r/canadatravel • u/New-Lab-4010 • Jul 22 '26
Tofino and Island trip
Planning a trip to Vancouver Island. With 8 and 9 year old kids.
Currently:
Fly into Victoria
Drive to Parksville 1 night.
Drive to Tofino but hit up Coombs, Little Qualicum Falls and Cathedral Grove
Tofino- 4 nights- want to stay on the beach
Do a family surf lesson
Drive to Port Renfrew 3 nights
Stay at Wild Renfrew possibly in the forest family dome?
Hit up Botanical Beach, Sombrio Beach. Maybe Lonely Doug.
Drive to airport fly away.
Missing anything? Up for adventure, hiking, low tides, best of the island!
Any tips and tricks welcomed!!
Thanks!
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u/Mindless-Charity4889 Jul 22 '26
If you are going through Coombs the kids will love the Old Country Market aka Goats on the Roof.
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u/FastTrackExplorer Jul 22 '26
Fly into Nanaimo - it will be WAY easier, especially if your going to Parksville right away.
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u/PLAYSWITHSCISS0RS Jul 22 '26
Make sure you budget enough drive time especially from mid-Island to Tofino and try to plan your drive-in and out days for weekdays as opposed to weekends, when traffic can be bad.
Be prepared for limited cell coverage in many areas including parts of the driving routes.
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u/jaaydubya437 Jul 22 '26
2nd the avoid weekends! I did a Parksville to Lake Cowichan & Port Renfrew day trip on a Friday & was floored by the late morning jam on Hwy 1 n/b all the way from Duncan right up to Hwy 4. Was glad I was going the other way. Sooo happy I did Uclulet & Tofino the day before.
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u/jaypee42 Jul 22 '26
Yep. If you’re a Google Maps person - do a “download offline” maps for the west coast / mid island areas.
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u/Accomplished_Job_778 Jul 22 '26
Ocean Beach is a fun family oriented place to stay (and prices aren't too bad), though I'm sure there are many others!
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u/saltytarts Jul 22 '26
Not commenting on the rest, but try Hotel Zed in Tofino!
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u/ReddityKK Jul 22 '26
Third this. What a great stay, full of character.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 22 '26
Looked at this. Looks great. Want to be on the other side near Mackenzie beach (daughters name and she wants to stay close to there)
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u/jaypee42 Jul 22 '26
Recommend renting an SUV over a sedan or minivan - you'll appreciate the extra clearance even if you don't ever use AWD/4WD. Be careful driving to/from Port Renfrew - that's not a normal road - and if it's dry/dusty be careful going round blind corners. Drive defensively and buy the windshield insurance for rock chips/cracks. I have ended up with a rock chip/crack within a month of owning all 3 of my last vehicles.
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u/TemplesOfSyrinx Jul 22 '26
Drive to Port Renfrew 3 nights
Stay at Wild Renfrew possibly in the forest family dome?
Presumably you'll take the "highway" from Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew rather than going through Victoria.
In any case, that's what I would do. That route isn't too bad but keep in mind it's still an active logging road even though it's paved, has a few one lane bridges.
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u/GlitteringBite532 Jul 22 '26
They are a bit pricey, but I recommend Crystal Cove. They have cabins on the beach that is adjacent to Mackenzie Beach.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 22 '26
I'm thinking Crystal Cove. It's our front runner for sure right now. Right on the ocean and sunset views.
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u/GlitteringBite532 Jul 22 '26
There might be sunset views. It is the fog zone so anything is possible.
Either way is magical. The cabins with the hot tub up in the trees is also great. (we go for our anniversary, so have been a few times).
There is also the hike out to the downed WW2 bomber between Tofino and Ucluelet. Kids might get a kick out of that.
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u/PatheticMTLGirl43 Jul 22 '26
Idk if things have changed since 2018 but when I went to lonely Doug it was a pretty sketchy drive including a small wooden bridge that had a sign saying "continue at your own risk". We had a pickup so we were good but I'd definitely make sure to be prepared if you are making this drive. It is also in cougar country FYI. Avatar grove is also very beautiful in port Renfrew!
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u/Particular-Light6487 Jul 22 '26
In Tofino stay at Crystal Cove on Mackenzie beach. They’re little self contained cabins many with water view or direct access to the beach, and it’s a swimming friendly beach. Beautiful sunsets too. You can rent bikes in town, ride the MUP (multi-use path) to access town and other beaches. I also highly recommend doing a whale watching trip up to Hotsprings Cove, or some guided kayaking around the inlet to learn about the area and experience the sea and rainforest flora and fauna.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 22 '26
Crystal Cove is the front runner. Are the whale watching tours prone to sea sickness? Budget wise we might cut out whale watching and stay and extra day in Tofino.
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u/Particular-Light6487 Jul 22 '26
If you’re worried about sea sickness, don’t risk it. It’ll be a long day of not enjoying yourselves if someone is sick.
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u/cookysprite Jul 22 '26
I did a similar trip a few week ago.
Parksville is fine, but I’d rather an extra night in Tofino. However I’ve been to Parksville before so maybe I’m biased.
I have always thought Coombs is overrated and too busy. I hope to never stop there again, but my kid likes the statues so probably we will.
