Vancouver and Vancouver Island advice

[smithlane]

I am currently planning our back up holiday for if/when our end of September trip to Chicago is cancelled.
I've just secured some very reasonable flights and car to Vancouver for 10 nights with BA but that's as far as I've got!

Looking at a rough itinerary of 3 nights Vancouver and 7 on VI, would this be ok? Enough time in both? Could we squeeze in 1 night in Whistler as it doesn't look far.
A friend recommended Campbell River and Tofino as 2 places to stay on VI, should we split our week there between those two? Also seen Nanaimo on the East and Ucluelet on the West coast, would they be better locations? Will probably AirBnB our accommodation although not averse to hotel stays either.
Apologies for the 20 questions!

I should mention that the above is all hinging on Canada opening up to International tourists on the 7th September

[skalexander]

I will watch this with interest, as BC/Alberta including VI is one of my two ideas for next summer

[pinktraceb]

I've heard good things about Tofino. Although when we went to VI it was about a 3/4 hour drive from Victoria. So although it doesn't look far, it is!

We stayed in Victoria and Sooke when we went to VI. It's beautiful!

[Melbatb]

We stayed at Ucluelet when we stayed. We also visited Tofino. Both are lovely (Tofino is perhaps slightly more upmarket) so go with wherever you find accommodation you prefer!

[Melbatb]

Oh and we loved VI - one of my favorite places ever. We stayed 6 nights at Ucluelet and could have happily spent longer.

We also went to Whistler but it is quite commercialized so I wouldn’t necessarily bother!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by skalexander

I will watch this with interest, as BC/Alberta including VI is one of my two ideas for next summer

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I've always wanted to visit both Vancouver and VI so if the Canadian borders open I'll not be too upset we can't get to Chicago!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by pinktraceb

I've heard good things about Tofino. Although when we went to VI it was about a 3/4 hour drive from Victoria. So although it doesn't look far, it is!

We stayed in Victoria and Sooke when we went to VI. It's beautiful!

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Thank you, I've not heard of Sooke so will check it out. We may even add a night on to stay in Victoria so we are not too far away from getting the ferry back to Vancouver

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

We stayed at Ucluelet when we stayed. We also visited Tofino. Both are lovely (Tofino is perhaps slightly more upmarket) so go with wherever you find accommodation you prefer!

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Ok fab, I'll check out what AirBnB has to offer for both. We'll probably be guided by price

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Oh and we loved VI - one of my favorite places ever. We stayed 6 nights at Ucluelet and could have happily spent longer.

We also went to Whistler but it is quite commercialized so I wouldn’t necessarily bother!

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Ok that's good to hear, my OH would prefer to ski in Whistler so we may leave that one for a Winter holiday

[anji]

We were due to go 23 August so 7 September put paid to that - for 2nd year running!

We aimed to stay in Vancouver 3 nights then VI for 7 before taking the ferry to Port Angeles for road trip onwards. I'm extending VI to 8 nights when I book to go back so that we have 3 nights in Victoria instead of 2.

We had planned 1 night Nanaimo after getting ferry late afternoon, 3 nights Ucleulet, 1 night Parksville and 2 in Victoria. Have already booked Victoria for next September

Hope you get to go!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by anji

We were due to go 23 August so 7 September put paid to that - for 2nd year running!

We aimed to stay in Vancouver 3 nights then VI for 7 before taking the ferry to Port Angeles for road trip onwards. I'm extending VI to 8 nights when I book to go back so that we have 3 nights in Victoria instead of 2.

We had planned 1 night Nanaimo after getting ferry late afternoon, 3 nights Ucleulet, 1 night Parksville and 2 in Victoria. Have already booked Victoria for next September

Hope you get to go!

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Thank you Anji this is very useful!
With today’s news we are hopeful we will get there next month. I’m gutted yours got cancelled again. Won’t it be nice that one day when we go to book our flights that we get to actually look forward to the holiday rather than the will we/won’t we!

Random question but what kind of things were you planning on doing whilst in Vancouver and VI?
I need to get my butt into gear and plan. We only have 10 nights altogether so obviously won’t be able to do everything