Painter’s Lodge

My wife & I Stayed here 5 days in early September. We had the time of our lives. The lodge has great views, lots of activities, excellent service, & GREAT fishing. Our fishing guide Richard was awesome. The bartenders & servers are outstanding. The food is ok. The grizzly bear tour was phenomenal. We also Saw Orca whales swimming right off shore from the resort!

This review is primarily for the lodging aspect of PL, which is excellent based on my recent one-​night stay. My single room was a spacious king, quiet, airy, and clean, w/​a nice outdoor patio. The resort itself is a world-​class center for salmon fishing expeditions, and I met a group of 6 Italians who’d come over to do just that. There were people from many nations at the lodge, and it made for a nice mix. I ate — or should I say, drank — dinner in the pub, which was also very nice, and featured the same great views that every other room and venue did. WiFi was fast and the staff was courteous, professional, and friendly. One nice touch was the lodge’s sister resort across the sound, easily accessible by the lodge’s shuttle ferry, itself a nice 10-​minute ride. Overall, the value was better than good; it was a good deal! I’ll definitely return and will stay more than one night.

As a restaurateur and chef — it is hard for me to escape from
in Vancouver to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of life, kids and work. My parents are great and know this. Out of the blue they booked five days at Painter’s Lodge for my wife, me, my favourite uncle and themselves. We sent our two children to spend some time with their other grandparents.
From the moment I walked into the lodge until I left everything was taken care of. Perfectly.
Top points go to the Breakfast. Both the food and the service rival any 5 diamond hotel in the world. I awoke each day at 6am craving breakfast. My mother has serious dietary restrictions — no problem. Everything was triple checked. Our server caught a problem before it was served — and the kitchen remade the dish — a five minute delay that saved my mother a painful reaction. Well Done!!!
The food at dinner was excellent in the pub, the dining room at Painter’s Lodge and at April’s Point. …here is the best part — the shuttle ride between the two sister resorts. We had dinner twice across the water at April’s Point. The 8 minute ocean ride is spectacular and the skipper is BRILLIANT! Talk to him — he is full of info.
So many positives — the hiking was great, the spa beautiful, the fishing was mind blowing.
We are booking ten days with the kids next year.
This is totally the quintessential British Colombia experience.
They only allow me to rate them a ⁵⁄₅ — it is really a ¹⁰⁄₅!!!

Friends and I stayed here on a bicycle trip in August. Our rooms were very nice, each with a large balcony with a view of the water. Property nicely landscaped-​not too formal. They were fine with us bringing our bikes into the rooms. The food was very good; we breakfasted in the dining room and had a few dinners outside the pub. staff happily answered various questions about area resources. Free water taxi runs constantly across to Quadra Island-​lovely biking roads but VERY steep hills. They get kudos for honesty: I left my kindle in the room. They promptly mailed it back to me, well wrapped. (I paid the postage.)

Spent three days at Painter’s Lodge during early August 2013. The accommodations were great and the food was good. The setting was fantastic.
So why am I giving Painter’s lodge two stars, I am an avid salmon fisher. I called the lodge in April to find out when the best time was for catching Chinook and Coho. I was told on the phone that July and early August would be spectacular.
When we arrived in August and inquired about the fishing we were told that the kings and silvers ended two weeks earlier but that we could fish for pinks.
If you know anything about pink salmon you know that you don’t travel thousands of miles to fish for pinks.
Needless to say, I planned my trip around some bad information, and it was a big frustration. This is too bad because we have stayed at other Oak Bay Marine Group facilities in the past and had a wonderful time.
All in all it was a wonderful place to stay, but not great for the serious angler.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River. We were here over two nights in summertime, my teen daughter and I. The resort is well taken care of — very clean, comfortable rooms, beautiful main lodge and lobby/​restaurant/​deck area, gorgeous views of the water, lovely perennial flower gardens and walkways, ample parking. We found the staff to be exceptionally friendly and helpful. Wildlife and beauty abound — we saw a humpback whale while having dinner on the deck, and watched eagles catching their meal from the water. Lovely!
The resort also owns a property across the water on Quadra Island — you can take a free water-​taxi between the two properties which we did and enjoyed this perk. You can visit the beach over there, sit on the deck and enjoy a meal or drink, play gigantic chess or checkers on the deck, look at wildlife. Apparently there are spa-​services at April Point as well although we didn’t utilize them.
The resort is located just north of the city of Campbell River — we were driving from Nanaimo and had no problem locating it as signage was excellent. We watched Campbell River’s Canada Day fireworks from the dock the evening of July 1^st — lovely to be able to see them without having to leave the Lodge!
I would give this resort five stars easily if it weren’t for one major issue. Smoking is allowed on balconies of all rooms. There is no air conditioning in the units (not an issue as it is likely rarely needed I’m assuming), but the doors and windows swing open on to a lovely courtyard with views of the water. The rooms do get a little warm and stuffy when the door and windows are left closed. The problem was there were several smokers on balconies a few rooms over and below us, and immediately our room would fill up with their cigarette smoke — very disgusting. Our only option would be to close the windows and door as soon as they lit up. Also walking about the grounds to and from the dock, or lobby etc you encounter people smoking in all outside areas — we bumped into them on the dock and amongst the beautiful gardens. Yuck! It really took away what could have been an enjoyable experience.
I would recommend Painter’s Lodge but with reservations due to the smoking issue. I think the resort would need to be entirely non-​smoking before I would stay there again, especially in the summer time.

