The most common planning mistake is booking a hotel in Victoria and a tour in Tofino for the same day. They are five hours apart by road. Vancouver Island is not a place you tour from a single base unless you only want one region, so the first decision is which region, and the second is whether you have enough nights to add a second one.
How far apart everything is
Drive times below are for normal conditions with no stops. Add time for the ferry from Vancouver, for winter weather on Highway 4, and for the fact that the coast road rewards stopping.
Victoria: for most first visits
Victoria has the widest choice of tours on the island by a distance, including most of the whale-watching fleet, Butchart Gardens transfers, food and cycling tours, and the Sooke and Cowichan day trips. It is walkable, has the ferries and flights, and works without a car. Base here for a trip of two to four nights, or as the first stop of a longer one. What it does not have is the open Pacific: the beaches are on the Strait, calm and rocky, and the surf and storm coast is a full day away.
Tofino and Ucluelet: for the west coast
Pick the Pacific Rim if the trip is about surf, big beaches, rainforest walks, bear watching from a boat, hot springs, or storms in winter. Tofino is the busier village with more restaurants and the surf schools; Ucluelet is quieter, closer to the Wild Pacific Trail, and generally easier to book. Both are at the end of Highway 4, so plan three nights minimum: one is spent arriving and leaving.
Campbell River and the north: for wildlife
Campbell River is the base for grizzly viewing in the mainland inlets from late August into October, for salmon fishing, and for the road to Telegraph Cove and the orcas of Johnstone Strait. It is a working town rather than a resort, which keeps it affordable. Telegraph Cove itself has very little accommodation and sells out months ahead for July and August, so most people stay in Campbell River or Port McNeill and drive.
Nanaimo, Parksville and the Cowichan Valley: for the middle
The centre of the island is the practical base for families and for anyone driving between Victoria and Tofino who wants to break the journey. Parksville and Qualicum Beach have the warm shallow beaches; the Cowichan Valley has the wineries and cideries and is under an hour from Victoria; Nanaimo has the ferries and the direct floatplanes. Fewer tours start here than in Victoria, and the ones that do are mostly kayaking, wildlife boats and wine tours.
Splitting the nights
Suggested splits, as a starting point
- Three nights: all in Victoria. Add one full-day tour and one Sooke or Cowichan day.
- Five nights: two in Victoria, three in Tofino or Ucluelet, driving Highway 4 once each way.
- Eight nights: two in Victoria, three on the Pacific Rim, three in Campbell River for a grizzly day and a Telegraph Cove whale trip, flying home from Comox.