Central Vancouver Island

A former mill town on Vancouver Island's east coast. Chemainus started painting murals on its downtown walls in the 1980s and a signed walking route still links them, and the Chemainus Theatre Festival runs its season in the same few blocks.

Duncan is the town at the centre of the Cowichan Valley, and it calls itself the City of Totems for the poles standing around its downtown. The BC Forest Discovery Centre is on the north edge of town, and the valley's wineries and cideries start a few minutes out in most directions.

Nanaimo has two BC Ferries terminals: Departure Bay sails to Horseshoe Bay, Duke Point to Tsawwassen. A foot-passenger ferry crosses from the downtown harbour to Newcastle Island, which has no cars on it at all.

Parksville's beach goes out a long way at low tide and the shallows warm up behind it, which is what brings families back each summer. Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park is immediately south of town and Englishman River Falls is a short drive inland.

Port Alberni sits at the head of a long inlet in the middle of the island, which makes it the last town before Highway 4 climbs across to Tofino and Ucluelet. The MV Frances Barkley still carries freight and passengers down the inlet to Bamfield, and Stamp River Provincial Park is north of town.

Qualicum Beach is a beach town on the east coast with a small walkable village up the hill from the water. Milner Gardens & Woodland is at the south end of town and Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park is about half an hour inland.

Tofino is at the end of Highway 4 on the outer coast, and the road in is the only road out. Long Beach and the rest of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve start about twenty minutes back down that highway, and the surf the town is known for breaks at Cox Bay and Chesterman Beach.