Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River
Are you considering a visit to Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River? In this blog post, we share our experience staying at this popular fishing lodge on Vancouver Island.
Painter’s Lodge is located directly on the eastern shores of Discovery Passage, a narrow strait that flows between Vancouver Island and Quadra Island. It forms part of the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands of British Columbia.
Campbell River is known as the Salmon Capital of the World. If you’re interested in salmon fishing, whale watching and/or adventure tours, Campbell River is a great place to visit.
The purpose of our visit to Campbell River is to take our boy salmon fishing.
He enjoys fishing but has not found success catching a big fish. We went salmon fishing at Moutcha Bay Resort in Nootka Sound (west coast of Vancouver Island) but were unsuccessful. Given that Campbell River is closer and easier to access from Vancouver, we decided to give Campbell River a try.
Spoiler – he finally caught a big salmon! Several, in fact.
Watch this short video from our salmon fishing excursion.
Why did we choose Painter’s Lodge?
There are several hotels in Campbell River to choose from. Given that the purpose of our trip to Campbell River is to go salmon fishing, it makes sense to stay at one of the fishing lodges located on the water.
This narrows the list to a few resorts, including Dolphin’s Resort and April Point Resort (located on Quadra Island across the strait from Painters Lodge).
What sold us on Painter’s Lodge is the room size (with separate sleeping area for our boys), outdoor swimming pool (although, it was closed for repair during our visit), restaurant with oceanfront patio, and the price point. We feel that it’s good value for your money.
And, we like that our boys can go fishing right off the dock in front of the resort.
When is the best time to visit Painter’s Lodge?
The best time to visit Painters Lodge is in the summer months. The resort closes in the winter (December) and re-opens in the spring (April).
You can fish all year round in Campbell River. However, we are told that the best time for salmon fishing is July to September. This is when fishing charters are catching Chinook, Coho, Pink, and Sockeye Salmon. And, if you’re lucky, you might even catch a Tyee (large chinook salmon).
We visited in early August and spent 3 nights at the resort.
Check Painter’s Lodge room rates and availability here.
Our Room at Painter’s Lodge Resort
There are several different types and sizes of rooms to choose from. The property has several buildings, each with different room layouts and number of beds.
Some rooms have ocean views, while others have garden views. See a list of room options here.
We stayed in a loft that has two separate sleeping areas. See photo above.
This room has 2 queen beds on the main level, plus 2 double beds in the loft above (4 beds in total). This is the perfect size room for a family. You can easily fit 6 people in this room.
The rooms are spacious but dated. They have seen better days. However, the beds, pillows and linen are clean and comfortable. The rooms meet the expectation of a 3-star hotel.
Above is a photo of the upstairs loft area. This is where our boys slept. They like having a separate sleeping area. And we do, too!
The rooms do not have air conditioning. It was warm during our visit, but not overly hot. However, we did need to sleep with the windows open to keep the rooms cool at night.
This is the building we staying in. We stayed in the room on the second floor, to the right of the large window. It has a private balcony with two chairs. Although, we rarely used the balcony during our visit.
The rooms on the second floor are where the lofts are located. The pointy windows on the third floor are for the loft rooms. This is where our boys slept (see photo above).
Amenities at Painter’s Lodge
There are several amenities at Painter’s Lodge, including an outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, gym and fitness centre, games and sports equipment, and a restaurant with an ocean view patio.
Guests have access to tennis equipment, bocce and croquet sets, board games and other family friendly entertainment. These items are free to use for guests.
The property has plenty of grass sections, which is ideal for bocce ball and/or croquet. We spent one evening playing bocce ball.
The gym/fitness room is located in a separate building beside the tennis court. It’s a small and basic gym with old equipment. You can get a decent workout here. But lower your expectations.
The tennis court is also old and in need of repair and maintenance. We attempted to play tennis but the court was full of tree branches and debris (and the tennis rackets and balls were in rough shape). Similar to the gym, it’s best to lower your expectations. Don’t come all the way to this resort for the tennis and fitness centre.
The pool was closed during our visit, which was disappointing.
It was being repaired at the time. However, this was not communicated to us prior to our visit. An email or notification would have been nice.
