Vancouver Island Trip with Toddlers

Do you need any ideas for travelling to Vancouver Island with toddlers?

I love documenting our trips so I can look back on the memories and in the process I hope if you come across this post you find some ideas for how to travel on Vancouver Island with toddlers. We made this trip with our boy/girl twins after they had just turned 3 years old.

The twins were born in Nanaimo and we lived in Port Alberni for just a little over a year so we haven’t been back to the island since we left at the end of March 2021. I was really excited to make this trip with them so we could show our babes the rainforest terrain, the mountains and the ocean. I planned out 3 different locations on the island and 3 different Airbnbs. Here are the details of the trip, where we stayed, where we ate and the activities we did each day.

Flying By Plane With Toddlers

I had everything planned out to a T for the flight. We packed backpacks for the twins with a hammock for the plane seat, a busy book (Pink for Alora and Blue for Ryland), a tablet (Amazon Fire 7), headphones, a colouring book, a maze book, and crayons.

I also bought the twins these Bento boxes off of Amazon (I got the Ocean Blue for Ryland and the Coral Pink for Alora) and filled them with snacks (Lentil crisps + fresh fruit), we also packed ziplock bags of fruit bars and pouches from Costco.

And while Ryland thrived watching shows on his tablet or a movie on the airplane, I went through EVERYTHING in Alora’s bag to keep her entertained. That girl is exactly like me and does not like sitting still! Oh, and we ended up returning the hammocks when we got home as neither kid wanted to use them!

Jordan River

We landed in Victoria on a Friday afternoon, picked up our rental car and then drove south to Sooke, BC. We picked up groceries so we could make breakfast at our Airbnb and then drove to our rental to settle in. With the time difference, it was hard to do anything that day so we kept the babes up until we made dinner and then got them settled to go to sleep.

Our Airbnb in Jordan River

I found an amazing Airbnb in Capital, BC (Jordan River) right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We had insane views of the ocean and mountains across the way in the US from the kitchen, dining room, living room and upstairs loft.

While we had a few annoyances like the dishwasher and one of the stove burners not working and a mouse living in the house it really was an amazing place to stay. Super private and quiet and clean inside.

Activities in Jordan River

Day 1: On our first morning, the twins woke up super early (I’m talking 3 am) due to still being on East Coast time and after trying to get them to stay in bed we gave up at 5 am and got them up and made breakfast. I bought eggs, bacon and gluten-free toast and then we bought oat milk and frozen fruit for smoothies. The only thing I regret not packing is protein powder as our babes thrive when they’ve had ample protein in the morning. After breakfast, we took the stairs down to the beach. There was one other lone soul taking landscape pictures of the insane scenery but otherwise, we had the beach all to ourselves.

Later that morning we drove to Sandcut Beach to see the waterfall. While it wasn’t super impressive in the middle of the summer still gorgeous none the less. I will also take super cool sun shots through the morning clouds any day of the week.

We ended up climbing up the rocks where the waterfall runs down and exploring, Alora fell in the water so after a change of clothes we hopped back down to the beach. Found a huge fallen tree and taught the twins how to carefully climb down to the end and back.

We stopped at Cold Shoulder Cafe for lunch, which was just around the corner from our Airbnb. A great place to grab quick eats and pastries. The coffee wasn’t too shabby either 🙂

After putting the twins down for a nap, we grabbed pizza at Stoked Pizzeria and drove to China Beach to eat dinner on the beach 🙂

Day 2: We finally got the twins on West Coast time so after a normal wake-up hour and breakfast, we packed everyone in the car and drove up the coast towards Port Renfrew. We spent the morning exploring Botanical Beach and all the tide pools full of crabs and tiny fish. I even spied some sea lions just off the beach on a rocky outcropping but couldn’t get a good shot due to the fog and clouds.

We stopped for lunch at Coastal Kitchen Cafe and then headed back to the Airbnb for the twins’ nap. The kids ended up falling asleep in the car so we drove along the coast for an hour and a half, and stopped at Stoked Pizzaria again to grab dinner. We ate the pizza in the parking lot and then drove to Mystic Beach to see if we could do the hike. The kids were absolutely troopers. We hiked a total of 10 km this day and only had to piggyback them out the last 2 km. AND we only did it so we could make it home for bedtime, and avoid epic meltdowns. Otherwise, they could’ve hiked the last bit out themselves.

