Vancouver Island Suggestions

[sabad66]

Bump! Thinking of doing a 5 day trip with the family (wife and 2 toddlers) to Victoria mid September. Never been so need some tips. Will be flying in and renting a car

Is weather ok still in mid September generally? Is whale watching a thing? Should I look for an Airbnb right in Victoria or can anyone recommend surrounding towns/areas that might be better? Must eat restaurants/food trucks/things to do? With kids need easier-going things to do. Pipers lagoon looks cool from the pic above so that’s on my list. I’d love to go to tofino but given it’s a 5 hour drive I’ll probably defer to another time and stick to the eastern side. Is Coombs still shitty? School me plz and thx

[killramos]

Victoria is way more of a shithole than you would expect

[ExtraSlow]

you don't need 5 days in Victoria, for any reason. Spend some time up the coast towards port renfrew, it's like "tofino lite" in terms of scenery and worth the drive. Botanical beach and Sombrio Beach are good day-use areas. Can't reccomend accomodations, but there are options up there. Even camping.

[sabad66]

Yeah I should have been more clear. Flying into Victoria but def don’t want to stay in the city itself for any long amount of time. I’d like to drive up the coast and maybe stay in two different towns and explore the scenery/beaches along the coast

[ExtraSlow]

Port Renfrew is 2.5 h from the airport and totally worthwhile. See above.

Can even loop around to lake Cowichan if you want to make a circle tour of the south part of the island and hang in Duncan or whatev.

[suntan]

Weather will be nice. Victoria doesn't get cold until Dec.

Downtown Victoria is overrun with homeless now. Yippee. Mostly near the Fairmont all the way over to the Best Western Inner Harbour.

The harbour is nice. Their whole downtown is worth exploring other than the sheer fucking number of homeless now.

It's worth visiting the Chinatown, there's a cool super narrow street.

You like sushi? It's half the price and twice as much quantity there.

I enjoy the Dutch Bakery and Diner.

Yes you can whale watch. Should be shitloads of humpbacks that time of year. Always lots of killer whales.

Craigdarroch Castle was cool.

Butchart Gardens is nice.

A lot of this is dependent on the temperament of your kids. For whale watching you will be on the water for hours. Kids might enjoy the bug zoo and miniature world.

Oak Bay is the nicest area if you're looking for Air BnB. I stayed at a house one year near Willows Beach on Estevan Ave. That was a nice area.

Sidney is a nice town, kids should enjoy the Shaw Centre. Lots of cool marine life there. Always people crabbing on the harbour. There's a really good, cheap bakery nearby.

Oh yeah traffic SUCKS there big time. It will take you forever to get anywhere. Be very careful driving and walking, the old people driving are a true menace. I've had two occasions where some old person blew through a red light where I was going to cross. If you're going to Sidney plan ahead to avoid rush hour otherwise you'll waste two hours of your life travelling 20 km.

Coombs sucks now. Don't go. It's a total fucking mess. You will be stuck in traffic for eons. You have been warned.

Oh, just read you're flying in. Yeah, that drive going south can be brutal. Try to avoid rush hour.

[killramos]

See if you can time it with the tides at ladysmith / parksville. There are some cool beaches with fun low tides that kids would like

Renfrew has a nice big beach, but it’s on the reserve so that comes with its own baggage. I wouldn’t personally go to renfrew unless you want to book a fishing charter or want to do part of the west coast trail or something. It’s a big camping spot though.

Restaurants is a hard one. I wouldn’t have high expectations anywhere on the island. Even Victoria is a pain.

Lake Cowichan is fun if you catch some heat and can go tubing down the river. I think there are a few tourist traps in town who will rent you a tube and come get you around skutz falls. Not sure what the river depth is like right now which affects that plan.

Tofino isn’t that far away and it’s a decent twisty drive if you are into that.

Hanging out in Duncan is bad advice.

[suntan]

Rathtrevor beach has an insanely long super shallow (like a couple of inches deep) beach that's awesome. I've stayed at Tigh-Na-Mara resort there, that was nice.

Nanamoo as my youngest used to call it is not worth visiting either.

kill is right about the food, there's nothing spectacular, but restaurant food in general is waaay cheaper there so there's that.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Duncan is terrible.
Many beaches in Vic aren't sandy. I'd say Willows is the best. Durance Lake is the best lake but it's closer to the airport than Vic. If you're born Berta, seeing an actual lake will amaze you.

[suntan]

I love how people love to make fun of Alberta rednecks, but holy shit BC rednecks are truly frightening.

[lasimmon]

Mystic Beach is a good hike with kids out past Sooke. About 1.5 - 2 km into the beach. Its flat. There is an awesome wood fired pizza place by there too.

http://stokedwoodfiredpizzeria.com/?...edium=referral

[killramos]

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I love how people love to make fun of Alberta rednecks, but holy shit BC rednecks are truly frightening.

Mostly this. Literally every person on the island is at least a few shades of crazy. And none of them are sober.

I may be jaded about Vancouver Island. But sadly I am not wrong.

[suntan]

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Mostly this. Literally every person on the island is at least a few shades of crazy. And none of them are sober.

I may be jaded about Vancouver Island. But sadly I am not wrong.

It's literally the only place where someone threatened to kill me for being married to a white girl.

[90_Shelby]

Go stay at Beach Club Resort in Parksville. It’s on Parksville Bay, similar to Rathtrevor beach, shallow warm water when the tide is in, miles of beach when the tide is out. Walking distance to Parksville community park which has one of the biggest and best playgrounds and water parks that your kids will ever go to. They also host a sandcastle competition every year. The beach club has amazing views, a pool and a hot tub. We found this place a few years ago and we go back every year. Great for toddlers/kids and nice enough that you’ll love it as well.

Despite what others say, go to cuckoo at Coomb’s and eat on the patio, fantastic food, amazing patio and the kids will like the goats on the roof.

Terrace Beach Resort in Ucluelet is also a very awesome and unique accommodation worth checking out for a genuine “west coast” experience.

We fly to Nanaimo instead of Victoria to reduce the driving.

[suntan]

Do they have parking at Coombs these days? I was there in 2019 and I had to park on the side of the highway. That was fun/dangerous. The food there is good but very expensive.

[90_Shelby]

There has always been lots of additional parking at the back but most people assume parking is only at the front. We’ve never had issues finding a parking spot.

There are also 3 restaurants at various price points. I go for the pasta so it’s not crazy expensive.

[Tik-Tok]

I cringe everytime I see a "goats on the roof" bumper sticker. Congrats, you went to a shitty tourist trap that resells Alibaba products through the thin facade of a hippie market.

The food is decent, but not worth the trip unless you're already on your way to Tofino.

[suntan]

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There has always been lots of additional parking at the back but most people assume parking is only at the front. We’ve never had issues finding a parking spot.

There are also 3 restaurants at various price points. I go for the pasta so it’s not crazy expensive.

Yeah, that parking lot was full too. The place was packed to the gills. We could hardly move around.

[BavarianBeast]

The only thing I can really recommend within 100km of Victoria is eating dinner at Alpina restaurant.



The island is a beautiful place, but you really have to be packing a tent or camper van to do it right.

[ExtraSlow]

Merridale cidery has a nice restaurant.