Ask anything on Vancouver Island
Fri, Oct 9 – Mon, Oct 12 · 104 events, each with a page of its own:
The long weekend
Everything on the island this weekend
Picked in the weekend digest
Underground Comedy Nanaimo
Fri, Oct 97:00 PM
The Queen's$29.52
Tickets available
Picked in the weekend digest
Chad VanGaalen w/ special guests Jairus Sharif & Malcolm Jack
Fri, Oct 96:00 PM
Comox Valley Curling Centre$14.64-$27.96
Tickets available
Picked in the weekend digest
God is a Scottish Drag Queen
Fri, Oct 97:30 PM
McPherson Playhouse
Picked in the weekend digest
Thanksgiving Long Table - Farm to Table Dinner
Sun, Oct 115:00 PM
The Truffle Farm Inc.
Thanksgiving Long Table Dinner Event: Farm to Table Three Course Dinner – Oct 11, 2026. Join us for a fall long table dinner at The Truffle Farm. A
Picked in the weekend digest
Nanoose Bay Studio Tour - Thanksgiving Tour
Sat, Oct 1010:00 AM
Parksville
All Nanoose Bay. Thanksgiving Studio Tour, October 10 & 11, 2026, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM Held over the Thanksgiving weekend, this tour celebrates the harvest season and.
Free
Picked in the weekend digest
Sooke Country Market at Woodside Farm
Sat, Oct 1010:00 AM
Woodside Farm
April 18, 2026 - October 10, 2026 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Woodside Farm, 7149 West Coast Road
Picked in the weekend digest
Save-on-Foods / Parksville Lions Free Family Skate
Sun, Oct 1112:00 PM
Parksville
Oceanside Place Arena. Sessions on Sundays from 12 PM to 1:30 PM include ice rental, free loaner skates, loaner helmets and learn-to-skate aids. Costs are covered by.
Picked in the weekend digest
The Scrotum Dialogues: The Geezers
Fri, Oct 97:30 PM
ArtSpring
The Geezers, Sid Filkow and Patrick Cassidy, take you on a laugh-out-loud visit to the netherlands and its two co- dependent, claustrophobic inhabitants as they struggle to make sense of the blurred…
Picked in the weekend digest
Evil Dead Burn
Sat, Oct 107:00 PM
The Gate House Theatre
The Gate House Theatre, 1705 Campbell Way, Port Mcneill.
Picked in the weekend digest
Toys on the Island Toy Show
Sat, Oct 1010:00 AM
Campbell River Sportsplex
104 things to do from Friday through the holiday Monday. 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
· 6:30 PM
Parksville Caregiver Mental Health Support Group
Inclusion Parksville Society
Tickets available
· 7:00 PM
CRFF The President’s Cake
Tidemark Theatre$20
Hasan Hadi’s tragicomic The President’s Cake follows young Lamia, who’s selected to provide the cake for her class’s mandated celebration of Saddam…
· 7:00 PM
Pub Quiz Tuesday at Bartholomew's
Victoria
Free
· 7:30 PM
Collage Trad
Mary Winspear Centre$40
Take some of the hottest, award-winning, contemporary fiddlers from Western Canada, mixed with complex arrangements and a thrilling rhythmic underlay…
High Moon - A Werewolf Western
Heritage Acres$25-$35
Tickets available
· 1:00 PM
Ekphrastic Writing Workshop
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria$22.73-$33.40
Tickets available
· 5:00 PM
West Coast Ambassador - Small Town Big Picture: Tofino
Tofino
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