What Are The Best Things To Do On The Sunshine Coast
There is no definitive answer for this. While some destinations have a clear draw and everyone is coming for the same reason, like a beach destination or a little village built entirely around a ski resort, the Sunshine Coast is not like that. Riding the ferry over, you will notice a huge range in your fellow passengers, and what kind of luggage or equipment they have in tow.
Some people are coming for a relaxing staycation where the cabin they rent is half of the experience, and the few cafes and breweries they visit make up the rest of it.
Others come for the Coast's more rugged side, and they are here for the hiking, the camping, and maybe even getting out to some of the more remote islands.
And even others still are simply here to lay on the beach, and it's one of the best places in the province for that, with amazing white sand beaches and crystal clear lakes scattered all along the coast.
On our most recent visit to The Sunshine Coast, we actually came for it all. We went specifically with this blog in mind, and we re-visited our favourite spots and made an effort to fill in the map completely, spending around 3 weeks doing hands-on research. Which meant lurching between relaxing afternoons on the beach, 2-day treks in the backcountry, then hopping on a water taxi to find some lesser-known islands to camp on.
It was one of the best trips of the year, and that trip, combined with all our previous and less intentional trips, has allowed us to create this comprehensive guide that breaks down all the best things to do on the Sunshine Coast, through the lens of all the different kinds of travellers we met while we were there.
Location Map
All locations mentioned in this blog are pinned here so you can visualize your trip!Why Visit The Sunshine Coast
The Sunshine Coast has a lot of things going for it.
- It's close to the city. You can leave downtown Vancouver and be at your first brewery in Gibsons in under two hours. A short ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay drops you off in Langdale, and from there you're within spitting distance from Gibsons, which is the gateway to the entire coast.
- It doesn't feel close to the city. Because the coast can only be accessed by ferry or plane, the whole coast has a remote vibe that usually requires a lot more of a trek to achieve.
- It is jam-packed with cute towns, stunning beaches, epic hikes, and amazing breweries and restaurants. Unlike a lot of road trips in Canada, there aren't a lot of long drives in most Sunshine Coast itineraries. This is because it's hard to drive more than 20 minutes down the highway without passing at least one good reason to pull over.
Unless you have a few weeks to spare, there is no chance you are going to be able to see and do everything in one trip. My advice would be to think about what kind of trip you're trying to have before you start planning, because there are a lot of different versions of a Sunshine Coast Road Trip.
In this guide, we will break down all the best things to do, depending on the type of trip you're going for. This guide will give you a quick overview of each destination/activity to help get your planning started, but make sure to use the links to our other more detailed guides to get all the information before you head out!
Where to Stay on the Sunshine Coast, BC (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!Cute Town Focused
One of the reasons I love living in BC is that I thrive on variety. And the BC diversity is in full swing on the Sunshine Coast. One moment you're on a remote beach on some island, the next you're way up in the alpine boiling some river water for ramen, and the next moment you're back down in town wandering around with a soy milk latte, or playing cornhole in the backyard of some brewery.
If it's the latter that appeals more to you, you're in luck, because there is no shortage of charm along the Sunshine Coast. You could easily fill a week or more just bouncing between cute towns and visiting breweries and cafes.
You can approach this kind of trip 2 ways
- If you like staying in interesting accommodations, you can definitely work your way up the coast, switching between cute cabins and boutique hotels as you go. For tips on finding the best quirky stays, check out our Where to Stay On The Sunshine Coast guide.
- Or if you prefer just to have one steady base for your whole trip, staying in Sechelt works really well. It's pretty central to all the cutest towns, and it has some of the best accommodation options on the coast.
Regardless of your accommodation strategy, these are the most charming towns you should prioritize:
Gibsons
This is the first major town along the coast, and it's been entertaining day trippers coming over by ferry for over a century. The downtown strip is short and walkable and compacts a whole lot of charm into a short stretch of waterfront. And just outside of town there are several great hikes, some charming cabins, and an incredible brewery.
There is a lot to see and do in Gibsons, so check out our comprehensive destination guide that goes over everything there is to see and do in and around town.
Roberts Creek
If you thought Gibsons was charming, just wait till you get to Roberts Creek. This is a smaller community just a bit past Gibsons along the highway.
This is the perfect spot to stop between Gibsons and Sechelt. The main attraction is their great beach and its huge natural pier. The few shops and services are just up the road from the beach. It’s one of the busier beaches for swimming, but it’s huge so you will have lots of space to yourself.
