1 Week on Vancouver Island
 

My family of 4 (children 12 and 16) will be on Vancouver Island this summer. We like hiking and camping. Want to Whale Watch at Telegraph Cove, hike in Strathcona, water activities in Parksville and Qualicum Bach area. If you were us would you stay in one central location and drive around, or move from place to place? If you answer yes to central location what location would that be for cabin or cottage?

Beth--lots of options. I would tend to stay in Parksville either at Beach Acres or at Madronna. The hike to Strathcona may be a bit of a stretch. Reason--nice area and very sunny. If you stay in Tofino (two days) it might be overcast. Beach Acres has forest and beach cottages, the forest ones are less pricey and Madronna has condos. In Tofino, I would probably consider Pacific Sands and if I were to stay in the Courtney, Comox area I would start with Painter's Lodge and work down from there. There is a neat little complex of cabins called Ocean Shores that looks like fun-cabins, fireplaces, etc but I have never stopped there. Please contact me for more info. I am a commercial traveller on Van. Is. so know the area quite well.

Thanks for the info Cheryl. What do you mean by Strathcona being a stretch (distance)? What does a commercial traveler do? Beth

remember the roads on Vancouver Island are not fast so when the map says 120 klm it means that. You are not going to average over 70 K per hour and may be slower if you get behind a camper,logging truck, etc. <BR>Commercial traveller is yuppie for travelin' salesman

Beth, if you are campers, there are a couple of books worth searching out called Backroads of Vancouver Island-they list Provincial campsites, and also campsites offered by the forest companies.

I agree with the Beach Acres recommendation. The forest cabins looked quaint but we opted for a townhouse w/ 2 bedrooms, kitchen, fireplace, etc. They have an indoor pool and hot tub too. The restaurant (McClure House) on the grounds is exceptional. And whatever you do, dont miss the general store near Little Qualicum Falls, I dont remember the name but there's grass and goats on the roof. The store has EVERYTHING from food to pottery and art supplies. Really cool

Lily, <BR>Do you mean the store in Coombs?

BETH! <BR>YOur doing what we did last August. What we did was we had stayed in Parksville for the time. It was the perfect central point to move from to go and see the other parts of the island. We stayed at Tigh Na Mara which is right on the Beach and it has little cabin/cottages for families or they have rooms as well. It's a great place for families. We found this worked because everything else wasn't too far of a drive(longest being 4 hours) YOu have to drive to Tofino at one point, it's amazing there. It takes 3 hours but it's worth it. There is grey whale watching there and lots of other wildlife. The other thing too is that the whole area of Parksville gets very busy in the summer and it will be difficult to find other place to stay. A central locale is the option to go. Tigh Na Mara was great though, I stayed in a hotel like room but that was because it was my boyfriend and I. I would always walk by the cottages though and they looked so cute and cozy for a family to stay in. Your going to have a fabulous trip, I did!

April: Yes, THATs the one! The Coombs Country Store. :-)