Vancouver Island Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
Vancouver Island is part of British Columbia, Canada. As well as the island itself, it is also a region which includes the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia. It is often referred to by the locals as simply 'The Island'. Vancouver Island is the largest island off the west coast of North America at about 450km long and up to about 90km wide. It has a population of over 700,000 people, with a little less than half of those living in the Greater Victoria area.
The development on the island primarily follows the north-south highway that goes along the east coast of the island from Victoria to Port Hardy.
Contents |
Regions
- Vancouver Island Proper - the subject of the current guide.
- Southern Gulf Islands - Group of islands between Victoria and Nanaimo in the Strait Of Georgia.
- Northern Gulf Islands - Group of islands near Campbell River.
Cities
- Victoria - The capital city of British Columbia that markets itself as a piece of England.
- Nanaimo - The hub city of the island.
- Port Alberni - Historically this is a major logging town.
- Tofino - Ecotourism center on the beautiful (if wet) west coast of the island. The main attraction is Long Beach which is part of Pacific Rim National Park.
- Courtenay/Comox - A pair of nice older towns.
- Campbell River - A salmon fishing destination.
- Cowichan Bay - A pretty little sea-side village.
- Port Hardy - On the North tip of the island.
- Ucluelet - Another ecotourism center on the west coast of the Island.
- Saanich
Other destinations
- Strathcona Provincial Park
- Oceanside Region (Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Errington, Coombs and area)
Understand
Get in
By Water
The most common way to get to Vancouver Island is by BC Ferries. There is regular ferry service from Tsawwassen (near Vancouver) to Swartz Bay (Near Victoria), Tsawwassen to Duke Point (near Nanaimo) and Horseshoe Bay (Near Vancouver) to Departure Bay (in Nanaimo). These ferries generally run about every two hours with more frequent service on some of the routes in the summer.
There is a ferry service that runs from Powell River to Comox, and Port Hardy to Prince Rupert.
There is also a fast ferry service from downtown Vancouver to downtown Nanaimo.
By Air
The Victoria airport has flights from various locations in Canada. There are also flights from Vancouver to many of the towns and cities on the island. Some of these flights may be by float plane.
Now you can fly directly into the heart of Vancouver Island from Calgary on Westjet. http://www.westjet.ca
Get around
The easiest way to travel around Vancouver island is to drive.
People on vancouver are generaly friendly and as such hitch-hiking is easy. The only exception to this is heading out of Victoria, where you can expect a long wait.
There is coach bus service to most of the major cities on the island, but it is generally a patchwork, and travelling around by bus often involves inconvenient waits to catch connecting buses.
VIA also operates daily train service from Victoria to Courtenay, with stops at most of the towns in between. This is a beautiful train ride, but not really very practical transportation for most purposes.
See
Do
Go on a hiking or walking nature tour of ancient rainforests with their giant trees, visit alpine meadows and lakes or stroll along colourful sea side tide pools. Try bird watching or wildlife viewing in the area's diverse ecosystems. A mild climate means year round tour opportunities including winter surfing, storm watching, mountain skiing and fall salmon viewing into December.
Get out
BC ferries operates ferry service from Swartz Bay (Near Victoria) to the Southern Gulf Islands and from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on the North Coast of British Columbia.
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