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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Although a significant part of Vancouver Island lies below the 49th parallel, the entire island is part of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Despite its name, the city of Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island but on the Canadian mainland. The largest city on Vancouver Island is Victoria, at its southeastern tip. Victoria is the provincial capital of British Columbia but Vancouver is its largest city. To add to the confusion still further there is also another completely separate city called Vancouver in southern Washington State, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.
Vancouver Island is large: it measures nearly 290 miles along its length from northwest to southeast and is over sixty miles across at its widest point. It has an area of 12,079 square miles - for comparison the area of Wales is 8,018 square miles.
Vancouver Island is dominated by the Vancouver Island Ranges, which are extensions of the Coastal Ranges of Oregon and Washington. These are quite significant mountains, clearly visible from the mainland.
A very narrow coastal plain runs down the eastern side of the island. Most of the island's towns are located here, connected by the old coastal highway. The new fast Inland Highway, located a few miles inland, is currently being constructed with large sections already open. I would suggest using the new highway to get to where you want to go and the more interesting and scenic, but much slower, old coastal road to explore locally.
The western side of the island has a number of fjords, some extending inland a considerable distance. It also has some fine sandy beaches in the Pacific Rim National Park.
Various car ferry routes connect Vancouver Island to the Canadian mainland and Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. These ferries are efficiently run and offer excellent value for money compared with similar ferries in Europe.
We found Nanaimo to be a typical large industrial port town with congested roads. We traversed Victoria on a Sunday morning so traffic levels were very light; no doubt on a weekday its traffic levels would be severe.
The coast road south of Nanaimo is mainly built up and therefore not particularly scenic except for occasional views of the Strait of Georgia and the mainland mountains.
Once you clear the northern outskirts of Nanaimo the country improves considerably.
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Most recently modified 6-Dec-01