Where flavour meets forest.

Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park is the main campground on Galiano Island, with drive-in and walk-in tent sites above a white shell beach, plus mooring buoys and a dock for boaters. Sites book through BC Parks and fill on summer weekends, so reserve early or aim for May, June or September. Dionisio Point Provincial Park at the island’s north tip has walk-in sites reachable only by boat or kayak.

Galiano Island has a small restaurant scene for a population of about 1,400. Near the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, Atrevida at the Galiano Oceanfront Inn serves West Coast fare and Oxeye Cafe builds its menu around local food. Crane and Robin sits on the water at Montague Harbour, Lola’s serves Filipino-inspired West Coast dishes and the Valley Grill does casual pub food on the lawn. Most restaurants reduce hours from November to March and several close midweek in winter, so check ahead.

Galiano is the closest Southern Gulf Island to Vancouver. BC Ferries sails from Tsawwassen to Sturdies Bay in about 45 minutes on direct sailings, and from Swartz Bay near Victoria in one to two hours depending on stops at other islands. Reservations are strongly recommended on the Tsawwassen route. Seair Seaplanes flies from Vancouver International Airport to Montague Harbour. Boaters can moor at Montague Harbour Marina or the provincial park dock.

Galiano Island has a waterfront inn and spa at Sturdies Bay, log cabins at Bodega Ridge, cottages and bed and breakfasts scattered along the island, and licensed vacation rentals. Campers have Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park. Accommodation is limited, so book well ahead for July and August or visit in spring and fall when rooms are easier to find and rates are lower.

No. Galiano Island has no bears. Watch instead for black-tailed deer, river otters, bald eagles and harbour seals, with orcas and humpbacks passing through Active Pass and Trincomali Channel. From October through spring, hundreds of Steller and California sea lions migrate into the area and haul out on the rocks around Porlier Pass at the island’s north end, where you can hear them barking from shore.

Hike the ridgeline trail at Bodega Ridge Provincial Park for views across Trincomali Channel, climb Mount Galiano to 341 metres, or walk the bluffs above Active Pass in Bluffs Park to watch ferries and whales. Montague Harbour has a white shell beach and west-facing sunsets, and kayakers can paddle from there to Wallace Island or along the sandstone galleries at Retreat Cove. Visit the Saturday market at Lions Park in summer, browse Galiano Island Books at Sturdies Bay.

Galiano Island is in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada, in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland. It is the northernmost of the five main Southern Gulf Islands and the closest to Vancouver, with Active Pass separating it from Mayne Island to the south and Trincomali Channel from Salt Spring to the west.

Galiano Island is about 27 kilometres long and rarely more than two kilometres wide, covering roughly 58 square kilometres. Driving from Sturdies Bay at the south end to Dionisio Point at the north takes about 45 minutes, though the final stretch is gravel and the park itself is boat access only.