One of the most talked about spots in town is the Gumboot Cafe. Adorable, delicious, and iconic.
Grab some lunch at the cafe and then head next door to One Tiny Farm. It’s a small farm with honesty system for produce for sale. They host community farm-to-table dinners and support local projects. They have a beautiful farm and lots of plaques explaining what’s going on with their organization. It’s a quick and wholesome stop.
Sechelt
To be honest, Sechelt is a bit less charming than the first 2. It's a larger city, and it makes a great base for exploring the coast from, but naturally, the size of the city erodes away some of the charm.
Where it makes it back up is the waterfront area, which is stunning, and the farmers market, which is one of the largest in the province.
Check out our comprehensive destination guide for a full breakdown of what there is to see and do here.
Halfmoon Bay
The charm is back with this one. In my opinion, this is the single most charming spot on the coast.
Halfmoon Bay is half a town. The centrepiece is the Halfmoon Bay General Store. It came highly recommended to us at our campsite. Our camping neighbour was mostly disappointed by his trip to the coast, but couldn't get over how great the general store was.
To his credit, it's one heck of a general store. They take the task quite literally, and you could get any of your specialty groceries: meats, cheeses, vegan alternatives, ice creams, international foods, supplements, motor oil, school supplies, a well-curated selection of local beer and kombucha. They run a cafe/restaurant, and I'm pretty sure they might also sell kitchen sinks.
Grab snacks, drinks, or something from the cafe, and take it out to their patio. It would be best at high tide, because when we were there at low tide the water had left entirely and the waterfront by the patio was drying in the sun.
You can also walk down to the water. It's a big dock and a boat launch. It looks beautiful like the rest of the coast, but you won't be missing out on anything special if you’re short on time.
Where to Stay on the Sunshine Coast, BC (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!Lund
I love the feeling of completeness when it comes to travel, so anywhere where the road ends is a place I want to go, and Lund is one of the best terminal destinations in the province. It's the terminal point of the entire Pan American Highway, and the last stop along the Sunshine Coast (unless you're heading to one of the islands).
Like a lot of the towns on this list…there's not much there. But again, that's really what makes what is actually there so charming. In classic small-town Canada fashion, the three highlights are: the general store, the bakery, and the pub. The 3 core staples every Canadian town seems to need.
It's a great place to spend an afternoon, but it's also a key launch point for several new adventures. From Lund, you can take a water taxi over to Savary Island (more on that soon), or you can charter a boat for a few hours to get out on a tour of Desolation Sound.
Savary Island Day Trip
Savary Island is a tiny stretch of sand, cliffs, and forest just off the northern tip of BC’s Sunshine Coast. It’s small, it’s quiet, and it doesn’t try to impress. There are locals who live here year-round, but in peak season they can be outnumbered by the day trippers.
Beaches stretch for kilometres, the roads are dusty and uneven, and the charm is in the simplicity: one cafe, one general store, and ‘the pub’. Most visitors come for the beaches, the sunsets, and the laid-back pace.
A bike rental is well worth it as the island is a bit bigger than it appears and it's impractical to bring your car.
The island transforms multiple times a day with the tides, so plan your day around the moon and the general store's limited hours.
You can check out our comprehensive destination guide for more details about everything there is to see and do on Savary Island.
Beach Vacation Focused
If a good beach day is what you're chasing, the Sunshine Coast might be the best stretch of coastline in the province to build a whole trip around. The mainland alone has beaches for every mood: family-friendly spots with washrooms and playgrounds, rocky coves you hike into, and long sandy stretches that change completely with the tide. But the real payoff for a beach-focused trip is making it out to the islands.
You can absolutely have a great trip just working your way along the highway. Porpoise Bay in Sechelt is the quintessential family beach, shallow, warm, and fully set up with picnic tables and washrooms.
Davis Bay Beach nearby is worth timing around low tide, when it opens up into a huge sandy expanse, and there's a seasonal café right on the beach for ice cream afterward.
If you want something a bit wilder, Smuggler Cove is a 30-minute forest hike out to dramatic, hidden coves that reward you with some of the best swimming and cliff jumping on the coast at high tide.
But if you can build in the extra time and a bit of a boat ride, the island beaches are where this coast really shows off. Thormanby Island's Buccaneer Bay is hands-down one of the best beaches in the province, a massive sandbar connecting the north and south halves of the island at low tide, soft sand, and genuinely clear water. It's boat access only, and there's nothing out there but pit toilets, so you need to come prepared.
