Sunshine Coast BC weekend trip from Vancouver

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January is one of those months that always takes a little bit extra effort to get through. The weather is colder than December, there are no Christmas lights making the cold seem “festive”, instead it’s just cold. December had so much going on and now you’re at a loss for something to do. There are no holidays from work so each day is a little more dismal than the last. But wait, there’s an answer. Do what I did and book a cabin for a weekend. The Sunshine Coast BC is as magical as it sounds.

The last weekend in January Jeff and I went on a wonderful mini winter break from the big city. His birthday was at the end of December, but since it was only a few days after Christmas I wanted him to have something to look forward to in January. Plus I had to wait for the weekend that had no NFL playoff games otherwise I would be going alone. True story!

Picking a cabin near Vancouver

Given we just had a weekend and would want maximum relaxation time, I got to work researching through December on a place to stay. Weekend getaways from Vancouver often end up being to Whistler, Seattle or Victoria. But this time I wanted something different. Middle of nowhere, quiet place doing nothing. The good thing about Vancouver is that even in winter it’s a mild climate so snow and blizzards aren’t usually cause for concern. Vancouver is also right next to the ocean, so I thought a quiet cabin on an island somewhere would be good.

My main goal though was finding a cabin. Not an apartment, or a hotel, but a cabin. I was thinking warm and cozy, roaring fire and surrounded by books and blankets. Then I found our cabin. I knew I’d found the right one straight away. We were going to Sechelt, along the Sunshine Coast BC. Sechelt is the perfect weekend trip from Vancouver for two reasons. One: it’s close enough that it doesn’t take forever to get there; Two: it’s quiet and the complete opposite of Vancouver city life.

The weekend is finally here

Waiting for this weekend seemed like it took an eternity. I was so excited to check out the cabin, that’s I could barely contain myself on Friday. How I made it through January I have no idea, but I did. We’d booked the ferry from Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) to Langdale in advance. If it wasn’t for the fact we were leaving at 5:30 on a Friday I might have taken my chances and saved $20 on the reservation, but I didn’t want to be delayed since it would be dark already by then.

We left downtown Vancouver at 4:15pm and made it to the ferry terminal by 5 o’clock. Within 15 minutes we were boarding the ferry, driving on and parking the car. The ferry ride was only 40 minutes and it went pretty quickly. I usually like to go outside on the ferry but I’d just missed the sunset so stayed inside and read my book. Arriving into Gibsons on the other side we were getting closer to the Sunshine Coast BC. We drove about half an hour to Sechelt stopping at the grocery store just outside the town to pick up some essentials. We arrived at the cabin about 7pm, although not too easy to find the right place in the dark. The street lights were fairly non-existent and we were really out of the city now. But there stood our cabin, our weekend getaway.

Airbnb cabin on the Sunshine Coast BC

We booked our cabin on Airbnb. I haven’t used Airbnb too much, but I’ve really come around to it recently. This place was the perfect find. It checked all the boxes and I’ve already recommended it to people.

If you want to find a place for yourself use this link to sign up for Airbnb and receive a credit to your first stay equivalent to $45 CAD. If you’re also interested in finding out more about our cabin or booking it for yourself, this is the link to it. Read on for more pics and to hear what we thought.

Exploring our cabin hide-a-way

Our hosts had left the key in the unlocked door of the cabin for us. You can really tell we’re out of the city now right? We dropped our things in the living room and began to explore our accommodation for the next couple of nights.

The cabin was a modest size. Living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom (Queen bed). There was a balcony out back looking down into the trees and a water view (in theory, again remember it was dark already).

Chopping wood and discovering the decor

Inside the cabin we found a wood burning fireplace so thought we should get that going to warm the place up. Jeff was excited at the prospect of chopping wood for the fire so outside started using the axe to break down the logs into firewood. It was getting cold and dark but eventually there was enough to get started. After a few minutes the fireplace was blazing. Chopping wood and making fire would keep Jeff happy for the weekend.

I on the other hand was mesmerized by all the travel related decor in the cabin. I mean, it’s not like I have a travel blog or anything right? From the pictures on the wall of local maps and travel posters from around the world, to the antique looking globe in the living room, this place was perfect. I spent the first hour just looking at all the neat stuff our cabin had.