Day 3: On our last day in Jordan River, we packed up and grabbed breakfast at Shirley Delicious on our way out of town and explored the Victoria Butterfly Gardens before heading up the coast to the Nanaimo area.

Nanaimo / Lantville / Nanoose Bay

We chose to stay for the week up near the Nanaimo area. I had made friends with one of our maternity & newborn photographers, so we stayed close to her house so we could hang out a few times during the week. My heart is full of key time on the east coast of the island, with a dear friend and her girls and more exploring of the island with the babes.

Our Lantzville Airbnb

I outdid myself with the Airbnb I booked here. The house is absolutely gorgeous, and the view is incredible. This is a dream house to live in and the view made me never want to leave. I even asked our hosts to contact us first if they ever decided to sell!

The house had 3 bedrooms upstairs (1 King, 1 with 3 Single Beds and 1 with 1 Single Bed) and then 1 bedroom downstairs with a Queen). There was even an epic playroom in the basement complete with a ton of toys and swings. Our twins really didn’t want to leave this Airbnb. Oh, and there was a sandpit out on the patio veranda with a large digger for them to try out.

Activities Around Nanaimo

Day 4: We headed out for a quick hike at Little Qualicum Falls, then met up with my friend Lacey and her 3 girls and explored Butterfly World in Coombs.

We showed the babes the goats on the roof at The Old Country Market, grabbed some picnic supplies for lunch while driving back and got ourselves some donuts at Billy G’s Donut Shop for dessert.

Day 5: We explored Englishman River Falls and then had a beach date with Lacey and her girls in the afternoon with a pizza dinner back at their house.

Day 6: I looked online to find other waterfall hikes and found this one for Lower Shooting Stars Falls. However, in the summer it’s barely there so it wasn’t an impressive hike at all. The only bonus is the twins learned to walk carefully on rocks 🙂

We drove into Nanoose Bay to explore and stopped at the Nanoose Bay Cafe for a mid-morning snack. Eating while looking out on the bay wasn’t so bad 🙂

That evening the twins got to stay up late for a family photoshoot. We choose to do it where we took maternity photos with the babes still in my belly. So that was a special place for us to visit again.

Ucluelet & Tofino

Day 7: We left Lantzville early so we could get through the Cameron Lake closure early. This got us into Port Alberni quite early. We grabbed coffee and breakfast from Wildflower Bakeshop & Cafe. Then we drove by our old neighbourhood, showed the babes where we lived and knocked on a neighbour’s door to say hi. We ended up sitting in their backyard chatting and catching up. We headed over to Porto Taco for lunch. Then Coombs Country Candy for gelato (my favourite gelato of all time!) and then off to Ucluelet for the weekend.

Our Ucluelet AirBnB

Our Airbnb here was ok but not as spectacular as our last two. It’s hard to find something nice in Tofino or Ucluelet without paying with an arm and a leg.

Activities Around Ucluelet / Tofino

Once we got all settled into the Airbnb we drove into Tofino to do some shopping. We grabbed dinner at Shed. I really wanted to eat on the beach so we took our meals over to Chestermans beach. However, the hornets were pretty bad and after I got stung on my finger we headed out.

We decided to explore around the Amphitrite Lighthouse which was just near our rental before bedtime.

Day 8: We got up early and headed into Tofino for coffee at Rhino Coffee, did some more shopping around town (I got a sweater and my husband got a poncho) and then we headed out for a short hike at the Rainforest Trail.

We headed over to Tacofino for lunch. And even though we were one of the first people in line, it took over an hour to get tacos. So we wasted a lot of time there. As we were driving back to Ucluelet for naps, the twins fell asleep. So we didn’t manage to get full naps when we got back to the rental.

