BC Family Vacation

Hi all,

First forum post - I’m a member that comes here for the really incredible reviews and general sense of like-mindedness vis a vis the mountain bike world. I live in Brooklyn NY far from the north shore, but have always been fascinated by the riding there. Growing up riding in Trumbull CT we were heavily influenced by what we heard was happening up on the “shore.” :)

Fast forward a millenia and now I’m looking into BC for a family vacation this summer. Hoping you all can give me some direction about where we should look for our home base. Would like to air BNB (or similar) a cabin.

-Definitely going to do some riding but probably not all-day epics —- hoping for a location where I can get out for a morning blast then meet up with the family for the rest of the day.

-Would love to find an area that has a lot to offer for biking and other activities for non-mountain bikers. We want to also fit in some hiking, surfing, sightseeing, art if possible.

-I’ll probably fly with my bike but we may try a rental for my wife for a day or two. She used to ride a fair bit but she’s not up to black diamonds I’m sure. An area with a good rental shop and also has good medium difficulty trails would be awesome.

-Even better would be some recommendations for trail riding my 5-year-old daughter could tackle on her Early rider. 

I appreciate any advice, and I really look forward to seeing your part of the world!

Thanks,

Eric

Well Whistler has all of that except for the Surfing. It is by far the most expensive for accom, and very busy place.

If you want to ride less crowded bike park and keep costs down, Silverstar or Sunpeaks  are great,  super low key places in summer.

Really hard call, so many places in BC to stay and ride. If money is no object I would say do the Howe Sound corridor....North Shore, Squamish, and Whistler.

To get a mix of all that maybe a combo of Vancouver, whistler, Victoria, Tofino.

If you wanted to not travel around so much just whistler and maybe a day or two in Vancouver.

Whistler definitely the #1 choice though, good for non riders because there's lots going on and don't need to drive to most things, so not dealing with who gets the car to go do whatever. There's 5 year olds ripping up the fitz trail and flow park by the village all the time. Tons of rental shops, medium difficulty trails outside of the bike park are a little lacking, lost lake trails and a couple others enough for a ride or two for sure though. The bike park has some good laps to check out for 'medium' difficulty too. Also easy to get to whistler.

Sounds like the Sunshine Coast would check all those boxes. You have the Gravity Park in Porpoise Bay, art all around coast, endless hiking, and beaches galore. Sprockids mtb park would be ideal for wife and daughter. Roberts Creek is a good central location

Thanks everyone for the responses, I’ve got some research to do on Fitz trail, Sprockids Park, and Roberts Creek. 

I know it’s kind of a BC mecca, but I didn’t imagine hitting whistler, I’m not much of a downhiller. That said LOTS and top of the world look like exactly my thing. 

Thanks again,

Eric

There is so much good riding all over the province. I think the way to approach your trip is to plan around what you want to do outside of riding, then use Trailforks to see what the riding opportunities are nearby. You really can't go wrong.

Surfing is the tough one from your list. Tofino is kind of the main place in BC. It's quite out of the way and there isn't really any riding around there, but it's a great place to visit.

If you have your heart set on riding Whistler alpine trails (LOTS, TOTW), keep in mind they they usually open in July or August, and could close in September or October if it snows, so it's a short season.

Posted by: ackshunW

Thanks everyone for the responses, I’ve got some research to do on Fitz trail, Sprockids Park, and Roberts Creek. 

I know it’s kind of a BC mecca, but I didn’t imagine hitting whistler, I’m not much of a downhiller. That said LOTS and top of the world look like exactly my thing. 

Thanks again,

Eric

Might not be a downhiller but whistler bike park is pretty great and has a big range of trails (all the footage you see is basically from like 3 jump trails out of 70 trails). And fitz Trail isn't anything special just a flat path through the woods along a river by the village but I figure early rider is some kind of run bike?

Roberts Creek/Sunshine Coast is a nice one, it is a bit more quiet in terms of touristy stuff but there's plenty of hikes, lakes and decent food/drink options and world class mountain biking that is generally a bit tamer than the Sea to Sky region.. and for sure more XC options.