Sooke, BC on Vancouver Island.. Ten (Plus) Really Great Reasons to Visit!!
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I Googled Sooke when we were moving to the Island, but nothing online could have prepared me for what I found
Here Fishy Fishy :) In honour of the season, Fish in Sooke are taking priority over everything else!!
Grab a boat and a rod, and go get yourself some dinner!
- Mark Grant's Salmon Charters
- Experience that counts for the trophy salmon! Mark is also President of the Sooke Charter Boat Association.
- T and T Fishing Charters
- These are the guys with a true passion for seeing fish comin' in their boat! Terry, also Treasurer of the Sooke Charter Boat Association believes you have to "Make your people happy!"
- Sooke Charter Boat Association
- Superb Salmon and ground fishing year round.
- Sooke's very own Coast Guard Auxilary
- Be safe on the water!!
With so much water around us and such an abundance of activity on it, please be sure you are safe on the water....do a safety checklist before you leave the docks and make sure these fine volunteers of CCGA37 don't have to leave their families to tow your sorry butt home!! - Reel Excitement Fishing Charters
- Everything Supplied...Year Round Fishing!
- 2 Reel Fishing Adventures
- Catch a Reel Adventure!
#1...The Fish...well, the catching of the Fish :)
Yep, after your Whale Watching Tour, make a reservation to go Fishing!!
Fishing Charter Services are abundant in Sooke, and our local paper teems with pictures of Big Fish all season long! Great New Stuff in Sooke
The little town that could is growing....
Sooke ROCKS!!
- West Coast Outdoor
- Hobie Kayak and Bike Rentals located at the ever popular Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina
- Farmer's Daughter
- Bringing locally grown and organic food to Sooke, BC
- EdGe Restaurant
- Welcome to the EdGe Restaurant! We serve creatively prepared, delicious uncomplicated and affordable food all can enjoy
- The NEW Mariner's Village
- The waterfront in Sooke is getting yet another enhancement with the advent of the new Mariner's Village.
- Scuba Stu's Underwater Adventures
- Just another amazing thing to round out adventure travel in Sooke!
- Addiction Salon
- Pedicures with a view in the comfort of a big cosy massage chair! And many other services...check out their website :)
#2 ...Beautiful Places To Stay in Sooke!!
Explore the splendour of Sooke while staying at one of our amazing Bed and Breakfast style accomodations.
Instead, you'll find award winning inns, quaint and historic bed and breakfasts and seaside escapes, with mobile spa services and serene settings with owners focused on providing you with most memorable stay possible.
Ocean Wilderness Inn
Places to Stay while Visiting Sooke
You are going to have a hard time picking just one!!
- Sooke Bed and Breakfast Guide
- Good lucking picking your accomodations from this list of amazing properties...best to come out many times :)
- Amazing Vacation Homes
- Prefer family sized accomodations?
- Ocean Wilderness Inn
- Ocean Wilderness Inn is a serene and comfortable retreat located on the shore of the Juan de Fuca strait looking across the water to the Olympic Mountains. Old-growth trees surround and embrace our soul-healing gardens. The seven room Inn is a beguiling mix of elegant and rustic. Coffee is served on silver trays in a vintage log cabin dining room. High speed wireless internet. No TV.
Our location, between Sooke and Jordan River, on the Muir Creek beach, encourages as much activity (hiking, birding, fishing, biking, kayaking, golfing etc.) or stillness (nap, soak in the hot tub, read, sip tea, count waves etc.) as you wish. We are a great base camp for hiking the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. And a restorative before and after stay when tackling the West Coast Trail.
Lori & Andy
Ocean Wilderness Inn
9171 West Coast Road
Sooke BC V9Z 1G3
(250) 646-2116 - Sooke Harbour House
- The Best Country Inn on planet as selected by Moi :) And a host of others apparently...
