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Top 10North AmericaCanada

Top 10 Things To Do in Kelowna

Country
Canada
Best months
Jun · Sep · Oct
Population
145K
Language
English
Budget / day
C$170–300
Quick answer

The best things to do in Kelowna are the west-bank wineries at Mission Hill and Quails' Gate, the Myra Canyon trestles on the old Kettle Valley rail bed, Knox Mountain above downtown and the beaches along Okanagan Lake. The city is spread out and the wine roads are not walkable from downtown, so plan on a car, a bike or a booked tour. Three days covers the city and one bank of the valley. A fourth buys you Naramata, or Big White in winter.

Best of Kelowna

▶ Video guide

Kelowna sits on the east shore of Okanagan Lake, 400 kilometres inland from Vancouver and on the dry side of the Coast Mountains, which is why a Canadian city at the 50th parallel grows peaches. It is the largest city in the British Columbia interior, 144,576 residents at the 2021 census and 222,162 across the wider metropolitan area, and it has spent a century and a half selling what the valley produces: first apples from the orchards a French Oblate priest started in 1859, then wine from vines planted in the same mission garden. UNESCO made it Canada's first Creative City of Gastronomy in October 2025. The ten entries below run from the wineries on the west bank to eighteen railway trestles pinned to a canyon wall above the city, and none of them is more than an hour from downtown.

The 10 best things to do in Kelowna

1

Mission Hill Family Estate

Winery· 1730 Mission Hill Road, West Kelowna, BC V4T 2E4

The most architectural winery in the country, and the one almost every first trip to the Okanagan ends at. It stands on a bluff on the west bank behind a free-standing bell tower, with a keystone arch framing the lake, a barrel cellar cut into the rock beneath the courtyard and an outdoor amphitheatre that carries concerts through the summer. The estate's open-air Terrace Restaurant runs here in season, and Travel + Leisure once ranked it among the top five winery restaurants anywhere. Tastings and tours are booked ahead rather than walked into, and it is about twenty minutes from downtown once you are over the bridge.

Time2 hr
CostTastings and tours ticketed
Best atLate afternoon
TipIt is in West Kelowna
Map↗ Website
2

Walk the Myra Canyon trestles

Trail· Myra Forest Service Road, Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park, Kelowna, BC

Eighteen restored wooden trestles and two rock tunnels on the abandoned grade of the Kettle Valley Railway, cut into the wall of Myra Canyon high above the valley floor. The line was driven through here in the 1910s to link the Kootenays to the coast, closed in the 1970s and turned into a rail trail; the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire burned most of the trestles, and what you cross today are the rebuilt ones. It is 12.5 kilometres one way on packed gravel at almost no gradient, so it walks as easily as it rides. Access is by unpaved forest service road, roughly forty minutes from downtown.

Time4 hr
CostFree
Best atMorning, before the heat
TipBike rental at the Myra Station trailhead is seasonal
Map↗ Website
3

Knox Mountain Park

Park· 450 Knox Mountain Drive, Kelowna, BC V1Y 9X3

The bare hill at the top of downtown, and the reason Kelowna has a proper view within walking distance of a hotel. Trails climb from the lower parking lot to two lookouts over the lake and the bridge, with the Apex Trail the direct line up in about a kilometre. The level alternative is Paul's Tomb, which contours along a bench above undeveloped shoreline to a small beach you can only reach on foot, by bike or by boat. A paved park road runs to the top for anyone who would rather drive it, and it closes once a year in May, when the hill becomes a racecourse.

Time2 hr
CostFree
Best atSunset
TipClimb the Apex Trail and come down the road. The gradient is kinder in that direction.
Map
4

Waterfront Park and the boardwalk

Waterfront· Waterfront Park, Water Street, Kelowna, BC

Kelowna's front garden: landscaped lagoons, a grass bowl, the Island Stage that carries free concerts through the summer, and a boardwalk running out over the water past the marina. Tugboat Bay at the southern end is the sheltered swim, calm and shallow where the City Park beach is exposed. The walk continues south into City Park and Hot Sands Beach, north to the Rotary Marsh boardwalk, and it connects to the Okanagan Rail Trail, which makes it the obvious place to start a first morning. The Bennett Bridge stays in the frame the whole way.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best atEarly evening
TipTugboat Bay
Map↗ Website
5

Quails' Gate Estate Winery

Winery· 3303 Boucherie Road, West Kelowna, BC V1Z 2H3

A farm before it was a winery, and it still reads that way. Richard Stewart bought the Allison Ranch on this slope of Mount Boucherie in 1956 and planted vines; wine grapes followed in 1961, and the family founded the winery proper in 1989. The 1873 Allison House still stands on the property, one of the oldest buildings in the valley. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are what the estate is known for, the tasting room looks straight across the water, and Old Vines Restaurant beside it was Kelowna's first winery restaurant and still opens year round rather than seasonally.

