By Erin Linn McMullan

Start a new holiday tradition with a cozy coastal getaway where you can relax, reconnect with Nature and your family and friends. This season, make holiday magic at oceanfront Tin Wis Resort, an Original Original and Authentic Indigenous, your home-away-from-home. Nestled into the rainforest steps away from white sand tinwis Beach and the ever changing Pacific, it’s a welcoming setting for holiday memory-making.

Play in the Pacific Ocean

Winter swell buffered by the outer reefs makes this protected cove a perfect playground for surfing and boogie boarding. Beachfront Tofino Paddle Surf offers family-friendly lessons and rentals throughout the holidays (open Christmas Day) from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Owner Catherine Bruhwiler shares her favourite holiday memory is surfing in the snow – a novelty here on the west coast that draws everyone to the beach. A snow day is always a festive occasion with kids tobogganing down the resort’s front lawn, snowball fights, and making snow angels and ephemeral snowmen that wash away with the next King tide. Catherine encourages you to “get outside in the waves in the rain, shine or snow and make memories. All things will feel cozier and taste better afterwards—think hot tubs, hot chocolate, a warm tea, a cozy sweater!”

Warm up, cool down, and relax (adults only)

Throw your bathrobe over your bathing suit and get ready for an unparalleled beachfront experience at the onsite Nordic sauna as you supercharge your health in a hydrotherapy circuit of heat, cold, and relaxation west coast style.

“We’ve intentionally reduced our experience flow to a point where extremes are almost the entire premise of the experience – hot sauna extreme, cold ocean extreme – so we have outdoor change rooms, outdoor showers with no roof. We have the sauna and then the access to the Pacific Ocean – the world’s largest saltwater lounge. Exposure to the elements is what heightens your sensory experience,” emphasizes Jordan Hanthorn, owner of Tuff City Saunas. 

“We’ve done our best to amplify the three-dimensional phenomena of nature and rainfall and the light snowfall that we get. By adding outdoor showers with no roof, you’re in a hot steaming shower and you’re feeling the rain all around you at the same time. If there’s a starry skyscape you can simply look up and really enjoy and admire it. You can look up and see the old-growth Sitka spruce and Red Cedar boughs lurching above your head, pointing at the ocean and providing refuge for the eagles, which are often sounding right above our saunas.

“We’ve done our best to bring all the elements to life all at once in this 3D environment that is the rainforest and beachscape.” See-through polycarbon rooves over the lounging areas showcase the forest canopy as sunlight filters through and amplify the drumbeat of the rain, while the sauna’s tin roof and Western Red Cedar walls makes it feel “like you’re in an old wooden cabin with the rain as the most charming and peaceful background noise.”

Daylight savings time and winter darkness at 4:30 p.m. are, in Jordan’s opinion, a visual blessing and he encourages people to experience evenings when even a half-moon reflecting on the beach makes it appear like the middle of the afternoon.

Bringing a potluck picnic to share in the lounging areas is also encouraged. “Personally, when I’m having a personal sauna with friends,” adds Jordan, “we’re usually at Browns for dinner and then we slowly trickle down and jump into the sauna for a sunset or nighttime evening close-out sauna.”

Open 9 a.m.–9 p.m. daily (except Christmas).

Share mouth-watering meals

Sharing scrumptious food at Tofino Browns Socialhouse is at the heart of the holidays whether it’s a long lazy breakfast and that second cup of coffee, a hearty lunch between adventures, or reliving those memory-making moments over dinner. Browns’ heated and enclosed indoor patio offers front-row surf or storm watching and your first stop on the Hot Cocoa Trail (Peanut Butter Cookie or Cookie Crumble) before venturing out to family-friendly Tofino Winter Nights like the Sea of Lights. Don’t forget that sustainable stocking stuffer which gives back by planting a tree in the Nicola Valley for wildfire restoration.

Open Christmas breakfast and reserve online for New Year’s Eve (until 1 p.m.); closes Dec. 24^th at 4 p.m. and remainder of the 25^th.

Look up into an endless sky

Whether you’re gazing dreamily out the windows of your cozy suite or gathering beachfront around a crackling bonfire, December’s crisp cool nights and dark hiłaayił (sky) offer prime stargazing and celestial delights like the Cold Moon supermoon (Dec. 4) and Geminid meteor showers (Dec. 13–14) with over 120 meteors per hour. 

Ring in the New Year coastal style

Come celebrate New Year’s Eve with family-friendly fireworks right here in front of the resort co-hosted with all our neighbours: Crystal Cove Beach Resort, Ocean Village Resort, and MacKenzie Beach Resort.

For a refreshing start to 2026, join Surfrider Pacific Rim’s polar dip on New Year’s Day then warm back up at the beachfront Nordic sauna.

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Happy Holidays from our Tin Wis family to you and yours!

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