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Hey Guys! This is my Guide to Vancouver Island in 5 and 1/2 days! Vancouver Island is a great place to visit in the Summer time.
Here is my Itinerary Condensed
Take the Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Saturday
- 8:25 am horseshoe bay BC ferries (You can book ferries ahead of time for cheaper rides on their website, I highly recommend booking as they can sell out)
- Go to a Grocery store and pick up something for lunch+Snacks, water bottles) Country Grocery
- Cathedral Grove (48 min from Nanaimo) Quick Hike 30-45 min.
- Wally Creek (57 min from Cathedral Grove)
- Chesterman beach tide pools.
- Tofino 4 pm- Check in to hotel , We stayed at Best Western.
- Went to Mackenzie Beach to watch the sunset (Best Western is on this beach)
- At night we ate at Jeju Tofino
May 14th Tofino Sunday
- Breakfast at Best Western
- Outside Break For food, surfer town
- Tacofino for lunch (11-6 pm) , Get the fish Tacos and Burrito
- Pacific Rim National Park (Rainforest), Need a pass to enter. Rainforest Trail (22 min hike)
- Long Beach (coxbay lookout) , need a Wetsuit if you want to surf! It's freezing. We didn't spend too long here.
- South Beach Trail and Lismer Beach (This is a must)
- Dinner in Tofino at Wolf in the Fog 8 pm Reserved
May 15th Tofino Monday
- 9 am : Wild Pacific Trails (Amphitrite Point Lighthouse) (Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop- Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop (2 hr 30 min drive)
- nanaimo at 12:30- 1pm (lunch in nanaimo) We Ate at Nori Japanese Restaurant, Grabbed another Nanaimo Bar at Red's Bakery
- Need to drive 2 hr to botanical beach
- Botanical Beach (must visit at low tide, which was 5-6 pm this day )
- Port Renphrew Dinner (The renphrew pub) get the fish and chips or burger.
- Stay the night in Port Renfrew We stayed in a Cabin!
May 16th Port Renfrew
- Sombrio Beach (From parking lot go to the East beach, aka left, google maps location for beach is lightly off, follow signs. from the beach keep walking till you cross a rock wall, next keep going about 5-10 min until you see a small creek from the forest, walk up the creek and the waterfall will be there! bring wet shoes! )
- Mystic Beach (45 min) long forest hike with suspension bridge. The beach Closes at 3 pm. (they were closed so we went to mcdonald’s)
- Sooke Potholes (2.2 hours, Swimming, glacier fed water so it’s cold. there’s 3 parking lots. parking lot 1 is for swimming with kids, 2 has a hike and potholes for adults, 3 is mainly got hikes too) great spot for picnicking and tons of waterfalls.
- Another 30-40 min drive to Victoria
- Stay the Night in Victoria
- Dinner: @tacofinolovesyou get the chicken burrito!
May 17th
- @thebutchartgardens giant botanical garden, takes about 2-3 hours with merry go round, multiple restaurants and cafe and tons of gardens!
- fan tan alley located in china town with the narrowest shopping street in north america, lots of the shops close at 5-6 pm.
- High Tea: 3:45 pm the empress High Tea , make sure to reserve in advance! Really delicious high tea experience.
- Dinner: we ate at an italian place and didn’t like it.
- Beacon Hill park for peacocks!
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May 18th
- Fishermans Wharf (location of whale tour and lots of shops)
- 10 am Whale Tour booked with @eaglewingtours , we did the wild 4 whales tour and saw seals and whales, it’s about 3-4 hours.
- Barbs Fish and Chips @barbsfishnchips get their halibut one and cod ones!
- Take the ferry to go back to Vancouver. (we originally booked 9 pm but rebooked to 5 pm and went back early at 4, if you get to Swartz bay early they offer you the option if there’s room.
Day 1: Starting at the Ferry at Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo
We took the early morning Ferry to go to Nanaimo. Make sure to rent a car. You're allowed to hang out in your car on the Ferry but not sleep technically. There is multiple bathrooms and restaurants on the Ferry. During Peak season it can be difficult to purchase a ticket so I recommend pre reserving your ticket on their website.
