Black Rock Oceanfront Resort

Location

The Black Rock Oceanfront Resort sits looking out to sea beside the small town of Ucluelet (you-KLEW-let, meaning “safe harbour”), located on a peninsula on the outer west coast of Vancouver Island, at one end of the Long Beach section of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Its spectacular oceanside location lies 4 hours’ drive from Victoria, 30 minutes from the local airport at Torino/Ucluelet, and 2.5 hours from where the mainland ferries sail out of Vancouver dock at Nanaimo.

Accommodation

Designed in sympathy with the surrounding landscape, the hotel’s architecture – of rock, water, glass, steel, and wood – contains 133 guest suites of varying size and specification. All suites feature wall-to-ceiling windows with coastal Pacific views, balconies with outdoor seating, gas fireplaces, bathrooms with heated slate tile flooring and deep soaker tubs, plus kitchens or kitchenettes with refrigerator and microwave. The Resort is perfect for a tranquil romantic getaway, but its larger suites can sleep up to six people and include fully-equipped kitchen and a super-sized furnished balcony running the length of the suite.

Dining

The suites at the Resort are well prepared for in-room dining but Black Rock also provides two excellent restaurants. Fetch restaurant, with its outdoor summer patio overlooking the active surge channel below and the Wild Pacific Trail, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every seat in the restaurant commands a view of the rocky headlands and ocean, and its seasonally adjusted menus and fresh sustainable ingredients make it the perfect West Coast dining experience. The Float Lounge, meanwhile, offers a laidback atmosphere, extensive drinks menu, and a choice of lighter meals served between 3pm and 9pm.

Facilities

Black Rock’s location is the ideal base for a range of outdoor excursions: whale watching, fishing, surfing, storm watching, kayaking, beachcombing, or walking the Wild Pacific Trail along the rugged cliffs and surf-battered shoreline of Vancouver Island’s west coast. For guests in search of something more sedate, the Drift Spa back at the hotel – listed multiple times in Spas of America’s annual Top 100 – offers a range of treatments and customised therapeutic packages. There are also two outdoor hot tubs with signature Black Rock views, a seasonal plunge pool, and a 24-hour fitness centre.