Nanaimo Doesn’t Do an Off-Season
Nanaimo stays open after summer. Here's how to get there by ferry, floatplane or air, and what to do on a fall or winter weekend, from Saysutshun to the Nanaimo Bar Trail.
Resort towns empty out in November. Nanaimo has never worked that way, and Tourism Nanaimo is leaning into it. It has relaunched its Not A Resort Town campaign for fall and winter.
Nanaimo is a working city on Vancouver Island’s east coast, and it doesn’t close for the season. The campaign’s case: restaurants stay busy, shops stay open, the stages stay lit, the trails stay green, and the surrounding islands are a short hop away.
How to use it
The tourism office has published curated itineraries built by locals. They cover food, independent shops, live shows and outdoor days, and work for a long weekend from Vancouver or the rest of the island. The suggestion is to trade your usual weekend for a change of scene: eat somewhere new, see a show, get outside.
Planning a trip
Getting there by ferry. Tourism Nanaimo lists four ways across from the mainland:
- Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (BC Ferries): about 1 hour 40 minutes. BC Ferries now requires everyone driving from Horseshoe Bay to book and pay in advance. Drive-up isn’t available. Bookings for the return trip from Nanaimo are recommended but not required. Foot passengers and cyclists can still travel with or without a booking.
- Tsawwassen to Duke Point (BC Ferries): about two hours. Duke Point is about 15 minutes south of Nanaimo.
- Hullo (foot passengers only): about 70 minutes between Canada Place in downtown Vancouver and the Port Way terminal in downtown Nanaimo, with a shuttle to downtown hotels. Book ahead.
Tourism Nanaimo says more BC Ferries route changes are scheduled from mid-October 2026 to March 2027, so check the latest schedule before you set a departure time.
Read next · GuideYellowstone in Winter, the Insider Season4 min →By air. Harbour Air, Seair Seaplanes and Sunshine Coast Air fly floatplanes from downtown Vancouver and Vancouver International Airport’s South Terminal. The flight takes about 20 minutes. Helijet flies daily between Vancouver’s harbour helipad and Nanaimo’s cruise ship terminal. Nanaimo Airport (YCD), about 18 km south of downtown, is served by Air Canada, WestJet and Pacific Coastal. Check current routings when you book.
How long to stay. Tourism Nanaimo’s own plans run from a Vancouver day trip to a two-day stay. Two nights gives you a day in town and a day on the islands. For dates, see our long weekends calendar.
What to do when the resort towns close
Go island-hopping. The islands off the harbour are the main reason to come. Saysutshun (Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park) has 22 km of trails, beaches and Snuneymuxw history, and is reached by a small ferry. Check the off-season schedule before you plan around it. Protection Island is car-free, with a 4 km loop trail and the Dinghy Dock Pub, a floating restaurant. Gabriola Island, which calls itself the “Isle of the Arts,” is about 20 minutes away by ferry, with sandstone formations, studios and markets.
Walk. For winter, Tourism Nanaimo suggests the Lost Lake Trail, Westwood Lake, Hemer Provincial Park and Morrell Nature Sanctuary. Its off-season itinerary ends with a sunset hike up Sugarloaf Mountain.
Eat. Follow the Nanaimo Bar Trail, then try the places the tourism office names. For a waterfront meal: Trollers for fish and chips and Maggie’s Seafood Market. Gabriel’s Cafe and Modern Cafe are near Commercial Street, Embers Wine & Charcuterie Cellar is good before a show, and Longwood Brew Pub and Wolf Brewing are the breweries.
Indoors. The Nanaimo Museum covers coal mining and Indigenous history. The Nanaimo Art Gallery and the Port Theatre fill a wet evening, and the Old City Quarter has heritage buildings with independent shops.
Wildlife. The tourism office’s winter campaign mentions sea lions in the harbour, and Vancouver Island Whale Watch runs guided tours.
Where to stay. Tourism Nanaimo features the Coast Bastion Inn and its harbour-view rooms. Its two-day itinerary ends at Snaw-Naw-As Campground & Cabins, on Snaw-naw-as territory.
If you have time for a second city, see our story on Victoria, a couple of hours down-island.
FAQ
Do I need a ferry reservation to get to Nanaimo? If you drive from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay, yes. BC Ferries no longer takes drive-up vehicles there. Foot passengers don’t need one.
How do I get from Vancouver to Nanaimo without a car? Take the Hullo passenger ferry from Canada Place (about 70 minutes), BC Ferries as a foot passenger, a floatplane (about 20 minutes) or Helijet.
What is there to do in Nanaimo in winter? Island day trips, forest and lake trails, the Nanaimo Bar Trail, the museum, the art gallery and shows at the Port Theatre. The tourism office pitches the rain as part of the atmosphere, so pack a waterproof.
More for advisors
- Book the ferry first: clients driving from Horseshoe Bay need a paid booking, and BC Ferries changes run through March 2027.
- Car-free option: Hullo or a floatplane into downtown, then walk or take the passenger ferries to the islands.
- Context matters: Nanaimo is on the territories of the Snuneymuxw, Snaw-naw-as and Stz’uminus peoples. Saysutshun’s story is a Snuneymuxw story, so build it into the island day.
- Skip the ferry: Nanaimo Airport (YCD) is served by Air Canada, WestJet and Pacific Coastal. Check routings from your client’s home airport.
Sources
Where to stay near Nanaimo
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Andrew Lovesey is Editor-in-Chief of Not An Atlas, and always on the hunt for the next big thing: where to go, where to stay and what's worth the photo. His first trip was to the family cottage in Prince Edward Island, all rolling hills, red sand cliffs and jellyfish drifting in the North Atlantic. He'll sit anywhere but the middle seat (no armrest wars), never flies without the adapter that lets his AirPods play the in-flight movie, and has eaten at a McDonald's in every country he's visited. Iceland gets a pass because it doesn't have one. He once learned to bead earrings from Aleqa Hammond, Greenland's first female premier, on a ship in the Northwest Passage, and will tell anyone who'll listen that Cincinnati is wildly underrated. Friends say charming, driven and loyal. His mum says persuasive. Next stop: Greece.
