Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
M
Fairmont Empress:
You don't need to be a guest at this historic hotel to admire
its grandeur. Plan on eating a meal here for the full effect (
click here
).
M
Royal BC Museum:
If you visit only one museum in Victoria, make it this one,
where you can come face-to-face with an Ice Age woolly mammoth (
click here
).
M
Goldstream Provincial Park:
Laced with hiking trails, Goldstream Provincial
Park is a great escape from the city. If you're visiting in late fall, a trip to the park is
worthwhile to view the spectacle of spawning salmon (
click here
).
M
Butchart Gardens:
Even if you have only one day in Victoria, make time to visit
one of the world's most delightful gardens (
click here
).
M
West Coast Trail:
Winding through 77 kilometers (48 miles) of old-growth
forest, and with the Pacific Ocean close at hand, this ambitious walk is one of the
world's great long-distance hikes (
click here
)
.
M
Galiano Island:
Each of the Southern Gulf Islands has its own charms, but a per-
sonal favorite for kayaking is Galiano Island (
click here
)
.
M
Pacific Rim National Park:
Canada isn't renowned for its beaches, but this park
protects some magnificent stretches of sand (
click here
).
M
Alert Bay:
On Cormorant Island, Alert Bay is a hotbed of First Nations history. A
cultural center and one of the world's tallest totem poles are highlights (
click here
)
.
M
Telegraph Cove:
It's worth the drive to Telegraph Cove just to wander around the
postcard-perfect boardwalk village, but you'll also want to take a tour boat in search
of orca whales (
click here
)
.
Exploring Vancouver Island beyond Victoria requires some advance planning and an
idea of where you want to end up. If you have just a day to spare, you can take the oceanside
drive west from Victoria to Port Renfrew or travel north as far as Nanaimo, but to explore
the island farther you should schedule at least two days and preferably more. The Southern
Gulf Islands, linked to Victoria by ferry and floatplane, make a good overnight trip from
the capital (my favorite is
Galiano Island
). Plan on at least two nights out from Victoria
to do the West Coast town of Tofino and the adjacent
Pacific Rim National Park
justice.
Incorporating other parts of the province into an itinerary that includes Vancouver Island is
easy. The most obvious and useful option is to do your thing on Vancouver Island and then
catch a ferry from Comox to Powell River (covered in the Southwestern British Columbia
chapter), and then drive down the Sunshine Coast to Vancouver. A more ambitious loop is
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