Nanaimo

Know the region

The Nanaimo guide

Nanaimo is the Island's crossroads — the harbour city where highways, ferries and flight paths meet. Around 100,000 people call it home, and nearly everyone travelling up-Island passes through. That hub role hides a city that has quietly reinvented its waterfront, its old quarter, and its reputation: yes, the dessert bar is named after it, and no, that's not the whole story.

Landmarks & attractions

The Harbourfront Walkway curls for kilometres past the seaplane terminal, fishing boats and the 1853 Bastion, the wooden tower that survives from the Hudson's Bay Company era. A ten-minute foot-passenger ferry crosses to Saysutshun (Newcastle Island) Marine Provincial Park, an entire car-free island of trails and beaches inside the harbour — with Protection Island and its floating pub along the way. The Old City Quarter's heritage blocks hold independent shops and restaurants; the Nanaimo Bar Trail leads sweet-toothed pilgrims around town; and Westwood Lake and Mount Benson give locals their after-work swim and their weekend summit. Every July, the world's strangest race — the Great International World Championship Bathtub Race — roars across the strait.

Neighbourhoods & surroundings

Departure Bay and Hammond Bay curve along swimmable shoreline north of downtown; the University District surrounds Vancouver Island University on the hill; Cedar and Yellow Point spread rural and artsy to the south; Lantzville keeps its village feel just north. The ferry to Gabriola Island — the "Isle of the Arts" — leaves right from the harbour.

Getting here & getting around

Two BC Ferries routes link Nanaimo to the mainland — Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay and Duke Point to Tsawwassen — plus a foot-passenger fast ferry to downtown Vancouver. Highway 19 heads north, Highway 1 south; the airport at Cassidy connects to Vancouver and beyond.

Living here

Nanaimo offers the Island's most practical combination: real-city services and housing that undercuts Victoria, with beaches, lakes and a mountain inside the city limits. Its verified local businesses below run from harbourside cafés to the trades and professionals serving the whole mid-Island.