Are you the type of traveler who revisits the same place over and over again? Or do you like to forge new paths every time you go on an adventure? For my family, even though we try not to visit the same place too often there are still a few places we’ve revisited over the years. One of these places is Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville BC on Vancouver Island and we’ve now been here a handful of times. One of the reasons we keep going is because a friend of mine from Vancouver recommended this place years ago and we had a fun family vacation and this summer we finally had a chance to go with our families together
Parksville is only a short drive and a ferry ride away from Seattle
Traveling with the kids to Parksville from Seattle is my favorite kind of road trip. We get to travel across a border into a different country. We get a scenic drive from Seattle to Tswassen. Then the ferry to Victoria or Nanaimo on Vancouver Island is a nice break from driving and we have been lucky enough to see a few whales on some of our trips. Parksville is also one of my favorite Vancouver Island destinations; Tofino and Victoria are places we love to visit too.
Tigh-Na-Mara has a variety of rooms for all family sizes
Over the years we’ve managed to stay in a few different rooms at Tigh-Na-Mara. Our best stay was one of the the rustic cottages because it was roomy and comfortable and felt a little like fancy camping. We’ve also had a lodge room with a water view. The accommodations at this resort are comfortable but dated. I read a review that said the rooms seemed like they were stuck in the 80’s and this helped frame our expectations so that we weren’t dreaming of modern luxury. I found the rooms cozy and family-friendly; especially the rooms with mini kitchens. I find that if we have at least a fridge in our hotel room, it makes breakfast so much easier and we really liked how easy it was to walk around the resort and appreciated all the kid-friendly amenities( like being beach-front, having tennis courts, a kid’s club and a pool)
The Tigh-na-Mara has one of the best beaches on Vancouver Island
Nearby Hornby Island is getting a lot of attention lately for its gorgeous beaches, but we’ve also really loved the beach in front of the Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville. If you get there when the tide is out you can walk for miles and miles. When we’ve driven our electric car to the area, there is a really cool electric car charger at nearby Quallicum beach and we’ve packed our inflatable boat so we could paddle while we wait. For some reason we’ve never actually swam at any of the beaches-the weather has been rainy, the tide has been out, there has been a smokestorm-but I’ve heard the water is the warmest in the area too.
Parksville has a lot of fun and family-friendly activities
We can’t visit Parksville without stopping at Coombs Old Country Market. This is one of the coolest markets you’ll ever visit. Everyone just calls it “Goats on the Roof” because this is a market that has goats on the roof. It also has delicious food, donuts, fun things to buy and ice cream. We usually play mini golf in Parksville too but this time we just spent most of our time at the resort and at Coombs Market. There are lots of mini golf places to choose from in the area and we’ve been to the Paradise Mini Golf a couple of times. We also really had an incredible visit to the Horne Lake Caves nearby a few years ago, and I would totally recommend a guided cave tour if you have time to add this to your visit. One night we ate at Realm Food Co in downtown and our meals were beautiful and delicious and they also had good kids’ meal choices too.
This resort can arrange baby-sitting and has a kid’s club
We’ve used the babysitting service at Tigh-na-Mara twice over the years and both times we have had a good experience. If you are going out for dinner, you can order pizza from the kitchen or have it delivered from Pizza Hut nearby. Having babysitting means that the grownups can go for Tree Top Tapas while the kids play and have their own dinner. We found that leaving the four kids with the babysitter and their own dinner made for one of our nicest evenings catching up and visiting the spa with friends and the kids reported that they had a great time too.
We actually found our whole visit really great for a multi-family vacation and our two families had a blast but also came home relaxed. Have you ever been to a place that you can’t help but revisit? I’d love to hear if you have any family-friendly vacation spots you’d recommend?
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)