Vancouver Island is the largest island on the west coast of North America. It is a little over 32,000 square kilometres in size and is 460 kilometres in length, 35 to 80 kilometres wide. There are many Vancouver Island communities just waiting for you to visit.
Bamfield
It is located at the southern entrance to Barkley Sound. The community of Bamfield was named after a carpenter, Eddy Banfield, who moved to the area in the late 1850s and took up trading with the First Peoples. In 1860, Banfield established a permanent trading post at the entrance to Barkley Sound, which came to be named after him. Read More….
Black Creek
The Black Creek area was, at one time, full of very large trees, and logging went full steam until around 1930. Then, the area was opened up to German-speaking Immigrants who came from the USSR through Mexico and also from the Canadian prairies. They worked very hard to create garden farms, dairy farms, and fruit orchards. This is still quite evident as you drive through the area. Read More….
Bowser
Bowser, Vancouver Island, was named after William John Bowser. John was the Premier of British Columbia from 1915 to 1916. The community was established in 1914, during the construction of the Nanaimo Railway. The economy of this little community has run on logging and mining for many years, but it is becoming a tourist destination these days. There are many opportunities to get out into the area’s wild places and find great adventures. Read More….
Brentwood Bay
Brentwood Bay, Vancouver Island, is located in Saanich Inlet north of Victoria, and it is home to the beautiful Butchart Gardens. You will find excellent restaurants, waterfront shops, and fantastic boutiques here in the bay. Many whale-watching tour outfits run out of Brentwood Bay. There are so many whales, orcas, grey, humpback, and fin whales that you will likely see some. Read More….
Campbell River
For many, many years, the Coast Salish lived on the shores of the Campbell River, Vancouver Island area, then, for some reason, in the early 1800s, they left their villages here and moved to the Comox and Qualicum areas. Then, the Kwakiutl First Nations from further north on the Island moved south and occupied the vacated lands left by the Salish. In the early 1880s, the first European settlers started to set up shop in the Campbell River area. Read More….
Chemainus
Chemainus is a small but quite beautiful town located in the Cowichan Valley. It is an artist’s mecca; you can see this by the huge murals that are painted everywhere in the town. The town has been nicknamed “Mural town” and is known worldwide for these paintings that bring to life the history of the first peoples, as well as the early days of logging, mining, and fishing. Read More….
Coal Harbour
The Coal Harbour Village is located on the Holberg Inlet, just a short drive on a paved road from Port Hardy. It was a coal-mining town, then a military base during the Second World War, a whaling station, then back to mining, only this time copper. Now this community is a jumping-off point for Quatsino Sound and all the wonders of the North Island. Tourism is driving the economy now. Read More….
Comox
Comox is a beautiful little community of around 13,000 people. It is located on the Comox Peninsula on the eastern shores of Vancouver Island. Abundant food sources, mild winters, protected shorelines, fertile soil, and warm summers drew the Comox First People here many thousands of years ago. Settlers first began arriving in 1862. First to arrive were the loggers, soon followed by farmers and fishermen. Read More….
Coombs
During the early part of the twentieth century, nearly a quarter of a million English and Welsh families immigrated to Canada. A few of these families settled in the Coombs area around 1910. The community they built was named Coombs. Today, it is full of people who live a more laid-back way of life that can only be provided in a place like Coombs. It is an artist mecca with more galleries, studios, and artists per capita than anywhere else in BC. Read More….
Courtenay
Courtenay is located on the eastern shores of central Vancouver Island. Built on land that was occupied by the Comox people for thousands of years. It has a population of around 25000. It is the center of the much bigger Comox Valley. Comox Valley incorporates Courtenay, Comox, and Cumberland; combined, they have a population of more than 65,000. Courtenay is full of small shops, great dining, and wonderful parks and walking trails. Read More….
Cowichan Bay
The Cowichan Bay Village is located on the east coast of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This has to be one of the prettiest villages on the east coast of the island. The shops and B&Bs that line the shore are just so wonderful. You must visit Cowichan Bay, a must-do on your bucket list. The businesses that line the waterfront are such beautiful little shops, restaurants, B&Bs, kayak rental shops, gift stores, and ice-cream parlours; it’s such a great place to visit. Read More….
