What’s not to love about the Okanagan Valley?
It’s a complete change of scenery from Vancouver and the BC coast. It’s only a five-hour drive inland but it feels like a world away. It could be Tuscany, South Africa, California, Argentina, or South Australia.
Most international visitors have no clue such a place exists in Canada. As a result, they don’t even know to research it. Though as this recent Vogue article suggests, the word is getting out.
But us locals know about it and have known about the Okanagan our entire lives. We’ve been coming here for summer vacation since we were little kids. For generations, even.
The air is different in the Okanagan. It’s dry. Arid. And the sun is hot.
The rain is different, too. In Vancouver it’s an endless on-off drizzle. In the Okanagan, it’s rare and short-lived. It’s like a monsoon and it comes with thunder and lightning. It floods the streets and soaks you in five minutes and then the sun comes out again shortly after and dries everything up.
The Okanagan doesn’t look like the Canada tourists imagine when they think of Canada. This landscape comes with sagebrush and snakes and cactus.
The hills in the Okanagan are covered vineyards and orchards. The roadside fruit stands sell peaches, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, cherries, apricots, plums, and nectarines from the nearby farms. And there are wineries everywhere.
The lakes in the Okanagan aren’t like the turquoise lakes of the Rockies, which are too cold to swim in. The lakes in the Okanagan are popular summer holiday destinations for swimming, boating, and lapping up the sun from the beach.
There are some big scenic lakes, like Okanagan Lake, which are deep and narrow and snake along the Okanagan Valley for 135 km (84 miles). Okanagan Lake even has its own lake monster, the Ogopogo.
Then there are the smaller lakes, including some truly unique lakes that you won’t see anywhere else in Canada, like Spotted Lake. Like Lake Louise, Spotted Lake is only meant to be looked at, but in this case, you can only admire it from the road, not up close.
For all these reasons, I’ll always recommend the Okanagan as somewhere to visit in western Canada to visitors looking for something unique to add onto a road trip. It’s truly a unique place in Canada. Halfway between the Rockies and Vancouver, it provides a completely different experience from both places.
While all the tour bus crowds are snapping their Instagram eye candy in the Rockies and paying inflated prices for the privilege, us locals can often be found lounging lakeside or sipping wine in the Okanagan Valley instead.
Sure, it’s busy with locals in the summer, but busy is relative. If you time it right, you can find summery weather in the Okanagan in late spring or early fall with only a fraction of the crowds you’ll find in July and August.
My last two visits to the Okanagan have been in the shoulder season, but they were just as enjoyable as a summer visit.
Just a few weeks ago, I drove out to Penticton to visit my friend Chris who moved there five years ago. I discovered there’s a lot going on in this humble Okanagan lakeside city in late May. I was surprised by its contemporary vibrancy: hip new restaurants and cafes, a serious craft brewery scene, wonderful shops, a vibrant farmers market, and just lovely people.
Chris gave me a local’s perspective of Penticton. He took me to Chute Lake Resort in the Naramata backcountry. We did a hike up to Giant’s Head in nearby Summerland. We even drove the backroad from Oliver to Keremeos for a short wine tour in the Similkameen Valley. We visited breweries in Penticton, Summerland, and Naramata, and we also enjoyed some delicious meals, including The Restaurant at Poplar Grove and Pizzeria Tratto Napoletano.
My previous visit to the Okanagan was in October of 2022 for a weekend wine touring getaway in Osoyoos. Wildfires were in the Similkameen, but it wasn’t smoky in Osoyoos or elsewhere in the Okanagan. It felt like summer despite it being one month into fall. It still felt like August, but we practically had all the wineries to ourselves.
That’s two successful extended weekend trips in the Okanagan during the shoulder season and I know there are more to come.
