Cycling
With winding roads and steep hills, the islands are perfect for exploring by bike—especially if you use your wheels to link inn to inn. Plus, the ferries are much cheaper without a car. Try Mayne Island for the flattest and quietest route past orchards and sandy beaches; or loop Salt Spring Island for a tour of art galleries and studios. The only caveat? You won’t find many paved shoulders anywhere, and summer traffic can be tight on the narrow thoroughfares.

Hiking
With hilly, rocky terrain and precipitous cliffs, there are surprisingly few designated national park trails on the islands, though local organizations on some of the islands are developing networks of their own. Galiano Island is a good bet: Bluffs Park has thick virgin forest and a go-forever beach, plus a 2.5-mile trail in Bodega Ridge Provincial Park skirts a cliff edge on the way to huge views of Trincomali Channel and the Strait of Georgia. On South Pender Island, scale 800-foot Mount Norman, then grab a seat on the observation platform and take in a vista that reaches through Boundary Pass into Washington State.

Camping
Most backcountry facilities (think five to 10 tent platforms and pit or composting toilets) are stunning and accessible only from a boat, and that includes Cabbage Island, Narvaez Bay on Saturna Island, D’Arcy Island, Isle-de-Lis, Portland Island, and James Bay on Prevost Island, while Beaumont, on South Pender, can be reached by water or walking. Expected to pay a modest nightly fee. Want to sleep in your trailer or bring your car? Prior Centennial, on North Pender, has 17 drive-in sites—or you can base yourself out of the McDonald campground on Vancouver Island near Sidney’s Swartz Bay ferry terminal.