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Parksville marks the beginning of beach country, and features outstanding waterfront. When the tide is low, hundreds of metres of sand beckon to castle builders and beachcombers. As the tide comes in, the water is warmed by the hot sand and is perfect for swimming.
Parksville is a definitive British Columbia summer town, just a half-hour drive north of Nanaimo's ferry terminals. The beaches here on the south-central coast of eastern Vancouver Island are the stuff of a California dream vacation. However there is a difference: Parksville's postcard crescents of golden, hard-packed sand are smoother, broader and caressed by gentle Pacific rollers, not pounding surf.
While summer by the sea is a major lure here, Parksville and area is a four-season outdoor destination. Golf, hiking, and mountain biking enthusiasts are well served in a rare, splendidly protected UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This area is notable for its pristine watersheds, deep lakes, extensive parkland, forested tracts (notably the old-growth treasure at Cathedral Grove), and challenging trails leading to Mount Arrowsmith's see-forever viewpoints.
Sharing the parking lot with the Visitor Centre is the Craig Heritage Park, Museum & Archives. Parksville's back history is colorfully displayed in a museum (open from mid-May to late September). The surrounding grounds are dotted with heritage buildings (including an early pioneer's log home relocated here from nearby Errington). The site is run by the District 69 Historical Society. BC history buffs will want a copy of the anecdotal Parksville and Then Some, written by the society's former president Marjorie Leffler.
Parksville is home to 11,000 relaxed, friendly, lifestyle-oriented residents who enjoy all the amenities of town life – a diverse selection of good dining spots, a year-round calendar of a remarkable 140 festivals and events, a lively arts scene, and everyday quality time at Parksville Community Park (with its sports fields, skatepark, beach boardwalk and a fantastic Lions' Club kids playground). Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park and the Englishman River Estuary are natural sanctuaries minutes from the main drag (aka Highway 19A or the Island Highway/Oceanside Route).
Parksville occupies half of a larger but still relatively compact area officially known as Oceanside (which includes the town's near-neighbor Qualicum Beach). In the Parksville side of the region are several largely rural communities with their own quirks, character, and charm.
Coombs and Errington are due west of Parksville off Highway 4A (aka the Old Alberni Highway, which links up with Highway 4 enroute to Port Alberni, Ucluelet and Tofino). Coombs is a town famous for its eclectic shopping, rodeo events, and a series of family-friendly activity zones (Butterfly World, the World Parrot Refuge). Errington is a back-to-the-land refuge for farmers, B&B operators and urban exiles. Its attractions include the petting zoo and trail rides at Tiger Lily Farm, as well as the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre's menagerie of the furred and feathered.
Nanoose Bay is perhaps best known these days as home base for musicians Diana Krall and Elvis Costello. They shop at the local grocery store like everyone else in this tight-knit community due south of Parksville on a rocky peninsula of mostly undeveloped land that sits prettily between Nanoose Harbour and the Strait of Georgia. Boating, hiking trails around a mini "lakes district," and kayaking trips from scenic Schooner Cove are key to the Nanoose experience.
Source: Tourism British Columbia
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