Just 20 minutes by BC Ferry from the new Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in West Vancouver lies Bowen Island.
Snug Cove, Bowen Island's ferry terminal and village, is a great place to sightsee, browse or eat. Bowen Island's excellent restaurants include The Breakfast Café, the Tuscany Cafe, Blue Eyed Mary's and Doc Morgan's Inn.
The easiest way to visit Bowen Island is to do our Snug Cove Fly and Dine. This great tour includes a floatplane flight from downtown Vancouver to Snug Cove on Bowen Island, dinner at Doc Morgan's, the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay and a limousine from Horseshoe back to downtown Vancouver.
Bowen Island makes a great daylong getaway if you're visiting Vancouver. You get a chance to ride the ferry and a chance to experience island life first hand. And you can take the ferry, if you leave your car behind, for $8 per person return (round trip). For fun, beauty and bargains, it's a hard trip to beat.
Ferries go to/from Bowen Island nearly every hour between 6:10am and 9:35pm with a gap around noon. You can get more information about Bowen Island ferries from the BC Ferries website.
Although Bowen is small, about 20 square miles, it has 23 miles of coast line and is home to a surprising variety of wildlife, including eagles, grouse, herons, cormorants, mink and deer. It's human population numbers just over 2500.
A short walk from the ferry terminal is Crippen Regional Park and Killarney Lake. The trail around Killarney Lake takes about 45 minutes, and the terrain is neither steep nor especially rugged. Killarney Lake is a good place to picnic. If you'd rather swim, Bowen Island has excellent beaches and warm water during the summer.
Right in Snug Cove you'll find Bowen Island Kayaking where you can rent kayaks, rent bikes or rent a hiking guide. You can also sign up for kayak lessons, tours, including sunset and full moon tours, bike tours and special summer kayak camps for kids 8-12. See the Bowen Island Kayaking website for more information.
Bowen Island is home to many artists, some of whom display their work at Artisan Square. You can also see the work of many local potters at Vonigo Pottery Shop right in Snug Cove.
There are no campgrounds and no RV facilities on Bowen; however, there are a number of excellent Bed and Breakfasts including:
The Log House By The Sea
Twiggleberries Bed and Breakfast
The Lodge at the Old Dorm
Union Steamship Cottages
Bay Breeze Bed and Breakfast