Wickaninnish Inn

Between November and February, swells that have crossed thousands of kilometres of open Pacific break on the rocks below the Wickaninnish Inn, at the north end of Chesterman Beach, a few kilometres south of Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Rain jackets and boots wait in the closets. When the inn opened in 1996, it made those winter storms a season of their own.

History

The land belonged to the McDiarmid family. Dr Howard McDiarmid came to Tofino as the village doctor in the 1950s and later sat in the British Columbia legislature, and he bought the property on the point long before anyone thought of a hotel there. His son Charles McDiarmid opened the inn in 1996 and has run it ever since as managing director, with the family still the owners. A second building, set directly on the beach, was added a few years after the first, bringing the inn to its present size.

The name honours Wickaninnish, the eighteenth-century chief of the Tla-o-qui-aht people, whose territory covered these shores and who received the first British and American fur traders to sail into Clayoquot Sound. The inn has been a member of Relais & Châteaux for most of its life.

Architecture and design

The buildings sit low on the point, clad in cedar and stone, with deep eaves against the rain and wide windows towards the sea. Inside, the wood is the decoration. The carver Henry Nolla, who lived and worked on the property, shaped many of the doors, posts and furnishings from driftwood and salvaged timber. His carving shed, on the path down to the beach, still houses carvers at work. Paintings, prints and carvings by artists of the west coast, many of them Nuu-chah-nulth, hang through the public rooms.

Rooms and suites

The 75 rooms are divided between the Main Building, on the rocks, and the Beach Building, on the sand. All face the ocean. Each has a gas fireplace and a deep soaking tub set where the bather can watch the water, and the larger suites add space and a second outlook along the beach.

Dining

The Pointe Restaurant stands at the tip of the point, a round room raised on the rocks with glass on almost every side, so that at high tide the waves break beneath the tables. The kitchen cooks with what the coast supplies: Dungeness crab, spot prawns, halibut and wild salmon from the waters offshore, with mushrooms and greens gathered in the forest behind the beach. A long wine list leans towards British Columbia.

Wellness

The Ancient Cedars Spa takes its name from the old-growth forest that grows down to the high-tide line around the inn. It offers massages, wraps and facials, and it is where most guests end a wet morning on the beach.

Weddings and events

Ceremonies take place on Chesterman Beach, on the rocks of the point or indoors when the weather turns. The inn's scale suits small weddings, elopements and private gatherings rather than conferences, and receptions and dinners are held within the inn.

Location

Tofino sits at the end of Highway 4, a winding drive of around three hours across the island from the ferry terminals at Nanaimo. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and Long Beach begin a few kilometres south. Clayoquot Sound, named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000, opens to the north, with hot springs, old-growth islands and Nuu-chah-nulth villages reached by boat. Tofino/Long Beach Airport, with scheduled flights from Vancouver, is about 15 minutes away by car, and floatplanes land in the harbour. Grey whales pass offshore each spring on their migration north, and surfers use Chesterman Beach all year. For a luxury hotel in Tofino, it is unusually exposed, and that is the whole point of it.