Victoria West is a pleasant small Karoo town nestled between two parallel hills and consequently the town is long and narrow. Very little of the town is visible from the N12 and one has to turn off onto the R63 towards Loxton to experience what Victoria West has to offer. The town was established in 1843 and there are a number of beautiful Victorian buildings to be seen in the upper village along Church Street leading out of the town towards Loxton. The cultural history museum developed in 1955 is housed in the Library building and features an interesting collection of stone-age implements, fossilised fish, and a three-meter long pig skin which bears the signatures of the first stockholders of the second oldest branch of Standard Bank in South Africa, which was opened in Victoria West in 1856. The Apollo Theatre in Victoria West is the only surviving Art Deco Theatre in South Africa was built in 1928.

The Victoria West Nature Reserve on the outskirts of the town incorporates the Victoria West Dam and a number of antelope and other wildlife species endemic to the Karoo can be seen. The nature reserve is also an important breeding area for the endangered Riverine Rabbit and the African Black Eagle. The dam is a birding hotspot and there is an excellent viewing spot above the dam wall at the end of Church Street as the road climbs the end of the valley towards Loxton. The Moonlight Hill and Ribbok Plateau walking trails provides expansive views across the town and the Victoria West Dam.