Luxury Suites Amid Lush Pacific Rim Scenery

The Pacific Rim puts on a show during storm season: 30-foot waves batter the coastline, exploding against craggy bluffs like fireworks. The phenomenon draws an increasing number of spectators every year, who watch from the area’s natural vantage points. Nearby, on the peninsula’s western coast, Water’s Edge Resort at Pacific Rim looks onto the calmer waters of the Ucluelet Inlet. This picturesque cove, surrounded by clusters of dense conifers, appears in the near distance as one sidles up beside a roaring fireplace or sits neck-deep in a jetted soaking tub—standard features in the hotel’s luxury suites.

Furnished in a contemporary West Coast style, the luxury one-bedroom suites boast neutral wooden furniture, golden lamplight, and sparsely decorated white walls, serving to highlight the natural beauty that appears outside the tall windows. Guests can spend evenings spotting seals, sea lions, otters, and herons in the cove while sipping a glass of wine in the jetted tub on the private patio. Fully appointed kitchens enable romantic homemade dinners or apologetic microwaved burritos. To further indulge in the tranquil atmosphere, an onsite Aveda Concept spa administers soothing massages, and the hotel lends out complimentary kayaks, surfboards, and bikes, when weather permits such activity.

The Pacific Rim: Unblemished Natural Bounty

Every spring, like clockwork, upwards of 20,000 gray whales announce their presence on the Pacific coastline with trumpeting breaths and majestic breaches of the surface. These mottled mammals—which weigh up to 40 tons and can measure the length of a school bus—have inspired the Pacific Rim Whale Festival, a celebration of migration that welcomes the whales as they make their way to Alaska’s Bering Strait after wintering in Baja California, Mexico.

Long Beach, the West Coast Trail, and the Broken Group Islands collectively form the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, a temperate rainforest made verdant with old-growth spruce, red cedar, and hemlock. Stretches of deserted coastline become a playground for summer surfers, and miles of elevated hiking trails pass through rainforest and mossy natural bogs. If visitors feel daring, they can reach any of the hundreds of secluded forested isles scattered just offshore, which are accessible by hopping on a kayak or pole vaulting across lily pads with a pool cue.