Everyone was a bit frantic without naps. As we were packing up to head to Terrace Beach I accidentally closed the front door on Alora’s finger. After many tears and screams and cuddles I ended up taking Ryland down to the beach while Dad consoled Alora. Dad and Alora met up with us a bit later. Our postpartum doula (who took the most amazing care of me and the twins) was also in town so she popped down to the beach for a quick hi! Ps. Alora’s finger is completely fine and was barely bruised the next day. We were extremely lucky!

Day 9: Our flight home out of the Nanaimo airport was at 10 am. We left the Airbnb before the sun was up so we could get through the Cameron Lake closure. We gave ourselves enough time to fill up the rental car with gas and drop it off at the airport.

It was the most perfect trip. I’m so proud of how we planned it and how we adapted as things changed on us 🙂

Our Favourite Port Alberni Restaurants

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While Port Alberni is far from having an amazing restaurant scene there are definitely some amazing places to eat in this small little town. And because I don’t eat gluten or dairy I was scared it would be a challenge to find places I could eat. Here are 16 Port Alberni restaurants we’ve tried and gone back to multiple times for amazing food and great service.

16 Port Alberni Restaurants

Best Brunch – Pescadores

When I first flew out to Port Alberni for an interview I asked our real estate agent for the best brunch in town. She immediately responded with Pescadores. Then I found out they also offer gluten-free toast so I was sold. This L shaped restaurants has around 8 tables in it and lovely service from the ladies that run the place.

Best Tacos – All Mex’d Up & Porto Taco

For a town of around 20,000, I was surprised there were two taco joints in town. All Mex’d Up is located down at Harbour Quay and Porto Taco is just up the street on Argyle.

I can get corn tortillas at both places. I love the shredded beef, chicken and pulled pork tacos at All Mex’d Up and the prawn and halibut tacos at Porto Taco. If you ask for corn tortillas and grilled prawn and halibut instead of breaded then you can get them gluten free.

Best Fish & Chips – The Starboard Grill & Bare Bones

Ok, this is a toss-up. While we’ve had great fish and chips at Bare Bones. The last few times when ordering takeout the fries were overdone. We’ve had such great meals in person so I didn’t want to take them off the list. We’ve had great meals at The Starboard Grill and they offer a tempura batter which I can eat. We love heading down to Harbour Quay ordering take-out from them and walking out on the pier with the twins.

The Starboard Grill — Source: TripAdvisor

Easy Pub Food – Boomerangs

Boomerangs is a really fun cafe that offers standard restaurant/pub food but also really unique Australian specialties. We’ve ordered takeout a few times from here and have gone in for brunch as well. They also offer gluten-free toast with brunch.

Pizza Options – Panago, Pizza Factory, Boston Pizza, and Dimitri’s

So I’ve been on the hunt for a great gluten-free dairy-free pizza. I started out ordering from Pizza Factory but my go-to has actually been Boston Pizza! Their crust actually tastes like normal crust and they use a vegan cheese that’s not too salty. Unfortunately, both Panago and Pizza Factory use Daiya cheese which is too salty for me.

My husband’s go-to pizza place is Dimitri’s. You can find it at the Redford Motel on Redford Street.

Fancy Meal – Brie & Barrel

I would say Brie & Barrel is the fanciest restaurant in town. We love eating here and while it’s on the pricier side the food is amazing. This summer they built an amazing patio out back and now have booths inside to satisfy COVID protocols. I’m obsessed with the mushroom calamari and the steak frites.

Sushi – Sehmi

You’d think that there would be more sushi restaurants since we’re living on the west coast but there are only 2 places in town. My favourite place is Sehmi Sushi. It’s located in the Timberlodge motel on the way into or out of town. I love their salmon or tuna maki and the green dragon roll.

Seh-Mi Sushi — Source: Alberni Valley of Commerce

Microbreweries – Twin City Brewery and Dog Mountain Brewing

We discovered Dog Mountain this past summer and would go for drinks on the rooftop patio after work on Friday. The view is the best in town. We’ve only gone to Twin City a few times but definitely love it as well. I can only have one thing off the menu at Twin City (lettuce wraps) but they are still great.

