Up the Creek Backpackers B&B

Up the Creek is a family-run cedar house standing among the kind of towering cedar and fir that make you feel briefly, pleasantly insignificant. It is the only hostel on the lower Sunshine Coast, which grants it a quiet monopoly on the backpacker's conscience. A dorm bed starts around thirty-odd dollars, which is roughly what a downtown Vancouver sandwich now costs you.

You can bunk in the seven-bed Arbutus dorm or take a private room: the Fir sleeps up to four, the Cedar up to five, and the Cherry Cabin out in the garden holds two people and not one more. There is a guest kitchen, a sun-deck strung with hammocks, a barbecue, board games, a book swap, and free loaner bikes for the properly ambitious.

The heart of Roberts Creek village is a ten-minute walk away, which the locals will tell you is more or less the entire point of Roberts Creek. Being the only hostel around, it draws a friendly, eco-minded crowd who will happily tell you where the good beach is, then generously come along with you.