Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Long Beach Unit: The One With A Road

The Long Beach Unit sits on the highway between Tofino and Ucluelet and is the only one of the three you reach by car, which is why Parks Canada built the road corridor's infrastructure, the fee stations, the campground and the interpretive centre, here rather than at the other two units. It holds Long Beach itself, Wickaninnish Beach, the Kwisitis Visitor Centre, Green Point Campground and every named trail on this page. Every fact below refers to this unit unless stated otherwise, because it is the only one relevant to a Tofino-based trip without a boat or a multi-day backcountry permit.

Broken Group Islands: A Boat-Only Archipelago

The Broken Group Islands sit in Barkley Sound, reached only by boat, and Parks Canada frames them as a day or overnight paddling and boating destination among sheltered bays and shell beaches. There is no road, no drive-in parking lot and no day-pass kiosk here in the sense the Long Beach Unit has one. A trip out is a separate undertaking, not something to add onto a Long Beach afternoon.

West Coast Trail: A Backcountry Booking, Not A Day Trip

The West Coast Trail runs between Bamfield and Port Renfrew as a multi-day backcountry hiking route, established as its own reservation-and-permit system because the route demands overnight self-sufficiency, tide-table planning and cable-car river crossings a day visitor never encounters. It has no road access from Tofino and no connection to a Tofino day trip, and nothing on this site's pages assumes you are hiking it. If that is your plan, Parks Canada's own trail page, not this guide, is the source to book and prepare from.

An adult day pass is US$8.69 (C$12.25), a senior day pass US$7.63 (C$10.75), and anyone 17 or under is free on an adult's pass. A family or group of up to 7 arriving in one vehicle pays US$17.39 (C$24.50) for the whole car. None of this is timed entry: the pass covers the calendar day, and Parks Canada states no purchase deadline or slot to book ahead of.

Every tier, and where the pass is actually paid, is broken out on the Pacific Rim park pass page.

Where The Pass Applies, And Where It Does Not

The pass covers the Long Beach Unit only, which means Long Beach, Wickaninnish Beach, the Kwisitis Visitor Centre and every trail on this page. It does not extend to the town beaches. Chesterman Beach, Mackenzie Beach and Tonquin Beach sit outside the park boundary entirely and are free, no pass needed. Cox Bay, the main surf beach, is also outside the park. Reading a map before you drive out saves a needless purchase.

Rainforest Trail A and B

Two separate 1 km boardwalk loops on opposite sides of the highway, built because this is the fastest way for a road visitor to stand inside genuine old-growth sitka spruce and cedar without a long approach hike. Trail A has fewer stairs, Trail B more elevation change, and both run over moss-covered nurse logs feeding new growth into the canopy. It is the park's shortest introduction to the forest, and the one most visitors walk first, often on the way to or from Long Beach itself.

Full detail, including which loop suits which visitor, is on the Rainforest Trail page.

Nuu-chah-nulth Trail

A 2.5 km one-way trail (5 km return) on a mix of boardwalk, packed soil, gravel and asphalt, built as the park's longer forest option for visitors who want more distance than a short boardwalk loop gives. It runs rougher and less manicured underfoot than the Rainforest loops, closer to a genuine forest walk than a paved stroll, and it rewards comfortable closed-toe shoes over sandals. Because it takes roughly twice as long as either Rainforest loop, it suits a visitor building a half-day around the forest rather than fitting a trail between beach stops.

South Beach, Shorepine Bog And Radar Hill

South Beach Trail runs 800 m one way from the Kwisitis Visitor Centre area, on asphalt, gravel and boardwalk, down to a rocky beach with a different character from the open sand further north, worth the short walk if the visitor centre is already on the plan. Shorepine Bog Trail is an 800 m boardwalk loop with bumpers and narrow board gaps, through a stunted bog forest that looks nothing like the tall cedar stands elsewhere in the unit, a habitat contrast in under twenty minutes. Radar Hill Trail climbs 500 m one way on a steep paved path to observation decks with ramp access, the one trail here built for a view over the forest canopy rather than a walk through it.

Combers Beach, Halfmoon Bay And Willowbrae

Three separate trails reach three separate stretches of shoreline, each built as a beach-access route rather than a destination in itself. Combers Beach Trail is 500 m one way, gravel then boardwalk with board gaps of about 2.5 cm, dropping onto Long Beach's quieter northern end. Willowbrae Trail is a 1.4 km gravel path, and it connects into the Halfmoon Bay Trail, 1.8 km one way including Willowbrae, on boardwalk with numerous steps and long staircases down to Florencia Bay, a rockier, more sheltered beach than the open sand further north.

Together they cover the widest spread of shoreline character in the park, from broad open sand to a sheltered cove reached by stairs.

ʔapsčiik t̓ašii

The paved multi-use path through the park, 25 km one way (50 km there and back), 3.2 m wide with 1 m shoulders, paved along its entire length and wheelchair and stroller accessible. It is the only trail on this list built for cycling as much as walking, and it is the trail that actually leaves the park to connect Tofino and Ucluelet. The full pathway, plus how it links to town, is on Tofino hikes.

Three separate visitor centres serve this stretch of coast, and confusing them wastes a stop. Kwisitis Visitor Centre sits inside the park at Wickaninnish Beach and is run by Parks Canada; it is open daily 9:30 to 16:30 from 1 September through 12 October 2026, closed 16 to 25 September 2026 for a cultural observance that shuts the centre, its parking lot and certain beach areas. Its winter hours are not yet published, so check before a cold-season trip.

The Pacific Rim Visitor Centre, at 2791 Pacific Rim Highway near Ucluelet and run by Tourism Ucluelet, keeps a separate schedule from Kwisitis. The Tofino Visitor Centre, in town at 1426 Pacific Rim Highway and run by Tourism Tofino, is the one to use for town-specific questions rather than park exhibits. If exhibits on the park's natural and human history are the goal, Kwisitis is the one to plan around.

Black bears, wolves and cougars are all present in the park, and Parks Canada's own hiking page refers visitors to its general wildlife safety guidance rather than printing specific encounter numbers, so this site prints none either. Standard practice applies: hike in a group where you can, make noise on blind corners, and never approach or feed an animal. On the water side, no beach in the park, and none in Tofino, has had lifeguards or Surf Guards since 2012, when federal funding for the service ended.

Parks Canada's own current guidance is that every beach here is unsupervised, so treat rip currents and cold water as a given rather than an exception. The fuller safety picture, including what to do if conditions turn, is on Tofino safety.

The Long Beach Unit works best as a road-side morning or afternoon, paired with a boat trip on the other half of the day rather than stacked against it, since boats run on the tide and fill first. A workable order: drive out early, walk one Rainforest Trail loop while the forest is quiet, spend the middle of the day on Long Beach itself, then stop at Kwisitis Visitor Centre before it closes at 16:30. If the weather turns, the visitor centre and the forest trails both work better wet than the open beach does.

For the fuller version of this day, hour by hour, see Tofino in 1 day, and for the wider choice of what else fills a Tofino trip, things to do in Tofino, starting from the Tofino homepage.