Twin City Brewing — Source: BC Ale Trail

Coffee Shop & Bakery – Wildflower Bakeshop & Cafe

Wildflower bakeshop and cafe opened up on Argyle street beside Brie & Barrel this summer and I’m so happy. They serve great coffee and always have a full display case of goodies. While they’ve had a few gluten-free options they aren’t consistent and some days I go in and can’t have any treats. Which my figure is thankful for. I’m obsessed with the Tuna Poke bowl and pretty much order that every time we go. My husband loves the breakfast brisket sandwich.

Healthy Fast Food – Noodlebox

There isn’t a lot of healthy fast food options in town. So when Noodlebox opened up I was a frequent flyer there for a few weeks in a row ordering the pad thai or ginger beef box. It’s located in the shopping mall off the main highway in the same complex as the Starbucks.

Top Ten Port Alberni Trails

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One of the absolute blessings of living in Port Alberni, British Columbia on Vancouver Island is the abundance of hiking trails. You can set out on one of the many trails inside the city or find one by a quick drive outside the city. There are definitely more than 10 trails around Port Alberni but here are my favourite trails for you to explore.

Top 10 Port Alberni Trails

One of my favourite ways to discover new trails is through the All Trails App. You can also search for trails on the All Trails Website. When we first moved to Port Alberni, I simply typed Port Alberni into the search bar and over 500 trails popped up.

1. Hole in the Wall

The Hole in the Wall hike is probably the most famous hike on the outskirts of the city. The easiest way to find the trailhead is to start driving out of the city and the minute you see Coombs Country Candy on the left-hand side of the highway, immediately pull out on the right side of the road. You are turning right to drive up “the hump” so the pull-out on the side of the road comes really quickly as the highway veers to the right.

I’ve hiked here on my own the first month that I moved here, brought my husband out here when he first landed on the island with our two dogs, and then we’ve brought a couple of friends out this way including both sets of our parents when they’ve come to visit. The hole is man-made. It was made for a pipeline that provided the town with fresh water before the 1960s.

2. Log Train Trail & Burde Pond Loop

This is our most hiked trail. We usually just walk the Log Train Trail portion off of Burde street with the stroller but before the babes were born we’d walk the Log Train Trail up and around to the Burde Pond Loop and back to Burde street. This trail is just a short distance from our house so we usually walk up to the trailhead but there is ample parking on the side of Burde Street on the other side of the road from the trailhead.

3. Roger Creek Trail

We’ve just recently started hiking this trail. We park at the Roger Creek trailhead off of Roger Street just up the street from the Hospital. There are so many different off-shoots so keep track of where you are heading. We really like walking down to Roger Creek and then back the way we came.

4. Stokes Creek Trail

We hiked Stokes Creek Trail with our dogs before the babes were born. It’s a great hike that you can easily get to from the highway on the way out of town towards Nanaimo. There is a pull-out across from the vet and there are usually a handful of cars parked here. This trail is on private property so always park before the gate as it can be closed.

5. Maplehurst Trail Loop

The Maplehurst Trail is located on the opposite end of town from us but we packed the kids up in the car and drove over to explore this loop. I absolutely loved how serene it was and adored walking along the raging river.

6. Stamp Falls Trail

We’ve headed out to Stamp Falls Provincial Park a few times now. We booked a camping spot in July before the babes were born and went back in the fall after they were born. We brought my parents out here to see the falls too. There is a quick little hike up from the campground that’s really beautiful.

7. Loon Lake & Summit Lake Loop

This was a really nice trail. It’s just a short drive (towards Nanaimo) from town to the trailhead for the Loon Lake & Summit Lake Loop. We headed out to the right and looped back left around the two lakes. This meant we crossed the railroad trestles first. There were three and Mike with Ryland strapped to his chest managed to get the dogs safely across while Alora and I took our time and snapped pictures.

8. Little Qualicum River and Falls

We’ve gone back to Little Qualicum Falls a couple of times. We did a larger loop on our own with the babes and then we brought Mike’s parents out here on one of their trips out to visit. I love me a good waterfall!

