Canada / British Columbia
Qualicum Beach
Qualicum Beach is a coastal resort area in British Columbia, Canada. Its longest mapped beach stretches about 2.7 km. The sea averages 17.2 °C in August, its warmest month, and 7.0 °C in January; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 17.2 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 30Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 19Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 5Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 10Grocery shops
- 2Water-sports spots
- 45Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 6Pharmacies & clinics
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 24 restaurants, 5 cafés and 1 bar. Accommodation: 5 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Month by month
October at Qualicum Beach
Beach-day index 2.4/10 · Canada median 2.3
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 7.0 °C | 7.1 °C | 7.9 °C | 9.7 °C | 12.9 °C | 15.4 °C | 17.1 °C | 17.2 °C | 14.8 °C | 11.6 °C | 9.4 °C | 7.7 °C |
| High °C | 6° | 6° | 8° | 12° | 16° | 19° | 22° | 22° | 18° | 13° | 8° | 6° |
| Low °C | 3° | 3° | 4° | 6° | 10° | 12° | 15° | 15° | 12° | 8° | 5° | 3° |
| Rain mm | 147 | 81 | 105 | 68 | 44 | 41 | 30 | 33 | 64 | 115 | 159 | 143 |
| Cloud % | 81 | 74 | 80 | 76 | 70 | 69 | 50 | 51 | 56 | 71 | 79 | 82 |
| Wind m/s | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
| Daylight h | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.8 | 13.7 | 15.3 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 14.5 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 9.2 | 8.2 |
| Record high/low | 11°/-9° | 13°/-7° | 20°/-5° | 26°/1° | 28°/4° | 30°/7° | 33°/10° | 31°/10° | 28°/7° | 21°/1° | 16°/-9° | 13°/-8° |
| Beach index | 2.0 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.9 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–August; July scores 6.1/10 with highs of 22 °C, sea at 17.1 °C and 30 mm of rain.
In July that is 1.3 points above the median of the 1,211 beaches in Canada covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 0.9 °C warmer than the Canada median for August (16.3 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 11.5 °C, cooler than 86% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (159 mm) and July the driest (30 mm); the yearly total is about 1,030 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.2 hours in December to 16.2 hours in June; in mid-July the sun rises at 05:27 and sets at 21:20 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-north-east (15°). Open water fills about 44% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in May–July; in mid-June it goes down at 21:24 local time on a bearing of 309°.
Sunrise is over the sea in March–September.
Straight out to the north-north-east the next coast is roughly 20 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell. The beach is on an island of about 32,131 km².
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 54 m deep and 120 m at 3 km, so deep water starts close to shore. Behind the beach the ground is about 39 m above sea level 500 m inland and 80 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 68% tree cover, 18% built-up land and 14% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 71% of that circle.
- Tree 68%
- Built 18%
- Grass 14%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualicum Beach Airport Qualicum Beach | XQU | 5.1 km | south-east |
| Comox Valley International Airport / CFB Comox Comox | YQQ | 50.0 km | north-west |
| Powell River Airport Powell River | YPW | 53.0 km | north |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 45 bus stops within 1.5 km and 19 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 11.9K residents); within 30 km there are 9 (about 55.2K).
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Qualicum Beach Museum museum 370 m NW
Diving & boat hire
- Max's eBikes 170 m E
- Dragonfly Stand Up Paddle Board Rentals 780 m NW
Campsites
- Cameron Lake Resort 230 m SE
- Horne Lake Family Campground 230 m SE
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 6.2 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w878876313; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2C_10UCV_20251014_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 33.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.