Vancouver Island

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Vancouver Island offers outdoor action from coast to coast.

Photo by Jeremy Koreski

Vancouver Island offers outdoor action from coast to coast.

Vancouver Island offers outdoor action from coast to coast.

Photo by Jeremy Koreski

Hiking through Vancouver Island's rugged terrain

Photo by Jeremy Koreski

Rugged ❖ “Vancouver Island is a little touch of paradise if you’re into the outdoors,” says Matthew Robertson, founder of the adventure-travel outfitter Momentum Adventure (momentumadventure.com). Indeed, the British Columbian island—which is larger than the state of Massachusetts—is vast, remote, and ripe for exploring. A typical itinerary on the island and in its surrounding areas might include stand-up paddleboarding through the rain forests of Tofino, a grizzly-bear safari in the Great Bear Rainforest, and rock climbing and glacier trekking on Rugged Mountain. Robertson also recommends a helicopter excursion to the labyrinthine underground Upana Caves and fishing for rainbow trout in the Gold River. 

Refined ❖ Vancouver Island’s private lodges may be secluded, but they deliver plenty of creature comforts nonetheless. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort (wildretreat.com), a Tofino property known for its gourmet cuisine, features 24 safari-style tents set amid 1 million acres of protected old-growth rain forest. On a rocky promontory on the west coast of the island, the Relais & Châteaux resort Wickaninnish Inn (wickinn.com) is perfectly situated for winter storm watching and, in milder weather, beachcombing and surfing. A short helicopter ride away from the island, in the Great Bear Rainforest, Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort (nimmobay.com)—which specializes in heli-fishing and heli-hiking excursions from July through October—features nine waterfront cabins.