9. Alberni Valley Lookout Trail

We attempted the Lookout Trail hike a week after I had been cleared from bed rest after giving birth (I had quite a few complications). I don’t think that was the smartest idea (as we were both incredibly out of shape) but it was fun. The babes were still so tiny and slept the whole time. We had great weather, got a great view, and even got a little muddy on the hike.

10. Inlet Trail

So we tackled only a small part of the Alberni Inlet Trail after the babes were born because after months of inactivity both my husband and I lost our stamina and carrying the babes caused really really sore lower backs. I highly recommend this trail though for the amazing view of Arrowhead Mountain that you can see from one lookout.

We made it up to “ghost lake” and we were doing this hike in the late fall. We found ourselves with berry bushes on either sides of the trail and started to get a bit uneasy in case we encountered some black bears feasting. Hopefully we can hike so that we can see the part that runs along the ocean.

If you have a favourite Port Alberni trail that we should hike let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Reasons To Live In Port Alberni

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I’ve officially been living on Vancouver Island for over a year now. I held off on doing any Port Alberni specific blogs until I fully got the lay of the land. To do this little gem justice I thought I’d do a series of blogs showcasing why this little-known city smack dab in the middle of Vancouver Island is a well-kept secret. Sorry, the secret is slowly getting out. Here are my top ten reasons to live in Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Port Alberni Harbour Quay — Harbour Quay

1. Port Alberni Has The Most Affordable Real Estate on the West Coast

I didn’t actually do much research around real estate prices before moving out here. As we were moving out here for my job, we knew we’d have to live in the city and I was hoping we’d be able to find something comparable to our house in Ottawa. What we immediately found out is that it’s an incredibly hot real estate market. Most houses don’t stay on the market for very long. We were able to find a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house a month after moving to the city. While it has a smaller footprint and backyard to our Ottawa house we think we lucked out because the house backs onto a nature trail system so we don’t have anyone in behind us.

I did find some stats, and according to the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, “the cost of a benchmark single-family home in Port Alberni reached $328,000, a two percent year-over-year increase.” Which is the most affordable city outside of the North Island. Real estate prices can range from $639K in Parksville/Qualicum Beach to $473K in Campbell River. Nanaimo is around $569K and Victoria is around $860K.

2. Very Little to No Snow

When I landed in January 2020, the city was hit with a bit of snow. I definitely needed snow tires on the rental car that I had for a few days before I picked up my CRV at the Nanaimo dealership (I had it shipped across Canada). I was staying out on Sproat Lake at an AirBnB and the road was definitely a bit treacherous a few days. They also don’t really plow a lot out there and wait for the rain to melt most of the snow. This year, we only got one dumping of snow over the Christmas holidays and that was it.

3. You Love The Rain

From November – February you’ll see a lot of rain. One thing that I wasn’t able to discover from internet research ahead of time is that because the city sits in a valley, the winters are comprised of fog and rain. Some days, the sun will be able to melt off all the fog and you’ll find yourself running outside for a walk or a hike but you definitely have to be prepared for a gloomy winter season. If you love the rain, then you’ll love it here!

4. So Many Hikes To Choose From In or Around Port Alberni

I mentioned that we bought a house that backs onto a trail system and we love that we can easily walk out the door and immediately be on a hike. There are such an abundance of hikes either accessible from within the city or just a short drive outside of town. I’m going to do a post dedicated to my favourite hikes so stay tuned for that one.

5. People Smile, Wave And Say Hi

I haven’t lived in a town where people are genuinely friendly. I noticed it immediately upon moving here that people smile, say hi, wave as you drive or walk by and all our neighbours introduced themselves the moment we moved in. Thankfully the city didn’t start to mask up until November of 2020 so until then I was able to experience how genuinely nice everyone is.

6. Port Alberni Is Surrounded By Mountains & Ocean

I’ve had on a vision board for a while that I wanted to be able to see mountains and the ocean or lakes from our house and that we can. We live up on the hill in Port Alberni and I can see the Beaufort Range outside my home office window and we can see the harbour from our driveway. This was probably the top reasons that drew me to move our family out here.

