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The Downsides of Living in Nanaimo

The Downsides of Living in Nanaimo

As much as I love living in Nanaimo, no city is perfect. I surveyed the neighbours to find out our top downsides to living in Nanaimo!


I took a spin around my North Nanaimo neighbourhood and asked my community what they disliked about living in Nanaimo. 

Where Are All of the Doctors?!

It's nearly impossible to find a doctor in Nanaimo! BC already has a shortage of physicians, but finding one on Vancouver Island, particularly North, can take years. A lot of people have added themselves to waitlists but even then it can take a really long time to be seen by a family doctor. Adding to this frustration, a lot of clinics have even closed their wait lists. Luckily, I was given a heads-up to this and I kept my family doctor on the mainland. I mostly do phone consultations with him and there's also the Telus Health app that a lot of Islanders use. There are only a few walk-in clinics in Nanaimo as well, so when I found myself severely ill, I had to drive up to Parksville to their urgent care. One of my neighbours also mentioned the difficulty of not having a cardiac unit in Nanaimo and having to drive about two hours to Victoria to be seen. Another neighbour mentioned that they received excellent care at the Nanaimo Regional hospital, so I don't want to discourage you completely! Just make sure that if you intend to move to Nanaimo you have a health care plan in place.

Litter Bugs

Even in some of the nicer areas in Nanaimo, it seems impossible to avoid litter. I'm convinced that a lot of this garbage is from people passing through, but I'd love to see more of a community effort to keep our parks and sidewalks clear of garbage. Sadly there's also been an increase in discarded needles. What's more concerning, is one of my neighbours shared with me that they found some of these needles in a school zone. I personally haven't experienced this. I did experience it a little bit in Vancouver, which is to be expected a little bit more in larger cities, I just didn't expect to hear of that happening in Nanaimo. 

Lack of Waterfront Dining

In contrast to nearby Parksville and Qualicum, Nanaimo is seriously lacking some good Oceanfront dining! Which is a shame- because it's something that I truly enjoy! I'm not sure if this has to do with maintaining the integrity of our beaches but I'd love to see more options for waterfront patios. If you're from Nanaimo and would like to leave your best patio recommendation please let me know at ritafraserrealty@gmail.com 

Stranded on the Island?

I've mentioned this one a few times… but when you live on an island, there's that extra obstacle of having to leave! It's not a total drag and I've covered a lot of the details in some of my previous blog posts. If you'd like to know more about my experience commuting using BC Ferries I'd recommend you check out that blog post next! My Experience Using BC Ferries!

More Hockey!

People in Nanaimo want more Hockey rinks! I actually received this feedback from two separate neighbours! As my family is no longer involved in this sport, I didn't even realize this was an issue!

This feedback came from one of my neighbours who is a women's hockey coach. He expressed difficulty competing with youth to find his player's ice time. 

As an aside (just keeping with the winter sports theme) If you’re a skier, you’re still in luck! I researched how many ski mountains there are on Vancouver Island and found three. The most popular one is Mount Washington which is in the Comox Valley. Further up in Port McNeil there's also Mount Cain and in Port Alberni there's Aerosmith Mountain. I wasn't able to find a ton of information on this mountain online, so that's something that you'd want to check out if you're planning to visit. 

I try to be as transparent as possible about my relocation to Nanaimo which is why I like discussing things that might help you decide if living in Nanaimo is the best move for you so if there's a topic you'd like for me to cover make sure you let me know! 


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