"We were rated 3rd best hotel in Canada in Conde Nast's readers' poll this month and in the November, December issue of EAT Magazine in Victoria, we received the first Green Star Guide Award as local food and drink heroes and for our high environmental standards. "
Sinclair Philip
Grand Award, One of the World's 73 Best Wine Lists, Wine Spectator, August 2008
Best Vancouver Island Restaurant, Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards, April 14th 2008
One of Canada's Top Five Hotels, Travel and Leisure Magazine, January 2008
Ranked number eight 'World's Best Service', Travel and Leisure Magazine, Reader's Poll, June 2007
Second Best Hotel in the Continental US and Canada, Eighth Best Small Hotel in the World, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Readers' Poll, January 2007
Corporate Environmental Award: Leader in Environmentally Responsible Tourism, Tourism Victoria, 2004
Best Small Inn in North America, Readers poll and editors of Mountain Living Magazine, January 2007
Audubon International Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program, Four Green Leaf Hotel, the highest eco-rating in British Columbia, 2004 - Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina
- Be prepared to have your holiday expectations blown right out of the water with your stay at the Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina!!
The Raven's Nest Room at Sooke Harbour House
#2.5...ZipLining!! (Sneaky Huh!!)
TeeHee....had to sneak this in here, because they are really amazing!!
These guys really have their fingers on the pulse of action adventrue in Sooke, and have some fun stuff up their sleeves for later in the summer.
Do pay them a visit!!
And here's where you find them online...
AdrenaLine in Sooke
- Adrenaline ZipLine Adventures
- Adrena Line is now open for 2009 season operating weekends only until April 30. We will be open daily starting May 1st.
If you wish to book your tour now, call us at 250.642.1933 or, toll free 1.866.947.9145, Monday to Friday. We will gladly book your reservation for our upcoming season.
Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina
# 3...The Splendiferous Restaurants
Sooke should actually be made a culinary destination with all the fine food it has to offer!
You would actually need to stay for a couple of weeks to hit all of our great restaurants!!
Try every single one of these...
The Castle Cafe...for excellent home cooked Breakfast!6309 Sooke Road
250-642-6156
Homers Most Excellent Take Out for the best Hot Dogs and more...
6250 Sooke Road
250-642-7456
Forbidden Pleasures Cafe, for the beautiful garden, friendly service and amazing wraps and halibut burgers!
7875 West Coast Road in the Kemp Lake Store
250-642-1310..be sure to call for hours.
Mulligans Bar and Grill...Family Dining, for huge servings of everything and great pasta!!
2197 Otter Point Road
250-642-2334
There are a lot of Google Searches for Homers Menu!!
Here are the highlights:
All kinds of crazy flavours of milk shakes: $3.50 to $4.95
Awesome Shopsys Hot Dogs w/ Fries:
Hot dog...$4.50; Cheese Dog...$5.25; Bacon Cheesedog...$6.00
12" four tortilla wraps: $7.50...Curried Chicken; Thai Chicken; Homers Club; Taco Beef; Chicken Club; Chicken Caesar: Buffalo Chicken; Turkey BLT
Homemade Burgers...5 oz., pure lean ground beef!
Basic...$5.25; Mozza $ shroom...$6.50; Veggie...$5.75; Bacon & Cheese...$6.50; Crispy Chicken...$7.25; Hawaiian...$6.75; Tex Mex...$6.75...Connies fresh grilled halibut burger...market price.
All kindsa fun sides, including Pot Hole Fries...with cheese, sauteed onions, mushrooms, real bacon bits and homemade gravy..$7.25
Kids menu is available.
And wait, there's more....
Chicken Fingers...$7.95 or skip the fries for $5.95
BBQ Beer Bottle Beefwich...$5.50
Halibut & Chips, 1,2, or 3 piece...market price
Home Cooked Beef Dip...$5.95
Burritos!!
Milnes Landing Bean Burrito...$6.50; Spicy Beef and Been Burrito...$7.25; Chicken and Bean Burrito...$7.25
PHEW...
Corner of Sooke River Road, beside Winks...250-642-7456
The Dining Room at Sooke Harbour House
Restaurants with Websites...
View information on some of our fine dining options, although this list is not exhaustive.
- The Stone Pipe Grill
- Best sweet potatoe fries on the Island!!!
- Marcus' Wharfside Restaurant
- The view alone is worth making a reservation for!
- Sooke Harbour House Restaurant
- A beautiful dining experience that everyone should be lucky enough to have at least once in their lives.
- Sushi On The Sea
- From sushi making classes to weekend dining aboard an 80' vessel moored at their docks, Sushi On Th Sea is a Sooke experience not to be missed!
