Campbell River

Know the region

The Campbell River guide

Campbell River has called itself the Salmon Capital of the World for over a century, and the town earns the title honestly: it faces Discovery Passage, where all five Pacific salmon species funnel through on their migrations, and its fishing-lodge history runs back to 1904. But the salmon story is only the front door — this is also the gateway to Strathcona Park's alpine and the wild islands of the Discovery Archipelago.

Landmarks & attractions

Elk Falls thunders into a canyon spanned by a suspension bridge just minutes from downtown — one of the Island's most dramatic short walks. The Discovery Pier, Canada's first saltwater fishing pier, lets anyone try their luck; the Museum at Campbell River tells the story of the Tyee Club, whose members still fish for giant chinook from rowboats under century-old rules. Strathcona Provincial Park, BC's oldest park, opens west of town around Buttle Lake — trailheads, canoe routes and peaks including the Island's highest. Offshore, Quadra and Cortes islands are a short ferry ride into a slower world, and wildlife tours run to see orcas, humpbacks and — up the mainland inlets — grizzlies. History buffs seek out Ripple Rock trail, overlooking the site of the famous 1958 explosion that removed a shipping hazard in one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded.

Neighbourhoods & surroundings

Willow Point runs along the sea walk south of downtown; Campbellton is the old mill quarter at the river mouth; Sayward waits an hour north where the highway bends inland. Quadra Island, five minutes by ferry, functions almost as a neighbourhood with beaches attached.

Getting here & getting around

Highway 19 reaches Campbell River about 90 minutes north of Nanaimo; the airport flies to Vancouver. From here north, the Island gets noticeably wilder — this is the last full-service city on the road.

Living here

Campbell River offers real-city services with a fishing-town soul and wilderness in every direction. Its verified local businesses are below — including, fittingly, more than a few who make their living on the water.