Hi!<BR>At the end of this March, I am planning one week trip to Vancouver with my wife and daughter(17 years old). Our current plan is to stay two nights in Vancouver and Victoria. We cannot decide where to stay two more nights...Nanaimo, Harrison Hot Springs, or somewhere else. Would you give us some advice?

I don't know why Nanaimo is under consideration unless you want to use it as a hub to explore the Island which does work. Tofino/Long Beach is about 4 hours from Nanaimo and is absolutely worth an overnight even though room rates are about twice those of Nanaimo.<BR><BR>Harrison Hot Springs is quite pretty and is generally seen as a place to go for a weekend of relaxation because there's really nothing to do there except take the baths and eat - especially in late March when it's not warm enough to sunbathe. <BR><BR>There should still be lots of snow at Whistler but it would cost you around $3-400(CAD) a day for room and meals but unless you enjoy Ski Resorts - and Whistler is 'Da Best!' - it probably won't appeal. Nevertheless the experiance of being in one of the favorite places for the 'Rich and Famous' should appeal to your daughter even if she doesn't ski.<BR><BR>Frankly I would spend three nights in Vancouver, 2 in Victoria, one in Tofino and one in Whistler and that would give you a good look at the top four places in SW BC. The best route would be Vancouver then up the Sea to Sky highway, (drive daytime only), to Whistler, back to Horseshoe Bay - take Ferry to Nanaimo then continue to Tofino. from Tofino drive to Victoria for two nights, take the Swartz Bay - Tsawwassen Ferry to the Mainland and return to your home.<BR><BR>Hope that helps.

Thank you GaryA for your valuable advice. I first considered Tofino but worried it was too far from Vancouver or Victoria. Having got your advice, I will think about Tofino again. I appreciate your kind suggestion.

If you can, I'd suggest a tour to Hot Springs Cove when you're in Tofino. There are various tour outfits that take you out there; some of them are whale-watching companies. Once you dock at the head of the trail, it's about 2 kilometres to the hot springs; the trail is well-built and maintanined but there are lots of stairs to climb. Bring water with you! At Hot Springs Cove you climb down a short, rocky hill and you're in very hot water, but if you put your hand over the edge of the rocks, you're in the icy Pacific. It's amazing, and beautiful. The trail goes through rain forest. There's a place to change into bathing suits (yes, even in this weather) - quite an experience and I think your daughter might really enjoy it.

Whoops - forgot to proofread - that weird word is supposed to be &quot;maintained.&quot;

I'd break up my time a little differently. Mind you, I'm a local in Vancouver, so I may be biased in certain areas.<BR><BR><BR>Gary has great advice, but I'd switch around the priorities with Whistler, Victoria and Tofino. Maybe even Vancouver.<BR><BR>Three nights in Vancouver is ideal, but if you're going to Tofino, Victoria *and* Whistler, stick to two nights.<BR><BR>Victoria is a lovely cute city, but it's small and easy to get around on by foot. You can easily see Victoria's attractions over the span of two days (and one night). This is assuming you're going to see the Butchart Gardens, the Royal Museum of BC, the Parliament Building, a quick peek at the Empress, and windowshopping downtown. <BR><BR>It takes at least 5 hours to get to Tofino from Victoria. The drive is mountainous, so even though the distance seems small on a map, the drive is slow. You can pack a little bit of hiking and beachcombing into first day you arrive at Tofino, but I honestly think you need a full day to appreciate it. Otherwise you'd be too rushed, worrying about getting back in the car, to take a 4-5 hour journey back to the east coast of the Island, and then a ferry trip over to the mainland. Two nights would be ideal here.<BR><BR>Going back to the mainland from Tofino, you could take the ferry from Nanaimo over to Horseshoe Bay. Horseshoe Bay is about an hour and 20 minute drive south of Whistler. You could head to Whistler in no time and spend a night there. It is very trendy and is completely a resort-atmosphere. It would be a bit early to go hiking there, but not too late for skiing. I don't know if it's a must-see if you're also going to Tofino. Tofino (as in, Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park) has incredible scenery, beaches, wildlife, and rainforests. Tofino, the actual town, is very small and has a hippy-like laid back atmosphere. <BR><BR>Whistler in comparison has alpine scenery, it's incredibly commercialized, and it's the opposite of Tofino. Whistler's a resort city, with all the expensive designer clothing shops, trendy and gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, etc. It's quite a different atmosphere from Tofino. In March, I'd go with Tofino over Whistler, unless you plan on doing some skiing. Otherwise Whistler will be an expensive overnight stay.<BR><BR>In the end, 2 nights in all Vancouver, Victoria and Tofino would probably give you the most for the amount of time you have.

