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Sooke’s mild climate allows for year-round enjoyment of activities like golf, walking, hiking, cycling and birding. Indoor pursuits include museum visits, plays, concerts and craft fairs. Seasonal pursuits include surfing (winter), swimming at Sooke Potholes Provincial and Regional Park (summer), music festivals (summer) and whale watching (May – October).
The area’s original inhabitants were the T’Sou-ke, a division of the Coast Salish. They enjoyed a ready supply of edible roots, berries, fish, shellfish and game and one of the warmest climates on the west coast. You can see examples of their rock art (petroglyphs) at East Sooke Regional Park and Otter Point.
Many T’Sou-ke and Pacheedaht artifacts and carvings are on display at the Sooke Region Museum. If you wish to buy First Nations art and crafts, head to the museum gift shop, the Blue Raven Gallery or one of the T’Sou-ke Nation craft sales held from time to time in the Cultural Centre.
Sooke makes a good base camp for exploring some of the best hiking trails on Vancouver Island. The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail stretches from China Beach to Botanical Beach and features spectacular ocean views, old-growth forest and lots of bird and intertidal life.
The legendary West Coast Trail covers challenging, mostly forested terrain between Bamfield and Port Renfrew. It can take a week to complete and is suitable for experienced hikers only. Easy walking trails include Whiffin Spit and Galloping Goose Trail, which is also popular with cyclists.
Sooke has a nine-hole, par three golf course (DeMamiel Creek Executive Golf Course) and is handy to a number of courses in surrounding areas. It also offers camping on lakes, rivers, beaches and the local harbour.
Buildings and structures of note in the Sooke area include the Wolf Creek and Sombrio River suspension bridges and a heritage lighthouse recently relocated to the Sooke Region Museum grounds from Triangle Island. The lighthouse boasts a gigantic, First Order fresnel lens. Tours are available.
The Sooke Region Museum chronicles the history of the southwest coastal region with displays on First Nations settlement, early European settlement and industry. It also offers tours of two historic buildings on its grounds: Moss Cottage (built in 1870) and a lighthouse that was relocated there from Triangle Island. There are also two designated heritage sites in the district: Millenium Memorial Park, which contains a pioneer cemetery, and Quimper Park, which commemorates the 1790 arrival of the first European ship in Sooke waters.
To view and/or buy art in Sooke, you can visit one of several private galleries, as well as the small public gallery in the museum.
There’s a good assortment of entertainment options in Sooke. Both the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sooke Community Choir present concerts throughout the year. The Stage West Players mount plays several times a year and Blue Grass and folk music festivals happen in summer. Sports fans can attend amateur soccer, hockey and fastball games and tournaments.
It’s no wonder naturalists visit Sooke in such great numbers: in addition to the lushness of the rainforest, the area offers beautiful displays of wildflowers and Scotch broom in season, a vast array of intertidal life, unparalleled birding and whale watching, and the occasional glimpse of a black bear or cougar.
Provincial and regional parks abound. East Sooke Regional Park offers hiking trails, sandy beaches, petroglyphs, birding and whale watching. The spectacular view of Sooke River Falls is one of the best features of Sooke Potholes Provincial and Regional Park. Both French Beach Provincial Park and China Beach Provincial Park offer beautiful beaches, camping and hiking.
Ed McGregor Park, a municipal park, has lovely gardens at street level and a viewing pier for observing marine life at the lower, beach level. Millennium Memorial Park celebrates the colourful natural and human history of the area and an astonishing range of birds can be viewed at Whiffin Spit Park 12 months a year.
Bed & breakfasts in and around Sooke offer relaxing stays in quaint settings. Quiet English gardens, sweeping ocean views, soothing spa treatments: you’ll find all these things and more at local B&Bs.
Sooke’s reputation as a salmon fishing hotspot attracts many visitors, some of whom come to participate in one of several annual derbies. Halibut is almost as plentiful as salmon. Charters are available in summer. In winter, surfing is best done at Jordan River or Sombrio Beach.
Other popular water activities include whale watching by high-speed zodiac from the Sooke Habour Marina, swimming in the natural swimming holes at Sooke Potholes Provincial and Regional Park, sailing, kayaking and canoeing. Sooke Harbour, Sooke Basin and Sooke River are particularly good for paddling.
Because of the mild climate, activities like walking, hiking, cycling and birding can be pursued year round in Sooke. One activity that is best enjoyed in winter is surfing, either at Jordan River or Sombrio Beach.
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