Ask anything on Vancouver Island
Fri, Oct 16 – Sun, Oct 18 · 124 events, each with a page of its own:
The weekend window
Everything on the island this weekend
· 7:00 PM
Knox presents...Beatlemania, featuring The Sutcliffes.
Knox United Church$38.74
Join us for an incredible evening of Beatles music as The Sutcliffes take us through the "Beatlemania" years, 1963-1966.
Tickets available
· 4:00 PM
Wine, Wire & Wonder: Create Your Own Stone Necklace
Pacific Arts Market$81.21
Tickets available
· 10:00 AM
Midlife looks fine, so why does it feel like something shifted?
Cook Street Village Activity Centre$27.50-$55
Tickets available
· 11:00 AM
Picture Perfect: The Value of Great Visuals
Pacific Arts Market
Free
· 6:00 PM
Halloween Spirit Paint Night
Swing City Indoor Golf Lounge$42.50
Tickets available
· 3:00 PM
The Unicorn’s Birthday
University of Victoria
Farquhar Auditorium (JCC B115). Everyone’s invited to the unicorn’s birthday party!
· 7:30 PM
The Remarkable Beach Boys Tribute: Let’s Go Surfin’!
Mary Winspear Centre$55
Hailed as the best Beach Boys tribute on the planet, BACKBEAT’s Let’s Go Surfin’! theatre show has dazzled audiences everywhere with its mind-blowing…
124 things to do from Friday through Sunday night. See them all on this weekend.
Before you pick a weekend
What the island actually is
Rainforest on one coast, a rain shadow on the other, and a mountain range deciding which you get.
Two coasts, and they are not the same trip
The ranges running the length of the island take the weather out of the Pacific before it reaches the far side. The outside coast gets the rainforest, the open beach and the winter swell people now travel here in January to stand and watch; the inside coast gets the rain shadow, the sheltered bays and the only water warm enough to want to be in. Pick the coast before you pick the town.
You do not need a boat to see a whale
Orca can turn up in any month, grey whales move up the outer coast on the spring migration, and humpbacks are most reliable from midsummer into autumn. A boat gets you closer and no honest operator will promise you an animal. A headland, binoculars and an hour of patience costs nothing at all.
It is First Nations territory, and not as a footnote
The island is the territory of many First Nations, each with its own language, protocols and history — and the best way to learn any of it is from the people whose story it is. The cultural centres, galleries and Nation-led tours in this directory are listed ahead of anyone else telling it for them.
Everything takes longer than the map says
Two-lane roads, one main highway, and a ferry or a float plane at either end of the journey — there is no bridge. Distances here run about half again as long as they look. Plan fewer stops than you want to and you will enjoy all of them.
Worth planning for
Further out
· 7:30 PM
Jim Witter – The Piano Men
Tidemark Theatre$53
Spend an evening with one of Canada’s most beloved piano entertainers.
Heather Ferguson & Tony Genge at The Palms Restaurant
Victoria Hotel Rialto
· 5:30 PM
Tending To Anger With Art (IN-PERSON)
Victoria$26.25-$57.75
Tickets available
· 7:00 PM
The Story Collection: Stories from the Threshold
Royal BC Museum$20
Tickets available
· 7:00 PM
Author Event with Cory Doctorow
Open Space Gallery
Free
· 7:00 PM
Channel Panel: An Evening with Spirit
Unitarian Hall$25
Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo.
Tickets available
· 7:00 PM
Comox Valley Hospice Society Grief 101 - Module 2
Comox Valley
CVHS Family Room at Ocean Front Village.
Free
· 7:30 PM
The Piano Men Starring Jim Witter
Cowichan Performing Arts Centre$60.50
The CPAC and Gee Dan Productions presents Jim Witter has been entertaining crowds for over 30 years.
Tickets available
Thursday, every week
The shortlist, before the weekend starts
One email on Thursday with what’s actually worth going to on Vancouver Island — picked from the same listings as this page. No account, no password.
We send one confirmation email, then one digest a week. Unsubscribe from any of them.
One from each town
Places worth the drive
Tours & Activities
Eagle Wing Whale & Wildlife Tours
Victoria
4.9(3,093)Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 3093 reviewsBrett Soberg and Don Stewart started this whale-watching operation in Victoria in 2005; it bills itself as Canada's first carbon-neutral whale-watching company. Half-day…
Tours & Activities
The Whale Centre
Tofino
4.9(1,591)Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 1591 reviewsMore than forty years of tours out of Campbell Street in Tofino: whales, coastal black bears, sea otters, and the run up Clayoquot Sound to Hot Springs Cove, where the…
Brewery & Winery
Rusted Rake Brewing
Parksville
4.7(1,036)Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 1036 reviewsA farm brewery on Northwest Bay Road in Nanoose Bay that grows its own brewing barley alongside beehives, berries, garlic, rhubarb, herbs and flowers, and runs a…
Brewery & Winery
Merridale Cidery & Distillery
Duncan
4.4(1,033)Rated 4.4 out of 5 from 1033 reviewsA working farm at Cobble Hill that presses cider and distils spirits on the same site — Cowichan Dry and Scrumpy ciders, and gin, vodka and rum under the Cowichan label.
Brewery & Winery
Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse
Sidney
4.6(956)Rated 4.6 out of 5 from 956 reviewsAn organic cider orchard on Mt St Michael Road in Saanichton, with a tasting room and kitchen looking over the trees to the Salish Sea. The sparkling ciders — Kings &…
Tours & Activities
Prince of Whales - Whale & Marine Wildlife Adventures Telegraph Cove
Port McNeill
4.8(782)Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 782 reviewsFamily-owned and operated since day one, Prince of Whales offers whale-watching tours in Vancouver, Victoria and Telegraph Cove. The Telegraph Cove packages are the…
Tours & Activities
Tourism Nanaimo Visitor Centre
Nanaimo
4.3(417)Rated 4.3 out of 5 from 417 reviewsTours & Activities
Coastal Wilderness Adventures Sportfishing
Campbell River
5.0(357)Rated 5 out of 5 from 357 reviewsSalmon charters out of Campbell River on 25- to 28-foot covered and heated boats with marine heads, and freshwater trips that use 13-foot self-bailing rafts on rivers…
Brewery & Winery
Coastal Black Estate Winery
Comox Valley
4.5(185)Rated 4.5 out of 5 from 185 reviewsTours & Activities
Lady Rose Marine Services
Port Alberni
4.8(182)Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 182 reviewsThe MV Frances Barkley is a 36-metre ship built in Norway in 1958, still working as a packet freighter out of Argyle Street in Port Alberni with room for 144 passengers…
Brewery & Winery
Sea Star Vineyards and Winery
Salt Spring Island
4.7(105)Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 105 reviewsOne from each town, and every one worth setting out for. The whole directory is on all places.
Where to point the car
Towns and communities
Each town page carries its own venues, its own events and the practical detail — where to eat, what is open, and what is on while you are there.
By the kind of day you want