Vancouver, Victoria and Tofino
 

Hi!

We are planning to go to BC on the last 2 weeks of April. We are a couple on our 30’s who love to travel, we love good food, museums (specially my husband) and nature and hiking (although we are not specially fit!).
Here is our itinerary:
April 16th to 27th.

Monday 16: Arrive at Vancouver at 1pm and just take look around Gastown

Tuesday 17:Stanley Park and west end

Wednesday 18: Museum anthropology and china Town

Thursday 19: Grouse Mountain

Friday 20: Take morning Ferry to Victoria and enjoy the rest of the day walking Victoria

Saturday 21: Royal British Columbia Museum + Food tour

Sunday 22

· Rent a car

· Leave to Tofino, on our way stop at Butchart Gardens and Cathedral Grove

Monday 23: Whale Watching Tour and Schooner cove trail

Tuesday 24: Pacific Rim National Park

Wednesday 25 :Rainforest Trail

Thursday 26 Leave Tofino to Victoria and take the Ferry back to Vancouver

Friday 27th Leave for home

So, here are a couple questions I really will appreciate your help with:

1. Do you feel the days are distributed correctly?

2. We could have 3 more days in Canada, do have a suggestion of any other place we should visit?

3. I don’t seem to get the weather conditions we will get. Should we expect a lot of rain or cold? For example on the day we are visiting grouse mountain should we expect snow? I was planning on doing some ziplining and going to the bridge and maybe rent a kayak, buy I don't know if it will be too cold for this! (consider we live in tropical Mexico, although we use to travel to Europe in winter)

4. I feel our last day coming back from Tofino up to Vancouver will be tiresome, I looked on the car rentals to consider dropping the car at nanaimo but the dropping fees were almost $250dollars. Another option that occurred to me is to rent the car from Thursday 19th (our last day in Vancouver when we will be visiting Grouse Mountain) and go back to Vancouver from Tofino via Nanaimos Ferry, what is your take on that?


Thank you so much for your help and any commets will be appreciated!

Just a few ideas:

Instead of Gastown which IMO has few redeeming features wander around Granville Island...lots of interesting shops, galleries, resto s and views.

Grouse Mt. will have some snow but may have fog/ rain. If it is socked in I wouldn’t bother going up.

April usually brings more than showers! Definitely bring a rainproof jacket and layer. Some hotels in Tofino have rain gear and rubber boots for walking the beaches.

The Wild Pacific trail in Ucluelet is beyond scenic!

Keep the car, take the ferry from Nanaimo to West Vancouver. Easiest route.

A couple of notes. Buchart Gardens is close to the ferry, out in Sidney, not on the way to Tofino so you won't be doing that the same day. There are day tours from Victoria you can take to the gardens.
Yes take the ferry back from nanaimo, no sense driving all the way back to Victoria. If you are really on a budget you can take the bus, Tofino Bus, to Nanaimo and then rent the car from there as you probably won't need it in Victoria.

For a Zip Line there is also on on the way to Tofino. My friends say it is amazing. WestCoast Wild Adventures
https://vimeo.com/14564284
As mentioned the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet is fantastic.
Stop for lunch at the Black Rock Hotel on the trail, amazing views and a gorgeous hotel.

Your weather could be fantastic or rainy , it is really a crap shoot any time of year on the west coast, so layers and a light rain coat are always good to pack. I have been there at Christmas when it was sunny and (almost) warmish.
Schooner cove trail is one of my favourites. If you go at low tide when you get to the beach turn right and go around the rocks. You can be on a beach where there is no one. Just be sure to come back before the tide comes in so timing is important.
Hot springs cove in Tofino is another option. You can do the sea plane there or the boat or zodiac. You may be able to combine whale watching and hot springs cove.
There is a tiny little restaurant near the Tofino Harbour called Calypso Roti Shop which has great Jamaican food and is reasonably priced, which is rare in Tofino.

For an extra three days, Vancouver always has lots to offer to stay longer
Stay in Parksville/Qualicum Beach area on the way back to Nanaimo
Keep the car and drive to Saltspring island , via the Crofton Ferry, south of nanaimo, and then the ferry from Saltspring island back to Vancouver. It is a great little gulf island
There are also other gulf islands to explore north of Parksville, Denman, Quadra, Hornby.
If you have other questions let me know.

Thank you so much for help!!! Your suggestions look great!!
Thanks again!!

Bit of a belated reply, but I'd second @live42day's suggestion of Saltspring Island. :)
Victoria is a really fantastic brunch city so for that Saturday (so long as you don't mind waiting in line!) I'd suggest checking out either Blue Fox Cafe or MoLe (one good thing about MoLe is you can put your name down for a table and then get a good coffee at Habit next door while you wait - they're affiliated, so they'll even let you take your mug over with you.) - https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restauran...and_Briti.html

Being from Vancouver, most of my suggestions there are also food related... ;D
If you like good coffee from hipstery type places and happen to be in Gastown, I'd suggest checking out Birds and the Beets, Revolver, and for cake or sweets, 'Purebread'. If it's lunch time when you're in that neighbourhood, I'd suggest Meat & Bread as well (really great sandwich place.) The Granville Island suggestion is also good.

If the weather's nice on your Stanley Park day, I'd suggest renting bikes and riding them all the way around the Seawall. You can take a break to get some sushi (the quality will vary of course from place to place, but sushi joints are all over the city and one of the most affordable-yet-tasty lunch options in town) and then keep going to Science World, past Olympic Village until you connect up with Granville Island (they just finished fixing up that bit of our Seawall so the pavement is now delightfully fresh and smooth!) If you end up using bike share bikes, you can then just hop on one of the cute little water bus boats and take that back to the West End area (False Creek Ferries - Transport on Vancouver Waterfront since 1982) If you like Ramen, there are a few places right along the west portion of Robson St (Hokkaido Ramen Santouka and Ramen Danbo are both solid. Guu is a chain of Japanese restaurants I'd also suggest (neither sushi nor ramen but tasty!) If you feel like venturing out of downtown for a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, I'd recommend Long's Noodle House for great Shanghainese food at 32nd and Main - mostly for their excellent soupy pork dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) and drunken (wine) chicken. That street has a lot of little bars and restaurants and antique shops and thrift stores to recommend it if you end up with an extra day and want to just do some window shopping and get a feel for local life. For your UBC visit - Museum of Anthropology is definitely worth seeing. If weather/sweet tooth warrants, a local excellent ice cream chain Rain or Shine recently set up a new location at the university (if you go, I suggest trying the delicious 'malted milk chocolate honeycomb' flavour in one of the freshly made waffle cones. (https://www.instagram.com/rainorshineyvr/?hl=en)