It’s not a big pool. From what we saw (the gate was locked), it looks to be mostly shallow. Good for families. I believe there’s a hot tub, too. You can see a photo of the pool here.
The pathway leading down to the waterfront and dock.
Above is the view of the main building at low tide.
And, below is a similar photo at high tide.
It’s quite the contrast. We lucked out with this beautiful cotton candy sunset one evening.
Painter’s Lodge restaurants
There are two restaurants at Painter’s Lodge – Tyee Pub and Legends Dining Room.
The outdoor patio is connected to Tyee Pub. This is where you want to spend your afternoon and/or evening. Assuming you have nice weather.
We visited Tyee Pub a few times during our visit. It’s convenient to dine on the property, especially when having a few afternoon beers on the patio.
There are more restaurants near Painter’s Lodge, including Anglers Dining at Dolphin’s Resort. We also ordered pizza delivery one night and ate outdoors while playing bocce ball on the grass.
Tyee Pub at Painter’s Lodge
Normally I take photos of our meals when we travel (I might have gone overboard on the food pics in this post). However, for some reason, I did not take any photos on this trip. I’m actually not sure what we ate?
I recall the food being good but not great. Most of the menu items (like fish and chips) were unavailable during our visit. And the service inside the pub was not very good at dinner time (it was actually pretty bad). It took over an hour for our food to arrive.
Our server informed us they were having staffing issues. This is understandable given the location and post-pandemic challenges that hospitality establishments are dealing with. However, the price point is above average for a pub, so we expected the service to be better.
It was still a nice evening at the resort. Hopefully the staffing issues will be resolved for this upcoming summer season.
Outdoor Patio at Tyee Pub
The afternoon patio experience was much better. We enjoyed multiple lunches here while watching the fishing boats and float planes.
You can’t beat these views.
Above is a photo of Legends Dining Room.
Prior to visiting, we did a little research and read good reviews about this restaurant. However, it was not open during our visit. Instead, guests were directed to dine at Tyee Pub.
Legends Dining Room is where breakfast is served each morning. It’s a buffet style continental breakfast. You can also order scrambled eggs and sausage from a server.
The breakfast is okay. Not great, but not bad. It is nice that the breakfast price is included with the overnight rate.
The hotel also provides a boxed breakfast if you are up early for a fishing excursion. This is a nice feature that we appreciated on our early 6am departure. The boxed breakfast includes fruit, muffins and juice.
This lounge area is located near reception. The waterfront view from these chairs is fantastic. It’s a nice place to sit indoors and still soak up the scenery.
There is a bar set-up in this room, but it was not open during our visit. I’m not entirely sure if this area is an extension of the lobby or if it’s a separate lounge that serves drinks and food?
Painter’s Lodge Fishing Packages
Now, let’s get to the main reason why we chose to stay at Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River. The salmon fishing!
You can book fishing packages through Painter’s Lodge resort. This is what we did.
The hotel charters the fishing excursions to local operators. Our fishing charter was booked with Big Animal Encounters. When we requested a fishing package from Painter’s Lodge, they forwarded our request to Big Animal Encounters, who followed up with us directly.
We chose the 4 hour tour that departs at 6:00AM. The boat picks you up from the dock at Painter’s Lodge. It’s nice to have door-to-door service.
The fishing package includes a guide with all bait and tackle provided. You just show up and everything is taken care of. Our guide even cleaned the fish and removed all of the guts for us.
The fish are then stored in the hotel’s fridge overnight. We brought a large cooler with us and filled it will ice that is provided by the hotel.
Check the daily schedule and book your tours at this building, located directly in front of the dock. The resort also offers wildlife tours, whale watching tours, and Grizzly bear expeditions.
Salmon fishing in Campbell River
Our guide, Bob, is an 84 year old legend who’s been fishing these waters for decades.
We depart the dock at 6:00am. As we cruise around the bottom tip of Quadra Island, we pass dozens of fishing boats setting up in the area.
“We’re going to keep going, I know a better spot”, Bob shouts with confidence.
He’s not interested in competing with these other fisherman.
The boat continues for another 10 minutes before Bob shifts into trolling speed. There are no other boats around us. He sets up the lines and gives us a quick tutorial about how to use the equipment.
