Large Group Accommodation Shawnigan Lake | Reunion & Event Venue Vancouver Island

One weekend, one place

Sleeps sixteen across the two houses. Grandparents in the master, parents in the cottage, six kids in the bunk room with reading lights and curtains. One kitchen big enough to cook for everyone, one beach gradual enough for the four-year-olds, one weekend with everyone in one place. Three nights minimum.

We've sorted out three generations under one roof more times than we can count. Send the family tree if it helps. Here's what tends to work.

How sixteen people actually fit

Most reunions get this wrong. We've worked it out.

Grandparents — Master suite (king + ensuite, main floor, fewest stairs).
Parents A — Lake bedroom (king, upper floor, west view).
Parents B — Cottage (one of two queens, sixty feet of separation when the kids go feral).
Aunt and uncle — Cedar room (queen, upper floor).
Single sibling — Garden bedroom (queen).
Studio — Queen daybed for the cousin who can't decide if she's coming.
Six kids — Bunk room (four bunks, two over two, plus the studio's twin trundle) — reading lights and curtains they'll fight over. Our kids learned to swim off the dock. So did most of our nieces; the under-fives are the reason the beach shelves the way it does.

Crib and toddler gates, no charge — tell Brianna ages and we'll have them set up before you arrive. Bring your own life jackets for the under-fives; the dock is unfenced and we'd rather you trust the fit.

Lakeside House perfect for family reunions

Two houses, sixty feet apart

Six bedrooms in the Lakeside House plus two in the cottage. The cottage has its own kitchen, its own deck, and a door that closes — useful when the toddlers go down at seven and the cousins want to keep talking.

If your family is bigger than sixteen, we work with a neighbour ten minutes up the lake who can take another twelve to fifteen.

Six bedrooms in the main house, two in the cottage.
Great room, games room, deck — three places to be loud at once.
Kitchen with two ovens and a six-burner range.
Dining for twenty on the deck in summer.

What everyone does

Toddlers find the lake. Grandparents find the deck. Teenagers find the games room. The middle generation cooks.

Safe swimming

The water shelves gradually for about twenty feet before it drops. Easy for new swimmers. Warm enough to swim from late June through early September.

Games room

Ping-pong, foosball, Catan, Codenames, and three decks of cards. The room of last resort when it rains in October.

Pickleball court

One court, paddles in the bin. Cross-generational tournaments by Saturday afternoon are common — by Saturday afternoon someone's grandfather usually has a bracket going.

Private dock

Four paddleboards, two kayaks, a swim float thirty feet out. Trout in the lake if you bring rods.

Outdoor spaces

Two acres. Lawn for kicking a ball, forest for hiding, fire pit for s'mores. Smoke from the pit drifts toward the lake on still nights.

Finnish sauna

Wood-fired, seats six, locked from the outside. Only the adults have the key — which has prevented exactly one toddler-related incident, but it was a memorable one.

Forty-five minutes from the airport

Half the family flies into YYJ. The other half catches the ferry to Swartz Bay. Both groups are at the lake by lunchtime, over the Malahat, past the Cowichan Bay turn-off.

45 min from Victoria International Airport (YYJ).
1.5 hours from the Departure Bay ferry in Nanaimo.
Twelve minutes to Unsworth Vineyards if the grandparents want lunch.
Twenty minutes to the Kinsol Trestle for an after-breakfast walk.

See on a map

The property

Trust the photographs.

Private dock and beach on Shawnigan Lake

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"Fourteen of us, three generations, four nights. The kids barely came inside. The grandparents ate dinner on the deck every evening. We already booked next August."
— The Morrison family, Calgary

A reunion weekend

The shape most families settle into. Yours will look different. That's fine.

Fri

Friday afternoon

Arrive in waves. The kids find the lake before they find the house.

Sat

Saturday morning

Pancakes at the island for sixteen. Pickleball before it gets hot.

Sat

Saturday afternoon and dinner

Lake. Paddleboards, kayaks, the float. One big meal — the kitchen handles it, or order in from Cowichan Bay.

Sun

Sunday

Coffee on the dock. The grandparents take it slow. Everyone drives home tired in the afternoon.

Three things we tell every family on Friday afternoon.

Lake safety, honestly

Three things worth saying out loud.

The dock is unfenced. Bring life jackets for kids under five — we have a few but bring your own if you'd like a guarantee.
The water shelves gradually for about twenty feet, then drops. Easy for new swimmers; an adult should still be on dock duty.
Sauna is locked from the outside; only adults have the key.

Whole-property pricing

Both houses. Sleeps up to sixteen.

From $3,500/night shoulder season. From $7,500/night peak (June–September). Three-night minimum, four-night minimum on summer long weekends. Cleaning fee $650. Fully refundable up to 30 days before arrival.

September is our favourite month for reunions. The lake is still warm enough to swim, the wineries are picking, and the rates drop on the 15th.

We don't dynamic-price. The number on this page is the number Brianna will quote you.

Hold a family weekend — Brianna replies within 4 hours

Beyond reunions

We host fiftieth and sixtieth birthdays, anniversary weekends, multi-family group rentals where three or four families split the cost, and graduation weekends. Friend groups book us for an annual lake trip in early September. Bachelor and bachelorette parties work, with one caveat: this is a quiet residential lake, not a party house. The neighbours will hear you after eleven. Sixteen on-site; another twelve to fifteen at our neighbour's place ten minutes up the lake.

Twelve minutes to Unsworth Vineyards — the grandparents will ask for it by Saturday lunch. Ours always do.

A whole-property reunion, on the lake.