites from British Columbia, such as Fitzpatrick Brut sparkling wine, and Vancouver Island bottles from Unsworth and Averill Creek in the Cowichan Valley.
- At the bar, order comfort food like yellowtail amberjack bites, gluten-free fried chicken and, our favorite, the potatoes Courtney (duck fat tater tots) alongside craft cocktails like the French 250, a spin on the French 75 with all local ingredients, including Empress 1908 Gin, wild mountain honey, lemon and Charme de L’Ile (a sparkling wine made by Unsworth Vineyards and Averill Creek).
- The Courtney Room also serves breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. Expect dishes like the smoked salmon Benny and shakshuka.
Amenities
Bar
Gym
Meeting rooms
Restaurants
Spa
Getting There
623 Courtney Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 1B8
TEL877-624-6654
TEL877-624-6654
TEL250-381-0999
TEL250-381-0999
NEARBY AIRPORT(S)
YVR (3 h)
