Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Hiking is one of the most popular recreational activities in the valley, with trails ranging from easy strolls to strenuous mountain climbing. Take a guided hiking tour to Comox Glacier, the most visible and accessible of the hundreds of glaciers on Vancouver Island. With more than 40 local parks and countless kilometers of hiking trails through picturesque island and alpine wilderness, the Comox Valley beckons to be explored on foot.

The Comox Valley is blessed with a plethora of multiuse and Mountain Biking trails, with a diverse network of trails ranging from easy forest roads to slick rock downhill and classic gnarly single track. Many of the trails revolve around the Puntledge River and Comox Lake in the Courtenay area. Mountain bikers who like their ascents easy, and their descents long and sweet, can't get it any easier or sweeter than catching the Blue chairlift up Mount Washington and riding down. The mountain biking season here generally begins by July 1 and extends through August. At the end of the day you can take a long time making your descent back into the Comox Valley.

In the spring and summer months, every weekend offers a festival - more than 50 annual festivals and events take place in the Comox Valley year-round. Some of these events celebrate the bounty and beauty of the Valley's farms, rivers and ocean. Others showcase the diversity and abundance of arts and culture in the area.

Attend February's weeklong Trumpeter Swan Festival and discover why 2000 Trumpeter Swans spend their winter in the Comox Valley! Over the past decade, as population numbers of trumpeter swans have continued to rebound remarkably from a dismal low of several hundred in the 1960s to well over 10,000 today, many Comox Valley farmers put out winter feed for the swans. More than a thousand of them remain to winter here and form the largest colony on the west coast of North America. Trumpeter swan viewing sites abound in the valley, including along the well-marked scenic route on Comox Road between Courtenay and Comox. Shoreline sites include Point Holmes and Cape Lazo as well as Kin Beach, Singing Sands, and Seal Bay Parks.

Many artists' studios and galleries are open 12 months a year. Special Art Tours can be enjoyed on specific weekends during the year. The Denman Island Pottery Tour in May, and the Comox Valley Community Arts Council Studio Tour in June, are events where artists and artisans open their studios to the public to discuss the creative process, give demonstrations and exhibit their work.

The Comox Valley offers an ideal environment for wine production and other specialty agri-business. A wide, gentle sloping coastal plain is crisscrossed with a web of rivers and protected in the west by a ridge of mountains capped by the majestic Comox Glacier. The Comox Valley enjoys mild coastal winters with little or no snow, a long growing season and more sunshine than other British Columbia growing area. Many new vineyards and wineries are currently producing fabulous Comox Valley bottled wines.

From May through October, visit the Comox Valley Farmers' Market to shop for fresh, organic and specialty products. Whether you buy fish off the boat at Fisherman's Wharf, take a tour at Fanny Bay Oysters or Natural Pastures Cheese, buy fresh from the farm in Merville or visit the mead makers on Hornby Island - the Comox Valley will taste incredible!

One of the Comox Valley's most popular parks is the Courtenay Riverway. This paved walkway follows the Courtenay River and estuary and is bordered on one side by the Courtenay Airpark. This is a prime location for viewing Canadian geese, Trumpeter swans and other marine birds.

The beaches of the Comox Valley are amongst the best and most popular on Vancouver Island. The tide at Saratoga Beach and Miracle Beach goes out for over a quarter of a mile, creating a hard-packed oceanfront playground. The gently sloping beach continues far into the Strait of Georgia, creating warm, shallow and safe swimming conditions. The quiet little seaside town of Comox is surrounded by miles of sandy beach, including the beaches at Goose Spit Regional Park and Kin Beach Park. Low tides are great for exploring tidal pools for marine life.
For those wanting a little more action on the water, the Comox Valley is a great place for a variety of water sports including wakeboarding, kitesurfing, waterskiing, windsurfing and snorkeling. Rentals and lessons are available locally for this kaleidoscope of water fun!

Comox Lake, west of Cumberland on Comox Lake Road, has good freshwater fishing for trout and char year-round. Boaters must beware of the strong winds that rise in the afternoon on the large, dammed lake. You'll find a boat launch at the west end of Comox Lake Road.

Miracle Beach Provincial Park is one of the most popular parks on Vancouver Island, located immediately south of Saratoga Beach beside Hwy 19. Campsites are located in a second-growth forest inland from an extravagant expanse of cobblestone beach that gives way to hard-packed sand flats at low tide. Here herons stalk, seals bark, and ravens and eagles call along the beach that seems to stretch forever in each direction. Black Creek flows through the park and runs past the Miracle Beach Nature House, home to natural history displays.

No visit to the central island is complete without a visit to Strathcona Provincial Park, a rugged mountain wilderness of over 250,000 hectares that dominates central Vancouver Island. Mountain Peaks dominate the park, some eternally mantled with snow, while lakes and alpine tarns dot a landscape laced with rivers, creeks and streams. Created in 1911, Strathcona is the oldest provincial park in BC and the largest on Vancouver Island. Fabulous hiking trails include the Della Falls trail to the highest waterfall in Canada, and dozens of trails to the many pretty alpine lakes that dot the Forbidden Plateau area, providing good fly fishing for rainbow trout during summer.

Goose Spit Regional Park in Comox is one of the best windsurfing locations on the central coast. A long neck of sand curves out into Comox Harbour, where a strong wind rises most afternoons, as winds funnel off the Strait of Georgia and up the flanks of Forbidden Plateau. To find the park, head south of Comox on Comox Road, then turn left on Pritchard Road and right on Balmoral to Lazo Road, beyond which Balmoral becomes Hawkins Road and leads out to the spit.

Seal Bay Regional Nature Park on Bates Road is a BC Wildlife Watch viewing site where California and Steller sea lions, seals, and migratory birds hang out at this sunny stretch of coastline. Spring is a time of increased activity, when the sea lions arrive as they follow the annual herring and eulachon migration. (Eulachon are a small, sardine-sized fish.) Trails begin from the north end of the road and lead through a forested ravine to a staircase that descends to the broad stretch of sandy beach that stands revealed at low tide. Also called Xwee Xwhya Lug, a place with an atmosphere or serenity, by the Comox Native Band.

You will want to spend a day on the lovely Denman and Hornby Islands, touring artists' studios, swimming on a sandy beach, hiking the bluffs and trails, scuba diving or just plain relaxing. Catch a ferry from Buckley Bay, south of Comox.

The Comox Valley's central location on Vancouver Island makes it an ideal launching point for day trips to nearby communities and attractions. It is only a short drive up Highway 19 to Campbell River. From Campbell River it is easy to catch a ferry to the Discovery Islands of Quadra and Cortes.
Just south of Courtenay in Royston, across the bay from Comox Harbour lies the rusting remains of 15 historic ships. To protect floating log booms for the Comox Logging and Railway Company, a breakwater was built from the sunken hulks of old Canadian warships and freighters - the hulks can still be seen in the harbour. Even though most of the ships have broken up and some have disappeared into the mud, they still represent a fascinating cross-section of West Coast maritime history.
South of the Comox Valley, visitors can go spelunking in the Horne Lake Caves, stroll the beautiful beaches in the Oceanside communities of Parksville and Qualicum Beach, walk through the ancient forest of Cathedral Grove or visit Englishman River and Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Parks.