Short stay in British Columbia
2024
Highlights of the trip
During your stay you can enjoy the following highlights: Culture / Heritage, Faune and flora.
Best times to go
The best time(s) to go is/are : Printemps, Eté.
Petit Futé
Where to stay - Kamloops ?
The map of your stay "Short stay in British Columbia"
Detail of the stay : Short stay in British Columbia
How to get there - Kamloops
From Vancouver to Kamloops
Steps: Kamloops
Just for the pleasure of taking the Coquihalla, a highway known for its length and endless coastline, the trip to Kamloops is a must (in winter, bring special equipment, snowfall is frequent and unpredictable).
Wells Gray Provincial Park
Steps: Niagara Falls
Head north on the Yellowhead Highway (#5) and follow the Thompson River into Wells Gray Provincial Park. As you enter the park, you'll see many waterfalls. The most majestic of these is Helmcken Falls, which is very popular for wedding photos. Two-and-a-half times higher than Niagara Falls, they are as tall as the tallest buildings in Vancouver today (141 meters).
Heading to Revelstoke
Steps: Revelstoke
Return south and then east past Kamloops, stopping at Salmon Arm along Shuswap Lake. With more than 1,000 km of waterways, the area has over 30 provincial parks and an equal or greater number of discovery activities. The town is known for the salmon run and in October draws crowds around the Adams River. Continue on to the most Italian town in the west: Revelstoke. Stop at the town pub and dance to country music that tells the story of the immigrants.
Arriving in the Okanagan Region
Steps: Revelstoke
Before exiting southwards, take a detour to the north to see the Revelstoke Dam: 175 metres high. Then go down to Vernon: welcome to the Okanagan! The city is very cosmopolitan but has little interest, unless you continue to the Silver Star resort, with a chairlift that remains open in summer and allows you to reach its peak.
Then join Kelowna by the road located west of Okanagan Lake; The view is much better and wilder there. The city of "grizzly bear" in salish dialect is a bit victim of its own success. The beaches are often overcrowded, and architects are wondering.
Walk in the vineyards and orchards
Steps: Osoyoos
The heart of the Okanagan is known for its orchards and vineyards. So you'll be spoilt for choice. Vancouverites spend many weekends there to collect fresh fruit and to promote agriculture in the province. This is the other desert of the interior of British Columbia: Osoyoos holds the record for drought in Canada, with an average of 25 cm of rain per year. Proclaimed to be a "Spanish capital of Canada", Osoyoos offers Ideal conditions for cultivating exotic fruits.
Around Penticon
Steps: Summerland
Penticton, "a place to stay forever," offers more than 10 hours of daily sunshine in summer, surpassing Honolulu in this. The "city of fishing" lives on its tourism, its festivals and its beaches. Discover the other wine-and-fruit-growing enterpises of Summerland and Peachland.
Stroll in Keremeos
Keremeos is another centre of fruit culture (cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, plums) and wine tastings are musts there. Take your time.
Way to Princeton
You arrive in Princeton after having passed through the village of Hedley, a hamlet once inhabited by gold researchers and other adventurers.
E. C. Manning Provincial Park
Steps: Manning Provincial Park
E. C. Manning Provincial Park is rich in mountains, lakes and forests. Take time to stop and walk one of the marked trails, including the Rhododendron Flats trail. Continue on to the Cascades viewpoint overlooking the Similkameen Valley and its natural mountain amphitheatre.