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Games games games

At the entrance to the cabin was probably one of the highlights of the cabin: a vintage Pac-Man machine. A little temperamental (it is old after all) I got it up and running and played a few games. The screen went off a couple times but nothing a little light pat Fonzie style doesn’t fix (don’t worry they told us to do that if this happens, I’m not just trashing the place). Full from all the dots, I turned off the machine and made my way to the living room to appreciate the now roaring fire.

The seating was comfortable including the big fluffy armchair that looked like something from Sesame Street. Jeff was happy to find a guitar on the wall that he could play, so sat strumming some tunes while I unpacked the travel chest being used as a coffee table. Filled with games and puzzles, I think I found our weekend entertainment (if Pacman and pyromania didn’t keep us occupied enough).

Calling all bibliophiles

Then there was the pièce de résistance to this magical island getaway, the main reason why I booked it when I saw this on Airbnb. It had a reading nook. For you non-book nerds out there this is basically a small enclave built into the cabin filled with pillows and blankets. A nice cozy place to relax and curl up with a good book.

I was so excited about trying this out, I even brought three books with me for the weekend. A bit overkill I admit, but you really never know what kind of mood you’ll be in for and need more than one book just in case. But that was for tomorrow. Right now it was getting pretty late. We played a couple games of cribbage, then went to bed.

What is there to do on the Sunshine Coast BC

We got up early after a soundless, relaxing sleep. I never thought I’d be able to sleep without the 2am screams from people rifling through bottles in the bin of our alley, or the urgent sirens from ambulances on their way tothe hospital across the street. But I was wrong. Although only a Queen sized bed (we’re spoiled at home and have a King) it was really comfortable and I had a great night’s sleep.

The morning light streamed in through the curtains and we were able to finally see the place in the daylight. I walked out onto the back patio and looked out at the ocean view and the beautiful morning in the middle of nowhere.

Breakfast and books

We cooked up a lovely breakfast in the open concept kitchen, sitting around the kitchen island to eat our eggs. The kitchen was pretty good too, it had all the essentials like coffee, spices, condiments. We brought some food with us though to eat while there in case we didn’t want to venture far.

After breakfast I finally got to use my reading nook. In my comfy, casual, I’m not impressing anyone today clothes, I curled up in the nook with about 5 blankets. I lay back into the sea of pillows and cushions and with some natural light from the window on either side, settled in to read my book. It was divine. Everyone should get one of these. I have never been more comfortable reading. The cabin had a stocked bookshelf so Jeff leafed through some books sitting on the couch. Before you say anything, I was willing to share the reading nook. We spent an hour sitting in silence reading, and enjoying the peace and quiet of cabin life.

A walk to the beach

We were told that the water was a short walk away from the cabin so wanted to check it out. We could see it from the balcony out back, but couldn’t find a way through the trees to get there. So we walked down the road and around the corner, winding down the hill to the water’s edge. The walk was only about 5 minutes or so and since we were pretty much the end of the line, there was no traffic to worry about.

There were a lot of nice houses and similar cabins we saw along the way. We even passed a hotel right at the water’s edge. Although January and a little chilly it wasn’t too cold. While the Sunshine Coast BC is not always sunny, it was a lovely January weekend for us. I was bundled up in my coat, gloves and hat and perfectly toasty warm. The water was so still with only a couple of ripples from passing boats. We could hear the sounds of the bald eagles circling the trees above, and the water was so clear you could see the hundreds of colors of the stones beneath the surface.

There were canoes there too, and our cabin even said guests could borrow theirs if they wanted. I wasn’t willing to get that close to the water in January.

We stayed down there taking photos and admiring the views for a while. Looking at all the ocean front property and wondering how viable it would be to just move here. Some of the houses were on tiny islands, accessible only by boat. Eventually we set off back up the hill to our cabin.

The town of Sechelt – Sunshine Coast BC

It had been a while since breakfast so we decided to go for a drive to the town of Sechelt about 10 minutes down the road. We parked up on one of the main streets of this tiny town, almost village. There was a small row of shops so we checked out a few stores.

We went into the thrift store and bought a couple of books (because I didn’t bring enough already). There was an outdoor clothing store with some great local t-shirts that I was tempted by. And down the street we found a lovely little olive oil shop with dozens of flavors of oils and vinegar. $60 lighter we left that store and went looking for food.

We found a small restaurant around the corner called Shift. They seemed to have a decent menu and I was getting hungry so it all looked good to me.