Great food, friendly service and a wonderful view. I will be back!

This was a pleasant place to stay. This is an upscale fishing lodge from which we launched our adventure trips up the Bute inlet. Nicely appointed rooms, heated pool, 2 hot tubs, and onsite restaurant and lounge. There is a sister resort April Point, where you will have access via a boat ferry which runs every 20 minutes. Fun little ride for dinner or a drink. All in all, we would stay there again. Nice and attentive staff. Good restaurant even though it was a bit on the expensive side. That was to be expected.
We didn’t take advantage of the fishing trips or whale watching but both are available at he lodge.

Yee Gads, no review as of yet but heading there the end of the month for 3 days. Hope we didn’t make a mistake.
Will post our findings soon after we return.

A party of two of us went to Painter’s from the 10^th to the 12^th. We own a Worldmark timeshare, and got this trip on points (But a LOT of points!)
Traveling to Painter’s:
We flew in by Kenmore Air, which is definitely a great experience! Seaplane rides are highly recommended! Note: Beware the 24-​pound weight restriction: they do charge if you’re over.
Staying at Painter’s:
Our room was #305, in the building seemingly as far from the ocean view as possible. We asked if we could move to a water-​view room, but were told they were «sold out». Funny «coincidence», we met another group of Worldmark owners two doors down. Are they giving the bad rooms to those who come on points?
The Food at Painter’s:
Overall, the food wasn’t very good, with the ONE exception of the Sunday Morning brunch. Be absolutely sure to catch this! It was the best meal all weekend. The pub, however, took two hours to deliver nachos (that tasted microwaved) and chicken wings to our table. We could have walked to town in that time! Service was terrible, too… A real disappointment.
The Staff at Painter’s:
Most staff were helpful. However, JR from Guest Services really went above and beyond for us! They don’t offer a shuttle service into Campbell River, but he didn’t even hesitate to grab the 12-​passenger van and take us to town, and even arranged a pickup time and location! Many thanks to him for that! The fishing guide wasn’t talkative and was a little unfriendly, but at least he wasn’t rude. However, he didn’t seem too interested in actually catching a fish.
The Fishing at Painter’s:
We booked a 4-​hour fishing tour. Which is really 3 hours of fishing, and 1 hour of riding in the boat to a fishing location. Just a note… We didn’t get any bites for the first two hours, but things started picking up at hour 3. Unfortunately, as soon as we caught our first fish, our guide reeled both lines in and moved. We never did find out why– it seems counterproductive to move away from the hungry fish!
Overall, it’s a nice resort, but there are too many places that it falls short. We probably will not be back.

One night stay. «special room» in Vancouver section. Opened door to find old looking ski lodge carpet, view of neighboring house. If I leaned out from patio caught glimpse of ocean. Musty stale odor in room. Bedspreads all wrinkled and ancient looking. 70’s bathroom. Restaurant service average, ok tasting food, nice view.
This place has huge potential but simply falls flat. Oak bay marine group should sink some $ into this beautiful location.

