Nismaakqin Park, formerly Maquinna Marine Park, is in northwestern Clayoquot Sound between Hesquiat Peninsula and Flores Island. BC Parks says the park was renamed in 2025 and is accessible by boat and floatplane from Tofino, Ucluelet, Hot Springs Cove, Tahsis, and Gold River.
Visitors come for natural mineral hot springs that cascade down a waterfall into six rocky pools.
The official page also emphasizes that access and site use need careful timing around marine conditions.
Nismaakqin is one of Vancouver Island's best-known hot springs destinations and also protects coastal wilderness used for hiking, sea kayaking, wilderness camping, fishing, and wildlife viewing. A two-kilometre boardwalk leads from the dock to the hot springs, with a viewing platform offering views of Hot Springs Cove and the hot spring area.
BC Parks notes that the hot springs name means "steaming from rock" and that Ahousaht knowledge and culture keepers consider the spring water to have healing properties. The park also includes offshore reefs, boulder, cobble and sand beaches, sea caves, sheltered bays, kelp beds, and mudflats.
Walk the boardwalk, soak in the hot springs, kayak if experienced, fish in Clayoquot Sound under current regulations, view wildlife from the platform, and use permitted operators for legal water or air access.
Avoid visiting during high tides, high swells, and winter rough-water conditions. Alcohol and glass are prohibited around the pools, pets are not allowed beyond the start of the boardwalk, and camping or campfires are prohibited in the hot springs area. Guides and vessel drop-offs require park-use permits.