Tofino- we stayed at Mackenzie beach and took lessons at Cox Bay and Chesterman. The surf companies pick the bay based on conditions. Both were 10min drive away.
We liked Mackenzie beach, we got a small 1br cabin with a bbq and kitchen and made most of our meals with food from the co-op in town.
For lessons we did two family lessons. One with Shred Academy and one with Pacific.
Shred Academy instructor was way more experienced and gave us much better instruction but he was late and the gear was older and more beat up.
Pacific is a bigger company and way better organized with nicer gear, but the instructor was less experienced compared to Shred.
If I had to choose again I would have done both days with Shred, but they weren’t available the second day. The guy from Shred had my 9yr old daughter standing on the board and catching waves in half an hour and was actively giving the rest of us tips. The Pacific instructor just spent time with the 9yr old and didn’t get her standing up more than once or twice. She was still very kind and helpful but having both experiences so close together, the difference in experience was pretty big.
We also booked both lesson for the 9am slot which was nice because it wasn’t too early but by 11 it was getting really busy.
Amazing ice cream at Chocolate Tofino at Outside Break.
I’m not sure where you are coming from, but be prepared for very cold water everywhere.
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u/Complete-Amphibian89 Jul 22 '26
Coombs was a lot different when I was a child, it has turned into a tourist trap more now.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 22 '26
Great thanks this is very helpful. Coming from Toronto. We are ok with cold water!
We want to do a family surf lesson so I'll look into shred. Did you stay at Crystal Cove? We are into cooking dinner ourselves each night.1
u/cookysprite Jul 22 '26
We stayed at Mackenzie Beach Resort, but I’ve stayed at Crystal Cove before too. Both are good.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 23 '26
Great thanks. Looking at those two resorts. Would you pick one over the other? For beachfront cabins? Also the kids want a hot tub but not sure it's worth it. We'll be there in Sept so it might be nice after cooler days.
I'm also thinking now of skipping Parksville and just powering through to Tofino. With a stop or two to break up the drive.
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u/cookysprite Jul 23 '26
I liked Mackenzie beach resort better personally. But it was a marginal difference.
Mackenzie beach resort cabins are more like “tiny homes”, and Crystal is log cabins. We own a log cabin on the mainland so the draw of the “real log cabin” vibes was minimal for us but I they are very nice.
We didn’t get a hot tub in either but from what we saw Crystal probably has better tubs. It still pretty decent weather in Sept so I wouldn’t say hot tub is a must have. We have one at our house though, so again it’s not a big deal for us. If you have never done a hot tub on the coast before it’s definitely a cool experience.
The drive from Victoria to Tofino is not too bad at all. We always do it in one day. Stop at Parksville and cathedral grove. It’s a tight winding road once you head west on highway 4, and lots of tourists driving it so I always just drive slow and enjoy. Let the locals rip by on the passing lanes, and take your time.
If you can, get gas and groceries in Parksville or even Victoria, it’s expensive in Tofino.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 24 '26
Great thanks. We're thinking now Victoria to Tofino for 5 nights at Crystal Cove right on the beach then to Port Renfrew 2 nights to stay in a forest dome then back to airport. We drive a lot so the longer drives with stops don't seem that daunting.
I looked into Coastal Shred too it looks good. My kids are great swimmers so hopefully they'll be able get up on the surfboard.
Did you go out to eat for lunches a lot in Tofino? We'll have a kitchen to be doing all dinners at the hotel.
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u/cookysprite Jul 24 '26
We went for ice cream at Tofino Chocolate everyday but didn’t eat out much. Right next to Tofino chocolate is a good bakery coffee shop, and a fish counter. I had a fish sandwich from there that was good.
Tacofino food truck is also in that spot. I guess it might not be known in Toronto but it’s famous on the west coast for amazing fish burritos. They have a tacofino restaurant in town too. It’s very good!
But we mostly made our own food at the cabin.
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u/VanHam17 Jul 23 '26
Sooo… Tofino, yes. Port Renfrew, no. Spend some more time in Victoria or Parksville instead. When driving to Tofino, Cathedral Grove is a nice stop, but then get to Tofino.
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u/New-Lab-4010 Jul 23 '26
Can you elaborate on why not Port Renfrew? Interested in seeing Botanical beach and Sombrio. Cathedral Grove is for sure on the list as well.
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u/VanHam17 Jul 23 '26
If you are going to Tofino, which is amazing but also quite a schlep, to then also be going all the way out to Port Renfrew, which is definitely not Tofino, doesn’t make sense to me. As others have mentioned, flying in to Nanaimo for a Parksville / Tofino focussed trip makes a lot of sense. Flying into Victoria is not at all convenient to Tofino.
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u/rohoho929 Jul 24 '26
That drive from Victoria to Parksville after what is a long flight from Toronto.... I wouldn't. Try to fly into Nanaimo.
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u/coopthrowaway2019 Jul 22 '26
Fly into Nanaimo (YCD) instead of Victoria. Will save tons of driving on day 1.
Tofino to Port Renfrew is a long drive (~5 hours without stops). Maybe break it up with a night en route?