Hike to Mystic Beach's Waterfall & Rope Swing

Short, steep and just sketchy enough at the top that you'll naturally steady each other on the slabby rock.

Old-growth firs, a waterfall, a trestle, and in late autumn the river runs red with salmon while eagles watch from above.

Fifty-five kilometres of flat, car-free former railway where you can actually talk the whole way and the picnic is mandatory.

A Heritage Grove of Douglas fir around five centuries old, reached on a flat boardwalk that a wheelchair or a stroller can manage.

A 5.3 km loop through 300-year-old Douglas fir and a Garry oak meadow to Pickles Bluff, looking over farmland to Haro Strait.

A First Nation-owned outfit with two decades on the water, launching into the calm island maze where orca actually live.

Ocean River's guided paddle from Oak Bay to a wild marine-park island where seals shadow your hull and the city completely disappears.

A 1.2 km mossy stroll to a 30-metre waterfall and a sandy beach with the Olympic Mountains thrown in.

Paddle a sheltered tidal inlet past heritage homes to Western Canada's only reversing rapids, then sensibly turn around.

A warm little swimming lake with a sand beach 200 metres from the car, wrapped in a 3.9 km forest loop with water views most of the way.

Paddle the glassy freshwater lake where Canada's national rowers train, then reward yourselves at Hamsterly Beach with a swim and a snack.

Float along Victoria's most-loved shore-dive breakwater on a guided snorkel, hunting sunken plaques and the occasional seal.

85 trails and 46 km of singletrack on Mount Work, from gentle green runs to double-black drops, twenty minutes out.

The lesser-known flat rail trail where you can talk the whole way, ending at Sidney's bookshops and waterfront patios as your reward.