Where to start
The island is 450 kilometres long. Pick your end first.
Each area below is a place people base themselves and a place tours actually leave from. The drive time from Victoria is the first thing to check, because a tour that starts five hours from your hotel is not a day trip.
The south island
Victoria and the places within an hour of it. Where most visitors arrive, and where most tours leave from.
Victoria
The arrival hub for most visitors
The capital and the hub: whale boats, seaplanes and walking tours from the Inner Harbour, and the cruise terminal a stroll away
- First visits
- Whale watching
- Cruise stops
Sidney & the Saanich Peninsula
about 30 minutes to Sidney, 35 to Swartz Bay from Victoria
Where the ferries and flights land: Butchart Gardens, Brentwood Bay, Sidney's waterfront and the road to Swartz Bay
- Butchart Gardens
- Ferry and airport nights
- Whale watching from Sidney
Sooke & the West Coast Road
about 45 minutes to Sooke from Victoria
Victoria's wild edge: coastal hikes in East Sooke, the Juan de Fuca beaches and the road to Port Renfrew
- Coastal hikes
- Sailing
- Ziplining
The Cowichan Valley
Wine, cider and a slower river valley between Victoria and Nanaimo.
The Gulf Islands
Salt Spring and its neighbours, reached by their own ferries.
The centre
Nanaimo, Parksville and the Comox Valley: the ferry towns, the warm beaches and the road junctions to everywhere else.
Nanaimo
about 1¾ hours from Victoria
The island's second city and its main ferry port from Vancouver, with a harbour paddle and whale boats of its own
- Ferry arrivals
- Central base
- Harbour kayaking
Parksville & Qualicum Beach
about 2¼ hours from Victoria
Wide sandy beaches, the Horne Lake caves, Coombs, Cathedral Grove and the turn-off for the Pacific coast
- Families
- Beaches
- Caves
Comox Valley
about 3 hours from Victoria
Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland: an airport, a ski mountain, farm country and ferries to two small islands
- Flying in
- Skiing
- Nature walks
Campbell River
about 3½ hours from Victoria
The grizzly gateway: boat trips into Bute and Toba inlets, humpbacks in Discovery Passage and salmon fishing
- Grizzly bears
- Humpback whales
- Fishing
The Pacific Rim
Tofino and Ucluelet at the end of Highway 4, facing the open ocean.
The north
Campbell River for grizzlies and salmon, then the long road to Telegraph Cove and the orcas.