Savary Island's South Beach is the other must-do, often called the "Hawaii of the North," with 8km of white sand and the warmest water anywhere on the coast.
The tides matter a lot more everywhere along the coast than on a typical beach trip, so it's worth building your days around the tide schedule rather than fighting them.
Low tide is usually best for exploring and walking the sandbars, while high tide is when most beaches actually swim well, so check a tide chart before you commit to a plan. For the full rundown on all 15 of the best beaches along the coast, including which ones are best for swimming, families, couples, or a proper nature escape, check out our comprehensive Sunshine Coast beaches guide.
Nature Focused
If you'd rather spend your trip deep in the wilderness than bouncing between cafes and general stores, the Sunshine Coast has some world-class nature to chase; you just need to be willing to work a bit harder to get to it.
This is where the coast stops feeling like a string of cute towns and starts feeling like the wild, remote coast it actually is.
Where to Stay on the Sunshine Coast, BC (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!Smugglers Cove
This is a low effort and high reward hike near Sechelt. It's an easy forest and boardwalk hike ending at dramatic, hidden coves and sweeping ocean views, with great swimming at high tide if you want to cool off once you're there.
Trail Map
This is one of the most beautiful stretches on the coast, and there are plenty of rocky outcrops all along the coast at the end of the trail that are great for diving into the water or launching a SUP from.
Head to this one earlier in the day, because parking fills up fast, and a lot of people hike out to the end and spend the entire day lounging in the sun and going in and out of the water.
Hiking To Tin Hat Hut
Just outside Powell River is the most iconic stretch of the Sunshine Coast Trail, Canada's longest hut-to-hut trail at 180km.
Every year, plenty of people come to hike the entire thing, camping at the huts in between treks, but that is an entire trip in itself and is a massive commitment.
If you want to take on a more reasonable slice of the network, the portion I would suggest is the trail up to Tin Hat Hut. It is a 12.6 km out-and-back trail with 715 meters of elevation gain.
Round trip, it will take between 6 and 7 hours, and you have the option of camping at the top.
There are a few different spots where you can start this hike, so make sure to check out our Complete Hiking Guide before hitting the trail.
Skookumchuck Narrows
This is some of the fastest-flowing tidal water on the planet. To get here, it's a short to medium-length flat hike through a stunning forest area with peekaboo views of a few different lakes and the large inlet. The trailhead is near the town, and camping at Strongwater the night before is convenient if you want an early start. The trail will take about an hour each way, and there is a lot of free parking right next to the trailhead.
The inlet is lined by trees on all sides, and in the morning, a golden mist hangs in the middle of the water. There are 2 viewpoints where the trees give way to a clear view of the rapids.
- North Point: This is a higher-up and fenced-off viewpoint that is safer in bad weather.
- Roland Point: This point is just a bit further down the trail than North Point and goes right down to the water. Don't forget to look in the calmer eddies for starfish.
Make sure to check the tide times before you go. This schedule is your best bet for planning.
It shows the peak times as well as the flow direction and the expected magnitude (small, medium, large, extra large). Try to go for at least a large one if you can. There is a 20 to 40-minute build-up and cool-down period on either side of the peak times.
On a large or extra large in the summer, you will probably see some expert kayakers and/or white water surfers. But even if you're not into extreme water sports, the rapids are worth a visit.
We hiked in for a 'large' at around 9 AM. We started the hike early, around 7:30, and the timing worked out great. The hike is a really chill and mostly flat walk through the woods. The path is wide most of the way, so we could walk side by side and chat, and we arrived around 8:30.
The timing was perfect. We had a few minutes to scout out both viewpoints, and by 8:40, we had picked out our preferred spot, and the rapids started to get more intense. From 8:40 to 9, the rapids built steadily and then the peak intensity lasted around 10 minutes; then it slowly calmed down. It was still going strong until almost 9:30.
Getting there ahead of the peak time was great. It gave us time to take the trail at a leisurely pace, check out both viewpoints and decide where we wanted to be for the show, and then we got to see the rapids grow to their full intensity. The rapid times change with the tides, so make sure to check the times before you go. It's not always 9 AM. But it has a similar build-up and cool-down period, so plan for around 20-30 minutes on either end of the listed peak time.
