Victoria, BC

Victoria, British Columbia carries its name carefully – named for the Queen, draped in English gardens, measured in afternoon teas. The Inner Harbour photograph is gorgeous and almost too easy: the Fairmont Empress presiding over the water, the domed Parliament glowing at dusk. No wonder visitors arrive expecting a pocket of England transplanted to the Pacific Northwest.

But the Lekwungen people were here for millennia before a single garden was planted. Their presence still inhabits the land – in Thunderbird Park's totem poles, in Beacon Hill's sacred camas meadows, in the knowledge totem at the harbour's edge that most visitors walk past without a second glance.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours move through both Victorias. Follow the scandalous story of the architect behind the Legislature and the Empress, with pirate tales woven in. Wander James Bay past Fisherman's Wharf and Emily Carr's birthplace, or let Fan Tan Alley pull you into Chinatown, where a different Pacific history begins.

Plug in your earbuds and walk at your own pace. Victoria rewards the curious.