Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Nanaimo Top 10 List — PART 1 #nanaimo #nanaimoinfusion

15 Mar 2025 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:55

In this informal, conversational YouTube video, hosts Tod Maffin and Jocelyn present the first half of their "Top 10" list of places to visit in and around Nanaimo. They walk through items #10 to #6, offering quick descriptions, personal anecdotes, and practical tips. - #10 Coleridge Dam Park – an urban forest with two dams, stocked trout, swimming, an off‑leash dog area, easy‑level trails, and mountain‑bike routes; highlighted for its beauty and accessibility. - #9 The Vault Café – a historic pink bank building downtown, featuring a café with vegan and gluten‑free options, live music, and even restrooms inside the old vaults. - #8 Chemainus – a small town south of Nanaimo famed for its vibrant mural trail, credited with reviving the community after the local mill closed. - #7 Goats on the Roof (Coombs) – a quirky market described as “Trader Joe’s with goats on the roof,” offering international deli foods, an artisan‑gift shop, ice‑cream, and an Italian restaurant. - #6 Mount Benson – a popular, challenging hike comparable to Vancouver’s Grouse Grind, promising 360° panoramic views of Nanaimo, though the hosts have not yet completed it themselves. The hosts sprinkle humor, repeat key points for emphasis, and tease that the remaining rankings (items 5‑1) will appear in a follow‑up video.

Chapters

All right, this is the video you wanted. The gang is all here. This is Tod and Jocelyn's top 10 list of Nanaimo. Number 10: Coleridge Park Dam.
Coleridge Dam Park. Oh, did I do it again? Come with us if we go to Coleridge Park Dam.
No, Coleridge Dam Park.
It is a place I love to walk the dog, and, um, it's a forest in the middle of the city.
It has two dams, um, it's stocked with trout, I think. You can swim there. It has an off-leash dog park. It's really beautiful and it's fairly level. Hey, like good accessibility.
No, there's, there's some steep parts. It's good for a hike too, like an easy hike, um, and a run. And yeah, I, I ride my mountain bike around in it too for a sedate trail ride.
Number 9 is The Vault Cafe in downtown Nanaimo.
Oh, love, love. What's not to love? It's a great big pink historic building and used to be a bank. Yep, and they have— I think the washrooms are in the vault, in the actual vaults. And it has live music and the best wrap ever. Get the vegan one, that's all I can say.
They do have really good options for vegan and gluten-free and things like that. Really eclectic place. Number 8, Chemainus, which is a little town, a little, little town, um, south of Nanaimo, maybe half an hour drive outside of Nanaimo or so.
Famous for murals all around it. There's a little walk walking trail, little feet on the ground you can follow and see all the murals. It basically saved itself from being a ghost town after the mill closed, and the murals were so successful the mill came back.
Number 7 is the opposite side of town, and that is Coombs, but specifically not Coombs but Goats on a Roof, which you, I think, nailed it when you described it as Trader Joe's but with goats on the roof.
It's It's a fun, interesting, not really gourmet foods, but like international food market with a really yummy deli. And it has a really cool gift shop in the middle of it. And I don't get it.
It's like Artisan Gifts. It is kind of weird.
And behind it, they own, I think, all of the buildings behind Ghost on a Roof. There's ice cream. There's a fancy Italian restaurant.
Favorite thing number 6 is something we have not actually done, but everyone raves about it, so I put it on the list. And that is Mount Benson.
Uh, there's some obvious reasons why we can't do Mount Benson, and they start with wheel and end with chair.
Oh, I thought it was going to be lazy husband. Um, but that too. But it's a— it is a long hike. A lot of people compare it to Grouse, uh, the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, if you're familiar with that. But once you get up there, the views are incredible, like 360 degrees all the way around, right down into Nanaimo. Uh, people love Mount Benson. All right. 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 is in the next video, which you will find on YouTube. Mwah!