Talk:West Coast (Canada)

This page needs to be moved but I'm not sure which title to move it to (Canadian West Coast? West Coast of Canada? - EVERY country with a seacoast has a 'west coast' and in many places it's a tourist region that we're going to want to write about... (WT-en) KJ 20:24, 24 Sep 2003 (PDT)

I don't think that's strictly true. China, for example, doesn't have a 'west coast'. But, yes, that would probably be a good thing to use for disambiguation. Wouldn't the article naming conventions suggest West Coast (Canada)? -- (WT-en) Evan 11:56, 29 Sep 2003 (PDT)

You are right (WT-en) Evan, this is what the article naming conventions suggest. However, I chose (WT-en) Karen's suggestion to use West Coast of Canada because it feels less clumsy than using West Coast (Canada) and seems to insert more naturally into prose. I think the difference here is that we are talking about a natural geographical name rather than a geopolitical one. It doesn't make sense to say "Victoria of Canada" in the same way. Victoria (Canada) is clearly the correct choice in that situation. (Although I still think that it would be useful to have a hierarchical structure in Wikivoyage, I suspect that substantial changes to the Wikimedia code would be required ...) (WT-en) Ctylemay 10:07, 1 Oct 2003 (PDT)

Yeah the existence of this page seems a litle confusing. There's going to be a lot of duplication with British Columbia, since most of the west coast of Canada is in this province, and many of the tourist attractions of British Columbia are on the coast. -- (WT-en) Nojer2 08:28, 8 Jul 2004 (EDT)

Personally I think that the West Coast (Canada) Section should be merged with British Columbia and called British Columbia. West Coast is not a well defined region. Most people would not include the interior of British Columbia, in the West Coast. Everything in this region would also logically be in British Columbia. Calling the region British Columbia would create a little bit of overlap with the region Rocky Mountains, but I don't see how that is a problem. Once I get my feet a little wetter, I think I will take on trying to fix this up. -- (WT-en) webgeer 10:35, July 21, 2004 (PST)

Re:Get Around section-- isnt some of that info applicable to all of Canada? ie trains, grayhound, etc. Maybe move some of it up into Canada, and some of it down into city specific pages, but certainly leave anything that's really only about the area. I don't think it's too long at all.

I moved this per the discussion -- OK, the monologue -- in Talk:Canada. -- (WT-en) Evan 15:56, 10 Nov 2003 (PST)

As per the discussion in [[Talk:Canada], I amalgamated this with [[British Columbia. The content before amalgamation was:

The West Coast of Canada is located entirely in the province of British Columbia. The Pacific Ocean moderates the climate here so that winters are considerably warmer and summers somewhat cooler than in the rest of the country, creating an environment suitable for the development of vegetation not found elsewhere in Canada. Numerous fjords and the Coast Mountain range come together to create a coastline known for its beauty.

Like in most places worth visiting, there is a little something for everyone in this region. However, you will want to spend at least some time outside of the main cities in this region, and if you enjoy a very active and adventurous vacation, there are many options here to explore. "Ecotourism" is an often mentioned attraction in this part of Canada. Whether backpacking in the majestic forests or coast mountains, or kayaking through the many groups of islands, getting off the beaten path is sure to lead to a memorable trip.

Cities

Regions

Do

Backpack the West Coast Trail
Kayak Desolation Sound

Get in/Get out

The main city in this region is Vancouver. This is where you are likely to arrive (or transfer) if you are coming by air. If you are in Seattle, you can take a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Get around

Getting around here is not always easy. Many worthwhile destinations are outside of the cities and not accessible by public transportation options. This makes renting a car quite a popular option for getting around. If you look around however, you will find other options, mostly buses of some variety or another.

Pacific Coach Lines and Perimeter operate standard bus service on some of the more popular routes between cities. Sometimes you can arrange to be dropped off at points in between, and in the summer, guided bus tours may be available. Greyhound covers some of the smaller cities and other, less popular routes. Bigfoot Adventure Tours runs a unique service on less travelled routes that is a combination between "just getting you there" and a tour of some very worthwhile destinations. They have a number of quite flexible packages available, many of them connecting the coast with popular destinations in the Canadian Rockies.

You will also find that the ferry service (provided by BCFerries) is indispensable to access many island and coastal communities. Some of the smaller islands can be visited on foot or by bicycle, but in many cases additional road transportation is necessary. Although ferry service is generally reliable, taking an automobile on board is rarely cheap, and you will likely find it cheaper to take the ferry as a foot passenger and rent an automobile from your destination. If you are taking bus service across a ferry, you should confirm when buying your bus ticket that the ferry fare is included.