Crofton
In 1902, Henry Croft began mining copper on Mount Sicker. He built a smelter in the bay and brought in 400 workers to operate the smelter. He built housing and named the new community Crofton. He was shipping his copper out from the bay, and this had quite the effect on the area’s beaches. The residue from the smelter was small black glass beads, and they blackened the beaches. If you used the beach, these glass beads would stick to your feet, hands and any other body part that came into contact with the beach. Read More….
Cumberland
Cumberland was a well-laid town, and the people made every effort to keep it clean and beautiful. It still is a very pretty town. I have always enjoyed visiting here; it’s a great spot to stop and do some shopping before heading out to hike any of the local trails. Read More….
Ditidaht
The Ditidaht village is right on Nitinat Lake. Services in Ditidaht include a small motel, a gas station, a campsite, and a food store, all of which are run by the Ditidaht people. Camping facilities are available at the lake recreation site, which is situated in a grove of giant spruce trees. There are 53 campsites here. Drive through the village to reach this site. There is a boat launch about halfway down the lake, close to Doobah Creek, where you can put in to shorten the run down the lake. Read More….
Duncan
The city of Duncan is named after William Duncan, a pioneer who moved from Ontario to BC in May 1862. He arrived in the Cowichan Bay area along with about a hundred other settlers who were looking to settle on Vancouver Island. He settled close to the present city location and built a little farm, which became a stop on the Island Railway and was known as Duncan’s stop. Read More….
Gold River
When the Gold River Village was built in 1965, it was the first all-electric town in Canada and the first in Canada to incorporate underground wiring. It was incorporated on August 26, 1965, and received village status on January 1, 1972. Gold River is one of the Jewels of Vancouver Island, a must-see area. When you visit, I can honestly say you will not be disappointed. Read More….
Holberg
Today, Holberg is a great place to set out on a West Coast adventure. Numerous trails head out in many directions, trails to Shushartie Bay, San Josef Bay, and Cape Scott will give you more than you could ever ask for. Ocean kayaking and canoeing are becoming quite popular, and the area is perfect for this. The potential for eco-tourism in this area is immense and is just beginning, but just wait, this place will become a mecca when it gets there. Read More….
Jordan River
The tiny Jordan River Village is located on the West Coast of southern Vancouver Island. The Jordan River lies about 40 km north of Sooke. It is a great place to surf, surfing on Vancouver Island is a cold, wild and rough sport; sometimes the winds can be over 120 km an hour with some mighty waves. The water temperatures can be so low that hypothermia can set in very fast, just minutes, and poor access to the best surfing beaches makes surfing here a challenge for sure. Read More….
Kyuquot
Kyuquot must be visited to truly understand the history here. You will get a sense of just how long this site has been inhabited by the Nuu-chah-nulth people. You must come to experience their culture. At one time, Kyuquot had 2 salmon canneries and a whaling station. The area had settlers building lives all up and down the area inlets, logging and fishing were going full steam, and the canneries were busy. Read More….
Ladysmith
Ladysmith is located on the east side of Vancouver Island, right on the 49th parallel, just south of Nanaimo. It is a small but very picturesque town that is built on a hillside overlooking the waters of Ladysmith Harbour. It is one of the older communities on Vancouver Island. In its early days, it was known as Oyster Harbour. The harbour was at one time just a miner’s camp and shipping port for coal, now its economy runs on tourism. Read More….
Lantzville
Lantzville is such a pleasant little community; it’s located just north of Nanaimo. It was named after Harry Lantz. In the late 1800s, he invested heavily in mining here. Before the mines were opened, there was not much going on in the area. Just 8 families were homesteading along the shores. When the mines began operating, there was quite an influx of miners and new settlers. Businesses began to spring up to provide services for the mines and to offer trade goods to the miners. Read More….
Merville
Merville is a small community located between the Comox Valley and Campbell River. The village was named after a place in France. The Canadian Forces built their original headquarters there during WWI, and upon their return, they named the area Merville in honour of this. The government had offered land to the soldiers and their families here and other island spots like Seal Bay on their return from fighting in Europe. Read More….
