WITH Canada celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, scenic destinations like Banff (in the Rock Mountains) and Peggy’s Cove (in Nova Scotia) or sprawling cities like Toronto and Vancouver are likely to get the lion’s share of the tourist traffic.

This is all very well - and hey, there’s nothing like watching the summer sun set over Vancouver’s English Bay. But most visitors to Canada’s west coast never get more than a glimpse of the vast island that bears the same name as this famous city. Standing on the beach at Spanish banks, you might catch sight of its dim bulk stretching along the horizon, behind the kayaks and colourful windsurfer sails. Tourists rarely stray past the shops of Robson street, the Stanley Park seawall, or the Grouse Mountain Skyride – which is a pity, because Vancouver Island is a worthy destination in itself.

From remote, windswept Pacific beaches and some of the tallest trees on the planet, to the cultivated urbane pleasures of Canada’s most English city - it offers an entirely different taste of West Coast Canada from the usual fare.

Like most islands worth exploring, there’s no bridge connecting Vancouver Island with the mainland. People drive their cars (and yes, you will need a car to see it properly) onto one of the huge ferries that ply these waters. You get a real sense of travel as the city falls away in the wake of the ship until finally, an hour and a half later, you file off the ship with all the other vehicles. You’ve reached ‘The Island” as it’s fondly called – as though there were no other.

When Captain George Vancouver charted these waters back in 1792, there was already a thriving indigenous civilization – the echoes of which live on in the place names (Nootka Sound, Tsawwassen, Nanaimo…) and in the totem poles, the artwork, the longhouses and the mystique of the great fir and cedar forests that still cover much of the mountainous island. Vancouver island is the size of Taiwan – yet with only one thirtieth the population. Even today there are probably more deer, bears, eagles and seals than there are people.

Depending on the route you’ve chosen, you’ll end up either in Nanaimo (midway up) or the southern tip, close to Victoria. Using both routes as entry and exit points will round out your trip nicely. This southern ferry route, which winds through the rustic Gulf Islands, is particularly enchanting.

Give yourself at least a week to explore, more if you’re able. The most accessible destinations are in the southern half of the island, but there’s still a good bit of driving between them. (Tofino to Victoria will require 5 hours, minimum.)

Tofino, Ucluelet and Pacific Rim National Park

Pacific Rim National Park is the jewel in crown of the Canada’s impressive Parks Service, and one of the country’s most scenic stretches:  a 500 km2 swathe of stretching beaches, pounding surf, pristine forests and rugged offshore islands.  The twin towns of Tofino and Ucluelet are home to fishing fleets, whale watching stations and the area’s small hotels, though more intrepid travellers will want to camp in the park itself.

Pacific Rim has Canada’s best beaches for surfing and beachcombing, a network of nature walks and an museum on Wickaninnish beach. The migrating grey whales offshore make for seasonal whale watching – though you’ll have to wear thick survival suits because of the chill sea. As for dining, it’s hard to beat the exquisite flavours of the local-caught salmon, mussels and Dungeness crabs that fill these clear waters.

The truly adventurous can rent kayaks and wander for days through the Broken islands or spend a strenuous week walking the rugged West Coast Trail, which covers some 75 km of coastal wilderness.  It’s little wonder the park is deemed by Lonely Planet to be the province’s most popular outdoor attraction.

Nanaimo & Island East

Travelling to and from Pacific Rim Park will take you through Nanaimo, a pleasant if unexceptional Canadian town. But one of the Island’s premier attractions lies close by: the massive forests of Cathedral Grove. Giant Douglas firs – some of them 800 years old and 250 feet high – stretch skyward, giving, you get a sense of what the west coast was like in earlier years, before logging and development reshaped the landscape. The long mountain lakes in this area make scenic destinations in themselves, and offer some splendid fishing and boating.

Victoria

British Columbia’s second city is by far the Island’s most visited destination. A modest and scenic city on its southern tip, Victoria boasts Canada’s mildest winter climate and a pleasantly laid-back atmosphere. From summer festivals music festivals and the renowned Provincial museum, to a wonderfully walkable inner harbour, next to the province’s stately parliament buildings, Victoria is a great place to while away a few relaxed days.

Spring comes early here – flowers bloom by late January, when the rest of the country is locked in snow – which is apt for a place which prides itself on its famous gardens and parks. Butchart Gardens has some of the greatest floral displays anywhere, thanks to the climate and a long history of cultivation.

For decades Victoria was the only place in the country where you could cultivate a British accent and not be thought pretentious by Canadian sensibilities. Double decker buses, tea shops and scones are a part of the city landscape, and though the region’s ubiquitous coffee culture has crept in, you can still get the “best Afternoon English tea this side of the empire” in the vine-covered elegance of Empress hotel.

North of Parksville

Most travelers get as far north as Parksville before turning west for Pacific Rim Park. But to continue on north means more wilderness and less people – far less people. It is worth exploring if time permits. There are the excellent fishing camps near Campbell River, killer whale watching in the Johnstone Strait that brings you close up to these intelligent and fascinating residents.  Scuba enthusiasts will almost certainly have heard of the famous diving walls near Port Hardy – sheer cliffs filled with massive anemones and colourful sea stars (some the size of a wagon wheel.) The water clarity and profusion of marine life here have given it the second ranking in the world (after the Red Sea) by the Jacques Cousteau Society. Port Hardy is also the jumping off point for anyone taking ferries further north, such to as the province’s Discovery Coast or Prince Rupert.

Vancouver Island is one of those destinations that is all too often left for ‘a next time’ that never comes. And yet, it offers a far richer experience than the usual Vancouver-to-Whistler circuit. The next time you find yourself on a Vancouver beach, gazing out onto the great bulk of Vancouver island, consider adding a week  to your trip and exploring an altogether different side of Canada’s west coast. You won’t forget it. 

                     Sunset at Ucluelet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island

An earlier version of this article was published in TODAY and can be found here.