Sooke
The pleasant harbourside village of Sooke on southern Vancouver Island provides a tranquil refuge from the bustle of city life. Sooke enjoys a relaxed, casual lifestyle in a rural setting that also affords many of the amenities of city life.
For centuries, this area was a thriving Coast Salish settlement. The T'sou-ke peoples lived alongside a salmon river and within a sheltered harbor, an area where seafood was in abundance along the seashore, and game, roots and berries were harvested in the forests.
The name T'sou-ke is said to be that of a stickle back fish found at the mouth of the Sooke River. The T'sou-ke First nation proudly created a valuable and lasting legacy that continues to enrich the community to this day.
Sooke enjoys some of the mildest climate in western Canada, with warm and dry summer months, and wet and mild winter months. Sooke's unspoiled beaches, meandering rainforest trails and breathtaking vistas of Washington State's Olympic Mountains attract visitors from around the world, eager to catch a glimpse of Vancouver Island's rugged west coast.
In comparison with the convoluted coastline on the south side of Vancouver Island, the southwestern side to the west of Sooke is positively razor-edged. So few are the protuberances that it even has a phantom point - Point No Point - that can be seen from certain angles but not others. In a series of indentations, the shoreline gradually sweeps east from Point No Point to Juan de Fuca Point - the real thing - which makes a bolder impression.
Location: Sooke is located 28 miles (45 km) west of Victoria on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, a 40-minute drive along the scenic West Coast Highway 14.
