Lakes of Vancouver Island

While most of the focus on Vancouver Island is on the ocean water surrounding it, and rightly so, there are also an amazing number of lakes - over 9,000 - both big and small, local and remote, on the island.

 Upper Campbell Lake

On the southern end of the island Shawnigan Lake and Lake Cowichan are the two best known lakes. These are heavily residential lakes, and used for many recreational purposes. In the summer they can be extremely busy!

As you travel further up the island, there are more and more lakes, but fewer of them have private residences. Some of the most popular are Nitnat Lake outside Duncan, Westwood Lake and Brannen Lake (both in Nanaimo), Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, Comox Lake in the Comox Valley, Upper and Lower Campbell Lakes outside of Campbell River, and Alice Lake near Port Alice.

Alice Lake

Many of the lakes are well known for recreation - Shawnigan Lake is popular with water skiers, Nitnat is world renowned for windsurfing, and Alice Lake is well known for trout fishing. Many of the lakes have wonderful camping spots on them, ranging from private campgrounds to large provincial sites and small recreation sites. The lakes in and around Strathcona Park and through the North Island are good examples. Other lakes on the island are known for canoeing, such as the Sayward Loop or Kennedy Lake.

Buttle Lake

Access to the lakes varies from paved road to gravel roads in various stages of maintenance. Most of the popular lakes have excellent day use areas but many of the other lakes have just small access spots that only locals know about.

Wokas Lake

Vancouver Island is one of those rare places that on any given day a person can wake up and think, "Do I want to hang out at the ocean or the lake today?" Both are just a short drive away.

Buttle Lake

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