- Otter Point Restaurant Tea Room and Gift Shop
- Something for everyone here!!
250-642-1825 - Mom's Cafe
- When nothing but comfort food will do, head to Mom's..it's perfect!!
2036 Shields Road
250-642-3314
The view from the deck at Fuse...could it get any better?
The fine things you'll find in Sooke!
From World Class Accomodations and Dining to unparalled outdoor adventure activities, Sooke needs to be added to your Itinerary.
Change your vacation plans and spend at least two days exploring all that Sooke has to offer, it will be time well spent, and, you will be back!
Interesting information from Wikipedia...
Sooke is an incorporated district municipality situated on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada.
About a 45 minute drive from the city of Victoria (the capital of British Columbia), Sooke is considered the westernmost of the Capital Regional District's "Western Communities." It is situated to the north and west of the Sooke Basin, an ocean inlet often mistaken for a lake by first-time visitors.
The District of Sooke's political boundary contains the entire basin up to the high tide mark even though Sooke only encompasses about 1/2 of the directly adjacent shore. East Sooke is the unincorporated area to the south of Sooke which encompases the remaining uplands of the basin and is a peninsula of land that separating Sooke Basin from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Recent changes have led to some privately owned properties in East Sooke legally joining Sooke against the desires of the majority of East Sooke residents (according to the prior referendum on whether or not all of East Sooke should join Sooke).
The population of Sooke is roughly 9,700. The town core straddles the Sooke Road for about one kilometer. Off the highway, Sooke is a mix of growing residential subdivisions, small hobby farms, larger working farms, light industry, and wilderness.
Sooke is proud of its past as a logging and fishing community, and All Sooke Days has been a popular annual event featuring lumberjack sports and competitions. Logging is still an important activity in the areas north and west of Sooke, and a small fishing fleet is still operated out of the Harbour. Many residents, however, are active in the local hospitality industry, or are commuters to jobs in the Victoria area. As such, Sooke has largely become a suburb of Victoria.
Sooke's popularity as a scenic tourist destination has existed for generations. Famous destinations in Sooke, such as the Sooke Harbour House, Whiffin Spit Park, and the Sooke Potholes Regional Park and adjacent Sooke Potholes Provincial Park attract visitors both locally and from around the world. The area's popularity has increased as a base for visiting the wilderness parks of Vancouver Island's southwest coast - the West Coast Trail and the new Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.
Mountain biking is growing in popularity in British Columbia, and Sooke is establishing itself as a destination for the sport. Local advocacy groups are working to have areas such as Broom Hill set aside as parkland.
The Galloping Goose Regional Trail, part of the Trans-Canada Trail, runs through Sooke and is a popular cycling route to Victoria.
#4... The Whales!!
Take a Whale Watching Tour of a lifetime and be humbled forever.
Sooke is a premiere destination for Whale Watchers from all over the world and our outfitters offer a myriad of tour options to meet many needs. Daily Scheduled Trips May through October
In operation since 1991
- Sooke Coastal Explorations
- Floatation suites provided, reservations required.
The Direction is clear...head to Sooke!!
Sooke's Little Treasure: The Reading Room Bookstore and Cafe
And, their walls are generally home to the works of local artists for your viewing pleasure!
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by#5...The Bees,....and not just any old run of the mill Bees either!
Yes, The Bees, get thee to the Meadery!!
As a highlighted spot on the Vancouver Island Wine Tour, Tugwell Creek Meadery is an absolute must stop for all visiting wine lovers!
British Columbia's first Meadery
Learn about Mead and Food Pairings as well!
- Tugwell Creek Meadery
- Closed in January and hours change by season.
The View From East Sooke along the Aylard Farm Trail.
Pure heaven for the pooches :)
#6...The Sooke Region Museum
Explore the history of Sooke and surrounding area at the Sooke Regional Museum.
Never will you be so enchanted by a Regional Museum again, after your visit to the Sooke Regional Museum. And do ensure you plan a little extra time for shopping as their gift shop is extraordinary. Filled with local treasures and books on historical lore, dedicate at least an hour for the shop alone!"Through the centuries, nature has shaped the people and the history of the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Presentation of this fascinating story, where the rainforest meets the sea, is the mission of the Sooke Region Museum." From the museum's website...link below.
