Tofino, BC is one of the places I had on my list of places to travel to this year. I’ve seen countless stunning photographs of beaches in Tofino, and I absolutely love the beach. It was a no brainer when Elbs and I were brainstorming travel locations earlier this year—just in time to celebrate my 30th birthday!
We did so much research on YouTube, travel websites and blogs to prepare ourselves on what to do in Tofino, and where to visit—and to be honest, what we experienced was quite different from many of the blogs I’ve read.
Instead of the same old travel to Tofino blog post you see here and there, I’m excited to share an honest review of our 4 days trip to Tofino, what to see and do while there, and suggestions on how you can make the most of your trip.
I also filmed a YouTube vlog about our trip, which you can watch here!
What to do in Tofino, BC if you’re traveling in May:
We spent 4 days, 3 nights in stunning Tofino and stayed at the Tofino Resort and Marina. We booked for May this year in February and I definitely suggest booking way ahead of time—especially if you’re looking to visit in the Summer months.
Definitely look at BC Ferries for vacation deals! We found a great deal which included our stay at Tofino Resort and Marina, plus the ferry ticket for our vehicle. It saved us quite a bit of money, and I find that late Spring is a good time to browse for deals. Tofino is a hot spot in the Summer, and the storm watching months, so planning ahead is a must.
PS: Tofino was actually a contender for our wedding venue but after our visit, I’m really glad we didn’t go ahead with it (I’ll share more through this post).
How to get to Tofino from Vancouver
If you are departing from Vancouver (Burnaby or the works), then you’d either sail out of Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal or Horseshoe Bay. This would depend on your ferry tickets so *if possible*, try and choose the terminal closer to you. We sailed out of Tsawwassen and almost missed our 7:45 am ferry.
Why?
Because who on earth books a 7:45 am ferry.
It takes about 2 hours for you to get to Nanaimo Duke Point Terminal, and then you’re driving for close to 3 hours from Nanaimo to Tofino.
An alternative to this—one that we are thinking of doing next time, is to take Harbour Air Seaplanes and fly into Tofino. Much easier, and saves the hassle of a long drive. I’m not sure of the exact cost but it definitely saves time.
Also, I’d take into account how you get around Tofino. You can walk some places but we feel like a car is necessary to get around. I’ll share more on this further in this post.
Although, if it’s your first time traveling to Tofino, Elbs and I had a blast making many stops during our drive. So driving along does have its perks, just be sure to plan ahead for them.
Our itinerary and the stops we made during the drive to Tofino
We made so many stops along the route to Tofino, and I’ll add our itinerary to this post in case you want to do the same! Wifi is spotty along the drive, so we created the route on Google Maps and saved it before the trip so we could easily access it.
Here is our Tofino trip itinerary:
We made a couple stops at easy trails and hikes, as well as many waterfall stops (because I enjoy waterfalls). One of the coolest stops that we didn’t expect is the whole Coombs Emporium area. I don’t know what the exact name of this place is but if you map ‘Coombs Emporium’, it’s the whole stretch.
Our conversation was literally filled with.. ‘Uh’, ‘this place is so weird’, ‘this place is so cool’, ‘we love this place’. We felt like we were transported from South East Asia, to Europe in 15 mins. Also, the grocery store there is awesome. So many random things.
Also, definitely stop at Ucluelet to take in the views. We stopped at the Wild Pacific Trail (near the Lighthouse) and it was very beautiful.
Overall,
The drive was quite long, and we had to stop for 15-20 minutes due to construction right before Tofino. Super important to check the road conditions to see if there are road closures during certain times of the day. You don’t want to miss your ferry ride back!
Reverting back to my overall thoughts about potentially having our wedding in Tofino, we’re definitely glad we opted not to. The drive is very long, and you basically lose ¾ of the day on the road.
Weather in Tofino in May
If you are from Vancouver, this is a statement that you’ve heard a lot of lately. The weather this year is just whack. It usually is very hot by late May, but this year we were blessed with so much rain.
Our sunny, warm, beach vacation in Tofino ended up being a wet, cold, cloudy one.
That said, we were really excited anyway, plus we lucked out because for the majority of the trip, it was just cloudy. I’ll take cloud over rain any day.
The weather factor is something you can’t control but do plan ahead based on what your goals are for the trip. We saw many surfers out in the waves in pouring rain, but I can’t imagine it being very fun if you’re learning how to surf.
If you want to be extra safe, I’d recommend booking sometime in July when the likelihood of sun is higher.
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What to do in Tofino
Here’s the fun part!
Tofino is a HUGE surf town, we saw like 6-7 different surf schools and rental shops throughout the drive from Ucluelet to Tofino. So, it’s safe to say that people go to Tofino to surf and enjoy water sports.
We wanted to take a surf lesson but sadly we didn’t during this trip because we had just recovered from Covid. Yay fun times. It’s on our bucket list for our next visit to Tofino though.