Mill Bay
Mill Bay, Vancouver Island, was first settled in the 1860s; its economy ran on logging and milling lumber. The Bay was also the location of a power-generating station for Henry Shepard’s sawmill. Logs were brought to the mill by train. The terrain was rough, and many trestles had to be built. The highest surviving timber trestle in North America, at 40 m high and 187 m long, is the Kinsol Trestle just outside Mill Bay. It was built in 1911 and has survived through fire and flood. Read More….
Mount Washington
I struggled with the idea of putting Mount Washington under the tourist listings as an island community. But after much thought, I realized that if it has all the amenities of a village, then a village it must be. You can rent a hotel room, buy food or gifts in shops, eat in fine dining establishments or get a beer and burger in a pub. You can rent a condo or buy a house here, and you can even rent a mountain bike and go riding. Read More….
Nanaimo
Nanaimo is located on the east coast of southern Vancouver Island. It is B.C.’s sixth-largest city, and it is also called the Harbour City. It is a modern city with great nightlife, but you can go biking, swimming, hiking, boating, sailing, kayaking, and scuba diving here, and from the harbour, you can view wildlife, birds, whales, seals, sea lions and many other creatures. This is a great place. Read More….
Nanoose Bay
The first settler to arrive in the Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island area, the year was John Enos, who arrived in 1862. He cleared the land himself, creating a wonderful home that he named the Notch Hill Ranch. He continued to live in Nanoose Bay for 27 years, farming and helping others to settle here. As more settlers arrived, the community grew. Read More….
Parksville
The Parksville area has lots to do and see, there is so much history here, and it’s celebrated at the Craig Heritage Park & Museum, this is a pretty awesome little museum, loaded with the area’s history, did you know that they would use snowshoes on their horses because the snow would get so deep, well me neither but this and so much more can be learned at this museum. Read More….
Port Alberni
The city of Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, is located at the head of Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island. Its economy has historically been mining, fishing, and logging, but today it is tourism. Port Alberni is sitting at the head of the longest inlet on Vancouver Island and is the hub of the central west coast of Vancouver Island. Read More….
Port Alice
Port Alice is surrounded by lush rainforests that are filled with wildlife like black bears, cougars, sea otters, mink, and many others, a place of pristine wilderness that just beckons to outdoor enthusiasts and a wild west coast sea that is filled with wildlife that includes Orcas, gray whales, porpoises, seals and Stellar sea lions. Returning salmon fill Neroutsos Inlet during the spawning season. Read More….
Port Hardy
Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, is the largest community on the North Island. The first settlers came to the Port Hardy area at the turn of the century. Alec Lyon and his wife, Sarah, opened a store and post office on the east side of Hardy Bay in 1904, not far from the existing settlement of Fort Rupert on the shores of nearby Beaver Harbour. Read More….
Port McNeil
Port McNeil, Vancouver Island, sits on the edge of the Broughton Archipelago, on the northeast side of Vancouver Island. It is surrounded by misty rainforests, spectacular mountains, rushing rivers, and serene lakes. The community has a resource-based economy, but it is balanced with a great tourism industry that will continue to grow and prosper. Read More….
Port Renfrew
Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, is a great place to get away to; there is so much to do here. There is awesome wildlife viewing here, both marine and terrestrial. You will find big sandy beaches, raging rivers, beautiful lakes, great camping, winter surfing, and some of the biggest trees in the world. It’s one of those places you should see at least once in your life. Read More….
Qualicum Beach
Qualicum Beach is known as the Garden Village. The town has been a repeat winner in the Communities in Bloom competition. You can see why as you stroll through town. There are flowers and hanging baskets everywhere, and it is always so clean. It’s a beautiful little community. The Qualicum Beach Museum has an incredible fossil collection, including a 70,000-year-old walrus skeleton excavated from a nearby beach, which they call Rambling Rosie. Read More….
Quatsino
The Quatsino schoolhouse was built that year, and the first year saw 17 students enrolled. Over the next 34 years, this school was in use, but by 1930, it had become too small. So in 1930, Mr. David Robertson was contracted to build a new school to accommodate the influx of students and families moving into Quatsino. The cost of the 2 acres for school grounds was $1.00, and the cost of the new schoolhouse was $8000.00. The new school will be ready in January. There is an enrollment of 35. Two teachers are hired, and the students are split between the two classrooms. Read More….