Jeff got the dry ribs and I got myself a nice comfort meal of grilled cheese on marble rye, with fries and a delicious homemade tomato soup.

For a small town on an island in January, there were still a good number of people in Sechelt. The restaurant was busy and the town had a few people in each of the stores too. I can only imagine how bustling it would be in the summer.

Hikes around Sechelt

If you’re coming to the middle of nowhere and staying in a cabin, chances are you’re pretty open to some outdoor activities. The Sunshine Coast BC is no different. The easiest to find in the area would be hiking. We had read about some quick and easy hikes between Sechelt and our cabin (technically outside of Sechelt at a place called Tuwanek). We stopped of along the way and parked the car at Hidden Grove. Consulting a map we found there were a series of trails of varying intensity.

We chose a relatively easy one, just looking for a little walk around the woods. The trails were lovely, shaded and surrounded by every color green you can imagine. It was incredible how much green there was and how serene.

Although not far from the road there were just no noises except the sound of the woods. I would love to go back and spend more time there in the warmer months, perhaps even do some of the hikes that have good viewpoints.

But we were happy with our little bit of exercise and looking forward to getting back to our little cabin. On the way back we stopped at another little beach area with some great views, and even more nice water-side houses. It sure would be nice to live in one of those.

Relaxing in our cabin in the woods

Our afternoon, or what was left of it, was spent really making the most of being in the middle of nowhere. We needed to make the cabin warm and cozy so Jeff had a good excuse to start chopping wood again. Now that he had a project for a little while I grabbed my book and retreated to the nook, swaddling myself in blanket upon blanket until I was just toasty enough to appreciate our surroundings. I must have spent a couple of hours there, while Jeff started the fire and played guitar, and read his own book.

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I started a jigsaw puzzle in the afternoon and spread myself out on the big table building my masterpiece. As the afternoon drew on we made dinner, warming up our homemade Thai curry to heat us inside as much as the fireplace heated us outside. We played some more board games and chatted about how much we didn’t want to go back to reality and were we crazy to think we could live in the woods too? I retreated back to my nook into the evening an read until bed, enveloped by blankets and the gentle haze of smoke from our fireplace. The embers of the fire crackling were the only noises I could hear. I have never felt more relaxed in accommodation that wasn’t my own. It was getting late. We went to bed for another sound sleep.

Back to Vancouver, and reality

The ferries going back to Vancouver are pretty regular even on a Sunday. The ferry ride is 40 minutes, and the boat just turns around again and heads back the other direction. Still, we hadn’t made a reservation and since we had to check out by 11am anyway, we just decided to pack up and get going. We had come for relaxation, and certainly got our fair share. But it was time to get back and check in on our animals at home.

We said our farewell to the cabin and to the Sunshine Coast BC, and drove half an hour to the ferry. We arrived in time for the 10:50 sailing. It was a lovely day, if not a little breezy, so I spent some time up on the top deck of the ferry. We arrived to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal at 11:30 and were home just after noon. All in all we were away less than 48 hours, but I felt recharged and ready to take on a new week. Our weekend was over but we vowed to return to Sechelt. If you want to read more about another getaway from Vancouver, check out this post for spending 24 hours in Victoria

Why everyone should have a winter break

I’ll admit I like traveling places so I can do fun things. But this time we literally went away to do nothing. The idea of sitting in a cabin with a book and fireplace is now something I will look forward to. It’s not often you get to chill out and enjoy each other’s company while truly relaxing. This was just the stress free weekend that I think we both needed. That’s the difference with a winter getaway. When you travel in the nice weather you feel like you’re wasting the day if you sit inside doing nothing That is not the case in the winter.

Plus how awesome was this cabin? I’m still pretty proud of myself for finding it. Travel themed for me, games and wood chopping for Jeff. I’d love to spend more time in the area, and now we know it’s easy to get there I’m sure we will. The good news is we don’t need vacation days to enjoy a weekend there. But we can stay longer if we want. Next time we’re planning to head a little further. Tofino, on Vancouver Island is an amazing getaway but a little too far for just a weekend. Read more about Tofino on YOLO Travel Experiences’ blog post here.

If you’ve enjoyed this post please use the social media buttons below to share or leave me a comment. Have you had any amazing cabins or accommodation you’ve just fallen in love with? What is your ideal winter getaway?