West Shore Notes

West of Victoria, BC

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The communities

They are grouped together on maps but they are not interchangeable.

Langford

The largest and the most built-up, and the one that has changed most in the last two decades — towers, big-box retail and sports facilities on ground that was forest within living memory. Goldstream Provincial Park sits at its northern edge.


Colwood

Coastal, with Esquimalt Lagoon and the long gravel spit of Coburg Peninsula along its shore. Royal Roads University and the historic grounds around it are here, as is Fort Rodd Hill on the point.


View Royal

The closest of the group to Victoria, wrapped around the upper harbour and the Gorge waterway. Small, residential, and easy to pass through without noticing you were there.


Metchosin and the Highlands

Rural by intent. Metchosin runs down to the open Juan de Fuca Strait at Witty's Lagoon and Devonian Beach; the Highlands is upland forest, rock and lakes with very little development.

More pages

  1. Parks, beaches and trails on the West Shore
  2. Getting around the West Shore
  3. Why this site exists