HotelTonight – Nanaimo Hotels Are Available
The Canadian province of British Columbia is a sight to behold. In fact, if you want to see all of it, you'll need more than a vehicle. I had been all over BC as I traveled for work, and I feel like I had seen a lot of what there is to experience there on the mainland. I always looked forward to traveling to places like Vancouver, the Okanagan Valley and other locales because every one of them offered something unique. One place I had never been, however, was Vancouver Island. I would have gone over there, but you have to take a ferry to do so. On my last trip to Vancouver, the last day of meetings I had were canceled. Instead of spending the day in that beautiful city, I decided to go for it – I made my way to the ferry station and booked passage to Nanaimo, one of the port cities where you can land on Vancouver Island. I was finally going to see a place I had heard a lot about. I wasn't worried about finding a Nanaimo hotel room, either, as I was traveling with HotelTonight. I'd book a room when I was ready.
Downtown
The first place I wanted to explore after driving off the ferry was downtown Nanaimo. In reading about the city during the two-hour ride over, I learned that it was not a big city. There are only around 83,000 residents there. That said, when I got off the boat I was right next to downtown, so I parked and waked around a bit. Nanaimo is a lovely little seaside community with quaint shops, small businesses everywhere and friendly people out and about. Every time I asked a question, I got a genuine and friendly answer and a greeting.
The Farmer's Market
As long as I was downtown, I was going to be in the middle of quite a bit of activity. Since I was there on a Friday in the summer, it so happened that I was there for the summertime farmer's market. A farmer's market is a great way to get a feel for a community. This one was extremely large and varied. There was beautiful produce everywhere, but there were also rows of booths selling baked goods and still others selling homemade crafts. It was also noticeable how the people there all seemed to know each other. This is a true community.
The Cuisine
Since Nanaimo is a city located on water, and since it's a port city, I figured it would be a great place for seafood. Some people at the farmer's market told me about a floating restaurant that had earned a loyal following. I felt like some fish and chips, and this place specialized in them. The fish was local halibut, and it was so tasty it's hard to describe. The chips were very crispy and perfect as well, and the local beer I had with it was a perfect match.
HotelTonight – Nanaimo Hotels Near Me
After such a filling meal, I was ready for some sleep. I opened my HotelTonight app and booked a Nanaimo hotel room basically within a few swipes on the app. I couldn't wait to crash out, happy that I had finally seen this "other" part of British Columbia.
