Parksville Vancouver Island is truly a gem worth visiting and a highly desired retirement community. Having your share of golf courses and plenty of places to boat, hike, swim, or just take a stroll are some of the pastimes Oceanside residents give up. Driving north for about an hour will bring you to the Comox Valley. Just a short 20 minute drive south and you’ll be in Nanaimo. Parksville, BC, at times served as a bedroom community for Nanaimo, has the advantage of being much smaller and more relaxed. Oceanside’s two communities, the City of Parksville and Town Qualicum Beach, just six miles down the road, offer most of the amenities found in larger towns and cities.
Three distinct beaches are the most popular, Qualicum Beach, Parksville Community Beach in downtown, and Rathtrevor Beach, just around the corner from the Englishman River. Most of the resorts are located along this stretch of beach. Often a confusing factor is addresses. When downtown Parksville with the beach on one side and the Chevron gas bar on the other with Alberni Highway has been the dividing line. Heading towards Qualicum is west and driving towards Nanoose is east.
A hidden oasis is Top Bridge, a few miles south of Parksville down a short gravel road. A great place to cool off, swim, hike and mountain bike during the hot summer months. Here you’ll find a metal suspension bridge overlooking the Englishman River. Over centuries of runoff from melting snow, the river has carved an interesting path that winds its way down to the beach. The natural rock formations and distorted rock faces give you a feeling of prehistoric times. This is a place where all visitors must see at least once. A place where your imagination can run wild, relax in its beautiful tranquility and let all the commotion of everyday life melt away.
A short drive down Highway 4 will get you to Coombs. Best known for its trinket shops, antique shops, goats on the roof, and famous ice cream. A few more miles will bring you to Cameron Lake. This lake is very cool even during the summer, a quick dip will quickly wash away any uncomfortable sweat. Just around the bend is Cathedral Grove, shaded by the towering Douglas Firs and Western Cedars. Drive another 20 minutes or so and you’ll enter Port Alberni, the gateway to Vancouver Island’s Pacific West Coast, Pacific Rim National Park. Most of the locals commonly refer to it as Long Beach.