My husband and I traveled to Vancouver Island for two weeks, staying in three separate Airbnbs in three different cities. “The Tides” ( this house) was by far our favorite.
If we could give it more than 5 stars, we would.
1. As soon as you open your car doors, you are greeted by the soundtrack of ocean waves crashing down below the cliffside from the Juan de Fuca Strait while the gentle breeze beckons you to breathe in the salt air.
2. As you enter the house, you walk into a quite expansive open layout that includes a gorgeous kitchen filled with all stainless steel top of the line kitchen appliances as well as the living and dining areas. Although the interior design is more modern and minimalistic, the decor makes it feel incredibly warm and cozy. At the center of this space is a beautiful wood burning fireplace that hosted nightly jam sessions between my husband, myself and our friend either playing guitars or listening to music on their incredible soundsystem which you will need to download the SONOS app for. It’s free and easy. It was a perfect way to wind down every night before heading to bed.
3. The master bedroom is incredibly roomy with more than enough closet space to unpack your clothes so you can actually see what you brought. If you are like me, I like to see and layout what I packed. I really appreciated that space along with the floor length mirrors that two of the closet doors provided. The master bath has a massive shower with a huge rainfall shower head. All of the floors are heated which came in handy since it was still quite chilly in the am/pm in mid May.
4. Directly outside the master bed, was one of my favorite features, which was a covered patio that includes a fire table and a comfortable patio set equipped with cozy fleece blankets for those chilly nights.
5. The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, with the beds all providing their own entry/ exit sliding doors to the backyard. A lovely bonus to the property
is an elevated hot tub that provides a panoramic view of snow capped mountains off in the distance. Even though, the temps were in the low to mid 50s, I still got quite a bit of sun, but I didn’t mind a little pink at the end of the day.
6. Although we were told that black bears and cougars lived in the area, we never saw any. However, we spotted mink, bald eagles, rabbits, deer and Aletta’s two furbabies ( Walter and Hank) who came to visit us for a few minutes daily.
7. I can’t say enough about this property. I remember that after a 4 night stay in Tofino where the house was nice but the view was poor, my husband announced with his arms wide open that “we had finally arrived to our vacation. “ It made me giggle but I couldn’t have agreed more. It was so true. Aletta was by far the best Airbnb host we ever had. Extremely kind and courteous… and always willing to answer any questions we had during our stay. She also offered to pick up things in town which we politely declined since we already had everything we needed, but it was just another example of her generosity and hospitality. Both my husband and I agreed that we will stay again.
A few extras: Last stop for groceries is about 30 minutes away in Sooke. However, the kitchen is stocked with a large collection of spices, herbs and oils to cook and bake with just in case you forget an ingredient ( which we did and they had it!)
- Victoria, B.C. is a 90 minute drive but has many shops and restaurants. Well worth the drive.
- Sooke has a few restaurants including the Wild Mountain Cafe that serves fresh farm to table cuisine.
- Stoked Pizza is a 10-15 minute drive and was delicious!
- China Beach is less than a 5 minute drive with a 15 minute low impact hike to the beach to gorgeous views.
- Sombrio Beach is about a 15 minute drive.
- Several great hiking trails to explore nearby!
The house is extremely private and offers peace and solitude. I got some of the best sleep that I have gotten in years.
Thank you again Aletta!