Kelowna Travel Guide

  Little Straw winery
by trvlrtom
  • Little Straw winery
      Little Straw winery
    by trvlrtom
  •   Kelowna
    by cardas
  •   Things to Do
    by MandeeJC
  • Hiking to the best views around!
      Hiking to the best views around!
    by MandeeJC
  •   Hotels
    by ybangyadan

Pro

dinhyen profile photo

 Tourist-friendly town; pleasant weather; abundance of fresh fruit and vegetable; many family-oriented recreational activities. 


Con

dinhyen profile photo

 Perhaps just a little too family-oriented :) 


In a nutshell

traveler326157 profile photo

 Fine wine, fine views and nice company, that's Kelowna 

 

Explore Kelowna

Things to Do  

Paddle Boarding on the Okanagan!

Paddle Boarding on the Okanagan!, Kelowna

 MandeeJC Says:  There are many different places to go paddle boarding in Kelowna, but my experience was in the less-crowded Rotary Beach Park. This relatively secluded beach boasts warm clear water and an awesome water sports shop with fantastic owners and employees. Naturally, I cannot... 

KVR (kettle valley railway) and Myra Canyon

KVR (kettle valley railway) and Myra Canyon, Kelowna

 fdylan Says:  This is a scenic and nice thing to to do in the spring to fall time In Kelowna. It is about a 6-12 km walk or bike, depending on where you want to turn back, and takes from 30 min to 2 hours, depending on your pace. I've lived in Kelowna for 11 years but only found out about... 

Zip line in Kelowna

Zip line in Kelowna, Kelowna

 bohemiangal Says:  Oyama Zipline is the best thing to do around Kelowna. OZip is between Vernon and Kelowna with awesome views of Kalamalka Lake (the lake of many colors). Six different zip lines with hardly any walking in between. I zipped most of the 2kms down - even upside down. Line six... 

Zip line in Kelowna

Zip line in Kelowna, Kelowna

 bohemiangal Says:  Oyama Zipline is the best thing to do around Kelowna. OZip is between Vernon and Kelowna with awesome views of Kalamalka Lake (the lake of many colors). Six different zip lines with hardly any walking in between. I zipped most of the 2kms down - even upside down. Line six... 

BENVOULIN HERITAGE CHURCH

BENVOULIN HERITAGE CHURCH, Kelowna

 balhannah Says:  I had read about some heritage sites here in Kelowna, so today we set out to find them. We first came across the Benvoulin Heritage Church which was originally a Presbyterian Church.It is a lovely looking little Church, I guess I like it, because it was built in the Gothic... 

Antlers Beach Regional Park & Hardy Falls

Antlers Beach Regional Park & Hardy Falls, Kelowna

 dinhyen Says:  The Okanagan Valley is dotted with regional parks, many of which are more than recreational areas but also rich in scenery. Antlers Beach Regional Park on the western shore of Lake Okanagan is a quiet preserve that features a waterfalls in addition to the eponymous beach! 

Little Straw winery

Little Straw winery, Kelowna

 trvlrtom Says:  We went here without knowing anything about the winery. It was just a diversion for us after visiting a nearby mega-winery. Often we like smaller wineries where you can talk to the people who make the wines themselves. When we stopped in there were two youngsters running the... 

Mission Hill winery

Mission Hill winery, Kelowna

 trvlrtom Says:  Mission Hill is THE well known and popular winery in BC. We stopped by because we were curious about all the hype, and having been to many wineries in California, we wanted to see what the big Canadian one was like. So here is my biased report,Big, corporate business. There... 

Quail's Gate winery

Quail's Gate winery, Kelowna

 trvlrtom Says:  We've visited perhaps 25 or 30 wineries, and this was one of the best. Here are some reasons:Spectacular setting overlooking Lake Okanagon,very close to Kelowna and easy to get to,Friendly and informative staff,Neither big a too big, corporate and pretentious place, nor a... 

Visit Fintry Provincial Park

Visit Fintry Provincial Park, Kelowna

 trvlrtom Says:  There are many things to do here. The park is located on Lake Okanagan, so you can swim, go boating and enjoy water sports. It is much less crowded than the immediate Kelowna area due to the distance away from town. The park is popular for camping with families.The park has... 

KNOX MOUNTAIN

KNOX  MOUNTAIN, Kelowna

 balhannah Says:  Knox Mountain Park is a large natural park of 580 acres, containing mostly Ponderosa Pine and grassland. Kokanee salmon spawn along the lakeshore adjacent to the park.It is located north of Kelowna, next to Okanagan Lake. There are several lookout kiosks, Toilets, and... 