Thank you Meesthare and Carmanah for your kind advice. Even though our Japanese guidebooks do not mention much about Tofino, I am even more convinced Tofino and Hot Springs Cove deserve long driving to get there. <BR>According to your advice, we will plan to stay Tofino for two nights. My doughter loves nature and living creatures while we parents are crazy for hot springs. <BR>Thanks again for giving us a vivid impression of Tofino. We are looking forward to visiting Canada and meeting Canadian people (My daughter wants to speak English which she has learned for five years).

shigeji.<BR>Sounds like you have settled on a good itinerary.<BR><BR>Can you tell us why the guide books were leading you towards Naniamo?<BR><BR>I see other people mention it as a destination, and like GaryA, I do not understand why.

icthecat, my guess is that the guidebooks don't point to Nanaimo as a tourist destination, but many out of town visitors figure because it's the second largest city on Vancouver Island after Victoria, there must be something going for it.<BR><BR>While it's a nice place to live, I agree that it holds little interest for a visitor, especially with all the other attractions on Vancouver Island.

icthecat, I have four guidebooks published here in Japan. All of them give one or more pages to Nanaimo. As to Tofino, only two books give brief description of this town. <BR>None of them says Nanaimo is not interesting. They say Nanaimo is the second largest in the Vancuver istland, a base of nature tours, and that you can enjoy dropping by Petroglyph Provincial Park, Ladysmith Chemainus, Duncan,etc., on the way to Nanaimo from Vivtoria. <BR>My guess is they think Tofino is a remote town where not so many readers will visit. And perhaps Japanese mentality is another reason. We take importance on equality. Japanese usually do not welcome open criticism, which could be a defect as far as a gudebook is concerned.<BR>Anyway, thanks to all of you, I could get an actual impression of BC. I enjoyed reading your honest opinions. Thank you again for your kind help.

Last August we spent our holiday in W. Canada. Our family includes our two daughters aged 14 and 19.<BR>We flew in to Vancouver and spent 3 nights there- it should have been longer. The girls really enjoyed the shopping Chinatown Stanley Park. Then we went to Vancouver island for 3 nights-two in Victoria and one in Chemainus.In Victoria we stayed in Isabella's Apartments which were superb.<BR>We could really have missed Chemainus where everything was closed by 5p.m. and it was not easy to find a meal.<BR>All in all though we liked the island lots.<BR>We then headed for Jasper stopping for only 2 hours in Whistler.This was a mistake. In terms of character Whistler had more of it than Jasper although we enjoyed Jasper. However I'm informed by the experts in my family that the shops in Whistler knocked spots off those in Vancouver!<BR>At the end of every holiday we look back and consider whether the trip suited us all and this was a big success.<BR>We're going to Croatia this year!

This post has been helpful to me. We are going to the Queen Charlotte Islands and were considering spending 4-6 nights in Vancouver and Victoria. We were originally interested in Tofino until we found out about the schooner trip. We are not interested in Whistler but were thinking of the Gulf Islands -- Salt Spring and Galiano as day trips from Victoria. However, Tofino sounds so appealing that I am wondering how to divide the time and if y'all have any feedback on 6 nights Vancouver, Victoria, Tofino and the Gulf Islands. I would rather not pack and move every day -- perhaps 2 nights Vancouver, then Salt Spring and Galiano Islands for a night, then Tofino for a night and back to Victoria for 2 nights. What do you think? We would be there the first week of June.

We are also traveling to Vancouver-March 18. Info. on Tofino; this is the time for the migration of gray whales (20,000) thus the Pacific Rim Whale Festival will be going on. Chance of seeing whales is excellent; 2 hr. excursion for whale watching, seals, rainforest, Hot Springs, etc. There are some wonderful Lodges and accomodations in Tofino...Longbeach Lodge Resort is where we will be staying. Then off to Whistler!