Time2 hr
CostTastings ticketed
Best atLunchtime
TipIt is ten minutes along Boucherie Road from Mission Hill
Map↗ Website
6

Big White Ski Resort

Ski resort· Big White Road, Big White, BC, about 56 km east of Kelowna

The reason Kelowna has a winter season at all. Big White sits about 56 kilometres east of the city up a mountain road, with 2,765 acres of terrain, a base at 1,508 metres and a top station at 2,319 metres, which is high enough and far enough inland that the snow arrives dry rather than coastal. It averages roughly seven metres a season. The village is ski-in, ski-out and largely self-contained, so most people who go up stay up, and the night skiing is the largest in western Canada. In summer the lifts run for hiking and downhill biking instead.

TimeFull day
CostLift ticket
Best atJanuary to March
TipThe access road climbs fast and the top can be in cloud while the city is clear
Map↗ Website
7

Ride the Okanagan Rail Trail

Trail· Okanagan Rail Trail, Kelowna to Coldstream, BC

Fifty kilometres of former CN rail bed running north from downtown Kelowna to Coldstream, just outside Vernon. The grade never exceeds 1.3 percent, because trains needed it not to, and more than twenty kilometres of it hugs the shores of Wood Lake and Kalamalka Lake, which is the stretch worth the ride on its own. The surface alternates gravel and pavement. It starts within a few minutes of the downtown hotels, so a rental bike converts the whole north half of the valley into a day out with no driving involved.

TimeHalf day
CostFree, bike rental extra
Best atMorning
TipRide out to Kalamalka Lake and turn around there
Map↗ Website
8

Sncewips Heritage Museum

Museum· 260-525 Highway 97 South, West Kelowna, BC V1Z 4C9

The Westbank First Nation's own museum, telling the story of the syilx people of the Okanagan Nation in their own words rather than through a settler collection. It is small, it is in a shopping centre unit rather than a landmark building, and it is the most useful hour in the valley for understanding whose land the vineyards are planted on. Exhibits cover language, food systems and the water, and the staff will talk for as long as you have questions. Almost nobody visiting for the wine finds it, which is the argument for going.

Time1 hr
CostBy donation
Best atWeekday afternoon
TipIt sits in the Okanagan Lake Shopping Centre
Map↗ Website
9

Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Winery· 4870 Chute Lake Road, Kelowna, BC V1W 4M3

The Cipes family bought this vineyard on the Lakeshore bench in 1986 and have farmed it organically since, which makes it Canada's largest organic winery and its best-known producer of traditional-method sparkling wine. The building people come for is the four-storey pyramid, a scaled replica of the Great Pyramid at Giza, under which the wine is cellared on the house theory that the geometry improves it. Take the claim as you like: the sparkling is genuinely good, the terrace looks down the lake, and there is no other tasting room in the country that opens with an argument about sacred geometry.

Time90 min
CostTastings ticketed
Best atAfternoon
TipIt pairs with CedarCreek and Sperling on the Lakeshore route south of downtown
Map↗ Website
10

Father Pandosy Mission

Heritage site· 3685 Benvoulin Road, Kelowna, BC V1W 4M7

Four restored log buildings on a quiet lot in the Mission district: a chapel, a root house, a barn and the brothers' house. Charles Pandosy, an Oblate priest, founded the mission here in 1859, and it was the first permanent non-Indigenous settlement in the Okanagan. The missionaries planted fruit trees and the valley's first grapevines for sacramental wine, which is why every winery on this page traces its lineage back to this field. It takes twenty minutes to walk and it reframes the rest of the trip, so go before the wineries rather than after.

