Getting to Knight Inlet Lodge

1. 01

   Getting to Campbell River

   By air from Vancouver, or by ferry and road.

   • Pacific Coastal Airlines flies Vancouver to Campbell River, typically three times a day, the lodge says. Send the lodge your flight number and arrival time and its complimentary shuttle meets you at the airport, takes you to the hotel, and takes you to the floatplane terminal the next morning.
   • The shuttle needs a minimum of 72 hours notice, runs to the Pacific Coastal arrival times, and is not available for Harbour Air flights.
   • From 6 July 2026, the lodge says, Harbour Air adds a floatplane direct from Vancouver to Campbell River.
   • Driving from Vancouver means BC Ferries, Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay or Tsawwassen to Duke Point, then Highway 19 north. About five hours in total including the crossing, longer at peak times; the lodge recommends reserving the ferry. Departure Bay to Campbell River is about an hour and a half, Duke Point about two hours.
   • From Victoria the drive is three hours on Highway 19, or Island Link runs a daily bus. From Port Hardy it is about two and a half hours south. From Tofino, about three and a half hours.
   • From Seattle: connect through Vancouver by air, drive to Tsawwassen for the ferry (about six and a half hours, plus the border and the ferry queue), or take the Coho ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria and drive three hours north.

2. 02

   The night before, in Campbell River

   The hotel night is part of the package. Dinner that night is not.

   • You can check in at the hotel any time after 11 am on your package start date. At check-in you get the welcome pack: your floatplane times, luggage tags for the storage at the floatplane base, and the forms.
   • The forms are a guest health and dietary review, a liability release, and a bear viewing licence with a grey copy you keep. Do them that evening.
   • Meals at the lodge are included; this first night's dinner is not. The lodge points to restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.
   • If you drove, parking at the hotel is complimentary for that night only; the lot is small and you cannot leave the car there. In the morning you drive the 3 km to the floatplane terminal and park at the facility, where Vancouver Island Air typically charges $6 a day for a standard car, cash or card, per the lodge.

3. 03

   Pack for the floatplane, the night before

   No carry-on of any kind. 14 to 15 kg in a soft bag.

   • The floatplane operator's limit, as the lodge quotes it, is 14 to 15 kg (about 30 lb) per traveller, in a bag no more than 110 linear centimetres in any one direction. Luggage is stowed in the floats, so soft cases are preferred.
   • Transport Canada rules for aircraft of this size mean no carry-on luggage at all. The lodge is explicit that this includes large lenses and cameras on your person.
   • Anything you want with you in the cabin has to fit the seat pocket on the back of the seat in front, cameras and lenses included. There is a sample pocket at the check-in counter, and the lodge says the charter operators have been strict about it lately.
   • Everything that does not make the cut stays in Campbell River. The lodge offers complimentary secure luggage storage at the floatplane facility, tagged with the labels from the welcome pack.
   • What goes in the 14 kg is on the packing list for the lodge, linked from this page.

4. 04

   The flight

   Once a day, in the morning. 25 to 45 minutes, the lodge says.

   • Check in at the floatplane facility at Tyee Spit by 8 am. Flights are usually with Vancouver Island Air on a turbine DeHavilland Otter, sometimes with CorilAir on a Beaver or a Cessna, depending on how many guests are flying.
   • Flights run once a day in a morning window, other than emergencies, to keep aircraft noise off the wildlife. In busy weeks a group can be split across staggered flights; your time is the one in the welcome pack, and the lodge asks you to keep to it.
   • Campbell River to the lodge takes 25 to 45 minutes depending on the route the pilot flies.
   • The only camera the rules let you hold on board is one that fits the seat pocket, so the window is a phone or pocket-camera job.

   First hand I have made the trip in twice and the window seat still gets me. Half an hour of threading between islands, the channels below like poured glass, and then the machine banks into a cove and the lodge is there, floating against a wall of rainforest.

5. 05

   When the weather says no

   • The pilot and the floatplane staff have the final say. If a flight is scrubbed for weather or a mechanical problem, the lodge will do its best to get you there by other means: a different floatplane operator, or a boat transfer in its own sightseeing vessels, which the lodge describes as an adventure in itself.
   • Alternate transport can change the excursion plan on your arrival and departure days.
   • The lodge does not refund for weather, transport or wildlife-viewing issues, and strongly recommends travel, trip interruption and cancellation insurance.

   First hand The floatplane is spectacular and weather-dependent in equal measure. Build a buffer day into each end of the trip.

6. 06

   Arriving at the lodge

   • The plane ties up at the lodge. First is the mandatory safety orientation, where the lodge issues your PFD and where you ask for binoculars, and rain jacket, trousers and wellingtons, if you want to borrow them.
   • The first full day is pre-planned with three tours, typically starting straight after the orientation. From then on you plan each day with the lodge manager at a desk in the dining hall before dinner.
   • There is no wifi and no cell signal at the lodge. Say your goodbyes from Campbell River.

7. 07

   Coming back

   Back in Campbell River at roughly 11:15 am.

   • Departure morning has a shorter block of about an hour and a half before the floatplane. You are back in Campbell River at roughly 11:15 am, the lodge says.
   • Collect stored luggage at the floatplane facility. If you flew in, the lodge shuttle takes you to the airport, timed to the Pacific Coastal departures.
   • Do not book anything tight against that arrival. The lodge suggests evening departures from Campbell River, so that a weather delay on the water does not cost you a flight or a ferry.

Checked against: Knight Inlet Lodge, prepare for your visit , Knight Inlet Lodge, location and getting here , Knight Inlet Lodge, 3-night package . Times, fares and addresses are the operator's and change; confirm with your booking.