Princess Louisa Inlet
This is the showstopper of the whole nature-focused list: a jaw-dropping fjord accessible only by boat, with waterfalls, pictographs, and Chatterbox Falls at the far end. You can get there by private boat, or you can join a Zodiac tour out of Egmont if you don't have your own way in.
The tour is probably the most expensive experience I've put on this list, but it is worth every penny. I've explored BC in pretty great depth, but the stretch of untouched wilderness along the Fjord, and honestly along nearly the entire ride over there on the zodiac, is some of the wildest and untamed landscapes I've seen anywhere in the province.
You can find more details for how to best plan your visit to Egmont, including more information on Princess Louisa Inlet and the Skookumchuck Narrows, in our Comprehensive Egmont Guide.
Adventure Focused
If you want your Sunshine Coast trip built around getting out on the water, sleeping under the stars, and covering ground that most visitors never get to experience, this is the version of the trip for you.
Thormanby Island
This is the easiest adventure to add on, and one of the best. A water taxi from Secret Cove or Buccaneer Marina drops you onto one of the most impressive sandbars in the province, connecting the north and south halves of the island at low tide.
You can day trip it, or camp overnight at Buccaneer Bay's rustic sites, pit toilets and bear caches only, first-come, first-served, and completely free. Bring everything you need, since there are no shops or fresh water sources once you're out there.
For more information about visiting this unique island, check out our full Thormanby Island Guide.
Savary Island
This one takes a bit more commitment: a water taxi from Lund, then getting around by bike since the island's too big to explore on foot and impractical to bring a car onto. The payoff is 8km of white sand at South Beach, some of the warmest water on the whole coast, and a genuinely laid-back, slightly wild pace of life once you're out there.
There is a lot to see on this island, and the logistics can be a bit confusing, so check out our full Savary Island Guide before you head over.
Camping At Tin Hat Hut
This is the real backcountry option on this list. It's a section of the 180km Sunshine Coast Trail out of Powell River, Canada's longest hut-to-hut trail, and spending a night at Tin Hat gives you a taste of the trail without needing to commit to hiking the whole thing.
There are quite a few places to start this hike from, and they vary greatly, so make sure to give our Tin Hat Hut Guide a read before you set out.
Kayaking The Sechelt Inlet
This can be a fun afternoon or a multi-day expedition. The Sechelt Inlet is one of the best spots on the Sunshine Coast to get out on a kayak, with calm, protected waters, mountain backdrops, and consistent wildlife sightings.
We went out for a half day with Pedals and Paddles, and it was a great time. We are pretty inexperienced on the water, so we weren't up for much more than this, but some people head out into the inlet and stay out for a few days.
There are several rec sites you can camp at along the inlet, so it's a popular route for more experienced paddlers. It's a trip I would love to work my way up to.
Where to Stay on the Sunshine Coast, BC (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!Madeira Park
Madeira Park in the Pender Harbour area is one of the best areas on the coast for camping, and it is a good base for exploring the maze of quiet inlets and rocky shoreline that make this stretch of the coast feel more remote than it actually is.
It's less about one standout beach and more about the exploring itself, boat launches, calm bays perfect for kayaking or paddleboarding, and enough scattered access points that you can usually find a stretch of shoreline to yourself.
Desolation Sound
Ominously named, Desolation Sound is the stretch of sea out past Lund, and it's the big one, world-famous for a reason. Calm, surprisingly warm waters set against a dramatic mountain backdrop make it one of the best kayaking destinations anywhere in the world, and tours or rentals are easy to arrange right out of Lund before you set off.
Between boat-access islands, backcountry huts, and some of the best paddling in the province, this version of the trip rewards travellers willing to plan around tides, book water taxis, and pack in what they need. For the full logistics on getting to each of these spots, check out our complete 10 Day Sunshine Coast road trip guide.
Final Thoughts
The Sunshine Coast has something for every kind of traveller. Whether you want to bop around between cute cideries and cafes, lounge on a beach, or challenge yourself with an alpine hike or a multi-day kayak adventure, this is the spot.
For more help planning your trip, check out our collection of free Sunshine Coast Guides.
FAQ
How do you get to the Sunshine Coast from Vancouver?
What is the most charming town to visit on the Sunshine Coast?
How do you get to Savary Island or Thormanby Island?
When is the best time to see the tidal rapids at Skookumchuck Narrows?
How do you get to Princess Louisa Inlet?
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