Do you want to know what happening in town while you’re here? From concerts and football games, to garden walks and poetry readings and everything in between, locals from across Vancouver Island use HarbourLiving.ca as their first resource for finding out what’s happening everyday. Plan day trips for some great events before you even get here with their Calendar.

Originally called the Bungee Zone, for obvious reasons, Wild Play now has a whole mess of outdoor adventures. From ziplining and walking high amongst the trees, to a romantic 140km/hr Primal Swing. You could spend a whole or half day here, the it’s just 5 minutes back to Riverside.

It’s not a huge downtown, but Nanaimo packs in everything it can to make it a great experience. From a gorgeous waterfront with floating restaurants, to clothing stores, coffee shops and a record store straight out of a Stuart MacLean story. Enjoy lunch or dinner in town and all downtown Nanaimo has to offer.

One of the things we love on this island is touring the vineyards and trying the local wine. Many of the wineries have beautiful restaurants as well. There are tour companies on the island, but we highly recommend checking out a few on your own. Taste in moderation and bring a few bottles of your favourites back to the cabin.

We were going to include Merridale Cidery in the wine tours, but this place deserves a mention of it’s own. In the tasting room, you can try an assortment of locally produced ciders. But the real treat is dining in their restaurant, sitting on the patio overlooking the orchard. The recent years, the Merridale folks have started producing Gin as well. It’s well worth taking the tour. And if it’s fall, you have to check out the Crush. When all those apples come off the trees and get set to become liquid gold.

Nanaimo is considered to be one of the best dive locations in Canada. If not the world. It’s not warm Caribbean waters, but the sea life abounds in these parts. Add to that 3purposely sunken ships in the harbour, and there is so much to explore in our waters. Less than 15 minutes and you’re in at the shore and ready to dive.