Outside Traveler 2004 Annual
The View from Vancouver
Three more reasons to visit the Northwest's coolest island.

Just a puddle-jump from Vancouver or Seattle, the velvety green wilds of spacious, 12,408-square-mile Vancouver Island are calling your name. Respond with a reservation. Three new or recently improved coastal oases combine rugged adventure with extravagant creature comforts. At these Canadian lodges, the best of the Pacific Northwest's great outdoors—towering old-growth rainforests, rocky inlets, foaming 20-foot waves—are matched by the great indoors: fireplaces, deep-soak Jacuzzis, and on-site spas (after a day fighting the surf, you'll feel you've earned that decadent hot-stone massage).

Two retreats on Vancouver's west coast recently got a face lift—the Wickaninnish Inn and the Long Beach Lodge. Wickaninnish-on-the-Beach, the long-awaited beachfront addition to the renowned Wickaninnish Inn, opened its doors last July under a canopy of cedar and Sitka spruce on the edge of Tofino's Chesterman Beach. Its 30 rooms include five bi-level loft suites with kitchens and balconies; the tranquil library lounge faces down the tempestuous surf through floor-to-ceiling windows (you might see a bald eagle swoop down for a rock crab dinner). From the back door, you can kayak Pacific Rim National Park, paddle in sheltered bays, or chase sea lions and migrating whales (March to October) on the open sea.

If it's waves you crave, head to cedar-shingled Long Beach Lodge. Powdery beaches and regular wave sets beckon you to grab a longboard and hit Cox Bay at Tofino, the number-one surf destination in Canada. In October the lodge expanded its 41 rooms, decorated with a woodsy elegance, to include 12 new two-bedroom cottages with cast-iron gas fireplaces and private entrances, making it even easier for you to hole up (and never leave).

On the islands southeastern coast, 30 minutes north of Victoria on the Saanich Peninsula, the 33-room Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa will open in May. Besides a spa, restaurant, wine bar, and a window-heavy, eco-conscious modern design, Brentwood will have its own 65-slip marina and scuba-diving and paddling center, where you can gear up for expeditions to the nearby Gulf Island archipelago's endless waterways, islets, and sandstone cliffs. Who says you can't have your kayak and live like a king, too?

Details
Doubles at the Wickaninnish Inn (250-725-3100, www.wickinn.com) start at US$220 per night. Doubles at the Long Beach Lodge (250-725-2442, www.longbeachlodgeresort.com) start at $115 per night. Doubles at the Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa (250-544-2079, www.brentwoodbaylodge.com) will start at $190 per night.