don't you just want to get away from it all when you travel on Vancouver Island
you can not only get away but you get lost in this beauty and wonder welcome
to our 9 must do's on Vancouver Island
in this video we're going to show you nine activities to do in and around
Victoria British Columbia that are easy to do and family friendly number nine
had me completely terrified but it was so worth it plus it was the only one we
had to pay for we want to give you practical information so when you go
there you have all the tools and information necessary to have a great
time let's do this first is visit bear mountain bear
mountain is about a 20-minute drive from downtown Victoria this is a really
really nice resort it has some nice restaurants it has really nice golf
course there's a spa there some tennis courts and you can do some mountain
biking there's some good trails around there and if you love mountain biking
it's the perfect place to go that's really close to Victoria the great thing
about this place if you have your own mountain bikes doesn't cost you anything
but the gas to get there exactly but you can rent mountain bikes there it's really pretty here it's fun
good for us we've been out of shape though we're just trying to find these
trails number two is hike sombrio beach this is
located in port renfrew which is about a two hour drive west of victoria port renfrew
is known as the tall tree capital of Canada and it's also home to the
famous West Coast hiking trail finding sombrero beach is a little tricky we
drove by it twice on the highway and there's just a little little sign that
says sombrio beach so we're trying to go to sombrio beach today and we drove
past and drove past and that is the sign you go down and you get to another fork
and then there's another little sign that says go this way well once you get
there it's definitely worth it when you get there in the parking lot after you
finally found your way you walk down to the beach it's about 15 minutes and
it's known for actually camping and it's a quieter spot for surfers as
well don't forget about the waterfall you have to go there the whole point
of going there is the waterfall and it's a 20
minute walk just east up the beach up the beach and we had problems finding it
and we almost gave up because it's so hard to find but don't give up we ran
into a couple people and they point us in the right direction so what you do is
when you walk up the beach you'll see like this cave type of rock and there's
a little tiny stream coming out of it and you've got to walk up the stream for
a few minutes looks like fun I'm gonna get my feet
wet I know it and then there's a bunch of rock with moss remember that covered
over it and then you look and it is there and it is stunning unbelievable
oh my god this just made my trip
and there's hardly any people in it because nobody knows where it is
and its so awesome it reminded me of the waterfalls in Bali
and prepare get your feet wet cause you're just gonna have to walk in that water
and you cannot leave this Beach until you find that waterfall that's a must-do
it's the way in it's a legend from the movie Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
you have to find the map in the book to get to this
you have to what who? never mind shhhh
third is visit the botanical beach in the port renfrew area this is a short hike from the trailhead
parking lot make sure you read the sign because there is also botany bay located
there you want the sign for a botanical beach you could do both as it is a short
loop of only about 3 kilometers this Beach is known for its tidal pools and
the marine life within these tidal pools we're gonna go look for some sea life
maybe we'll get some walruses or sea lions killer whales great whites
turtles I don't know there's animals such as sea urchins starfish barnacles and mussels
which is so cool yeah and don't forget to pack a picnic lunch as there's really
nice picnic tables around the parking lot and we love to sit there after
and have a snack yeah and this is a great activity for
the kids and the whole family the fourth activity is to visit Fairy
Lake which is also in the port renfrew area this lake is so worth a visit and
there's this like tiny little Douglas fir tree sticking out of submerged log
in the water and I saw this thing on Instagram there's tons of photographs of
it and I just had to visit there yeah it's about a ten kilometer drive from
the town of Port Renfrew it has a nice camp ground there with a little sandy beach
and it's a great peaceful place and it's really nice the last three activities are all port
renfrew area and can be done as a day trip if you want right the fifth
activity is to stop at the Sheringham lighthouse if you like old lighthouses
and rugged coastline this is the thing for you this lighthouse was built in
1912 after the ship wreck of the SS Valencia it's also still used and it's
about the halfway point between port renfrew and Victoria it's just off the
highway using an access road called Sheringham Point Road how many places do you see
peacocks in the middle of the road he's so cute we had to film him
and when you park down at the end you actually have to take a little
five-minute path to get to the lighthouse there's no parking right in front of
it it is a great place to take amazing photos and on your way out there's this
amazing cafe called Shirley delicious cafe what's this place Oh Shirley
Shirley delicious food it looks like a cute little cafe
you have to stop there and get some amazing food and good coffee oh it's so
good the six activity to do is to cycle the Cowichan Valley Trail which is about
an hour's drive from Victoria this trail is part of the trans-canada
trail if you don't know that is it's a trail that stretches from the east coast
to the west coast of Canada you can bike hike or even a horseback ride on this
trail these trails there's about 122 kilometers in total and you can cross
several trestles and we chose to start at the Kinsel trestle and we are
standing right now in front of the kinsel trestle used to be an old railway trail
system the kinsel trestle is one of the largest free standing timber trestles in
the world its length is about 187 meters and its height is about 145 meters above
a large river the views are amazing stunning stunning this trail follows an
old railway system and that's now converted to a multi-use trail we found
this trail not to be too busy there's parking lots all along this trail so you
can do as much or as little as you like and it's basically flat so it's
excellent for families Marco where's your bike I don't know it turned into this horse
it's not going anywhere
number seven is hike to a secret swing with a stunning view this swing with
it's amazing view it's located at the top of Baldy Mountain it's actually a
really short and easy hike to do it only takes about 30 to 40 minutes there's two
access points there's a steeper shorter climb and then kind of a longer more
scenic climb which we chose to do and you're greatly rewarded at the top
that's right and this swing was built by a man as a gift to his wife on their
favorite hiking trail I know it's so cool and there's a sign up there explaining
that as well when you're up there you actually have a 360-degree panoramic
view of Shawnigan Lake below and we did this hike on the way back from our bike
ride on the Cowichan Valley Trail as it also was in the Cowichan Valley area so
again you can do this in a day trip just finished mountain biking and now we're
doing a steep hike preparing for the zombie apocalypse
getting really fit and living off the land
I think there's some berries along the way the eighth activity to do is to bike the
galloping goose trail this is an amazing trail it was a former railway system built
in World War one and converted to a trail system it's 55 kilometers long it
goes from Victoria to Sooke with many access points you can do things like
biking hiking walking and many other things probably horseback riding if you go to the rural areas maybe this
trail is super busy people use it for commuting totally worth to do it though
and the beauty is you can start right in Victoria for a bike path this is pretty
awesome don't you think whoo I don't think she heard me
I don't think you heard me you love this trail pretty cool I love this trail
last but not least
take a seaplane tour I have a fear of flying no matter how many flights I take
ready to go I'm ready to go and if you are a little nervous just like I am do
not let that discourage you from taking this tour it is such a cool experience
yeah and you can book a seaplane tour from harbor air sea planes which is in
downtown Victoria this airline that we're taking is actually
the world's first carbon-neutral airline the reason why is the airport has solar
panels and so they generate enough solar power to offset the carbon that's
emitted from the airplane and it's so much fun to take off and land from the
water and also seeing Vancouver Island and its rugged coastline from the air is
unbelievable it was awesome the cost is about a hundred and
twenty-five dollars each and but totally worth the splurge that was awesome it
was pretty awesome I must say I was nervous it was a little
bit turbulent not too bad though no but honestly the shit this channel is making
me do my hands were sweating Vancouver Island has so many things to do in and
around Victoria and if you love exploring the outdoors as much as we do
this place is definitely for you and if you haven't already watched our original
9 must do's please take a look at that video as well for some other ideas
because they're completely different than this video and where would that be
right here? right there.
and oh yeah if you haven't already don't forget to subscribe and hit that like button