Vancouver Island Vacation Recommendations

[christyf5]

I agree with Steve, Tofino is a bloody long drive for a walk on the beach and a 5 minute tour through town. You don't want to spend your whole day driving. If you need to go to the beach, Botanical Beach or Rathtrevor get the job done for me.

[Delphinus]

Tofino isn't about sitting on a beach.. But it is rustic - If you're not into seeing the raw rainforest then it might not be for you. I like going there but then that's because it's a very cool destination for kayaking. If you set up base camp in, say, the Parksville area then you can do Tofino/Ucluelet as a day trip (a long day trip, but a day trip nonetheless) and then you can decide whether it's worth returning for a longer stay on a future trip. Accomodations can be sketchy (your choices are limited to some very expensive resorts, or bed & breakfasts, or camping. But forget camping unless you're prepared to pre-book three months in advance!)

If you do, there are some amazing day trips you can make out of Tofino such as Hot Springs Cove.

But if you do, say, make base camp in Parsville or Qualicum, you can also get to Port Alberni. The MV Lady Rose is an old ferry which makes a run to the Broken Group Islands and to Bamfield. Be prepared for an early start though, the boat leaves dock at 8am sharp and P.A. is a bit of a hike from Parksville. I've done it so it can be done just be prepared for an early start to the day. But it's a worthwhile day trip in my opinion. Bamfield is another one of those rustic places that may turn your crank or it may not. It's also way out in the middle of nowhere, and unless you're a marine biologist working at the Station, or a hiker embarking or disembarking the WCT (West Coast Trail), or a hippee, you may not find there's much there for you. But the trip there is something else. Don't drive to Bamfield, you'll only see clear cuts and logging roads, but the boat to Bamfield is just out of this world.

Having hiked the WCT twice in my life I have a strong affinity for the area out there. But it's not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. I suggest you have to do it once and then decide whether there's enough connection for you to figure out where to go next. The west coast of the island is pure raw nature. The east coast is more, for lack of a better term, civilized.

If you are into beaches Hornby Island has an incredible beach that on a sunny day, you will not beleive you're in Canada anymore, but stepped through a portal to the south Pacific. If you're into diving, Hornby Island also offers a rather different experience, you can dive and see six gill sharks. Nowhere else are these guys found outside tropical waters, or so I understand, but off Hornby there's a spot they like to congregate. Weird stuff.

Rathtrevor beach is a very family friendly campground. I've been going to that spot since the early seventies (and I was 3 years old). But if you want to camp there, again, be prepared to book three months in advance. It is, quite literally, the most popular campground in the province. At one time it was, at least. A few years there it suddenly wasn't, when there was fungus discovered growing on trees. However West Nile and SARS have taken over that hysteria these days and people are returning to the spot.

If you're into windsurfing or kitesailing and fancy yourself as better than average, try out the Alberni inlet or Nitinat Lake.

If you're into seeing really big trees, another thing to consider is visiting Carmanah provincial park. A really long day trip from anywhere though, on long dusty bumpy logging roads. It's probably worth doing once though, I think. One thing to bear in mind though, at one time you used to be able to touch the coast from Carmanah, but ever since the WCT invoked a reservation system the network of paths were shutdown being squatters were sneaking onto the trail from there and thereby avoiding the fees and so on. So if people tell you "oh you can get onto the WCT from there" .. no .. no you can't. Not without risking getting in trouble, anyhow. But Carmanah is a fabulous old growth forest. Well worth seeing.

Hiking the WCT is something you should do once in your lifetime. I've done it twice. It ranks right up there with, say, hiking the Machu Pikku trail, as one of those "ultimate backpacking adventures" and it's right out on our doorstep (figuratively). I.e., the Inca trail is somewhat further away.

There is now the Juan de Fuca trail south of Port Renfrew (the other endpoint of the WCT). It's somewhat easier to traverse, you don't quite have to be an extreme granola in order to get to it and hike it (or parts of it). Something I've been meaning to check out.

Oh yeah, there's good mountain biking too on the Island. But maybe I've talked enough for now.

I could just go on and on.

[TheReefGeek]

extreme granola

that's awesome, lol.

Thanks for the info Tony, I will see if the wife fancies a couple days in Tofino, to see if it is the kind of place we like or not, and could plan a future trip there if we do like it.

Are the forests around Tofino really different than the east coast?

[Delphinus]

Well..... I would say yes. But it's an example you can see throughout the province. The western edges of the mountain ranges, being the windward side, is where all the rains fall as the humid air is pushed east. So the eastern leeward edges are drier. The resulting difference in flora (and perhaps fauna) are to me quite fascinating.

The west coast of the Island is wet, wet, wet. It is 12 degrees and raining any day of the year out there. The east coast of the island can get wet too, but you're more likely to enjoy sunny and warm (basically subtropical) on the east coast.

Has anyone mentioned Goats on the Roof yet??? The Coombs market, aka Goats on the Roof, is absolute must-see. One of the best farmers markets I've ever been to. The place has been around forever and is a total landmark of the area. It too is near the Parksville/Qualicum area. If you go to Englishman River Falls provincial park or to Port Alberni, you can't help but drive past there.

I'm headed out to the Island in August myself for just over a week. I'm hoping to make a few forays into Strathcona Park this time. I've never checked it out so I'm looking forward to that.

Oh yeah, the caving at Horn Lake. That's a freaky experience for sure. Go into a hole in the ground at one place, come out of a different hole somewhere else. Totally surreal!! Nearby Spider Lake is also a neat spot for maybe a lunch picnic or a swim in a FW lake.