Just a stone’s throw away from Vancouver city lies its magical island counterpart known as Vancouver Island. Brimming with ancient forests, wildlife experiences and a small island village vibe, Vancouver Island must be experienced to appreciate how truly epic this place is.

It’s big statement to make but it is truly one of my favourite places in the world!

Here are my top 10 travel tips for visiting this incredible island:

Explore the north.

Vancouver Island is best known for the destinations in the south of the island with most people not driving further north than Campbell River. What a mistake this is! The north island is full of ancient forests, wild ocean shorelines and an incredible array of wildlife. Add in an eclectic mix of small fishing villages and you’ve got yourself the perfect mixture for an absolutely epic travel adventure.

Some of my favourite locations in the northern region of Vancouver Island includes Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Telegraph Cove and Sayward.

Check out the offical Vancouver Island North tourism website for more tips and travel guides.

2. Hire a car

Hire, borrow or buy a car because you are going to need it. There is almost no public transport on the island, particularly in the north region. Even though it cost me a pretty penny and made up a significant amount of my budget, hiring a car allowed me to explore at my own pace rather than being stuck on a tour which meant that I was able to visit places that international tourists rarely visit.

Even better, get yourself a 4WD because car hire companies do not allow 2WD cars on unpaved roads including the forestry roads which are regularly used by local logging companies. This is a major problem because many camping and hiking destinations in the north of the island are only accessible by unpaved forestry roads.
When it comes to booking car rentals, I use Drive Now which is a one-stop shop for all international car hire.

3. Visit in the off-season

Wow….didn’t I make a mistake visiting in August! The campgrounds were full, popular visitor sites were packed with people and the wildlife was deep in the forest trying to get relief from the hot August weather. If I had my time again I would visit in the shoulder season such as September when the school holidays are over and the weather cools down. Even though temperatures are lower in the north of the island (I was wearing a jacket and beanie at night), the weather was still warm enough to mean that wildlife viewings were lower than normal. If you have no option but to visit in August, make sure you budget for wildlife tours to increase your chance of seeing wildlife (see tip 5).

4. Go slow

The island is massive in size at over 32, 000km2 and with so much to see. When travelling the island, I met countless people who had only dedicated a few days to see the island. I know it’s not always possible to travel for long periods of time but I strongly suggest you spend at least a week to really get a feel for what Vancouver Island has to offer. I was on the island for a little over two weeks and I wish I had stayed longer!

In fact, an island local told me that he had lived on the island for 30 years and was still discovering places on the island he never knew about…that’s how incredible this place is.

5. Book wildlife and whale watching tours

I’m going to be honest here. When I originally booked this trip, I reluctantly booked wildlife and whale watching tours thinking they weren’t necessary and that wildlife was going to be easy viewing. How wrong I was!

Thank goodness I pre-booked my tours months in advance because by the time I got to the island I discovered that not only was the local wildlife harder to see in August but the wildlife tours were also completely booked out.

Now don’t get me wrong. Vancouver Island is an absolute mecca for wildlife viewing and nature-based travel but you will absolutely increase your chances of wildlife viewing by using local and reputable wildlife tour companies. For whale watching tours, I highly recommend Mackay Whale Watching. The guides were passionate and the wildlife viewing was incredible!

6. Pre-book popular campsites

Oh man! What was I thinking! I didn’t pre-book any campsites on Vancouver Island and it meant that a significant portion of my days were focused on trying to secure a campsite. Don’t make the same mistake as me if you are visiting in the peak season of August. Even in the north of the island where there were fewer tourists, the campgrounds were largely booked out including the free recreation sites which were completely full. You could try your luck with these first-come-first served campsites but I heard from both travellers and locals that they were full of long-term travellers.

Now, if you are planning on visiting in the off-season, you will have much better luck with securing campsites in both private campgrounds and in free recreation campsites.

You’ve heard it once and I’ll say it again…pre-book your campsites if visiting Vancouver Island in the peak season.

7. Utilise visitor centres

Not every travel destination in the world has local government-run visitor information centres but Vancouver Island certainly has them…and quite a few! They are dotted all over the island in even the smallest of fishing villages. I don’t usually use them when travelling in my own country of Australia (or anywhere else for that matter) but they were incredibly handy on the island for finding good campsites, tours and the best hiking trails. Make the effort to stop and check them out because they are little beacons of local knowledge for you to use.

I highly recommend you check out The Whale Interpretive Centre at Telegraph Cove. It’s technically not a visitor centre but it is an excellent example of one of the many small and local museums dotted all over Vancouver Island.

8. Make friends with the locals

Before I set off on the trip I trawled the internet for travel information about the north region of Vancouver Island. Much to my surprise and frustration, I found very little useful travel information to help me plan things to see and do which is a big reason why I wrote this blog post! In all my years of travel I found it strange that there was such little information and I discovered once on the island there are a couple of reasons for this.

The north region of the island is largely undiscovered by international tourists when compared to other travel destinations in Europe and even South-East Asia. The second reason is that locals are very protective of their hidden gems!

While I believe making friends and having meaningful interactions with locals should underpin any travel experience, this is even more so on Vancouver Island. Many, many of my experiences occurred because I showed genuine curiosity, respect for and interest in Vancouver Island and those who call it home. In return, I had generous locals who were warm and excited to share their island with me.

Make friends and you will be rewarded with tips and information on where to see the island’s treasures!

9. Buy camping food on the mainland.

Now don’t get me wrong. The local produce is exceptional on Vancouver Island, especially the salmon that I ate almost every day! It was so delicious. But if you want to keep your travel and camping costs low, I recommend you buy as much food as possible on the mainland before arriving on Vancouver Island. Because I hired my car on Vancouver Island itself, I wasn’t able to do this which meant I had to buy all my food on the island. And wow….it was definitely more expensive!

If this is not possible, I recommend stocking up on non-perishable items in Nanaimo (or any other city centre) on Vancouver Island before driving north. The more isolated you get, the higher the transportation costs which unfortunately is passed onto you, the consumer. I found this out the hard way!

For travel budget tips and more travel recommendations, check out this Vancouver Island Travel Guide written by well-known travel blogger Nomadic Matt.

10. Pratice Bear Safety

Estimates put the number of black bears on Vancouver Island at around 7,000 to 12, 000 bears. Vancouver Island is quite a large island which means the likelihood of stumbling upon a bear is unlikely but you should still definitely practice good bear safety. When you’re camping don’t leave food, cosmetics or cooking utensils around the campsite. It may be a bit annoying to pack it all up but trust me…you don’t want to wake up to a hungry bear scrambling around your campsite!

For a more comprehensive list of bear safety tips, check out BearWise.