Road trips on Vancouver Island

One main highway runs the length of the inside coast, with a handful of routes cutting west across the mountains to the exposed side. Almost everything else is two-lane, winding, and interrupted by towns. There is no fast way across, and the cross-island routes are slower, steeper and more beautiful than the highway.

Add half again to whatever a mapping app tells you. It does not know about the logging truck, the town with the four sets of lights, or the fact that you will want to stop.

Fill up in towns rather than between them. On the cross-island and northern routes, the gap between fuel stations can be a hundred kilometres and the last one may close at six. The same applies to food: plan lunch around a town, not around a hunger.

Cell coverage disappears on most of the cross-island stretches and much of the north. Download offline maps before you leave, and tell somebody your route if you are going properly remote.

Any island leg is governed by the sailing timetable, and vehicle space fills on summer weekends and holidays. Check the schedule first and build the day around it rather than the other way round.

Forest service roads are active industrial routes, not shortcuts. They demand clearance, a full-size spare, headlights on, and yielding to loaded trucks. Plenty of the best places here sit at the end of one — go prepared or do not go.