Experience the best of Sunshine Coast

British Columbia's Sunshine Coast is a long strip of mainland coast on the Strait of Georgia, north-west of Vancouver, cut off from the rest of the mainland road network by deep inlets, so that ferries are the way in. Gibsons, Sechelt and Powell River are the main towns, with smaller communities between them.

Gibsons has a working harbour with shops and a pier, and was the setting for The Beachcombers, a long-running Canadian television series. Sechelt has beaches and the Sechelt Inlet, and the Skookumchuck Narrows, a tidal rapids at the inlet's entrance, churn with fast currents. Powell River has a historic company townsite, and Desolation Sound Marine Park, to the north, is a favourite of paddlers and boaters.

Spot prawns, oysters and salmon are caught or farmed in the inlets, and local farms and craft breweries add to the table. Summers here are bright and warm, true to the coast's name, and winters are mild and wet.