Time45 min
CostBy donation
Best atMorning
TipThe site is outdoors and seasonal
Map↗ Website

7 of the 10, mapped

Kelowna · 7 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Kelowna travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Kelowna?+
Three. One for the city: the waterfront, Knox Mountain and the Cultural District museums. One for the west-bank wineries, where Mission Hill, Quails' Gate, Frind and The Hatch sit within a few minutes of each other. One for the Myra Canyon trestles or the Okanagan Rail Trail. A fourth day buys you the Naramata Bench, or Big White in winter.
Do you need a car in Kelowna?+
For the wineries, yes, or a booked tour. BC Transit's route 97 is frequent along the Highway 97 spine and covers downtown, Orchard Park and UBC Okanagan, but almost none of the wine roads are on the network. British Columbia's impaired-driving penalties are severe, so if the group is tasting, someone is driving or nobody is.
When is the best time to visit Kelowna?+
Mid-June to mid-September for the lake, with July the sunniest month at close to ten hours of sun a day and highs commonly between 25 and 30°C. September is the better trade: the harvest is on, the water is still warm and the summer crowds have gone. Winter is a different trip built around Big White, which averages around seven metres of snow a season.
How do you tour the wineries without driving yourself?+
Book a tour, and pick one bank rather than trying to cover both. West Kelowna clusters Mission Hill, Quails' Gate, Frind, The Hatch and Indigenous World within a few kilometres of the bridge; the Lakeshore route south of downtown runs CedarCreek, Summerhill and Sperling. Several operators run scheduled summer routes, and the Lakeshore side works by bike if you are in no hurry.
Is Kelowna worth visiting in winter?+
If you ski. Big White is about an hour up the mountain road, with 2,765 acres of terrain, a base at 1,508 metres and a top station at 2,319 metres, so the season is long and the snow is dry rather than coastal. Tasting rooms stay open through the winter and are far quieter, and the city is at its cheapest.
Where to taste

Best wineries in Kelowna

Three wine roads leave the city: the west bank under Mount Boucherie, the Lakeshore benches south of downtown, and the slopes above the airport.
All 6 wineries →
Lakeshore

CedarCreek Estate Winery

Organic, Home Block restaurant

One of the valley's original licensed estates, rebuilt as a modern tasting house on the Lakeshore bench with terraced vineyards dropping to the water. Farmed organically, and Home Block is the restaurant to book if you want lunch attached to the tasting.

Map↗ Website
East Kelowna

Tantalus Vineyards

Riesling specialist, vines from 1927

Vines were first planted on this site in 1927, which makes it one of the oldest continuously producing vineyards in British Columbia, and the estate has built its name on single-vineyard Riesling since 2004. The winery building is LEED-certified and deliberately understated.

Map↗ Website
East Kelowna

Sperling Vineyards

Certified organic since 2017

The same family has farmed this ground for generations, and the estate calls itself British Columbia's oldest continuously operated vineyard. Certified organic since 2017, with a house style that leans toward minimal intervention.

Map↗ Website
West Kelowna

Frind Estate Winery

Lakefront tasting, beach below

The only winery in the Okanagan with its own lakefront, on Boucherie Road with a lawn and a beach below the tasting room. The least formal stop on the west bank and the easiest to talk a reluctant group into.

Map↗ Website
West Kelowna

Indigenous World Winery

First Indigenous-owned private winery in North America

Opened in 2016 and the first privately owned Indigenous winery in North America, founded by members of Westbank First Nation. The labels and the tasting notes carry syilx names, which no other tasting room on the bank does.

Map
West Kelowna

The Hatch

Small-lot wines, no formality

A deliberately ramshackle barn on Boucherie Road that pours the least reverent wine in the valley under labels nobody else would print. The counterweight to the bell tower up the road, and the one people talk about afterwards.

Map↗ Website
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Kelowna

A UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2025, and the proof is split between downtown dining rooms and the kitchens attached to the wineries.
All 6 restaurants →
Downtown

Waterfront Wines Restaurant

Chef and sommelier under one roof, open since 2004

Mark Filatow cooks and picks the wine in the same room, which is unusual and shows on both halves of the menu. Small plates, a long British Columbia list, and the reservation to make if you book only one dinner downtown.

Map↗ Website
Downtown

Bouchons Bistro

French bistro

Classic French cooking played straight, in the same Sunset Drive building as Waterfront Wines. It is the least fashionable room on this list and the one people keep going back to.

Map↗ Website
West Kelowna

Old Vines Restaurant

At Quails' Gate, open year round

Kelowna's first winery restaurant, at Quails' Gate, looking down the vineyard to the lake with Roger Sleiman cooking to the estate's own list. It opens year round, which is not true of every winery kitchen here.

