Hi there,

I'm new to this site, and in process of applying for immigration for my family (partner and three children!). Our main priority is quality of life, and we're really drawn to Nelson in the Kootenays - have spent some time there but not long enough.. If anyone has any info on this town then I'd love to hear.

Thanks.

welcome to BE - we visited Nelson last year during a 2 month tour of BC. I have to be honest and say it was the only place in BC that we didn't love. We found the place to be very arty and the people we met, very pretentious. Maybe someone else could tell you something positive about the area? The surrounding area is very beautiful, it was just the town that we didn't like. Try looking up Nelson in the search facility on the top right of the page, you may find some other info.

It was 39c there on Friday apparently. Lovely place with breathtaking views. Right cabs on the way we're off to Nova Scotia.

Thankyou - seriously any thoughts or info on this place are appreciated.

It's a sort of interesting place and very pretty.

Very small economy in the middle of practically nowhere.

It's in a narrow valley... everywhere seems to be uphill, the days are shorter and it can feel very claustrophobic.

Very general demography, you have:
Rednecks
Artists
"Artists"
Relocated Yuppies
Potheads
Anarcho-communists
Coffee-sippers
NDP politicians
and Tourists

Most people that live there can either afford to live there, can earn without a conventional job, have grown up there and live averagely/modestly or they live in the communes in the woods.

adding - a friend of mine use to be the mayor of Nelson. He lives in Calgary now because he wants to finally make some money. But he plans to return at some point. Nelson is a place you probably have to have money already or not be bothered by not having a lot of money.

I would 100% agree with this statement.

We loved Nelson. It's a beautiful area, the place had a real feeling of community and 'aliveness'. We met some great people, very friendly and with a genuine affection for the place.

We seriously considered living there even got to the point of viewing properties etc, Unfortunately the reality for us was that we just wouldn't have been able to make a decent living there and the location made it difficult for us to consider the self employment route as transport links are dire. It's a very long drive to Vancouver/Kelowna and Castlegar airport is frequently fogged in causing delayed and cancelled flights.

House-wise - we liked the idea of being reasonably close to, but not in, town and liked the North Shore area for this. It stays a little cooler in the summer and is more sheltered in the winter, plus you have great views of the town and the mountains. We saw lots of great properties further out but found many of them a little too isolated/off the beaten track for us. David Gentle, a local realtor at www.westkootenay.com was extremely helpful.

I'd also check out the following community website www.nelsonbc.ca there's loads of useful info on the area, population stats, businesses, jobs etc and the community bulletin board can often be very enlightening.

If you do end up in Nelson - can we come and visit?

We have friends who have a brother who purchased a Bed & Breakfast just outside Nelson based on previous visits.

They stuck it out for four or five years and eventually gave up sold out and have moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Primary reason for the move the people that were so friendly to visitors were extremely unfriendly when they moved there they were never accepted, always seen as outsiders.

What a shame. I don't think I'll ever understand the "not accepting outsiders" attitude.

Thank you! All this info is exactly what we've been trying to get hold of.

We're wary of moving to a tourist attraction, but did find that it has it's own thing going on, and were drawn by the beauty and size of the place. Think we need to get back again for a longer recce!

The local economy and size of the Nelson certainly seem to imply that we'd either need to have made some money prior to a move there, or to be able to possibly be self-employed, and for that income to not need to be that high.. But we wouldn't be considering moving to Canada if we were going to continue what we are doing in the UK as that would not be enough reason to make the move.

Will start trying to find alternative places to research tho.

If you liked the feel or vibe of Nelson but want/need closer access to other places perhaps some of the Gulf Islands might appeal - they are the smaller islands between BC's mainland and Vancouver Island.

We really did like the feel of Nelson, but main concern was distance from any other settlements of significant size, as well as the smallish (all relative I know) size of Nelson itself, insofar as it's geographical location means that for us we'd be looking for it to provide schooling and possibly employment - just not sure if it is quite big enough..

Having said that, it's size is actually part of the attraction, as we're looking for a town rather than a city.

Any other suggestions (got to be near mountains and water (sea or lake), not a "sprawl", and large enough to have a sufficiently good infrastructure for services, schools, employment..) are gratefully received! Or, close enough to be able to commute easily to somewhere that does have the jobs and schooling etc.

I think Nelson is one of the nicest towns in BC. But as with all things, there are some drawbacks that it's nice to be aware of. As I'm sure you know, very hot in summer, very cold in winter - but the thing you might not know is that, because it sits in a valley between the mountains, the sun goes down very early and this can be quite depressing in the winter. Our closest friends moved up there a year ago and will be in town this weekend. If you have specific questions, I'll be happy to ask them.

Nelson, BC

That reminds me, Nelson in may 07....

Thanks AntheaS, Rob4BC and Beepop, your comments and (lovely!) pics are really appreciated.