West Coast Heaven

Few atmospheres provide restorative calm quite like an oceanfront hideaway amid 600 acres of 1,000-year-old-growth forest.

Located in an ancient village site about a kilometre off of Uculet town centre, Wya Point Resort is comprised of a collection of campsites, yurts and nine LEED-standard sustainable luxury red cedar lodges on raised columns similar to the stilts local Yuu-tluth-aht homes were built on 50 years ago, in order to minimally impact the rainforest floor (a full hotel expansion is to come). After an easy ferry voyage and a three-hour drive, we found ourselves before a row of generous and gorgeous lodges with traditional house posts carved by resident artist Clifford George (we had "Otter"). The view from them is a spectacle: that West Coast euphoria-scape of infinite horizon and ocean below, with the few rocky islands in the shallow, clear waters off your private beach colonized by conifers that silhouette darkly against rosy apricot sunsets. You can rustle down a path in the salal to build your own bonfire or watch the light change from your cedar patio before retiring to sink deeply into the downy white duvets upstairs in the lofted bedroom (one morning we awoke to rain on the copper roof and the sound of crashing waves).

Escape to this perfect slice of West Coast heaven. —Adrienne Matei

Wya Point Resort, 2695 Tofino Ucluelet Hwy., Ucluelet, 250-726-2625, www.wyapoint.com