Saanichton is the village centre of the District of Central Saanich, about 22 kilometres north of downtown Victoria at Mount Newton Cross Road and East Saanich Road, west of the Pat Bay Highway. It is roughly 25 to 30 minutes from downtown, five minutes from the airport and fifteen from the Swartz Bay ferries, which makes it the most convenient of the peninsula villages for commuters. The Tsawout First Nation, one of the four WSÁNEĆ communities, is immediately east across the highway.
The village has a grocery store, pharmacy, pub and the usual services along Mount Newton and East Saanich, and the District's 2020 village design plan sets a thirty-year vision for a compact, walkable core with three- to five-storey mixed-use buildings and homes above shops, so the condominium stock that is mostly low-rise today will grow. Centennial Park on Wallace Drive, the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society grounds on Lochside Drive, Island View Beach Regional Park and John Dean Provincial Park on Mount Newton are the main outdoor draws. The Lochside Trail runs through on its way from Swartz Bay to Victoria. Route 75 connects Saanichton to Royal Oak and downtown and Route 81 to Brentwood Bay, Sidney and the ferry.
