Victoria Travel Forum

My wife and I will be in Victoria in October for a conference. We have about 1 day of free time, and we were hoping to rent a car and see a bit more of Vancouver Island (giant trees and/or nice beaches, if possible). Is it possible to make a nice day trip (leaving in the morning and returning at night) either to Tofino, or Nanaimo, or Parksville, or some other nice location? Or would it be best to stay overnight somewhere? I am really not familiar with distances on the island, so any suggestions as to places to visit (and places to stay for one night), and as to driving times, would be much appreciated. Thank you!!

You can do a day trip to Nanaimo or Parksville. I also recommend stopping at Chemanius. But if you want to go to Tofino, my recommendation would be to make it an overnight trip.

Tofino is beautiful but way too far for a day trip, or even an overnight. You'd be cheating yourselves there as you'd need at least 3 full days to properly experience the area. It takes 5 hours to get there from Victoria.

May I recommend driving to China Beach and Sombrio Beach just west of Sooke (about a 1-2 hour drive west of Victoria)? Beautiful old growth temperate rainforests on the ocean - quite a change from what's immediately around Victoria, and it takes a lot less time than visiting Tofino.

The east coast of Vancouver Island has its own charms, which is infrastructure close to shallow/tame beaches. The beaches are great if you want to sunbathe, but they lack the waves, marine life, and temperate rainforests - the "enchanting/spiritual" factor of the west coast.

BTW - China Beach and Sombrio Beach are located in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. Take a look at my VT home page to see a photo I took from within the rainforest next to Sombrio.

the sooke area is suppose to be beautiful - i haven't been there.
another option is you could take a ferry to one of the gulf islands for a day.

You can do a nice day trip up the old island highway to Parksville and then head inland to Cathedral Grove (it's a beautiful old growth forest with some huge trees). You can also include a visit to Little Qualicum Falls.