Parkside Victoria Travel Blog

While we're still busy giving our special Valentine's spa treatments until Saturday Feb. 18, our team has launched a sparkling new website!

The eye-catching site is easy to navigate, learn about spa treatments and escapes, and request reservations.

You can also view videos, photos, subscribe to our newsletter and get a snapshot of some of the spa buzz on Twitter.

Check us out at victoria.aquaterre.net      

By Jessica Woollard

Tea is trendy right now. Somehow in the last few years, the stuffy English staple has been wholly made-over into a hip libation, attracting a cult following of connoisseurs who can distinguish rooibos from oolong as quickly as a wine dilettante knows gris from grisio.

No doubt, walking around downtown Victoria, you’ve noticed there are more tea shops here than in most cities. All within a few blocks of each other, you’ll find smaller enterprises like century-old Murchie’s and Victoria’s own Silk Road and Special Teas, as well as one of three Victoria locations of the über trendy David’s Tea.

Having established itself as a centre for tea enthusiasts, Victoria proudly hosts North America’s largest tea exhibition, the Victoria Tea Festival, running this year on February 18 and 19 at Crystal Garden. Now in its sixth year, the tea festival has evolved from a small, one-day exhibition, to a two-day event featuring more than 40 exhibitors and 200 volunteers and attracting more than 3,300 people, some making Victoria a yearly destination holiday because of the Tea Festival.

AquaTerre Spa at Parkside had the pleasure of hosting Shaw TV The Daily personality Sucheta Singh last week.

We gave Sucheta a preview of some of the chocolate treatments we are offering in celebration of Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Spa Specials are available Feb. 11-18.

Watch the show >>

See Valentine's Day Specials >>

Parkside is proud to partner again with the Victoria Film Festival as a venue. Our HD movie theatre with large, plush seating is all set for February. 

Here's a list of films showing at Parkside Feb. 2-10.

Belcanto

Friday • February 3rd • Parkside • 7:15
Director: Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
Poland • 2010 • 107 min • Digital
Canadian Premiere

When Mariusz Marzeda, a provincial opera and operetta tenor, comes into neighbourly conflict with a local escort of considerable influence he loses his job and becomes a social outcast. His old friend General Ogórcow, a commander of the armed forces, who is totally in love with music, decides to defend him by dropping two atomic bombs on West Berlin.