Vancouver Island

East of Vancouver, across the Georgia Strait, is Vancouver Island, a huge land mass of old growth forest and achingly beautiful north-west Pacific beaches. The capital city of British Columbia, Victoria, lies at the bottom of Vancouver Island, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It's a genteel place of clapboard houses, high tea and glorious gardens. The balmy, moist weather is a perfect recipe for fabulous flora. As you drive north, Vancouver Island becomes more wild, untamed and spectacular. You can see trees that were standing when Columbus landed, with circumferences the size of houses. You can walk a long, cold-water beach dotted with colourful star fish and watch passing whales. You can visit Tofino and mystically beautiful Clayoquot Sound, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
In the fall, some of the hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts on the Pacific Coast offer storm-watching packages. Is there anything more romantic than being in a warm and cosy inn and watching dramatic storms lash the coastline through a huge picture window?