Port Hardy

The gateway to the wild north — the northernmost town on Vancouver Island and the start of the Inside Passage.

Port Hardy is the northernmost community of any size on Vancouver Island, a small city of about 4,000 people that serves as the gateway to the wild northern tip of the island and the southern terminus of the BC Ferries Inside Passage route to Prince Rupert. It is a genuine frontier town — practical, self-reliant, and surrounded by some of the most spectacular and least-visited wilderness in BC. The BC Ferries Discovery Coast Passage and Inside Passage routes depart from Bear Cove, just outside Port Hardy, on their journeys north through the fjords and islands of the BC coast. The Inside Passage voyage to Prince Rupert is one of the great ocean journeys in North America — a 15-hour trip through a landscape of islands, inlets, and mountains that is largely inaccessible by road. The waters around Port Hardy are exceptional for wildlife viewing. Orca, humpback whales, Dall's porpoise, and sea lions are all regularly seen, and the area is one of the best places in BC to see Pacific white-sided dolphins. The bald eagle population is enormous, and the surrounding forests support black bear, cougar, and wolf. The fishing around Port Hardy is outstanding. The waters of Queen Charlotte Strait and Goletas Channel are rich in chinook and coho salmon, halibut, and rockfish, and the area draws serious sport fishers from across BC. The Cape Scott Provincial Park, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, is one of the most remote and dramatic parks in BC, with wild beaches, old-growth forest, and the ruins of a Danish settler colony.