Things To Do

Port Alberni is best known as an outdoor adventure location.

The area serves up world-class salt and freshwater fishing (the region's traditional calling card), as well as hiking, mountain biking, and various water activites (swimming, tubing, boating and kayaking included). The area is also home to a set of unique historic sites and museums.

Land Activities

Hikers, cyclists, and mountain bikers set their sights on the Log Train Trail, a scenic route that follows an abandoned train track into the Alberni Valley. A tougher challenge is the trek to Della Falls, the highest waterfall in Canada. Internationally renowned Cathedral Grove is home to some of the world's tallest old-growth trees.

Golfers tee it up at the Alberni Golf Club's 18-hole championship course, established in 1929 and open year-round. Avid fans cheer the Alberni Valley Bulldogs hockey team at the Weyerhauser Arena, a great spot for recreational ice skating. Gamers play bingo and pump coins into slot machines at Chances Rimrock, a swank casino/restaurant complex (4890 Cherry Point Road). Geocache explorers utilize their GPS gear in search of 250 plus treasure troves in the region.

Wildlife Viewing and Birdwatching

Wildlife sightings in the region are highlighted by the black bears that forage next to the Somass River at low tide; they can be safely viewed from the Victoria Quay downtown not far from a remarkable sculpture of a Nuu-Chah-nulth First Nations' whaler's canoe. Birdwatching is best at the J.V. Cline Sanctuary in the Somass Estuary, home to a large winter population of trumpeter swans.

Wine and Art

Wine enthusiasts can sample the light, fruity wines produced at Chase & Warren Estate Winery, in particular the gewurztraminer and pinot gris. It's the only winery in Canada that can be reached by steam train. The Rollin Art Centre is on the frontlines of the local art and art galleries scene. The Portal Players Dramatic Society takes the stage at the Capitol Theatre downtown.

Water Activities

The Alberni Inlet is a natural superhighway of sorts for fishing charter operators traversing this long, narrow ocean fjord out to the Pacific. Troll or cast a line for Sockeye, Chinook, and Coho salmon while at sea, or when fishing Sproat Lake or the Somass and Stamp river systems. The region is also beehive busy with water-skiing, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, wakeboarding, tubing, houseboating, sailing, and jet skiing.

Historic Sites & Museums

The McLean Mill National Historic Site offers a rare (and entertaining, thanks to its Tin Pants Theatre Company) look at the logging industry that drove the region's economy for much of the 20th century. Get there by car or aboard the Alberni Pacific Railway vintage steam locomotive. Explore more local history at the Alberni Valley Museum (notable for its First Nations collection) and the Maritime Discovery Centre (with its permanent earthquakes and tsunamis exhibit sponsored by the deepwater scientists at Ocean Networks Canada).

Aircraft Activities

Unless a raging inferno has called them into action, one or more enormous red and white water bombers are moored on Sproat Lake. The Coulson Flying Tankers (aka the Martin Mars water bombers) are billed as "the world's largest flying boats" and can quickly scoop up tonnes of water in their bellies when fighting forest fires. Guided bomber tours are available.

The Vancouver Island Flight Centre gets visitors off the ground and into the wild blue yonder. Gliders ("sailplanes") are towed high above the Port Alberni Airport and then released for dramatic, breathtakingly hushed flights that soar over the valley.

Driving Routes

Explore Port Alberni's world-class outdoor offerings – fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and water activities – while venturing along the Coast Cariboo Circle Route. Learm more about driving routes through Port Alberni here: Driving Routes.