Nanaimo "The Harbour City" Once you choose a home in Nanaimo, British Columbia on the otherworldly Vancouver Island, prepare yourself to welcome guests and show them around Nanaimo s natural and cultural playground. The mild climate is enticing any time of the year that they would like to visit your new home in Nanaimo. So, too, do not be surprised if they start asking about Nanaimo real estate for themselves. Nanaimo is home to one of the most boater-friendly harbours anywhere along Vancouver Island’s real estate options. If the timing is perfect, you can laugh at the silly sailors from around the world racing bathtubs in the Strait of Georgia or see the brightly colored dragon boats paddling through the sparkling seas while they are here.  Always begin with a stroll along the 5-km Harbourside Walkway with ice cream cones in hand. Just moseying along the promenade, there are tide pools to discover and a sandy lagoon beach to squish through your toes. Find out why readers of Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure magazines consistently rank the island among the best island destinations in the world. Standing at the edge of the ocean shore, you will look out over the Pacific Northwest paradise. Cruise ships come and go as do yachts, fishing boats, and other rigs ready for deep-sea diving. The sheltered waters are perfect for kayaking excursions. In spring and summer, kayak tour companies lead paddlers out to sea under the light of each month’s full moon. During light rains, the water calms down nicely for kayaking. Rainy season is from November through February and that is a good time to have a waterproof jacket in your pack. Your adventurous guests will definitely want to go diving. Three artificial shipwreck reefs just outside the harbor draw divers from around the world. Divers swim alongside seals and wolf eels. Scuba Diving magazine continues to rate the area as a top five spot for healthy marine environment, small animal encounters, wall diving and more. In fact, your visitors may enjoy some island hopping themselves. There are a few main islands such as Newcastle Island not too far out. Pack a picnic lunch and return in time to haggle on the dock for the catch of the day to fry up for supper. Try to catch some dinner one night yourselves. One of the quickest places to catch a crab for supper is the fishing pier at the harbourfront. Knife-carved grooves in the side of the pier mark the regulation width of keepers. However, you can charter a sailboat or hire a guide to take all of you out to where the fish are biting. For a peek at history, tour the oldest building, the Bastion that the Hudson Bay Company built. If your guests come during summertime, they will hear its cannon fire at noon. Climb the harbourfront staircase, a replica of the 1854 Princess Royal’s mast. Newcastle Island Provincial Park displays evidence of boat building, herring salteries, and stone quarries. Truth is your guests will have to come back again to experience the abundant life on our harbourfront. Good thing you got here first. Benson Meadows Sub-division in Nanaimo Real estate in Nanaimo’s prestigious Benson Meadows is located in a gorgeous setting with an excellent location off Jingle Pot Road. Residents of these beautiful homes in Benson Meadows have easy access to both downtown Nanaimo and shopping on the north end of the city. Yet, set on gently sloped 2- to 5-acre lots in Benson Meadows, their Nanaimo homes are nestled in a rustic, natural setting surrounded by pathways leading to creeks, waterfalls, and hiking and biking trails. Previously known for rural forests alive with the rustle of wild creatures, the Jingle Pot area of Nanaimo real estate is blossoming and now includes Nanaimo homes in the newer subdivisions Shady Mile Acres, Rockridge, and Avonlea as well as Benson Meadows. The City of Nanaimo is one of the most beautiful harbourfronts on the West Coast. Located midway up the eastern seaboard of Vancouver Island real estate, with Mount Benton rising in the background, over 80,000 residents have creatively turned this former coal-mining community into a vibrant cultural and recreational paradise. The Harbour City is also among British Columbia’s most livable cities. It features a balance of lifestyle, employment options, and investment opportunities. Newcomers find a diversified economy with tourism as a major contributor along with forestry, construction, technology, and service centers. The progressive Economic Development Office fosters economic growth, weaving together a dynamic business environment, an impressive infrastructure, and a skilled and educated labor force. The beautiful Malaspina University-College is within walking distance of downtown. The Ministry of Education’s School District 68 prides itself on the goal of developing a lifelong love of learning in students. A variety of vocational and alternative schools include Aspengrove Prep School, parochial schools, hospitality training, and a top-notch sailing school.
The perfect-sailing, Mediterranean-like climate, with mild wet winters and dry, sunny summers is one of the mildest in all of Canada. The area experiences weather in three seasons, which gradually fade into each other: spring, summer, and fall.
Beginning with historic Bastions originally built by the Hudson Bay Company, environmentally sensitive Garry-oak meadows that predate the European influences, a surging artisan population harkening back to the Salish Indian predecessors, Nanaimo cherishes its past while planning for a wonderful future. Newcomers will enjoy visiting the Nanaimo Museum for more stories. One walk along the Harbourfront Walkway during a music festival or the bathtub or dragon boat races and new residents know why people are moving to the City. Cultural events, a variety of art and craft galleries, festivals for every season, and a vibrant and forward-thinking population have something going. Add to that hundreds of recreational opportunities from envied golfing to deep-sea diving and fishing to bird watching and the recipe is just right. For information and guidance when buying a home in the area, contact Kim Bihari at (250) 751-1223 or at www.nanaimorealestateteam.com for expert service. Parksville Parksville is located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, 23 miles north of Nanaimo, on Highway 19 or 89 miles north of Victoria. The area is also serviced by bus and rail.
