Sointula Travel Guide

Welcome to Sointula!

Sointula is quiet village located on Malcolm Island just off Vancouver Island, accessible via ferry from Port McNeill and Alert Bay. Hardly a booming metropolis, it enjoys a small population of under a thousand people, adding to its personable charm. Sointula's intriguing past begins with its name, which means Place of Harmony in Finnish, and its settlement began with this same ideal. A Finnish community calling themselves Kalevan Kansa fled their lives of mining in Nanaimo in 1901 to set up a utopian socialist commune—a society that has long since disbanded but many descendents still live here today. And while Sointula's once viable economy based on logging and fishing has seriously dwindled in recent years due to declining industries, the village preserves a harmonious way of life as evidenced by several cooperative businesses, such as Wild Island Foods and the Sointula Co-operative Store.

It is easy to see why the Kalevan Kansa chose this spot as their utopia; rainforest flourishes in abundance attracting an array of wildlife, including seals, otters, beavers, deer and birds. Visit Bere Point Regional Park to view this treasured landscape, which also encompasses sandy and rocky beaches, day-use areas, a boat launch and campsites. It is also the site of the 5-km (3-mi) (and aptly named) Beautiful Bay Hiking Trail. Other natural attractions nearby include Big Lake, Blackfish Sound and Broughton Archipelago Provincial Marine Park. Visitors can also take a scenic drive down Kaleva Road that runs for 10 km (6 mi) alongside the beach, or learn more about Sointula's fascinating beginnings at the Sointula Museum. All these attractions make it plain to see why Sointula is, indeed, still a utopia.

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