Canada
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
185km²
Area
137km
Coastline
1,640m
Highest point
Mount Bruce
10,234
People
16°C
Warmest sea
August
20km
To the mainland
When to go to Saltspring Island
Best to visit from July to August.
The sea is warmest in August (16 °C) and coolest in January (7 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in British Columbia, Canada
Saltspring Island is an island in Canada. It covers 185 km², with 137 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Bruce, rises to 1,640 m. About 10,234 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 20 km away.
Getting there
- Victoria International Airport (YYJ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 19 km in a straight lineCar hire at YYJ airport (Victoria)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Ferries3 ferry terminals on the island
- 20 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From July to Augustbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Saltspring Island.
- 32beachesStowell Lake Beach, Beachside Drive Beach, Baker Beach and 29 more
- 23viewpointsStreisand Lookout and 22 more
- 3lighthousesBeaver Point Lighthouse
- 3ferry terminalsSalt Spring Island (Vesuvius Bay), Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour), Salt Spring Island (Long Harbour)
- 9marinasGanges Centennial Harbour, Ganges Coast Guard Wharfhead, Ganges Kanaka Harbour and 6 more
- 7named peaksBruce Peak, Hope Hill, Mount Sulivan and 4 more
- 6waterfallsMusgrave Creek and 5 more
- 7ruins and archaeological sitesFulford Harbour Petroglyph, Japanese Charcoal Kiln and 5 more
- 1waymarked walking routesArmand Trail
- 7campsitesGarden Faire, Ruckle Provincial Park RV Sites 1-8, Group Campsite and 4 more
- 17hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 35restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Saltspring Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Saltspring Island, each with its own numbers.
3beaches and covesCoastya
9mountainsPeakyas
5lakesLakeyas
Highest point
347m
Mount Erskine
according to Peakyas
Largest lake
1.8km²
St. Mary Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
24.1°C
Bullocks Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
16.2°C
Chocolate Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
3 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Chocolate Beach16.2°C
- Cusheon Covecove16.2°C
- Kingfisher Covecove16.2°C
9 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Erskine347m
- Mount Belcher
- Baynes Peak
- Mount Maxwell
- Mount Sulivan
- Mount Tuam
- Reginald Hill
- Bruce Peak
1 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
5 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- St. Mary Lake1.8km²
- Cusheon Lake0.28km²
- Lake Maxwell0.27km²
- Lake Weston0.18km²
- Bullocks Lake0.10km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 178 m above the sea. 67 % of it is below 200 m.
- 18 %0–50 m
- 49 %50–200 m
- 28 %200–500 m
- 5 %500–1,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
20 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Ganges6,000 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 6 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Night low (°C) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| Sea (°C) | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 123 | 68 | 90 | 60 | 45 | 38 | 23 | 28 | 52 | 98 | 132 | 118 |
| Wet days | 18 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 19 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 1.2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 9.6 | 8.6 | 6.1 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Wind (km/h) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.5 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.4 | +0.6 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.6 | −0.2 | −0.2 |
| 2021 | +0.1 | −0.4 | −0.4 | −0.1 | −0.1 | +0.7 | +1.8 | +1.5 | +0.5 | −0.3 | −0.3 | +0.1 |
| 2022 | −0.6 | −0.2 | ±0.0 | −0.4 | −1.0 | −1.0 | +0.1 | +1.3 | +0.5 | +0.8 | −0.5 | −0.2 |
| 2023 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | −0.5 | −0.7 | +0.7 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −0.3 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.4 | +0.9 |
| 2024 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.3 | −0.2 | −0.8 | +0.1 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.2 | +0.6 |
| 2025 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.2 | +0.8 | +0.5 | −0.5 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.8 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.8 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
United States
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q2215523) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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