6 of us recently spent a weekend up at Painter’s Lodge — we had an amazing time!
Accommodations: We all got ocean view rooms, we had a big grass lawn in front of our rooms over looking the ocean, which was perfect to watch the wildlife and ships go by while drinking a nice cold drink. Rooms are basic but were very clean and comfortable.
Fishing: The fishing was a blast! We had Jason — amazing guide! He knows the surrounding area very well and taught us all we needed to know about fishing. He was very accommodating and had a great attitude the entire time, I didn’t expect to laugh so much while fishing! We had such a great time that we ended up booking a third day fishing, attempting to catch that illusive giant salmon! Our group ended up bringing home: 4 big ling cod and 2 salmon (7 lbs & 18 lbs)
Food/​Dining: That gets thumbs down from me. The pub food was OK. We went over to April Point and enjoyed a great lunch (great service too!) But were less than impressed with the dining at Painter’s. The hours don’t work for those who are fishing. Friday we were on the water from 4pm-​8pm, by the time we were ready for dinner the dining room was shut and had to order from the pub menu, they were under staffed. Sunday morning some of us didn’t want the big all you can eat brunch, but that’s all that was available when we were off the water at 10:00. We were told we’d have to wait until 11:00 when the pub opens and order the lunch menu.
Overall it’s a wonderful memorable place, we’ll be back very soon!

We recently ate in the pub section, and the service was so brutal that I had to downgrade my rating. I don’t know what was happening in the server’s life that day, but it definitely made our experience miserable. Fortunately the incredible views made up for it, otherwise I would not go back.

First off this review is for the Tyee Pub at Painter’s Lodge, not the entire resort itself as we only stopped by for lunch after spending the morning hiking around the trails near Campbell River.
Pub food is pub food, it’s pretty standard and pretty much the same no matter where you go and the Tyee Pub is no different. Since we were at a historic fishing lodge I decided on the salmon burger and wasn’t disappointed. The salmon was fresh, and I believe local, but the remainder of sandwich was unexciting and came with the standard default fries.
The view from the patio was quite spectacular and our server was friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive. After taking a quick peek at the rest of the resort I can understand why people stay at Painter’s Lodge. The next time I have the urge to catch a 40lbs salmon I’ll be sure to head to Painter’s Lodge, the next time I have the urge for really good pub food I might head elsewhere.

It is markedly difficult to shutter a seasonal resort, and then expect to open up again in the spring with tight staff and flawless operational condition of a property. However, Painter’s has done it year after year for as long as I can remember. Fact is they are FANTASTIC… but after a number of days the amenities run thin. I think that is because the amenities are fishing in a boat, all day, and enjoying the barbecued fish and incredible view of ships passing the inlet while you melt into your scotch with the ice cubes.
I was going to give it four, because it is expensive, it isn’t easy keeping solid staff, but everyone is so nice, and frankly there are some real cute, pleasant people here that know how to make someone feel wanted and welcome.
Southern Hospitality has nothing on Canadian Hospitality.
The four stars is because the F&B operation isn’t… isn’t… always the best. The lunches are fine, and yes the beer is always there, but the dinners are limited, the fine dining is boring, and the pub gets old fast but I will never ever ever complain. I love the atmosphere.
Why they get five?
The overworked, overqualified, overly badass and fun as all hell guides.
Spanky, Hopper, Hairball, Islander… these are some of the greatest guys ever. Ron can get out there a bit, but don’t worry he won’t bite.
Watch out for Fubar. He might take you back to his place for a party, or might get you in a fight. Anyhoo…
I love this place with all my heart.
SECRETS:
1) they let us barbecue our days catch next to the pool. I am not sure how much they charge a head, but they give us napkins, a salad, rolls, etc. I think it is rare, but if you are nice to the F&B people they will hook it up.
2) The drinks are ML for the US people. Order a double. And they drink Caeser’s not Bloody Marys. Think Clamato, not Tomato Juice. Think wretch, but they love em.
3) For the morning beer and lunch order, make sure to ask for some hot chocolate and schnapps or baileys. Trust me… the cold bumps on the way out will be eased quickly as you set up your lines and drop your riggers.
4) One time in August a couple years back, I saw the Northern Lights. Without a doubt the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I think. I want more… it was like the universe was humming with me.