Saanichton
Saanichton is located on the Saanich Peninsula, on the southeast side of Vancouver Island. It is a place of rose gardens and farms, forests, and estates. It’s a very beautiful place. Saanichton is a small, well-maintained community where rural and urban lifestyles come together. Saanichton is just a 20 km drive north of downtown Victoria. Read More….
Sayward
Sayward is located where the Sayward Valley joins the ocean on North Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Sayward is accessed by a 12 km paved road off the Island Highway. It is under one hour from Campbell River in the south and about 2 hours from Port Hardy to the north. Sayward can also be reached by boat via the Johnstone Strait. Read More….
Shawnigan Lake
Shawnigan Lake Village is located on southern Vancouver Island, 5 km west of Mill Bay and 45 km north of Victoria. The Village is known for its artists and craft people. Built on the eastern shore of the lake, the village has two small general stores, a couple of restaurants, several beaches, a barbershop, and a wonderful little museum. There are several more beaches and picnic sites at various spots along the lake. Read More….
Sooke
Sooke is located just 60 minutes from Victoria, along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. There are many things to do here as a tourist; you could hire a guide to go fishing, go surfing, go hiking, whale watching, mountain biking, or bird watching. You could also just walk on our beautiful beaches for a great day of exploration. Read More….
Sydney
Sidney is located on southern Vancouver Island, on the Saanich Peninsula. The town is a beautiful little community. This busy little town is the business hub of the Saanich Peninsula. It was, at one time, a small farming community. The heavily wooded forests of the area’s early past created a logging and sawmill boom. The economy now runs on tourism, and it is a tourist destination for sure. It is a friendly town with many great shops, restaurants, boutiques, and marinas. Read More….
Tahsis
Tahsis is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. There is a good gravel road that runs from Gold River to Tahsis now, but when I was a boy, there was no road then, and you either flew or took the Uchuck boat into town. The Tahsis Inlet and the surrounding Rugged Mountains are becoming well known for mountain climbing, hiking, caving, bird watching, and wildlife viewing. You should come out for a visit, and don’t forget your camera. Read More….
Telegraph Cove
Telegraph Cove’s first industry was a lumber mill and salmon saltery in the early 20th Century. It acquired its name in 1912 when the Superintendent of Telegraphs was looking for a north island community for the northern terminus of the telegraph line from Campbell River; this little Cove was perfect for the job and became known as Telegraph Cove. Read More….
Tofino
Tofino is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The town is in the Clayoquot Sound area, which measures about 400,000 hectares of land and marine inlets. The Nuu-chah-nulth First Peoples have made Clayoquot Sound their home for many thousands of years. The Village of Opitsaht on Meares Island has been continuously inhabited for at least the past 5,000 years. Read More….
Ucluelet
Ucluelet, about 80 km from Port Alberni, is located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, at the westerly entrance of Barclay Sound. It is not a new settlement by any means. In 1899, about fifteen settlers were living here. The First Peoples have lived here continuously for at least the last 5000 years. Read More….
Union Bay
The bay was established as Union Wharf in 1887 and was a major deep-sea shipping port for the coal mined in Cumberland. A railway was laid between the two communities, and an 18.5-meter high wharf – large enough to hold a locomotive and train of coal cars and allow several ships to load at once – was constructed out over Union Bay. Read More….
Victoria
Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria, BC, is one of the older cities in the Pacific Northwest and is the capital of British Columbia, Canada. World-renowned for its gardens, Victoria is often referred to as the garden city, a city of gardens, ocean vistas, and a mild year-round West Coast climate. Victoria and its surrounding communities are a mix of cityscapes, towns, and farmland. Read More….
Winter Harbor
Winter Harbour Village got its name from the merchant sailing ships of the 1700s. During the winter months, the cove was used for protection from storms. Winter Harbour is still very active along its waterfront. The commercial fleet still puts it to good use, and it’s a destination for tourism and a put-in for small boats, kayaks, and a port for sailboats during the summer months. Read More….
Woss
Woss is a pretty little village, more of a logging camp than a town, though. It was built during the time of the train logging era, and up until the end of 2017 was still using trains to haul logs. They shut that down in 2017 after there was a tragic accident involving a runaway-loaded log car, 3 workers lost their lives, and others were seriously injured. One must wonder if this is what so quickly ended the train era. Read More….
