Cruise Port Guide · 22 cruises visit Nanaimo →
The bucket-list things to do — and the private, expert-led way to do each.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, and the private, small-group, or expert-led way to make it yours — your own pace, real access, none of the crowd.
Leap from the 43-metre bungee platform above Nanaimo River Gorge or arc through the canyon on the legendary King Swing — the most adrenaline-charged moment on Vancouver Island. Bucket-list daring with jaw-dropping scenery.
Walk among 800-year-old Douglas firs wider than a car in MacMillan Provincial Park's Cathedral Grove, then browse the legendary Coombs Old Country Market — famous for the goats grazing on its sod roof. Two utterly iconic Vancouver Island experiences in one day.
Board a fast, open Zodiac and chase Humpbacks, Orcas, and Dall's porpoises through the Salish Sea with a marine naturalist at your side. Small groups of just 12 guarantee front-row encounters that will stay with you for life.
Paddle a sea kayak across to Newcastle Island — a car-free provincial park just minutes from downtown Nanaimo — and explore hidden coves, Indigenous middens, and old-growth shoreline with an expert paddling guide. Serene, exclusive, and utterly restorative.
Journey north along the coast to the lush Nanoose Bay peninsula for an intimate, guide-led tasting trail through working farms, craft cideries, and artisan food producers — the farm-to-fork heart of Vancouver Island's culinary scene.
Step inside Nanaimo's riveting past with a private guided heritage walk linking the iconic 1853 Hudson's Bay Company Bastion — one of Canada's oldest surviving wooden forts — with the award-winning Nanaimo Museum and the coal-mining legacy that shaped the city.
⚓ Your bucket-list concierge
Tell us your sailing and we'll send the bucket list for every port — the most extraordinary thing to do at each, and the private, expert-led way to make it yours.
No spam. The honest plan, even when it says skip the ship’s tour.