Wickaninnish Inn

An amazing sanctuary

I love the Wickaninnish Inn for being an amazing sanctuary from the wild elements of the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. The "Wick" is a stunning Relais & Chateaux property located within an UNESCO biosphere reserve that the Clayquot First Nations people have populated for some 10,000 years. The luxury of the hotel and its first class dining, with a concentration on local ingredients harvested from the ocean and local growers, is in direct contrast to its remoteness. Surrounded by a Pacific Rim rain forest with towering Douglas firs, the hotel perches on a rocky point jutting out into the wild Pacific ocean, and is located in the small town of Tofino, accessible most easily by a 3/4 hour Beaver floatplane shuttle from Vancouver. The hotel offers guests the opportunity to whale watch, hike, kayak or surf in the cold breakers surrounding the hotel. The hotel's spacious rooms feature traditional Hudson's Bay blankets to help you hunker down with a friend on your balcony and watch the pounding surf, seals, eagles and whales passing by. In a stroke of marketing genius, the "Wick" have turned the winter months which would traditionally be the off season into the "Storm Watching" season and have kept the hotel nicely filled with those wanting to see the surf crashing off the rocks from their suites or the glass fronted restaurant...brilliant.

stuart, Canada - 12 March 2008