Parksvile is known for its outstanding waterfront. On low tide days, the water recedes for hundreds of meters, leaving the hard sand exposed for beachcombing and sandcastle building. The Annual Sandcastle Competition draws sand castle builders from around the world. The water, warmed over the hot sands as the tide comes in, makes for wonderful swimming. The water, however, is not just for swimming; fishers come from all around for exciting salt-water and fresh-water fishing to places near Nanaimo real estate. Nature lovers will thrill to the arrival of thousands of Brant geese in April (Brant Festival) and the ecological reserve for wild rhododendrons at Rhododendron Lake. History buffs will be enthralled with the historic St. Anne's Church, the History Museum and the petroglyphs along Englishman River.
Whether it is camping, hiking, fishing, playing on the beach or exploring the natural wonders of the area, Parksville has something to offer everyone.
Population: 7,320. Access: Parksville is located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, 23 miles north of Nanaimo, on Highway 19 or 89 miles north of Victoria. The area is also serviced by bus and rail.
Recreation Facilities & Activies: golf courses, swimming, fishing, hiking, boating, photography, camping, exploring
Local Attractions: Heritage Museum, Englishman River Falls, Little Qualicum Falls, MacMillan Provincial Park, Rhododendron Lake, St. Anne's Historic Anglican Church, Rathtrevor Provincial Park
April - Brant Festival, Spring Golf Fest
June - Golf Tournament
July - Sandcastle Competition Qualicum Beach North of the beautiful Nanaimo real estate in British Columbia, visitors come from around the world to see firsthand the remarkable Town of Qualicum Beach on the Strait of Georgia. Known as “Canada’s Carmel”, Qualicum Beach real estate is a veritable paradise on Vancouver Island. A scrumptious array of savory beaches, rivers, mountains, and fir forests lend themselves to shelling, diving, boating, rappelling, fishing, bird watching and a feast of recreational activities. Add the rich cultural heritage, fascinating shops, live theater, and hometown camaraderie and find out how special it is to own a primary or second home in Qualicum Beach real estate. Dramatic waterfront Qualicum Beach homes with spectacular ocean views, secluded horse properties with lush acreage, “Mediterranean” villas on an exquisite golf courses, and Qualicum Beach houses near the quaint, pedestrian-friendly town— all are greeted by the legendary hospitality that makes this paradise extraordinary. The prices for resort-like Qualicum Beach real estate meet every budget and expand to fit every dream. Qualicum Woods is a friendly, family-oriented neighborhood developed in the 70s and 80s convenient to town. Eaglecrest, an upscale golf-course neighborhood developed in the 70s, is just minutes from town. Chartwell, a newer development with many fine homes recently incorporated into the town, is also very popular. Hermitage Park, located within a short walk to town and schools, is ideal for convenience with a very nice cross-section of homes. According to Salish Indian legend, the name Qualicum means, "where the dog salmon run.” Subsequent to that era, the Hudson's Bay Company ventured to Victoria in 1843 and Nanaimo in 1852 spurred on by the profitable fur trade. They also inaugurated the Horne Lake Trail into the beautiful area past the Qualicum River. In 1894, a road into town ensured better access; the railroad followed and by 1913, a railway official had built golf links and a hotel eventually used for a soldiers' convalescent hospital during WWI. The museum complex at General Money Square explores in detail the region’s exciting history and heritage. The region comes up big in terms of attractions that appeal to the entire family. Music has its moments in the sun with regularly scheduled performances at a variety of nightspots as well as annual events like the Coombs Country Bluegrass Festival, the Extravaganza Stage (also known as Music in the Park) attracts 25,000 spectators, and Old School House Arts Centre (TOSH) offers Music on Sunday featuring jazz and classical artists. Bard to Broadway, the premier, summer-repertory theatre-company, is a tradition for many of the local theatre troupe’s dedicated loyalists. The Old School House Arts Centre displays local, regional and international artists. Self-guided tours of home-based studios and galleries are also intriguing. “Rambling Rosie,” aged 70,000 years is also on exhibit in the vicinity—the most complete Ice Age walrus ever found on North America’s west coast. A winner of Communities in Bloom, the Provincial 5 Blooms, Best Community of its Size in 2001, the National Capital Commission Floral Award among others, the locals take pride in their little piece of paradise. The BC Orchid Gardens located at Butterfly World feature a dazzling 800 varieties of orchids. Additionally, Milner Gardens and Woodland is home to 10 acres of lush gardens surrounded by an old-growth forest, and the two-week Rhododendron Days event all pay tribute to the beauty ensconced in the hearts of the people. So, imagine the fantastic golf courses. With incredible scenery, geography, and great weather perfectly suited for golfing, six nearby championship courses beginning in 1913 with the famous Memorial Course offer challenges for every level of golfer. Spectacular miniature golf courses add to the fantastic options for practicing. Tides and currents combine with the topography of the ocean floor to create huge, flat expanses of sand on the beaches. When the tide is low, passersby observe barefoot jogging, sand castles, beach volleyball, sunbathing, and fishing for starfish, crabs and prized sand dollars in the intertidal pools goes on. When the tide is high, people head to the paved promenade and its picnic tables and shade trees that fronts one of the island’s most storied beaches. Skipping along miles of tree-lined pathways featuring magnificent Coastal Douglas Fir and walking the miles of sandy beaches at low tide are inviting for residents and visitors alike. The town is accessible by sailing on the BC Ferries fleet system, by flying into several airports that dot the island, and by driving up the new Island Highway 19 to the intersection of Highway 4.
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