Middle Beach Lodge — Hotel in Tofino

If you like quaint, picturesque destinations, look no further. This place has it all.

The entrance doesn't look like it offers much - especially now that there are improvements to the access road to the Middle Beach Lodge property. However, once you get past that and start driving the long-ish paved road that leads you to the Lodge itself, you will most likely start finding, or losing yourself to the beauty that is Coastal Vancouver Island.

The road is lined with a forest of tall, older trees, with some interspersed plant-scaping, making for a peaceful drive into the property. As you get further in, toward the water, you will come upon a couple of forks (well marked) which take you to your specific lodging.

Once you arrive, the parking is smallish, quiet and fitting for the area, with no lines or overtly loud signs that would urbanize the space. Simplicity at is best.

You have two options to get to the each of the lodges. If you need the use of a wheelchair or walker or other wheeled aid, there is some parking nearer the lodges, however it is at a slight slant - away from the lodge so make sure you put the brakes on. If you don't need the use of these, you'll park in the parking lot and walk up a set of stairs which leads to a wooden walkway leading you straight to the lodge.

As you enter, you will see what appears to be a finely appointed fishing lodge, replete with books and boating paraphernalia. The couches and chaise lounge chairs have throws on them making the space feel comfy and warm. Think Leave-it to Beaver or Andy Griffith Show, meets Beachcombers, meets Dirty Dancing. Overall, a nice place to be.

The rooms themselves are very, very cozy. The bathroom is also cozy.

The piece-de-resistance, however, is the far wall which features nice, large windows and a door which leads to a modestly-sized balcony where you and your loved one can sit and enjoy the sounds of nature, the afternoon and evening sun and the entrancing melody of the waves lapping at the beach below.

The Lodge offers continental breakfast every morning. Great for those that don't want a large breakfast before heading out to explore the area. Most importantly, they offer some delicious pastries and the flakiest, fluffiest, tastiest Croissants in the area. In fact, my wife said they are comparable to some she had in France! In my book, that alone is worth going!

There is dinner available at the Lodge, Tuesday to Saturday. You are looking at around $50-$65/person for a fixed, three course meal, including appetizers, main course and desert. Top notch!

The service here was also top notch, from the admissions desk to the table service. All staff take their job very seriously

If you like the lap of Luxury this is not the place for you. If you like nice surroundings where people leave you alone but can also be engaging. Book it before its too late.

Last but not least, the scenery...oh, if you love nature, this is the place for you. Beaches, sea, sky, rain, storms, sunshine, fauna, flora, you name it! It is here.

We visited in early May and think that was the perfect time to go We are going back in August this year, so I'll update this then but for now, I would say the 4.5 or 5 rating this place has is...

Middle Beach Lodge has been our go to happy place for the past 15 years. It is where we started as a couple and then continued as a family. While the setting is still as spectacular as always the ambience has lost its luster. My husband and I along with our 2 children (9 and 12) recently stayed in a MBL cabin for 2 weeks. From the moment we checked in at the main lodge, we felt a very different vibe. Staff at front desk were not the usual friendly and welcoming. When we checked in. We were advised that there would be no housekeeping during the two week stay and that we could request fresh linens when needed due to covid. When we arrived in our cabin we noticed dressers with knobs broken off, cobwebs hanging from ceiling and minimal towels and toilet paper provided with no cleaning supplies to clean our own cabins. I will say that the kitchen staff were as delightful and accommodating as they always have been and did a great job of the morning breakfast available in the main lodge. One of the traditions of MBL is the nightly freshly baked cookies offered to guests, always a highlight for my children. We noticed this year, MBL was only offering cookies in the adults only lodge with a new sign stating only 2 per guest. When asked why they were not offering cookies to guests in family lodge we were informed that due to set dinner being served there, they did not have room? This seemed odd to me considering one plate cookies is placed out on a simple table with a few napkins. Coffee urns are provided for guests use through out the day however any time I went to get coffee it was either empty or coffee we cold particularly when cookies were out out. Seems like common sense to put out freshly made coffee at this time? When my kids went to lodge one evening to ask to take 2 cookies to go, they were told no not without an adult, they came back empty handed and deflated.

Not once during our two week stay, were we asked how we were enjoying our stay or if we needed anything. One two different occasions, I went to front desk to ask for either beach towels for our family or a set of fresh bath towels and were told they were not available. When asking for replacement toilet paper we are given one roll of the absolutely cheapest single ply paper. The ladies at the main desk made us feel uncomfortable asking for anything. While many of these issues mentioned above seem like small trivial details, they add up and impact the overall experience. In the past we have recommended Middle beach lodge to many of our extended family and friends, after this experience not only are we considering trying one of the many other lovely resorts located in the beach next year, we no longer feel confident recommending...

Overall this isn’t a 5-star experience and I wouldn’t recommend Middle Beach Lodge. You’re paying for the location and views but you’ll be let down by the staff and service. We stayed 3 nights in one of the 1 bedroom + sofa bead Beachhouse rooms for 475CAD per night in May 2023. Let’s start with the positives - the location! We had a beautiful view onto MacKenzie beach from our balcony with direct access to the beach from our accommodation. Other positive is the condition of the accommodation - while quite dated in terms of style, it has been maintained quite well. The breakfast is complementary and decent but quite limited overall (toasts, bagels, jams, ham and cheese, cereals, coffee/tea - but very limited options if you’re vegan or lactose intolerant). Now let’s take about the let-downs - the service and staff. Unfortunately this is where this establishment fails to meet expectations for a 5-star level of service. The staff are all young people that don’t seem to have the training or the appropriate management to do the job well. If you ask customers to pay 500+ CAD per night, you need to provide impeccable service by trained staff with a manager on the ground to coach them and pay attention to details. As an example, they run out of almond milk at breakfast (because “a newbie placed the order so they forgot the almond milk”) and we were told that they’d have it the day after, only to be told the following morning that the order would come later that day. Also, the room wasn’t thoroughly “refreshed » on a regular basis; the beds weren’t made most days, towels were never replaced (even though we put a few in the tub as directed) and rather than replenishing the tea bags and coffee capsules, the staff just left a plastic bag with extras on the table. Same comments at reception where the staff looked pretty unhappy to be there and forgot to tell us about the afternoon coffee/tea in the lobby and about checkout process (we were charged before even checking out and would have appreciated deciding how to be charged for the remaining amount when checking out). We felt at time that we were “interrupting their party” and were bothering the staff while they were casually chatting to each other. Everything was quite transactional from check in to check out; the breakfast would get replenished regularly but the staff would ask us to bring back our dishes and sort out rubbish from plates as if we were at a fast food chain. We gave the staff an opportunity to apologize and get feedback at checkout. However when we informed the reception that we weren’t fully satisfied, we were met with surprise and no apology or offer to understand what could...