When you arrive in Nanaimo, I recommend grabbing gas and a bite to eat as it'll be hard to find Gas stations until you reach the next bigger towns. We went to a grocery store and got things to make sandwiches, water bottles, plenty of snacks, and fruit! I recommend also getting a cheap cooler, A mistake we made.
Cathedral Grove
This First stop is on the way to Tofino from Nanaimo. It's a 48 min drive from Nanaimo. Its a Quick loop Hike about 30-45 min. With nice boardwalk trails.
Wally Creek
Wally Creek is a 57 min drive from Cathedral Grove with huge swimming holes. The only issue is it's pretty cold. If you go when Vancouver Island is the hottest then maybe you can swim, otherwise in May it was still Icy cold.
Chesterman beach tide pools.
I recommend coming here if you're looking for tide pools! Look up low tide for Vancouver island so you can plan accordingly. You want to go during low tide. Bring Wet shoes and expect to find tons of crabs and starfish on this beach! Be warned that the water here is also freezing. This was my favorite big beach in the Tofino Area.
Mackenzie Beach to watch the sunset (Best Western is on this beach)
We stayed at Best Western which is situated at Mackenzie Beach which is known for sunsets. Also not ideal for swimming, it's the perfect spot for a picnic.
Jeju Tofino
After a day full of driving we checked out food options in Downtown Tofino and walked into Jeju where we were pleasantly surprised by the delicious Korean Food! The food here was great and I recommend the Hwe Tuna Bap and the Korean Fried Chicken.
Day 2- Tofino
Outside Break- surfer town Tacofino , Chocolate Tofino and more!
Tofino was for lunch, They are open 11-6 pm, We recommend getting the fish Tacos and Fish Burrito
Pacific Rim National Park (Rainforest Trail)
Rainforest Trail is a 22 min hike. You do need a day pass to hike this trail and can get a ticket if you don't purchase the pass. You can purchase the pass on the hike. Part of the trail was closed so we had to cross the street to go to the otherside. It's cool but very similar to Cathedral Grove.
Long Beach
You need a Wetsuit if you want to surf! It's freezing. We didn't spend too long here since we didn't want to surf. It's the ideal beach for surfing.
South Beach Trail and Lismer Beach (This is a must)
My favorite Hike I did! Imagine lush forests and beach walks leading into a really intimate beach with shells and secret coves. The tide pools here were better than Chesterman! We found tons of starfish. We made sure to go at low tide.
If you hike alittle further I recommend checking out South Beach and looking for coves!
Dinner in Tofino at Wolf in the Fog
We reserved dinner here as it's the most famous Tofino Spot. We thought the food was meh though and seemed a bit too complicated. I did enjoy the fried oysters though!
Day 3 Tofino to Port Renphrew (We did back track a bit for this one)
If you're planning to visit Port Renphrew- I highly recommend this back track route so you can visit the next areas with ease.
Wild Pacific Trails Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop- Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop
We started the morning at 9 am at the Lighthouse Loop. It's about 45 min to 1 hr and a relatively easy hike, though it is pretty hot. Expect neat beach views and cliffs and a lighthouse! Next drive 2 hr 30 min back to Nanaimo.
Nanaimo at 12:30- 1pm (lunch in Nanaimo)
We Ate at Nori Japanese Restaurant a popular spot for sushi in Nanaimo. It's alittle pricey but tasty with large portions. We also grabbed another Nanaimo Bar at Red's Bakery
Botanical Beach
From Nanaimo you need to drive 2 hr to Botanical Beach . We got here at 5-6 pm for low tide. Let me tell you, This was the most beautiful tide pools we ever seen. The natural formation of the rock were perfect for Tide pools. It can seem a bit scary walking near the cliffs so be careful. We saw barnacles, Sea urchins, Anemones and more on the wonderful beach. This was worth the drive to Port Renphrew.