Here’s a list of what to do in Tofino:
- Surf
- Take a surf lesson
- Do water sports (paddle boarding, bodyboarding)
- Try crabbing (You can go on a crabbing tour with Tofino Resort and Marina, and have them cook your catches at the 1909 Kitchen)
- Walk and sit by the beaches (We did this for 90% of our trip)
- Take a walk around Tofino town
The beaches are the most incredible beaches I’ve ever seen. The photos do not do it as much justice as just standing and staring out into the ocean. I can’t describe it but it’s the most peaceful feeling. We spent most of our trip walking and sitting at every single beach, and then revisiting our favourite ones.
Combers Beach — we didn’t have this on the list and we turned in on a whim, but this was our favourite beach. We arrived after the rain and so it was very heavily covered in fog, and there was literally nobody there besides us. It was hauntingly peaceful.
Chesterman Beach — one of the most popular beaches, this was where we went catching sunsets and it was magical. There’s definitely a lot more people here as it’s popular and in front of some of the beach resorts.
Long Beach — this is our second favourite beach. We had instant noodles here, and it was just so fun sitting, taking in the breeze and people watching. We walked the full length of the beach (it’s a long beach lmao), but it was such a lovely walk.
Cox Beach — another lovely beach, there were alot of surfers here and more busy than say, Combers.
Rainforest Trail — a very easy, highly suggested trail. It’s about 2 km long, and took us maybe 30 minutes. I’m not the most seasoned hiker, and this is great if you just want a nice walk.
Pacific Rim National Park — definitely recommend driving to the Pacific Rim National Park and checking it out. We bought a day pass (around $10 per person), but honestly you can just buy one for your vehicle. A day pass is needed for certain trails and beaches, and you can purchase it at the specific locations itself. It also lasts till 4 pm the next day!
I recommended stopping and getting it at the Tofino Visitor Centre as some pay machines are a little confusing.
Some honest thoughts here:
Tofino Town and Proximity to the Beaches
Some information that we found was lacking in many (if not, all) the travel blogs we read were about the general proximity of everything in Tofino, and the town itself.
I expected that Tofino would be a very concentrated town, with many of the beaches in walking distance from the town itself.
The reality of it is that Tofino is a very small, spread out town. The Tofino Marina we stayed at was walking distance to the town, but not to the beaches. We mostly drove to the parks and beaches.
The town also consists of a grocery store, several tourist shops for souvenirs and locally made goods, surf wear shops, and a handful of restaurants and cafes.
PS: If you are a big city person and want to spend time in the town, this isn’t really the vibe for it. I find it quite similar to the North Shore of Hawaii.
Where to stay in Tofino
If your budget allows, definitely stay at one of the many beachfront resorts in Tofino. Every beachfront resort has access to the stunning beaches and I hear that some have surf schools right at the resort. Hence, you don’t really need to drive out and bring a surfboard on your car to surf.
I’d stay at the beach resorts if you plan on doing watersports and staying on the beaches.
If you want a mix of town and nature, and be within walking distance to restaurants, then Tofino Resort and Marina, Duffin Cove and Tofino Motel would be ideal.
Restaurants and food in Tofino
OK so I have a lot of thoughts here, that I also share them in my YouTube video.
We received many suggestions of must go restaurants and cafes, and many blog posts seem to reference the same spots.
Truth be told, I feel like the reason all these restaurants and cafes are recommended so heavily is because they are the ONLY restaurants in town, or rather, the only noticeably busy restaurants in the centre of town.
No hate at all, but objectively the food at all the restaurants (including the Tacofino food truck) were all very, very salty. We eat out quite a bit as I’m quite the foodie, and so, perhaps my expectations were high due to the hype surrounding the restaurants. The food was good, but nothing spectacular!
Not trying to deter you from visiting these places, but just have your expectations at a reasonable level. And book in advance!
One of our favourite meals was a bowl of instant noodles on the beach.
Now that we have those honest thoughts out in the open, here are the beautiful restaurants and cafes that are part of Tofino that you can visit:
1909 Kitchen + The Hatch (They have live music certain nights)
Wolf in the Fog
Shelter Restaurant
Shed
Rhino (Good for breakfast and coffee)
Jeju (We didn’t try this but it seemed like the only Asian cuisine available)
The Pointe in Wickanninish (We weren’t able to get a reso but I hear it’s beautiful)
Our favourite part of Tofino
The beaches hands down!
Our heart and souls felt so relaxed and nourished, and the beaches are honestly the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I still look at the photos that we took, and it takes me back to standing and staring out, and breathing in that salty breeze.
Tofino is a beautiful destination, and a gem of BC. I hope you enjoyed this post, and fingers crossed you make a trip out there soon!
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Till next time,
xoxo Sam