3 Best Sights in Rockland, Victoria

This magnificent and somewhat imposing mansion, complete with turrets and Gothic rooflines, was built as the home of one of British Columbia's wealthiest men, coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, who died in 1889, just a few months before the castle's completion. It's now a museum depicting life in the late 1800s. The castle's 39 rooms have ornate Victorian furnishings, stained-glass windows, carved woodwork, and a beautifully restored painted ceiling in the drawing room. A winding staircase climbs four floors to a tower overlooking Victoria. Castles run in the family: son James went on to build the more lavish Hatley Castle west of Victoria. Although the very modern visitor's center is fully accessible, as is the summer-only café, the castle itself is not wheelchair accessible and has no elevators.

Attached to an 1889 mansion, this modern building houses one of Canada's largest collections of Asian art. The Japanese garden between the buildings is home to the only authentic Shinto shrine in North America. The gallery, a few blocks west of Craigdarroch Castle, displays a permanent exhibition of works by well-known Canadian artist Emily Carr and regularly changing exhibits of Asian and Western art.