Youbou
Youbou is located on the north shore of Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island. The Lake is over 30 km long, and one of the largest bodies of freshwater on Vancouver Island. Formerly called Cottonwood, it was renamed Youbou in 1914 in honour of 2 of its employees, one of whom was the general manager, a man named Mr. Yount, and Mr. Bouten, who was the president of the company. It was built to house the mill employees. Read More….
Zeballos
Zeballos was a small, west coast fishing village until 1924, when a small gold vein was found. It attracted prospectors from around the country. The vein proved to be very difficult to get at, and after several years, the mine was abandoned. Then, in 1934, a substantial gold vein was discovered by Albert Bird. Albert subsequently sold the claim to a Victoria mining company, which turned out to be a bad move on his part, as this mine was soon producing between 30 and 40 ounces of gold per ton of ore. Read More….
The Island is separated from the B.C. coast by several straits, the Juan De Fuca Strait on the south end of the island, the Johnston Straight on the central island, and Queen Charlotte Strait on the north end of the Island.
The west coast of the island is a wild wetland covered by ( historically) ancient forests of huge trees. Some of the world’s tallest trees still grow there. The West Coast is cut by many inlets that have mountains bordering them that start at the sea and go straight up to the sky. The average height of these mountains is 800 meters, with some, like Mount Golden Hinde, Vancouver Island’s Highest mountain, exceeding heights of 2200 meters.
The Pacific storms that pound the west coast throughout the year, and more so in the winter months, are laden with moisture that must be dropped to rise up and over the Island mountains. So the west coast receives much more rain than the east coast of the island. Truly a rainforest. The West Coast is dotted with small islands, hot springs, and many large rivers that reach the sea there. An incredibly beautiful place. A place of waterfalls and hidden lakes. Of mists and trees. A place of wonder.
The southeastern shores of the island have the biggest centers, including two of BC’s biggest cities, Nanaimo and Victoria. There is much to offer in these communities, great accommodations, dining, shopping and many various outdoor adventures that are just waiting to take you on a journey of a lifetime.
The west coast Vancouver Island communities are small and isolated; some are only reachable by boat or seaplane. All have resource-based economies of fishing and logging. Although tourism is steadily increasing and has the potential to build new eco-tour-based economies, such as whale watching and wildlife photography. This, in turn, creates a need for supporting businesses needed to accommodate the increase of tourists, like lodging and restaurants, as well as guides and tour operators that could sustain their tax needs to survive. Just look at Tofino as one example; its economy runs on tourism.
The east coast of the Island, from Campbell River down to the south Island, has a very different type of terrain with broad, gently sloping shelves that go from the sea to the eastern slopes of the Island mountains. Deep, slow-moving, nutrient-rich rivers that are teeming with fish empty into the sea, building deltas of rich farmland.
Most of the Island’s people live from Campbell River down the east coast of the island to Victoria on the southern tip of the Island. Victoria is the Capital of B.C. and basically has an economy based on both Government employment and tourism, as well as some resource-based industries. There is a strong agricultural presence on the east coast of the island, and dairy farms dot the South Island.
Technology-based companies are setting up shop on the South Island, I think, because the cost of doing business in B.C. is very competitive, the size of our bigger centers and the quality of trained employees is quite impressive, and it could be because Vancouver Island is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We have a slower pace here on the island.
The north end of the island is still very much resource-based, with logging, mining, and fishing, and the spin-off industries being the main form of employment. Tourism is starting to make a marked increase in the tax bases of local communities, and I am sure it will continue to have an increase in these economies in the future. Some communities have fully embraced tourism with incredible results.
The Islands’ coastline is 3440 kilometres long and has many hidden bays, inlets, and river deltas. 15,000 years ago, the Island was buried under a vast glacial ice sheet, and by the time the ice left, the Island was already separated by the inside passage. Most of the animal species of B.C. did not make it to the island, and there are only 36 mammal species that inhabit the island. The surrounding sea has about 28 species of marine mammals, including the majestic humpback and grey whales.
The Island is on the Pacific Flyway, and each spring and fall, the island is visited by hundreds of thousands of birds who are migrating from or to their summer nesting grounds. Around 450 species of birds visit each year.