Port Renphrew Dinner
Given how small the town is, there was only one place to eat called the Renphrew pub. We walked in right before closing, make sure to get the fish and chips and the burger! The food was comforting and delicious.
Stay the night in Port Renfrew We stayed in a Cabin airbnb.
Day 4- Port Renphrew- Sooke- Victoria
Sombrio Beach and Secret Waterfall!
This was the best thing we did in Vancouver Island imo. We woke up early the next morning to drive to Sombrio Beach. If you're driving from Port Renphrew, The google maps are wrong. Follow the signs and make a U turn if you miss it. From parking lot go to the East beach, aka left when you see the sign. From the beach keep walking till you cross a rock wall, next keep going about 5-10 min until you see a small creek from the forest to your left, walk up the creek and the waterfall will be there! bring wet shoes! This was absolutely breathtaking and we had it all to ourselves. I would hike there in walking shoes and then change to water shoes. Most of the hike is walking on large stones.
Mystic Beach
This is (45 min-2 hr) long forest hike with suspension bridge. This was a pretty difficult hike starting downhill so you have to walk uphill to return. To be honest, if you're not up for it, i would skip this one as Sombrio Beach is much more amazing. The waterfall itself is easiest to access during low tide but you can still be ballsy and run to it. This hike took longer than expected and is marked by red string so you don't get lost. Mystic Beach can only be reached through this hike.
Shirley Delicious
Closes at 3 pm. they were closed on a Wednesday so we went to Mcdonald’s. We took so long at Mystic beach we would have missed it anyway.
Sooke Potholes
This is about a 28 min drive from Shirley Delicious. Expect to spend about 2.5 hours here. Good for Swimming but it's glacier fed water so it’s cold. There’s 3 parking lots. parking lot 1 is for swimming with kids, 2 has a hike and potholes for adults, 3 is mainly hikes too. This is a great spot for picnicking and tons of waterfalls.
Victoria
From Sooke it's another 30-40 min drive to Victoria. We stayed in a Airbnb and ate dinner at @tacofinolovesyou. The Chicken burrito was great but there for sure are smaller portions here. They're also open late night.
Day 5- Explore Victoria
The Butchart Gardens
Giant botanical garden, takes about 2-3 hours to see the whole thing. We went early right when they opened to avoid crowds. There's a merry go round, multiple restaurants and cafe and tons of gardens! We purchased tickets online.
Brunch at Jam Cafe
We were hungry so we went back to eat Brunch at Jam Cafe. The waffles were good and we loved their eggs benedict!
High Tea at the Empress
We had a 3:45 pm resy the empress High Tea , make sure to reserve in advance! Really delicious high tea experience. This is a must at the fairmont. It's pricey at about 85-100 pp. You get to pick your tea and get an assortment of sandwiches and pastries.
Victoria Parliament Building
Cool Photo Op in front of Parliament building in front of the Empress hotel.
Fan Tan Alley
Located in Chinatown, this is the narrowest shopping street in North America, lots of the shops close at 5-6 pm so maybe go here earlier than we did. Most stores were closed when we went. Think Harry Potter Vibes.
Dinner: we ate at an italian place and didn’t like it.
Beacon Hill park
We went to this park near sunset for peacocks. It was mating season so the male peacocks were doing beautiful dances!
Day 6- Last day in Victoria and heading back to Vancouver
Fishermans Wharf
Location of whale tour and lots of shops. Beautiful area by the water with tons of shops and food.
Whale Tour booked with @eaglewingtours
We did a 10 am whale tour with Eagle Wing Tours. We did the wild 4 whales tour and saw seals and whales, it’s about 3-4 hours. It was very educational and fun!
Barbs Fish and Chips
This is located at Fishermans Wharf. They are famous! Get their halibut one and cod fish and chips!
Take the ferry to go back to Vancouver.
we originally booked 9 pm but rebooked to 5 pm and went back early at 4, if you get to Swartz bay early they offer you the option if there’s room. We wanted to eat dinner in Vancouver
