Oak Bay

Oak Bay keeps a distinctly British character along Victoria's southeastern shoreline, an established municipality of grand homes, a village high street and one of the country's oldest golf clubs.

The Uplands neighbourhood's curving, tree lined streets hold some of Greater Victoria's grandest estate homes, laid out in the early 1900s by the same planning firm behind Vancouver's Shaughnessy, and Oak Bay's shoreline gives many of them direct ocean views.

Oak Bay Village's independent shops, bakeries and tea rooms along Oak Bay Avenue have long earned the municipality its affectionate tweed curtain nickname, and the Victoria Golf Club, dating to 1893, sits on a dramatic point overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Willows Beach and the Oak Bay Marina anchor a genuinely walkable, seaside lifestyle, and the municipality's combination of heritage character, top rated schools and low turnover keeps it among the most sought after addresses on Vancouver Island.