Located in Vancouver Island’s not-so-secret surf town of Tofino, Long Beach Lodge is a cold-water surf resort unlike any other. Between the beachside location, superb, locally sourced cuisine, cocktails so delectable you’ll forget to pace yourself, and deluxe yet cozy accommodations, the lodge is a charming outpost for any traveler appreciative of rugged wilderness juxtaposed by the finer things. But for the visiting surfer, the lodge is downright sublime. This comes thanks to amenities that ease the sting of cold-water, cold-weather surfing: a surf shop, wetsuit changing room, wetsuit rinse station, and a hot tub and sauna combo. If you’re looking to switch things up for your next surf trip, forget the tropics and head north.
Picture, for a moment, your dream surf trip. You’re probably envisioning a tropical locale, with a killer, uncrowded wave out front, and bamboo bungalows and hammocks and a poolside bar, right?
Wrong. Clearly, you’ve never been to Long Beach Lodge—a Vancouver Island surf outpost that brings the dream to more hostile latitudes. For the itinerant surfer who doesn’t mind packing neoprene, trading palm trees for mossy cedars is an experience you won’t soon forget, and Long Beach Lodge, in our opinion, is a destination well-deserving of a high spot on your wave-chasing bucket list.
The Location: Steps Away from Consistent Surf
Realtors and surfers value the same three things: location, location, location. Long Beach Lodge is tucked into the trees overlooking Cox Beach, Tofino’s most consistent beach break. The waves are extremely fun when the swell direction and wind cooperate and generally surfable even when the forecast isn’t firing. Endless whitewater means that the break is also beginner-friendly, too, and plenty of surf instructors wrangle their charges over Cox’s sandy shallows. If you’re traveling with a significant other new to surfing, there’s no better beach. The key, of course, is to outsource: catch bombs out the back while they flail happily in the whitewater with a surf instructor.
Cox will likely be your break of choice while you’re staying at Long Beach Lodge—you’re right on the beach, after all—but there are a few more waves within a short drive: namely North Chesterman and South Chesterman to the north, and Long Beach to the south. There are certainly other waves in and around Tofino, but these are the more well-known options, and we won’t pinpoint their lesser-known brethren. For that, you’ll have to get exploring.
Beachfront Rooms: Waves Out Your Window
The Long Beach Lodge’s beachfront rooms bring checking the waves to the next level. Not only are rooms comfortable and cushy without being ostentatious, but they also look right out over Cox. Rooms on the ground floor, in fact, have their own patio doors that open just steps away from the sand. There’s only one problem with watching the surf from the comfort of your hotel room while wearing a cushy robe and lounging next to a roaring fire—when all’s said and done, and you return home to your normal life, your surf experience will feel pedestrian and drab, a return to economy after a taste of first class.
Aprés Surf Done Right
The Surf Club is what elevates the Long Beach Lodge from an otherwise stunning hotel into a dream cold-water surf resort. A small compound a short walk from the beach—tucked away so that it doesn’t get overrun with tourists in summer—the Surf Club is home to a well-equipped surf shop with an attached coffee bar if you happen to need wax, wetsuit, or white mocha.
Lessons and rentals are also available at the Surf Club, and experienced, ultra-friendly surf instructors with heaps of experience will gladly push you into waves if it’s your first day out, or give you further coaching if you’re a more advanced surfer looking to improve.
Secure surfboard lockers at the Surf Club, Image Courtesy of Long Beach Lodge
Hot tub at the Surf Club,
Image Courtesy of Long Beach Lodge
But for us, the main draw of the Surf Club was that it houses everything you need pre- or post-surf. The changing rooms wouldn’t be out of place at a fancy country club, yet the staff of surfers don’t blink if you track in sand and salt or groan loudly out of your wetsuit. Speaking of, there’s a three-stage wetsuit wash to rinse out your kit after a session. Step further into the Surf Club, and it gets downright extravagant: there’s a hot tub and a sauna right outside. Laird himself would be right at home.
All jokes aside, nothing beats coming in from a satisfying surf, the rain’s pouring down, and instead of a teeth-chattering changing session in the parking lot, you stroll up to the Surf Club, grab a hot coffee, and change out of your wetsuit in a warm changing room before throwing on your board shorts and alternating between sauna and hot tub until dinner time.
Mouthwatering Coastal Cuisine and Cocktails
Whether or not you’re staying at the Long Beach Lodge, The Great Room is an obligatory stop in Tofino. The Great Room is styled after the Lodge owner’s own living room, and leather chairs and a mammoth fireplace give the place a cozy, cabin-like vibe, while floor-to-ceiling windows offer unbeatable views of the beach beyond.
Views and comfy chairs can only get a restaurant so far, though, and it’s the food and drink that make a visit to the Lodge mandatory. First off, the bartenders and sommeliers are knowledgeable and sharp—more than happy to help you navigate an extensive wine list and cocktail menu. Our favorite: a Tofino Cedar Gin Julep, with an Unsworth Island port, fall berries, cane sugar syrup, mint, and charred cedar bitters. Crisp, like a foggy forest in a glass—and we mean that as a compliment.
If you’re just in the mood for a drink, stopping by at happy hour is the move, as otherwise steep cocktails are more than affordably priced. But it would be an enormous mistake not to indulge in the nosh. This will sound hyperbolic, though I assure you, it is not: our meal at The Great Room was a highlight of not just our trip to Tofino, but our entire epicurean careers. That meal will forever be dogeared in my memory.
From sweet oysters on the half shell, sprinkled with shaved horseradish and a raspberry tabasco mignonette (my personal favorite dish and the best damn oysters I’ve ever had), to pan-seared scallops that melted off the fork, to crimson, dripping lamb served with homemade gnocchi, finished off with a salted chocolate ice cream sandwich, that meal alone was worth a three-day drive from California.
No, the Long Beach Lodge doesn’t have palm trees and coconuts, or warm water and infinity pools. But the truth is, plenty of places do. Not many spots, on the other hand, have the cold-water surf experience so dialed. For an extraordinary, unconventional, and 100% luxe surf trip, all signs point to the Long Beach Lodge.