3 Days in Tofino: A Romantic Weekend for Two

Three days is the right amount of Tofino for two. That's enough for one low tide on Chesterman Beach, one long day on the water, two proper dinners, and a sunset you walk to from town. Everything on land sits along the one road between the town and the national park.

Tofino is where Highway 4 ends. Drop the bags and go straight to the sand.

Afternoon. Chesterman Beach runs for 2.7 km of white sand south of town. Time your walk for low tide, when a sandspit rises and joins the beach to Frank Island. At high water it disappears, so check the tide before you set out rather than after.

Evening. The Wickaninnish Inn sits on the same beach, with rooms that face the surf. Start with a drink at On the Rocks, the inn's bar, then move to The Pointe Restaurant for dinner. The kitchen cooks Pacific Northwest food from local farms and the water, the wine list runs deep, and the room looks straight out at the Pacific. Arrive before sunset.

For something more private, Middle Beach Lodge has cabins and two lodges on forty oceanfront acres, with almost a mile of private beach.

Find a place to stay in Tofino

This is the day people remember. The only way to Hot Springs Cove is by boat or floatplane, across Clayoquot Sound.

Morning to mid-afternoon. Book the Hot Springs Cove tour with The Whale Centre on Campbell Street. You choose the boat: a heated cabin cruiser if you want shelter and big windows, an open zodiac if you want speed. At the cove, a 2 km cedar boardwalk runs through old-growth rainforest to natural geothermal pools.

Two other operators make the same run. Ahous Adventures is owned by the Ahousaht Nation. Adventure Tofino takes open Zodiacs of up to 12 passengers out from Main Street all year. The springs sit inside Nism̓aakqin Park, known until 2025 as Maquinna Marine Provincial Park, in Hesquiaht First Nation territory.

Wear sandals with a strap. The boardwalk stays wet and has stairs, and flip-flops are the classic mistake.

Evening. Dinner at Wolf in the Fog on Fourth Street. Its line is "Fish. Forage. Feast.", and the menu is built on local seafood and what the forests and shorelines around Tofino give up. enRoute named it Canada's Best New Restaurant in 2014. It takes reservations online, and a weekend table is worth securing before you drive out.

Find a place to stay in Tofino

Morning. Drive south into Pacific Rim National Park Reserve for the Rainforest Trail. Two short boardwalk loops, A and B, sit on either side of the highway south of Long Beach. Both climb and drop on hundreds of wooden stairs through moss-hung old growth and small streams. Do both; each one is short.

Lunch. Back toward town, Tofino Brewing Co. has poured beer from its Industrial Way tap room since 2011, and the brewery runs entirely on hydroelectricity. Try the Kelp Stout. There are pretzels and a food truck on site.

Afternoon, pick one. For the water: a private lesson for two with Tofino Surf School on Main Street, which books couples and small groups online. For the opposite of a wetsuit: Ancient Cedars Spa, set at ocean level in the Wickaninnish Inn's Pointe Building, with massage, skin treatments and a steam room. It's for ages 12 and up.

Sunset. Walk from town to Tonquin Park, where a boardwalk and a run of stairs drop to Tonquin Beach. You look out at Wickaninnish Island and the boats working the channel, and the sun goes down in front of you.

Dinner. Shelter Restaurant on Campbell Street has a fireside patio over Tofino Inlet and a menu of seafood, BC wine and vegetarian plates. Take the fire.

• You need a Parks Canada pass to stop anywhere in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, including the Rainforest Trail lot. Buy it before you park.
• Pack for rain on every day. A rain shell and shoes you don't mind soaking cover most of the coast most of the year.
• Winter is storm-watching season. The surf-facing rooms along Chesterman Beach have the front-row seats.
• See what's on before you go. Tofino fills its weekends with markets, films and festivals. Here's this weekend.

Starting in the capital? Three days in Victoria. Coming through Nanaimo? Here is what to do there.

Give the planner your dates and it turns these three days into your own trip, with a place to stay and room for what's on.

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