Talk:Vancouver Island

I got it started. It still needs a lot of work. I will add some more details/links when I have more time. - (WT-en) Webgeer 16:44, 21 Jul 2004 (EDT)

Why isn't the 'IsIn' working for this page? (WT-en) bulliver 16:52, 9 December 2007 (EST)

Probably because the link to Wikipedia was above the IsIn. I changed it - looks good now. -- (WT-en) Fastestdogever 17:03, 9 December 2007 (EST)

Region structure for Vancouver Island

This article presently treats all of Vancouver Island as one region, and all the city and attractions are in this article. This dumps too much into one article, I think. It would be better to divide Vancouver Island into maybe four regions. By comparison, Tourism Vancouver Island has seven regions (and they include the mainland near northern VanIsle in their scope). I'll look up some other references too. I think we should at least separate upper island, central island, and lower island. What do you all think? (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 03:11, 6 September 2008 (EDT)

Their seven region breakdown makes sense, but it's very fine-grained for what we have right now. I just got back from Tofino and was thinking that the West Coast (or Pacific Rim) -- essentially Tofino, Ucluelet, Bamfield, Port Alberni, the Long Beach section of Pacific Rim NP and some, if not all, of the remainder of Pacific Rim NP should be in its own region. It's very contained and different from the rest of Central Vancouver Island. The Pacific Rim region borders defined in Tourism Vancouver Island's website would make a good place to start. - (WT-en) Shaund 00:56, 22 May 2012 (EDT)

I've done up a draft map for the Island's regions. The only change I've made from the current structure is the North Central Vancouver Island region, which is a combination of the current Discovery Islands region and Campbell River plus destinations along BC Hwy 28. The rationale being Campbell River is the hub of the region and most transportation is routed through it (e.g., if you're on Quadra or Cortes and want to go to the Outer Islands or Desolation Sound, you pretty much have to go back to Campbell River to complete the journey unless you have your own boat). I decided against splitting out Tofino and the West Coast, as I felt much of its content would be a rehash of the Tofino article, and a well-written Central Vancouver Island guide could cover the differences between the east and west coasts.

To define what's in and out of a region, I'm suggesting our travel regions follow the Regional District borders, with a couple of exceptions, noted below. This doesn't really change anything as the current breakdown pretty much does it already,

Vancouver Island travel regions

North Vancouver Island The least populated area; this remote area offers many recreational opportunities. It's defined as the Mount Waddington Regional District plus the western-most portion of Strathcona Regional District.

North Central Vancouver Island Rename and expansion of existing Discovery Islands subregion. Legendary salmon fishing in Campbell River, the off the beaten path charm of Quadra Island and the Discovery Islands, and the largest provincial park on the Island, Strathcona Provincial Park. The region is defined as the Strathcona Regional District, minus Zeballos and points west (which is accessed from the North Vancouver Island region).

Central Vancouver Island On the east side of the island, it includes the city of Nanaimo, the beaches of Parksville-Qualicum Beach and the Comox Valley towns of Courtenay and Comox. Heading westwards is Tofino, with surfing, whale watching and storm watching. This region includes the Comox Valley, Nanaimo and Alberni-Clayquot Regional Districts.

South Vancouver Island The most densely populated region, this area includes Victora, the stately capital of the province, the rural Saanich Peninsula, home to Buchart Gardens, and other nearby towns. It includes the Cowichan Valley and Capital Regional Districts, minus the Southern Gulf Islands.

Southern Gulf Islands Group of islands between Victoria and Nanaimo in the Strait of Georgia. It does not correspond to a Regional District.

Thoughts? If there are no objections, I'll clean the map up and implement in a week or two. -Shaundd (talk) 06:07, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Cars

"Get around" recommends driving to travel around the island, but "Get in" only mentions ferries and planes. How can travelers get their car to the island? Can you take it on a ferry? Is there a bridge? Or are you best off renting a car once you arrive? —Granger (talk · contribs) 11:54, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

2 years late but there's a car ferry at the end of the TCH a few kilometres west of West Vancouver (Source: A close friend of mine lives in Vancouver Island). --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 08:55, 18 August 2022 (UTC)