Many Seattleites pick Victoria as a honeymoon destination for its old-world charm and romantic gardens. Yet the true romanticism of the area lies beyond the city center, where things get a little slower. Vancouver Island is a food fanatic's paradise, rich with farms, seafood restaurants, high teas and wineries. If your honeymoon aim is to eat like Anthony Bourdain, drink great wine and sleep in until noon, this is the place for you.
By Jessica Obrist | October 3, 2008
The west coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island is a place of lore and mystery. Only a few hundred miles from Seattle, it has remained a dramatic wilderness -- off the radar and difficult to access -- for many living in the Northwest.
By Jeff Layton | August 1, 2008
Too busy to research guidebooks? With our "Do It in a Day" feature, you get a ready-made itinerary for a good day's visit to a popular Northwest...
By Carol Pucci | July 3, 2008
Convergence Zone
Nothing exacerbates spring fever like those midweek glimmers of warmth and sunshine when you're stuck in the office and the kids are at school. If the family is craving a brief (but necessary) vacation, squeeze in your own little spring break to Vancouver Island, where March means whale migration season and the Pacific Rim Whale Festival.
By Natalie Broulette | February 26, 2008
VICTORIA, B.C. — Only a few passengers ventured on to the deck of the Port Angeles-based ferry M.V. Coho, their heads bent and feet firmly planted against wind gusts and light rain, as we entered Victoria's Inner Harbor. The warm-weather parade of float planes, sailboats and small harbor ferries had disappeared — the harbor's waters the same color as the concrete walks surrounding it.
By Barbara Kinney | January 11, 2007
Short Trips
Sometimes a delayed Valentine's Day gift can be even more special than getting a gift on the real day -- especially when a spa is involved.
Young Simon Carrier, who waits tables at the Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, B.C., worked Valentine's Day this year. So, for a delayed celebration, he and his Chilean girlfriend, Fernanda Icaran, decided to spend a night at the Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort in Parksville on Vancouver Island for what Simon called "a little spa action." Overnight was all the young couple could afford.
By Jeff Larsen | March 9, 2006
My husband has become an obsessive golfer, but the kids and I still love to ski and snowboard. With these irreconcilable differences, how can we have a successful winter family vacation?
Fortunately, we can head to the Comox Valley, about three hours north of Victoria on Vancouver Island. There, thanks to two starkly different climate zones in one geographic location, he can hit the green fairways of some top-notch golf courses and we can frolic in the snow -- all on the same winter's day.
By Anne Mullens | January 19, 2006
Short Trips
The thousands of lights are mesmerizing. Poinsettias -- a holiday plant standard worldwide -- are displayed by the hundreds in heated confines behind well-lit windows for visitor enjoyment. Carolers fill the chilled evening air with familiar holiday songs. Fresh evergreen garlands line all the walkways, dressed up with colored, twinkling lights. Lots of smiling faces brighten up the scene even more.
By Jeff Larsen | December 15, 2005
Short Trips
The eagles have landed at Goldstream Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, and for good reason -- their fall and winter feast has arrived.
For the rest of this month, bald eagles flock to parts of the Goldstream River -- just 12 miles north of Victoria -- to feast on the dead and dying carcasses of thousands of chum, coho and chinook salmon that return to spawn each year from mid-October until the end of December. One Canadian naturalist predicted 30,000 chum salmon would make the migration this year.
By Jeff Larsen | December 8, 2005
Short Trips
Vancouver Island is the largest island on the North American continent's West Coast. More than a half-million people live there.
By Jeff Larsen | November 10, 2005
