The Vancouver Island Area

of British Columbia, Canada

Vancouver Island

Getting there

History

Highways

Vancouver Island is so large (451 km or about 280 miles long) that once you are on the island you could simply stay and live without ever leaving the island. The average width of the island is 90 km or about 60 miles. It is the largest island in North America with 3440 km or over 2,100 miles of coastline

The island holds a wide variety of activities for the tourist from the Old English charm of the City of Victoria with its tourist attractions and shopping to remote fishing, camping, and hiking at the north end and all along the west coast of the island.

Vancouver Island

Getting there

Getting on the Island

There are really only two ways to get on the island, by ferry and by air. The only way to get your car on the island is by ferry. If you want to truly visit the Island and see what it has to offer you will need a car whether you take yours or rent a car when you arrive. There are also several passenger only ferries that leave from Bellingham, Port Angeles, and Seattle. Go to our “Getting there” page for more specific information on getting to Vancouver Island. Getting there

South Island

Victoria

A photo of the Empress is loading...... South-Island

This is our term to represent the Victoria area and the south shore of Vancouver Island.

Vancouver Island is a large island with thousands of tourist attractions but by far the greatest concentration of attractions are on the south end of the island and most of those are in the City of Victoria.

As tourist attractions go, Victoria’s inner harbor is ground zero. The photo shows the Empress Hotel, originally one of the magnificent Canadian National Railroad Hotels that stretched across Canada, as seen from the walkway along Victoria’s inner harbor. The inner harbor is a people friendly place where you will want to get rid of your car and walk along the harbor, see the many attractions, and walk up-town north of the harbor.

Up-Island

Nanaimo

Up-Island

Up-Island is a local term used by Islanders to talk about everything north of Victoria. We like the term because it sounds local. Our friends who live in Victoria use the term all the time. We are going to define this area as the east side of Vancouver Island from Mill Bay and Cowichan Bay north all the way to Cumberland and Comox. In the center of this area on the east shore of Vancouver Island is the City of Nanaimo.

North-Island

Up-Island is a local term used by Islanders to talk about everything north of Victoria. We like the term but think we also need another term to talk about the far north end of the island so we have invented “North Island”

Pacific Rim

Vancouver Island’s west coast

The Pacific Rim is the name the islanders have given the west coast of Vancouver Island. In general this is the Tofino to Ucluelet, BC area of the Pacific Coast. Ucluelet is 110 mile up the western coast of Vancouver Island from Victoria. This area is accessed by taking BC Highway-4 which heads west from BC Highwy-19 Exit 48 at Parksville, BC on the east coast of the island.

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