View of Port Alberni from the Look Out Hike

7. Close to Ucluelet & Tofino

One of my favourite places in the world is Tofino. We’ve been able to go multiple times this year because it’s a “quick” 1.5-hour drive. It’s a pretty windy road so it doesn’t feel quick and there is construction on the road at Kennedy Lake so if you don’t time it properly you can get stuck waiting for your turn to go BUT all that being said… I have loved being so close to this beautiful place.

Chesterman's Beach Tofino, BC — Chesterman’s Beach – Tofino, BC

8. You Love Fishing

While Mike and I don’t love fishing it’s been really cool to watch on social media how many people here are avid fishers. You can hire a charter or make friends with other fishermen (women) and get out on the water and catch your dinner.

9. You Love Water Sports

Ok so if you love kitesurfing, wake boarding, wake surfing or just boating in general it’s an amazing place to live. You have so many options from the ocean fjord to Sproat Lake only 20 mins outside of town.

This summer we rented a wake surfing boat from the Fish & Duck Resort and spent a day out on Sproat Lake. They also rent houseboats, which is something I’ve never seen before in Ontario but is a huge thing out here. Such a cool way to spend a summer week or weekend out on the water on an absolutely gorgeous lake.

10. The Air Smells Better in Port Alberni

While there are at times air quality warnings due to the paper mill in town, I genuinely haven’t noticed that the town smells bad. Just by simply stepping outside and taking a big inhale smells amazing out here. And taking some deep breaths while out hiking is an even better experience due to all the types of trees out here.

So whether you’re considering moving to live in Port Alberni, passing through, or coming to visit I hope you enjoy this beautiful city.

My Experience at the Holy Water Temple in Bali

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On my trip to Bali for my Yoga Teacher Training, we had 3 Sunday’s off. On one of them, we did a day trip to the Holy Water Temple, a coffee plantation and to visit Ubud. While the day was jam-packed and exhausting, it was such an amazing day.

We started the day at Tirta Empul, otherwise known as the Holy Water Temple. It is supposedly one of the largest and busiest water temples in Indonesia. The temple was founded in 926 A.D. and is dedicated to Vishnu, who is the Hindu god of water. The name of the temple means ‘holy water spring’ in Balinese. While popular with tourists we were definitely outnumbered by locals.

We had the blessing of being taken care of all day by Degus (otherwise known as D), a local Balinese man, who was so kind explaining Balinese culture to us and showing us around.

We arrived at the temple and were given sarongs as you needed to wear one to enter the temple. After a prayer in the courtyard, we were lead to the locker area and changed into a different sarong.

Degus’s mom made everyone offerings. The offering consists of a basket woven from palm tree branches and you’ll find beautiful flowers, maybe a piece of candy and incense within.

We were lead into the inner pool area and were instructed to place our offerings on an alter with our intention for the ritual in mind.

Before entering the temple, D told us to set an intention for the experience. Think of it as a thought, a wish, or a prayer.

We sat on a small area and D led us through a Hindu prayer before entering the pool and getting in line behind the many Balinese. There was three steps to each fountain. We were told to lift our hands in prayer at our forehead and think of our intention. It is believed that the holy water – “tirta” – removes evil spirits, brings prosperity and cleanses the body and the soul.

From there we were instructed to splash our face three times. Once to cleanse our body, once to cleanse our soul and I can’t for the life of me remember what the third one symbolized. My understanding from doing a little more internet research is that it’s also done three times because in the Hindu faith they pray to three gods, Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva.

From there you dunk yourself under the fountain for protection and prosperity.

I chose 2 intentions that I repeated through each fountain. One for myself and one for my family.

While it was so amazing to experience a Balinese Hindu cultural and religious experience it was very foreign to me as a Christian. While I was there I didn’t want to disrespect those around me by not believing in what they believed in and I didn’t want to disrespect my faith and my God by participating in something outside of our belief system.

In the end I believe having an intention and a prayer for one’s life is universal. The experience was absolutely magical and we felt so welcomed into the Balinese world that I don’t think anyone felt like an outsider or an intruder. We respectfully followed traditions, learned something new and experienced something that many may never get to experience.

It is a definite must visit if you find yourself in Bali 🙂