Surf breaks, biking and bites: Summer in British Columbia

You better believe it, British Columbia has a surf scene with a real-life surf culture, dude. Tofino on Vancouver’s wild west coast has to be the prettiest surf town you’ll see – think of it as the Byron Bay of Canada, but without the crowds. 

There’s 35 kilometres of surf beaches here, with bears in the woods, and the odd cougar. You’ll also find the occasional orca in the surf, and plenty of playful sea lions and seals. 

Surfing first got big here in the 1960s and the scene is still caught in a time warp; there are as many old dudes on long boards cruising the waves as young people. The town looks down over Clayoquot Sound where whales pass by, and you can take boat trips up to forests beyond town to go bear-spotting. 

After your surf, hang out with the locals at bars where musicians play outside in the sun (and it won’t get dark till 10pm), and compare surf stories. There are surf shops and surf cafes and Tofino hosts some of the country’s top surfing competitions. 

Tofino is 280 kilometres west of Vancouver and about a five-hour drive.

You don’t even need to leave Vancouver in summer. Stanley Park is located right on the northwest edge of the city and it’s one of the greatest urban parks in the world. There are 405 hectares of rainforest, trails and beaches to get lost in. 

Hire a bike or just walk – you’ll find the world’s longest sea path – 24 kilometres of seawall right beside the ocean. There are 27 different attractions in here, from the First Nations Totem poles to the Vancouver Aquarium to horse-drawn carriage rides. There are also three restaurants and two cafes – and events from theatre under the stars to fireworks nights, so you need never leave the city. 

The park has been Vancouver’s favourite place to hang out since 1888, and every day through summer it’s the locals’ favourite place to spend evenings after work.  

You barely need to leave Vancouver to do this either because the sea between Vancouver and Vancouver Island is one of the world’s best locations for whale watching and for spotting orcas. 

Thousands of whales migrate through these waters each year and there are multiple boat or kayak tours and seaplane excursions to choose between (some leave from Vancouver, while others leave from Victoria on Vancouver Island). Between April and October you have a 95 per cent chance of seeing orcas, humpbacks and minke and grey whales each day. 

These waters are the best on Earth for spotting orcas – southern resident orcas feed on migrating salmon south of Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia around the Gulf Islands with orca tours departing from Victoria, while north of Vancouver Island over 300 northern resident orcas can be found around Johnstone Strait and Telegraph Cove. 

British Columbia is where you’ll find some of North America’s best championship golf courses, all surrounded by lakes and huge mountains in some of the prettiest golf vistas on the planet. There are over 300 courses here – and 80 of them are world-class – and you can play everywhere from the sides of the Rocky Mountains to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. 

These are true bucket-list courses and some of them are easy to access from Vancouver, while you can play over 40 courses on Vancouver Island along the Vancouver Island Golf Trail. 

Ninety minutes drive north of Vancouver and famous for its skiing kudos, Whistler is actually where you’ll find four of Canada’s best courses right next to each other, including Canada’s top-rated course. Though it vies for the award with the Tobiano Golf Course at Kamloops (another famed ski area). For extra Canada-style thrills, try some heli-golf – hit off the 19th hole at the Big Sky Golf Club at the top of 2500-metre-high Mount Currie. 

Because of liquor regulations, little of Canada’s wine actually leaves its shores – that’s why you have no idea how great Canadian wine really is. And the best of it is produced right here… in BC. There are over 270 wineries in BC alone – with over 75 grape varietals (that’s because BC is home to dozens of microclimates meaning everything from the richest cabernet sauvignons to the most delicate pinot noirs can grow here). 

You only need travel 30 minutes south of Vancouver to Lulu Island to go wine-tasting or an hour east to the Fraser Valley, but the best place in BC to appreciate Canadian wine is at the Okanagan Valley, where you’ll find over half of BC’s wineries. Here you can take wine tours, or self-drive around glacier-fed lakes and beneath snow-capped mountains to stunning wineries stretching 250 kilometres along the valley. They call this area the Tuscany of Canada – not just for its delicious red wine varieties, but because you’re also in for a treat with farm-to-table eating at long-table dinners that go for hours into long summer nights.

British Columbia offers some of the world’s best white-water rafting excursions in some of the most stunning landscapes you’ll see. And it’s not just adrenalin-seeking experts who’ll love it – there’s everything here from beginner-friendly Grade One rapids to some of the toughest commercially-rafted Grade Five rapids in the world. Choose between a few hours, a day or multi-day trips right off into the wilderness. 

Kicking Horse River near Golden in eastern BC is one of the state’s best rafting location. Take a 26 kilometre full-day tour, or add in a helicopter ride to a canyon below that can’t be reached by any other form of transport. It’s the best way to soak up the scenery of the Rockies. It’s about eight hours drive from Vancouver.

For something a bit closer to Vancouver, try the Fraser River, an hour’s drive east. It’s the longest river in BC and is also ideal for beginners. For extra thrills, consider the Nahatlatch River (only 2.5 hours from Vancouver) where you’ll deal with 37 rapids in 12 kilometres on the best river for rafting in Canada.

Sure, BC might be world-renowned for its skiing and snowboarding but when summer hits, it’s mountain-biking that’s just as legendary these days. Now regarded as the world’s premier mountain-biking location, there are 17,000 trails in BC across everything from alpine terrain to the seaside. This is where the sport took off in the mid 1980s, and if you ever watched a mountain bike movie, chances are it was filmed here. But relax, there’s beginner terrain here too, you don’t have to be crazy. 

The action starts just outside of Vancouver at resorts 30 minutes away, such as Mt Seymour and Cypress Mountain. Keep driving further and check out Whistler in summer – it’s the home of the world’s best bike park and its biggest festival, Crankworx (scheduled for August 5–14 this year). In BC, you can even access mountain bike trails from helicopters and floatplanes, staying in backcountry lodges.

During July and August, flights to Vancouver on Qantas start from $2170 direct from Sydney, or from $2207 via Los Angeles from Melbourne. Flight time from Sydney is 14-15 hours, while travel time from Melbourne is about 19 hours.

Explore more: hellobc.com