We had heard about Tofino for years and admittedly felt guilty that we hadn’t been there yet as Canadians that travel a lot internationally. 2020 finally presented the opportunity to visit. Our eldest daughter would be attending UBC in the fall and had the opportunity to stay in residence even though her classes would be online. We’d be travelling to British Columbia to move her in so we decided to spend a few extra days exploring Tofino. It did not disappoint.
The Canadian Covid numbers were also in relatively good shape at the time and we followed all public health guidance while on the trip.
Getting There
Tofino is on the western side of Vancouver Island and faces the Pacific Ocean. You can fly to Vancouver Island but we landed at Vancouver International airport. We would be in Vancouver at the end of the trip and needed a rental van to help D#1 move in. With the rental van we then headed for the BC Ferry terminal at Tsawwassen. There is another terminal at Horseshoe Bay. Travel times through both terminals are roughly the same although getting to Horseshoe bay requires you to drive through downtown Vancouver. Ferry schedule is the bigger factor though and dictated our choice. Take the ferry to Nanaimo for the shortest route to Tofino. The ferry ride goes across the Strait of Georgia and if you’re lucky you may see whales on the crossing.
Once on Vancouver Island take BC-19 N and then BC-4 W. The drive along BC-4 W is very scenic and should be enjoyed during the day. The road is also narrow and windy at times so if you’re unfamiliar with the journey daytime is better. Keep an eye out for Cathedral Grove along the way, it features stands of giant Douglas Fur trees. Unfortunately it was closed when we drove through but we could see some huge trees from the car. Another spot to grab some food and have a walk around is just outside Coombs Village and features the Old Country Market with the Goats on the Roof restaurant.
The first landmark you’ll see when getting close to Tofino is the Pacific Rim Visitor center. It’s at a T-junction where right takes you north to Tofino and left takes you south to Ucluelet. More on Ucluelet later.
The drive from the visitor center to Tofino you’ll drive through Pacific Rim National Park Reserve which is where most of the beaches are found as well as a good number of hiking trails. Tofino is a quaint village at the northern end of the park. Total travel time was about 6 hours but we had some stops along the way so it took us a little longer.
Accomodations
We booked only a few weeks out from our travel date so didn’t have as good a selection of hotels as we normally like. When booking the biggest choice is to book a hotel along the coast with an ocean view or easy access to the Pacific Ocean or to book a place within the village. If you’re looking at a spot along the ocean we were recommended the Wickaninish Inn but they didn’t have availability. At the time of this writing Crystal Cove Beach resort and Long Beach Lodge were rated well on TripAdvisor.
We stayed in town at the Tofino Resort and Marina and had a pleasant stay. The rooms were standard and the grounds had the 1909 Restaurant and The Hatch Waterfront Pub. We had breakfast each morning at the 1909 and the food was excellent. We liked being in town over the few days we were there since we could walk to a greater selection of restaurants and the beaches are not far away.
Weather
We were in Tofino at the beginning of summer and it was comfortable most days at around 20 Celsius. The wind off the ocean can cool things down and the sun/clouds had a big affect on how warm or cool we felt. We layered each day and sometimes could get by with shorts but a sweater was always needed.
Tofino
It was only a 10minute walk into the center of the town from our hotel. It’s got that surf town feel to it and there are some quant shops in town. It only takes few hours to explore so if you’re budgeting time I’d recommend a morning or afternoon. We enjoyed a walk into town most mornings for some coffee at either the Rhino Coffee House or Tofino Coffee Roasting Co.. Coffee at both places was excellent although line ups at Rhino Coffee were often long. We had better luck with lines at Tofino Coffee Roasting. There are a number of restaurants in town as well.
The Beaches and Hiking
The beaches in Pacific Rim National Park are stunning and some of the most beautiful in the world. The sand is fine and most of the beaches we were on featured a gradual slope into the ocean which gave lots of area for the beach. The beaches are backdropped by beautiful forests and feature a lot of driftwood. We spent most of our first day in the area exploring and walking the beaches. Our most memorable walk was on Long Beach, and it was a long beach. We started near to the North End of the beach and walked south making it all the way to Combers Beach. The full length of the hike, there and back, was over 10km. We spent the good part of half of our day on the hike since we weren’t in any rush.
We’d recommend spending a full day just walking and exploring the beaches.
There are other hikes near Tofino and within the park. We took advantage of some nice trails near the village but there are lots of short hikes in the Park.
Surfing
Tofino is famous world over for it’s surfing and we were excited to try surfing again. We’ve surfed once in the past, in a trip to Morocco, and really enjoyed it. We weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to surf again. We checked out a few surfing companies and ended up going with Surf Sister. They were recommended and ranked well on Trip Advisor. Arranging the surfing was easy and we booked a 3 hour private family lesson since the prices between the family and group sessions were similar. After a visit to the store in town to fill out waivers we arranged to meet our instructor at one of the beaches which we had no problem doing.
At this time we were excited for the surfing but a little concerned about the water temperature. GMac grew up on the eastern coast of Canada so we weren’t novices to cool ocean temperatures. However Tofino water temperatures when we were there were between 10-14 Celsius and the air temperature was not much warmer. However Surf Sister had a good selection of thick wetsuits that are included as part of the lesson. Once geared up with thicker wetsuits and shoes we were quite warm. Even when we got into the water, GMac even got so warm he needed to take off his shoes.
We spent some time on the beach getting a refresh on surfing basics before heading into the water. The swell when we were there was about 1m on a beach break. We found spots in water roughly waste deep water and spent about 90mins surfing to various levels of success. We were all able to get up on the board again and had some good rides and even better falls. Overall a very positive experience.
From our viewpoint there were surfers of all abilities there in numbers with the better surfers on bigger swell deeper out.
Ucluelet
Ucluelet is another small village about 40 mins south of Tofino. Where Tofino feels touristy Ucluelet feels more authentic for the area. It didn’t take us long to walk around town but we were able to fill the day with some hikes along the Wild Pacific Trail. We parked first at Brown’s beach and walked north through the artist loops and the rocky bluffs. There are some spectacular views of the pacific from the trail.
On our way back we walked the Ancient Cedar loop and saw some very old and very tall cedars. Overall the hike was about two hours in length over easy terrain.
The second part of the trail that we walked is further south around the Lighthouse. There were more people on these trails with views being similar to the trail further north. Overall both sections of the trail were worth hiking.
There are some well rated restaurants in Ucluelet. We hadn’t realized it before we went so we didn’t book ahead which is our one regret from the trip. Sitting side by side Pluvio and the Heartwood kitchen offer great options. Pluvio has excellent ratings and some rave reviews. Unfortunately they didn’t have space for walk ins on the day we were there. The Heartwood Kitchen also has excellent ratings and had space for us so we had an excellent meal there.
Suggested Itinerary
Our recommended trip duration will depend on the number of days you want to spend surfing. We recommend a day to explore the beaches, a day to explore Ucluelet and area and then another half day in Tofino plus how many days you want to spend surfing.