Just before you get into Sooke proper, do stop in and take a peek at our quaint museum.
- Sooke Regional Museum
- History and shopping...truly something for everyone!
Twitter Follow
#7...Whiffin Spit
This is the reason my husband and I decided to move to Sooke, and a place we visit almost daily.
Can you imagine anything more peaceful or serene?
Explore Vancouver Island's finest spit...yes there is more than one :)
- Tourism link to Whiffin Spit
- The pictures, although amazing, just do not to it justice!
Whiffin Spit..the best place to feel the impact of the ocean while gazing upon the stillness of the basin...incredible
Take a couple of great classics with you for bedtime reading!!
Don't even think of turning a TV on while you are here :)
Sooke Harbour House at Night
#8...The Pizza...Seriously!!!!
Separate from Restaurants as we don't have a dine in location, the Pizza deserves a category of its' own :)
Sooke 2 For 1 Pizza
Evergreen Mall
1200-6660 Sooke Road RR 1
Sooke, BC V0S 1N0
(250) 642-3312
PS....for all you Manitoba transplants, think Gondola Pizza, kicked up a notch and far far far less greasy :)
Check out their menu online!
- Sooke 2 For 1
- While you're planning your Sooke vacation, you might as well plan your Pizza!!
This guy ordered pizza while at the lights at Jacklin and Sooke Road
Not a stunt driver, not a closed course...
#9...The Spas!!
Send your husband fishing for another day, there is a Spa visit in your future!!!
Don't let the rain or another day of fishing put a damper on your vacation, just set up an appointment with one of our indulgent full service spas..can this place get any better??? - Le Sooke Spa
- 2915 Otter Point Road
250-642-7995
Mobile Services also available. - Pure Elements Spa
- 6689 Goodmere Road
250-642-6452
Typical Sooke Sunset....glorious and oh so powerful.
#10....The Amazing Parks
East Sooke Regional Park and Sooke Potholes to be more specific.
Between these two parks, you could probably spend an entire week here and not get bored. Great hiking trails and swimming spots abound in the Sooke area as we truly are a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts! 
Sooke Potholes from the path
Need a Guide ???
Check out some of these Vancouver Island Travel Books
More of East Sooke...the adventure is endless!
Share your Sooke Stories...
Or ask for vacation tips, I have a ton of them!!
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daybreak
Nov 26, 2010 @ 10:01 am | delete
- The photos are what makes me want to visit!
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WifeLA
Apr 28, 2009 @ 1:43 pm | delete
- And there you have it! Pizza in Sooke rocks, no matter where you get it from. We can consider ourselves a lucky little town for having two equally great places to order pizza from! Yay Sooke!![in reply to Discover Sooke]
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Discover Sooke
Apr 28, 2009 @ 11:22 am | in reply to WifeLA | delete
- I've had the pleasure in tasting the pizza from both places and I'll be 100% honest in saying this. I feel they are both EXCELLENT places to order pizza at. I used to work for Pizza Hut, 5 years worth and I've been "addicted" to pizza. Having eaten pizza in many cities and many different pizza parlours, I have to say Sooke is extremely lucky to have both these places.
I don't think you can really compare the two pizzas as they offer different things and I only order from each place depending on what mood I'm in or what I feel like eating.
I know, I know. I'm not giving a definitive answer, but I'm going to have to say both are equally as good.
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WifeLA
Apr 28, 2009 @ 9:40 am | delete
- HaHa, a little friendly competition?? When we first moved to Sooke, our Realtor suggested Sooke 2 for 1 was the best Pizza on the planet, so we checked it out, and, we had to agree, of course, saving Gondola in Manitoba Having tried them both, we can happily report that Sooke in general makes outstanding Pizza no matter where you order from, we just prefer 2 for 1 because Andy calls me Lovely Laura :) Thanks for taking the time to stop in for a visit, we appreciate your time and feedback!
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Local Dude
Apr 28, 2009 @ 1:29 am | delete
- I'm thinkin you got your pizza places confused? The other guys are the ones everybody knows to be the best in Sooke.
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You can't beat the view!
by WifeLA
LauraA and her husband moved to Sooke in the blustery winter of 2008. As winter turned to Spring and they started to explore their new environs, she... more »
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