Nanaimo
The harbour city behind the Nanaimo bar, a no-bake square whose origin nobody has fully settled.
Saved in this browser only - no account, nothing sent anywhere. See your map
The Nanaimo bar is three layers, a crumb and coconut base, custard buttercream and chocolate on top, and it is not baked. Recipes resembling it appear in Canadian cookbooks from the 1950s, and Nanaimo's claim rests on an early named version in a local hospital auxiliary book; the city ran a competition in 1986 to fix the definitive recipe and has since marked a Nanaimo Bar Trail through cafes and bakeries. The city itself grew on coal from the 1850s, and the Bastion, a wooden Hudson's Bay Company tower of 1853, still stands on the waterfront. The harbourfront walkway runs several kilometres.
What you actually see
- The Nanaimo Bar Trail - a marked route through bakeries and cafes.
- The Bastion - an 1853 Hudson's Bay Company wooden tower on the harbour.
- The harbourfront walkway - a seawall path with float plane traffic.
- Newcastle Island - a car-free provincial park a short ferry from the harbour.
When to go
May to September; the Bastion opens seasonally with a noon cannon firing. The bathtub race, a long-running local event, is in July. Ferry queues are heaviest on summer weekends.
Honest expectations
The bar's origin is genuinely uncertain and the city's claim is contested. Nanaimo is a working port city, not a resort. The downtown has run-down stretches.
Nearby
Newcastle Island lies offshore; Cathedral Grove is west.
What to pack for Nanaimo
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
