The Fine Art of Living expresses itself in a love of all things creative and a vibrant, diverse and growing arts community ensures that performing and fine arts have found a home here in Oceanside

Whether your passion is creating or appreciating that arts, you will discover that the area's cultural events calendar is full to bursting...

Visit an artist's studio and see the artistic process unfold before your eyes or attend a class and explore your own creative talents.

Chamber of Commerce office is a perfect example of why the town is often referred to as Vancouver Island's Garden village. 

From the overflowing municipal flower boxes and hanging baskets to community green spaces and residential gardens, Qualicum Beach is blooming and growing year round.

A frequent winner in Canada's communities in Bloom competition, Qualicum beach is also home to the renowned Milner Gardens & Woodland, and has its own heritage forest that provides a green sanctuary of 50 forested acres only minutes away from the downtown core

Our name says it all and certainly one of the key assets of the Oceanside Area is the beach itself.  Take a stroll along the scenic walk that overlooks the waves and sand; sit a while on a park bench; grab an ice cream cone or a coffee; stick your toes in the sand; fly a kite; or even build a sandcastle.

And our community promotes a healthy and active lifestyle with a wide array of local recreation activities including swimming, skating, fitness classes, curling, yoga, lawn bowling, and sports of all kinds played out on local fields. 

We even have an annual triathlon that is one of the best-attended events in town, with participants aged five to 75 (plus) giving it their all swimming, biking and running to the finish line while friends and family cheer them on!

Riding the rails from Victoria in the South Island to Courtenay, VIA Rail offers daily passenger train service along the Island corridor.  You can slow down and leave the driving to the engineer, while you marvel at spectacular views through mountains, forests and rural farmland areas.

Once you are here pop across the street from the train station to check out the amazing paleontology collection at the QB Museum, and then wander into town for an afternoon (or longer) of shopping, dining, and exploring.

Something special happens when we take a moment away from our busy lives and schedules.  So let the TO DO list slip away for a while and allow a slower, more relaxed pace of life to take over.  Qualicum Beach is a place to enjoy being alive... a place to reconnect with each other and to remember what really matters in life.

You can't get much closer to the water than in Oceanside.  Living alongside the ocean has many advantages, from quick accessibility to boating, fishing, and other marine activites, to the incredibly rich and diverse harvest of seafood that makes its way to restaurant menus and kitchen tables in the area.

If the smell of salt air, the rush of sea breeze, the call of a gull and the steady rhythm of ocean waves make you smile, then this is definitely a place you will want to be.  

Whether you are content to watch the waves and stroll along the beach, or maybe dream of a spot to moor your own boat and time to troll for salmon.

This area offers ocean side living at its best.

This charming collection of beachfront communities known as Oceanside is simply the best that Island living has to offer.

The relaxed place and small town lifestyle of Qualicum Beach - and neighbouring Parksville, Nanoose Bay, French Creek, Errington Coombs Country and Lighthouse Country (Bowser / Deep Bay) is delightful....

Small towns are a reflection of the people who live and work in them and your sense of community and belonging can be very strong here.

There is something rare and comforting about knowing a place so well...   and to feel that it also knows you.  You know you belong when you begin to recognize faces around town and feel at thome when you shop for your groceries, or pick up your mail and go for a walk or to the theatre.

Small towns offer you the luxury of time and an envirnment where everything is built with a more human scale and pace in mind.

The downtown village atmosphere of Qualicum Beach makes it the perfect place to meet a friend for lunch and then spend an afternoon browsing through antique stores, clothing boutiques, and galleries.

Shopkeepers take pride in their service and their selection of unique products and are always ready to help you find that special something.

Quaint, friendly, and lovely - all describe the downtwon village shopping experience in Qualicum Beach.

As you travel around Qualicum Beach it becomes evident very quickly that this is a well cared for community. 

From the care and attention paid to keeping the gardens blooming and the grass clipped, to the clean, safe and friendly downtown village, this is a community that takes the time to look after the smallest of details.

From environmental stewardship and neighbourhood watch programs, to beautifying the downtown and establishing an official to work together to present ideas and find solutions to issues and challenges as they arise. 

 Living in a small town allows our voices to be heard, and encourages active participation in the decisions being made that may effect the development and character of this beautiful place we call home.