South Vancouver Island - South Vancouver Island

South Vancouver Island is in Vancouver Island.

Cities

Greater Victoria and the West Coast Road

• 48.422151-123.36571 Victoria — The capital city of British Columbia that markets itself as a piece of England.
• 48.4506-123.5062 Langford — The hub of "Westshore", a group of municipalities to the west of Victoria.
• 48.558611111111-124.399166666673 Port Renfrew — A 2-hour scenic drive from Victoria on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Port Renfrew is a small west coast community that was built by logging and fishing. It sits along 250 km of rugged uninhabited coastline.
• 48.6506-123.3994 Sidney — A relaxing city 20 minutes from downtown Victoria, 5 minutes from the Victoria International Airport, quiet, on the Waterfront with quaint little shops. A tourist vacation and retirement location with waterfront walkways and bicycle paths.
• 48.3761-123.7385 Sooke — A good base for visiting Whiffen Spit, where you can watch the seals eat salmon and fish as they are washed out of the basin, and hike the trails of East Sooke Park.

Cowichan Valley

• 48.778694444444-123.707861111116 Duncan — Agricultural town between Victoria and Nanaimo, home of the world's largest hockey stick. Cowichan Bay, a pretty little seaside village, is nearby.
• 48.916666666667-123.77 Chemainus — 10 minutes north of Duncan; known for its tourist-attracting murals, plenty of tourist shops and a world-class playhouse.
• 48.9975-123.820277777788 Ladysmith — 20 minutes south of Nanaimo, tourist town, many shops down main street. Heritage town with restored buildings and beautiful Transfer Beach. Known for its annual Festival of Lights during the third week in November. Also voted one of the top ten towns in Canada as published by Harrowsmith Magazine.
• 48.8258-124.0549 Lake Cowichan – Community with outdoor activities on Cowichan Lake and the Cowichan River.

Other destinations

• 48.4833-124.2831 Juan de Fuca Provincial Park — the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail follows 47 km of wilderness stretching along the western shoreline of the southern island.
• 48.6361-124.7692 Pacific Rim National Park Reserve — rugged coasts and lush temperate rainforests spread out across Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail.

Understand

Get in

Most travellers will arrive in Greater Victoria (Victoria/Sidney), either by ferry or by plane. There is also the Trans-Canada Highway that connects Victoria to the rest of the island.

By boat

BC Ferries operates three ferry routes — two to the Southern Gulf Islands and one to Metro Vancouver.

• Vancouver (Tsawwassen) to Victoria (Swartz Bay) - 1½-hr sailing with 8-10 departures daily (varies by season)
• Salt Spring Island (Vesuvius Bay) to Crofton - 25-min sailing with 10-13 departures daily
• Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour) to Victoria (Swartz Bay) - 35-min sailing with eight departures daily

There are also three ferries to Washington state:

• MV Coho/Black Ball Ferry Line – a passenger and vehicle ferry running between Victoria's inner harbour and Port Angeles. Crossing time is 90 minutes with 2-4 sailings daily (varies by season)
• Washington State Ferries – a passenger and vehicle ferry between Anacortes and Sidney through the San Juan Islands. This service does not operate during the winter season, generally from the second week of January until the end of March
• Victoria Clipper – passenger-only catamaran ferry between Victoria's inner harbour and downtown Seattle. 2½-hr sailing time with 1-3 departures daily

By car

The main highways into South Vancouver Island are Highways 1 and 17.

• The Trans-Canada Highway 1 runs from Victoria up the east side of the island to Nanaimo and connects with West Vancouver by ferry. The drive to Nanaimo is about 1½ hours.
• BC Highway 17 connects the region to Metro Vancouver by ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen.

By air

Victoria International AirportYYJ ^IATA is the largest airport in the region with daily flights to Vancouver and some cities on the US west coast (Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco). Floatplanes and helicopters also fly into Victoria's Inner Harbour.

Get around

See

Museums and culture

• The Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria has permanent exhibits on modern, natural and First Nations history, a number of ongoing temporary exhibits, and the largest IMAX screen in British Columbia.
• Emily Carr, one of Canada's most famous artists, spent some of her childhood in Victoria. Her childhood home is now a museum and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria hosts a number of her paintings.
• See restored vintage airplanes at the BC Aviation Museum and learn about local ocean life at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Center, both in Sidney.
• The domed neo-Baroque and Romanesque Revival architecture of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings is a distinctive feature of Victoria's waterfront. The buildings have free public tours.
• Learn about logging and its history on Vancouver Island at the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan.
• Perhaps more manor house than traditional European castles, Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria and Hatley Castle near Langford, have interesting architecture and are open for public viewing.

Gardens, parks and beaches

• Butchart Gardens, in Brentwood Bay just north of Victoria, is a popular attraction with 55 acres of gardens and 900 different varieties of plants.
• Beacon Hill Park is an urban park near downtown Victoria with views, walking paths and a petting zoo for the kids.
• There are a range of beaches to view and relax at, ranging from neighbourhood beaches like Cadboro Bay Beach in Victoria to the rugged stony beaches of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.

Do

• Whale watching tours are available from Victoria harbour.
• Do a multi-day hike like the Juan de Fuca Trail in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park or the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.
• Take in the views on one of the shorter hikes at many of the parks in the regions. Some notable ones include Mount Douglas Park near Victoria and Goldstream Provincial Park near Langford.
• Much of Greater Victoria is connected by multi-use trails that are good for walking or biking. The Galloping Goose Trail connects downtown Victoria to Langford and Sooke, while the Lochside Trail connects Saanich (north of Victoria) to Sidney.
• Halibut and salmon fishing is popular out of Port Renfrew.
• There is good birdwatching at Sidney Spit and the Shoal Harbour Bird Sanctuary in Sidney, and Holland Creek near Ladysmith.

Stay safe

Go next

• Central Vancouver Island – With beaches and big trees, hikes and kayaking, whale watching and salmon fishing, caves and surfing, the central part of Vancouver Island is a haven for outdoor recreation. Nanaimo, the largest city, is a 1½-hour drive from Victoria on Trans-Canada Highway 1.
• Southern Gulf Islands – The laid-back and slower paced group of islands between Victoria and Nanaimo in the Strait of Georgia.
• Vancouver – Vibrant, multicultural and the largest city in British Columbia, Vancouver has parks, museums, trails of all types and some beautiful scenery. It's a 1½-hour ferry ride from Swartz Bay or catch a short flight from Victoria.
• Olympic Peninsula (Washington state) – Known for its rugged beauty with rain forests against a spine of dramatic mountains and miles of isolated beaches. It's a 1½-hour ferry ride from Victoria across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.