Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park is Parksville's best asset — a wide sandy beach backed by a campground of Douglas firs and arbutus trees. The beach itself is one of the warmest on the island: at low tide the sand flats extend hundreds of metres and the shallow returning water absorbs the heat. In summer, the warmth makes this genuinely one of the best swimming beaches in British Columbia, not just on Vancouver Island.
The park has a large, popular campground that fills quickly in summer. Day visitors can walk the forest trails behind the beach or simply set up on the sand. In spring, the beach is a staging ground for Brant geese migrating north — tens of thousands stop here in March and April, making it one of the best wildlife spectacles on the coast.