Within minutes of dropping the line, we’re on!
Our son grabs the rod and reels as fast as he can. Then, the silver fish surfaces and makes an appearance for the first time. It’s an exciting moment.
“Let it go!” yells Bob, as he jumps to our aid.
He coaches our son how and when to reel. It’s a skill that Bob has perfected for many years.
Moments later, we have our first chinook salmon in the net. Success!
But wait… there’s more!
As I mentioned earlier, our previous salmon fishing attempts were unsuccessful. Heading into this fishing trip, we would have been happy with one fish.
But that was before we met Bob.
During the first 2 hours of the fishing trip, it felt like we were either reeling a fish or setting up the lines.
At one point, Bob looked at his monitor and saw something he liked.
“Drop the lines 20 feet, each side”, he said.
Two minutes after we made this adjustment we had fish on both lines! He’s a magician on the water.
In total, we pulled in 10 chinook salmon that morning.
However, we’re only allowed to keep one salmon per person. That meant we could only keep four fish.
We actually had to put two salmon back in the water because they were too big. I didn’t even know that was a thing!
Fish conservation is serious business in British Columbia.
The mountains-meet-ocean landscapes in this area are stunning.
Above is either Read Island or Cortes Island in the foreground, with the mainland mountains in the far backdrop.
I love the layers of mountains in the distance. It looks like a painting.
Watch the cruise ships at Painter’s Lodge
During the summer months, multiple cruise ships will sail through Discovery Passage each day. This narrow strait connects to the Inside Passage, which is the route used for Alaska cruises to travel from Vancouver to Alaska, and vice versa.
We actually passed through this very spot while on an Alaska cruise a few years ago.
These mega-ships are fun to watch as the pass through the channel. They feel so much closer in real life than in the photos. In the above photo, the ship is sailing south towards Vancouver. This was captured before sunset, which would be approx. 8:30pm at this time of year.
This cruise ship would likely reach Vancouver in about 3 hours. However, it might also be sailing to Seattle, which is another departure point for Alaska cruises. If you want to check out pricing for the actual cruise we did go here.
Watch this video about sibling cruise ships passing each other. Sound on.
Would we recommend Painter’s Lodge?
Yes, we would recommend Painter’s Lodge for your next trip to Campbell River. We enjoyed our time and the salmon fishing was a huge success.
However, we think it’s important to set proper expectations. This resort is a little dated. It’s rated as a 3-star hotel. We agree with this rating.
At the time of publishing this post, the Painter’s Lodge reviews are 7.4/10 on Booking.com, 8.0/10 on Hotels.com and 3.9/5 on Google Reviews. We would likely give a similar rate of 4/5.
What we like:
- Spacious family rooms with lots of options and layouts to choose from (rooms are clean and comfortable)
- Great location on the water
- Outdoor restaurant patio with unobstructed ocean views
- Fishing off the dock, easy access for fishing trips
- Value for money – it’s priced well when compared to other options
- Breakfast and parking included with overnight price
What we did not like:
- Pool and hot tub closed during our visit (with no notification prior to arrival)
- Buildings and amenities are dated (gym and tennis courts, specifically)
- Restaurant had a limited menu (lots of items unavailable) and dinner service was very slow
We spent a couple hours sitting in these chairs while our boys fished off the dock. It’s the perfect way to spend an afternoon in the Pacific Northwest!
How to get to Painter’s Lodge Campbell River
Painter’s Lodge is located at 1625 McDonald Rd, Campbell River, British Columbia.
The Painter’s Lodge website does not appear to be active. You can find more info on hotel search engines like Booking.com and Hotels.com. Or you can visit the Wyndham Hotels website.
To get from Vancouver to Campbell River you will need to take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Or, you can take the Tsawwassen (South of Vancouver) to Duke Point, Nanaimo.
The ferry takes about 1.5 hours. You must arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before departure time.
Reservations are highly recommended, especially on holiday weekends in the summer.
When you arrive at the ferry terminal in Nanaimo you follow the signs to BC Highway 19. Stay on this highway and drive north to Campbell River. The drive takes about 1.5 hours. It’s approx. 160km from Nanaimo to Campbell River.
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Are you considering a visit to Painter’s Lodge Campbell River?
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