Vancouver Itinerary

[Fernleigh22]

Hello!
We have booked flights to Vancouver for 9 nights this year.
I have drafted the following itinerary but hoping people could suggest adjustments/recommendations! We like to be outdoors, walking and sightseeing. Would love to include paddleboarding, kayaking and most importantly - bear watching.

Vancouver x 2 nights
Tofino x 1 night
Telegraph Cove x 2 nights
Victoria x 1 nights
Whistler 2 x nights
Vancouver 1 x night

That feels like trying to fit too much in. How are you getting around?

Telegraph cove is beautiful, but they just had a devastating fire. The whale museum is gone. I would spend longer on the island. Tofino is a long way to go for 1 night.

Ohh following! We’ve just booked flights to Vancouver for the summer too. My brother in law lives just outside Vancouver so we’re going to spend a week with them then spend some time in Vancouver and will hire a car for a bit too. First time we’ve been to Canada and I’m very excited!

Definitely longer in Tofino. It’s a long journey from Vancouver and you won’t have any time to enjoy the island.

To give an idea, we spent 9 nights there last year and did 2 nights in Vancouver, then three in each of Whistler and Tofino and final night before our flight back in Vancouver. We didn't have time to do everything we wanted to in each place.

As PP said, Tofino is a long way for one night, particularly if you want to do a whale watching tour or similar. Tofino was my favourite place on our trip, it felt like the edge of the world.

The driving is pretty easy, and very beautiful if the weather is good, but you don't want to spend all your time driving. I thought about trying to fit Victoria in but decided against it as the drive was just too much with everything else. You want time to stop for nice lunches (the Watershed Grill in Squamish is a great stop between Vancouver and Whistler for example).

We are hiring a car and driving round - ferry for the crossing.
We have previously hired RVs in the USA but with 2 children who are now slightly older I would prefer more space so plan on booking accommodation once I've finalised the plan.
Do you suggest not visiting Whistler? Was thinking most likely to see the bears there, hence squashing it in.

Don’t forget how big Canada is. It is easily 2 hours on the ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo. And then a 3 hour drive to Tofino.

And bears are not everywhere. I’ve been here 14 years, living in the boreal forest, and only seen a handful of blacks and one grizzly in the wild in that time.

Bears are hibernating now, OP, so you are highly unlikely to see any. I agree with others that you've packed a lot in a short period of time. Each place needs min. 2 days IMO.

Had you chosen to fly out of Calgary I would have suggested that you take a trip to Golden to see Boo the bear at Kicking Horse. And then visit the Golden Skybridge.

Not sure when you are visiting but bears are usually active from April to October.

If you are taking the ferry, honestly, you can't book it soon enough. My user name is one but during the summer without a reservation it can be five. Super easy to book at BC Ferries.

Thankyou - this is really helpful. Did you feel like you saw enough of Vancouver Island with only stopping in one location?
Which month did you visit?
Whale watching trip isn't essential, as we did one in California, but could add it in if we had spare time.
Was there any beaches you could recommend to spend a day?

Thank you. I will start looking at ferries this weekend.
There wasn't much options with flights for us, so it had to be Vancouver rather than Calgary.
We are coming in August during the school holidays.

We were there in June and saw tonnes of bears in Whistler, none on Vancouver Island but someone did get a great pic of one hunting just near our hotel a week later, so I guess it's luck. Loads in Whistler though, just grazing on the mountains.

Oh and the beaches near Tofino are beautiful, just wild and windswept. Chesterman was right near our hotel and just over from Tacofino, so we got tacos one evening and had a beach picnic, just amazing.

I would have loved to see more of Vancouver island but there just wasn't time, I'd genuinely go back again and spend a couple of weeks there.

Vancouver itself was....mixed. The homelessness and drug issues were truly shocking, I've never seen anything like it. Stanley Park was lovely, as was Granville Island, but the rest of Vancouver was patchy.

I had read there was a good chance of seeing bears in Whistler. It's a big bucket list item for my son to see one in the wild

Thank you for this, it's really helpful. I visited San Francisco and Vancouver sounds similar in terms of poverty/tourist hotspots. I could possibly loose one of the nights there then to add on to VI or Whistler....
Can I ask how many nights you did on VI?

We did three in Tofino, we got the 11am ferry over and drove straight to Tofino, got there late afternoon and had that night and the next two. We did spend a whole day doing the hot springs tour which was great, you can either get a boat or sea plane but we took the boat for the added nature watching and saw whales, porpoises, otters, seals and eagles.

I thought Vancouver city was ok but loved the island. Did a surfing lesson, kayaking trip with whales swimming nearby, amazing scenery.

We skipped Vancouver completely, went to Alberta and took internal flight to Comox and drove to port mc Neill - stayed for few nights and drove all the way to tofino and spent few days in Tofino. Will go back in a heartbeat!
Do not underestimate the distance when driving. We flew home from Nanaimo and did not go to Vancouver. We are not into cities so did not feel that we needed to go to Vancouver.

I found Vancouver not particularly interesting to be honest - one day and night would have been plenty! Definitely need longer on Vancouver island, Tofino is lovely and the beaches are incredible. I also really enjoyed Victoria and would have spent longer there if I'd have known how lovely it was!

Interesting replies, thanks all. I think first night in Vancouver is a must, safety wise, to avoid driving whilst tired. But could eliminate the other two....

I would minimise time in Vancouver- we didn't find anything special about the city.

Whistler was a great surprise for us, we only stayed 2 nights but they were brilliant. You can take the ski lifts up to the top of the mountains and the views are breathtaking. They had free shuttle buses to nearby lakes that you could swim in. It has a great holiday vibe.

We met friends for a week on Savery Island (as they live there), which was amazing.

Then we had 5 nights on Vancouver Island. The island is big and only 1 main road north/south, so its a pain to get around.

We stayed in Ucluelet as we left it too late and priced ourselves out of Tofino. And 3 nights in Victoria, where we did whale watching and Malahat SkyWalk.

Victoria was a lovely city, we stayed at the Hotel Grand Pacific which is right on the harbour and great for walking in the city. It also has a pool and parking.

We had an evening flight home so actually stayed in Victoria the night before and got the ferry back to Vancouver and drove straight to the airport. Better than staying in Vancouver another day (as Vancouver is more expensive than Victoria).

As pp said the level of drug use in British Columbia, especially Vancouver is shocking to most Brits as they have decriminalised personal drug possession.

When you know where you're going on Vancouver Island you should google places to see on route as we found some amazing views and places to stop.

In May/June 2022 we spent 4 nights in Vancouver and 2 weeks on the Island, it's an awful lot of driving to go from Vancouver to Tofino and then to Telegraph Cove doing 1 night stops. I would either stay on the mainland or use all of your time on the island.

I had 4 nights Victoria, 3 nights Parksville, 2 nights Campbell River, 2 nights Telegraph Cove, 2 nights Qualicum Beach, 1 night Nanaimo.

We did 3 different whale watching trips and saw Greys, Orca and Humpback. Also saw the most beautiful black bear by the road near Telegraph Cove.