OYAMA & KALAMALKA LAKE

OYAMA & KALAMALKA LAKE, Kelowna

 balhannah Says:  Our B&B hosts told us to stop at the lookout, and check out the colour of Kalamalka Lake. Well, sure enough, it was a pretty green colour on the edges, just like they said. I learnt that, Kalamalka Lake [known as lake of 1000 colours], is known as a "marl lake." When the... 

WATERFRONT WALK

WATERFRONT WALK, Kelowna

 balhannah Says:  The waterfront walk alongside the park, was one that we both enjoyed.Kerry Park is part of the waterfront walkway that runs from the W.R. Bennett Bridge to Waterfront Park. The Kerry Park Stage is a popular site on weekends for family musical entertainment throughout July... 

Hotels  

Holiday Inn Express Kelowna

 1 Review and 182 Opinions  The customary practice in North America with hotel bookings, especially done on-line, is to allow 24... 

Super 8 Kelowna

 1 Review and 139 Opinions

Restaurants  

Montana's Cookhouse: Delicious Barbecue Food!

Montana's Cookhouse: Delicious Barbecue Food!, Kelowna

 fdylan Says:  This restaurant has very great service and is very family friendly. The food is quite good mostly consisting of meats such as steak and ribs, but also varying with shrimp, chicken and burgers.If you come on your birthday, they sing and put a horned helmet on you and take a... 

Boston Pizza: Pasta!

Boston Pizza: Pasta!, Kelowna

 fdylan Says:  My favourite retaurant in Kelowna with great variety spanning from pizza to ribs. Go... NOW! Jambalaya Fettuccini is the best meal with spicy italian sausage, shrimp and delicious noodles. Order it when you go and you will see why its my favourite. 

Post Haus Pub: Horrible Service, Food & Management.

Post Haus Pub: Horrible Service, Food & Management., Kelowna

 beautifulBC2011 Says:  Horrible customer service, (15min wait for initial drinks, melting away at the bar until I myself got them as our server paced the empty pub) .. Hour wait for our food (which half came burnt to a crisp including criss cross fries & pork bites which were not replaced just... 

Lakeside Dining: Best Seafood Brunch

Lakeside Dining: Best Seafood Brunch, Kelowna

 sinjabc Says:  We dined on the delicious and satisfying Sunday seafood brunch in the Lakeside dining room in the Eldorado Hotel. We were guests of the hotel and used our food vouchers for the brunch. The brunch offered cold and heated dishes for brunch, but also tempted us with snow crab... 

La Bussola: Stay Away!

La Bussola: Stay Away!, Kelowna

 msmack55 Says:  My daughter and I made a reservation on Feb. 13th, not a busy night, at 7:30pm, and asked what the dress code was. They said "anything clean". We arrived on time, in trendy jeans, pretty tops, sweaters and heels. When we entered, they looked us up and down, scanned the 90%... 

Old Vines Restaurant at Quail's Gate Winery: Excellent food, service, location

Old Vines Restaurant at Quail's Gate Winery: Excellent food, service, location, Kelowna

 trvlrtom Says:  We came to Quail's Gate for wine tasting, but after seeing the restaurant and hearing from some other visitors who were coming back to the restaurant for the 5th time because they loved it so much, we decided to have lunch here. It was one of the highlights of our vacation... 

Nightlife  

Which Bar?
SkiBunni profile photo

2.5 out of 5 starsHelpfulness

SkiBunni 51 reviews
Meghann, Kirsten, me on St. Patrick's Day

There are a few bars/nightclubs in Kelowna. Here's what each generally features:

Flashback's: Downtown on Ellis St. Best general bar all-round bar. Mix of music, crowd, and customers. Ladies night strippers on Fridays in the Summer generally.

Splash's: might be renamed. Downtown on Leon. Underage crowd. younger music. MEAT MARKET.

Gotcha's: Downtown on Leon. Occassionaly underage crowd. Sometimes decent music. MEAT MARKET.

Blue Gator: Downtown on Lawrence. Older crowd, pure blues music.

OK Corral: Midtown on Kirschner. My personal favorite, but I like country music. However, you can ask someone to dance and not worry about them thinking you are looking to get laid.
All ages, from legal to 90+. There's this old guy that's there everytime I go and he's gotta be 90+ if he's a day and entirely entertaining to watch or dance with. If he wasn't so old he might be creepy but the age factor just makes it amusing.

Rose's. Downtown on Water. Don't have much to say one way or the other. Not bad anyway. Just don't go there for some reason.

Plenty of pubs all over town but no real dancing. Strippers of the female kind are available too, but I could care less.

Dress Code: None of them have dress codes

Written Aug 30, 2006

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