Ferries from Bella Coola

Bella Coola sits at the head of a fjord, sixty kilometres inland from the open Pacific, at the end of a road that drops down the Hill — a series of unpaved switchbacks with grades up to 18 per cent. The ferry is the other way in, and it runs in summer only.

Where the ferries go

• Bella Bella (McLoughlin Bay) — about 5 hours 40 minutes.
• Shearwater — about 7 hours.
• Ocean Falls — about 10 hours 10 minutes.
• Port Hardy (Bear Cove) — about 10 hours.

8 active sailings across the terminal, operated by BC Ferries.

⚠ This is the Discovery Coast, and it is seasonal

The Central Coast services connecting Bella Coola with Port Hardy and the mid-coast communities operate in summer. Outside that window the Inside Passage route runs Port Hardy to Prince Rupert with calls at Bella Bella and Klemtu — and does not come here.

Planning a Bella Coola arrival by sea outside summer does not work. Check the operating season before anything else.

One sailing each

Every route from here carries a single scheduled departure in our timetable. On crossings of five to ten hours, that means the return is the entire plan — there is no second boat and no road shortcut.

Parking

Limited free parking near the terminal.

The valley

Bella Coola is Nuxalk territory at the head of North Bentinck Arm, with the Bella Coola valley running inland toward the Chilcotin plateau. Grizzly bears in the valley in autumn and the Great Bear Rainforest offshore are what most visitors come for.

Alexander Mackenzie reached tidewater near here in 1793, completing the first recorded crossing of North America north of Mexico.