The old-fashioned pub crawl has gotten quite the glow up in the last few years.
Instead of walking (or cabbing) between pubs and bars, there are now more options than ever when it comes to what mode of transportation will take you, drunkenly, from one spot to another.
There are the pedal-powered quadricycle tours that you’ve probably seen (and heard) riding around Vancouver, of course, but Victoria has a whole other level of pub crawling that you may not have heard of yet.
The Pickle Pub Crawl is a tour that lets you catch a ferry between pubs, designed for groups of up to four people.
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The tour became especially popular after a video of the experience was posted on TikTok by the user @polkadotpassport. The video shows her and her friends jumping on a little water taxi – not unlike the False Creek Ferries we have here in Vancouver – and riding around Victoria Harbour.
The crawl includes four stops from your choice of the following venues:
- Milestones Grill & Bar
- Bellevilles’ Watering Hole & Diner
- LURE Restaurant & Bar
- Lido
- Pirate Pizza (Fisherman’s Wharf)
- Swans Pub
- Bard and Banker
- Irish Times
- Browns Crafthouse Vic West
- Moon Under Water
Each person in your group gets a wristband valid at any of the participating pubs, and each group of four will get a complimentary appetizer with the purchase of beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic).
The crawl starts at the Empress Dock, but from there, you can choose where you stop. Once the ferries stop running in the evening, you can continue the tour on foot or by “land taxi,” according to the crawl’s website.
It’s a fun, unique way to check out Victoria if you’re visiting while also trying out a few local spots – complete with your own “designated captain” to navigate the pub crawl for you.
You can book tickets online in advance, but some walk-in bookings are available for same-day crawls too, depending on availability.
It’s probably best to keep in mind how much you end up drinking, though – a rocky boat sounds like a recipe for some serious end-of-night nausea.
Pickle Pub Crawl
Where: Victoria Harbour Ferry in front of Hotel Fairmont Empress, Jeanne Socrates Dock, Victoria Inner Harbour, Victoria
Tickets: From $30 per person