The Wickaninnish Inn rests on an outcrop between the Pacific Ocean and a forest of giant evergreens on Canada's Vancouver Island.
Nancy Novogrod, former Editor in Chief of Travel + Leisure, shares her thoughts on merging with nature at the “Wick” in Canada.
IT IS HARD TO CALL OUT A SINGLE ELEMENT of the Wickaninnish that I loved more than others, except maybe the setting, for which all other elements serve as a supporting cast.
“It is a place that is at once fiercely local and relaxed.”
The views are inescapable—you really couldn’t turn your head away even if you wanted to do so. Giant windows everywhere frame the always-changing scene along Chesterman Beach: tides engulfing the huge expanse of sand then disappearing, waves crashing with loud explosions and then gently lapping at the shore, surfers pulling on wet suits, couples and families out for a wind-lashing walk.
THE WICK IS A PLACE FOR MERGING WITH NATURE, for venturing outside and returning for shelter in hugely inviting sofas, comfortable wood-paneled spaces with stone-rimmed fireplaces.
It is a place that is at once fiercely local and relaxed, with a friendly and embracing staff, and at the same time peerlessly sophisticated, with sublime culinary offerings based on local specialties and state-of-the-art pampering in the spa. Yet the Wick is entirely without pretention—and this is one more reason why I love it.
