Well, you know I'm a huge fan of Tofino, so IMO 4 nights is definitely NOT too much ;-). I was up there for 5 nights at Christmas and wish I'd had longer--and that was like my 6th or 7th visit. Given the travel times to and from, that's just 3 full days--there's more than enough to keep you busy for that amount of time. If anything, I'd allocate even more time to Tofino and less to Victoria, although 4 nights is a nice amount of time in Tofino, don't get me wrong.

From Victoria to Vancouver airport, I'd allow at least 3 hours--30 minutes to get from Victoria to the ferry terminal, the at least 30 minutes ahead of time you need to get there to have them honor your reservation (which I would *definitely* make since you're trying to catch a plane), the 90 minutes that the ferry takes, and then 30 minutes to unload and drive to the airport from Tsawwassen. But I'd be a little nervous about ferrying the same day I was flying, personally--you just never know when a ferry's going to go out of service or something. So build in PLENTY of extra time.

NW, you are one of the main reasons i am convinced to stay 4 nights in tofino.

well, see i was a bit nervous about not staying in vancouver the night before we leave. do ferries often get cancelled? i would expect delays, but really i have NO experience with this kind of thing.

Well, no, probably not that often statistically (and in the summer any cancellation would most likely be mechanical rather than weather related), but statistics don't matter if it happens on the day you're traveling, ya know ;-). It's just a variable I personally wouldn't want to deal with if I had a flight to catch. What time is your flight? If it's a late afternoon or evening flight then it's less of an issue. As I said, allow plenty of time when you make the ferry reservation--you can always go to Steveston (historic fishing/cannery town) if you are early to kill some time before heading to the airport.

You have lots of great advice here,
you might want to consider io Tofino to stay at the long Beach Resort or Wickinnish Inn. These are both right on the Beach. My wife and Have been going there forn years. We now stay at the Lonf Beach Resort, (spotlessly clean) and eat at least one nice dinner at the Wich.

long beach resort does seem really nice. i will check that out.

(i would LOVE to stay at the Wick, but it is just too pricey for a family of 4.)

thanks!

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but... Middle Beach Resort at Tofino comes highly recommended on this board and T.A.

Thanks. I've already reserved at the Chesterman Beach B&B at Tofino.

dina