Map↗ Website
Lakeshore

Home Block at CedarCreek

Farm-to-table, vineyard views

A contemporary farmhouse room on the Lakeshore bench, glass on three sides, with the Home Block vineyard and the lake in front of it and a kitchen that leans on the estate's own growing. The best lunch on the east-side wine route.

Map↗ Website
West Kelowna

The Terrace Restaurant

Open-air, seasonal, at Mission Hill

Open-air dining in the Mission Hill courtyard, with the vineyard falling to Okanagan Lake below the tables. Travel + Leisure has ranked it among the top five winery restaurants in the world. It runs seasonally, so check before you plan a trip around it.

Map↗ Website
Harvey Avenue

Frankie We Salute You

Vegetarian and vegan

Brian and Christina Skinner treat plants as the main event rather than the concession, sourced from Okanagan growers, with regional wine and craft beer alongside. The one room here a committed carnivore will still be arguing about the next day.

Map↗ Website
Where to drink

Best breweries & cideries in Kelowna

Four breweries sit within a block of each other in the North End, and the cider comes from the orchards the city was built on.
All 4 breweries & cideries →
Downtown

BNA Brewing Co. & Eatery

Restored warehouse, bowling lanes

A two-level taproom in a restored 1910 tobacco warehouse, with bowling lanes downstairs, arcade machines and a kitchen that takes itself seriously. The default downtown answer for a group that cannot agree on anything.

Map↗ Website
North End

Red Bird Brewing

Large patio, live music

One of the largest brewery patios in the city, in the North End cluster, with live music and food trucks running through the summer and a recently expanded room for when it is not.

Map↗ Website
North End

Vice & Virtue Brewing Co.

Culinary-driven brewery

Across the corner from Red Bird and the most food-forward of the North End breweries, which is the whole idea: the kitchen is not an afterthought bolted onto a taproom. Brewing here since 2018.

Map↗ Website
West Kelowna

Truck 59 Ciderhouse

Craft cider, picnic yard

Handmade cider on the west side, with a 1959 Chevy pumper truck parked at the door and a barbecue truck out the back. The easiest stop to fold into a west-bank winery run when the group has had enough wine.

Map↗ Website
On the water

Best beaches & parks in Kelowna

Okanagan Lake is 135 kilometres long and the city owns a good stretch of its east shore, most of it free and none of it more than ten minutes from downtown.
All 4 beaches & parks →
Downtown

City Park and Hot Sands Beach

The main downtown beach

The biggest and busiest stretch of sand in the city, at the foot of downtown, with change rooms, concessions and a great deal of company in July. This is where the beach scene actually is.

Map
Downtown

Tugboat Bay at Waterfront Park

Sheltered swimming, Island Stage

The calm counterpart to Hot Sands: a sheltered sandy bay beside the marina, with lagoons and lawns behind it and the Island Stage carrying free concerts through the summer.

Map↗ Website
Lower Mission

Gyro Beach

800 m marked swim loop

The Lower Mission family beach, with an 800-metre marked loop offshore that local open-water swimmers train on, shade behind the sand and newer change rooms and outdoor showers.

Map
East Kelowna

Mission Creek Regional Park

Creekside forest, greenway trailhead

The green spine of the east side, where Mission Creek runs under cottonwoods and the greenway begins. Kokanee return to the creek in early autumn, which is the argument for coming in September rather than July.

Map
On foot

Best trails & viewpoints in Kelowna

The valley walls start where the suburbs stop, so every one of these is a short drive and a real climb.
All 4 trails & viewpoints →
East Kelowna

Mission Creek Greenway

Over 16 km, flat to moderate

More than sixteen kilometres of continuous path along the creek, flat and shaded for the lower two thirds, then climbing into Scenic Canyon past Layer Cake Mountain above Hollywood Road. The best long walk in the city that needs no driving to reach.

Map
West Kelowna

Mount Boucherie

Extinct volcano, valley-wide view

An extinct volcano standing over the west-bank wineries, with short steep trails to a summit that takes in the whole valley. Under an hour up on the direct line, and there is no shade anywhere on it, so go early.

Map
West Kelowna

Kalamoir Regional Park

Just over 4 km of trails

Just over four kilometres of trail on the bluffs south of the bridge, dropping to quiet dog-friendly beaches at the bottom and climbing to a view back across the water at the city. The best short walk on the west side.

Map
West Kelowna

Rose Valley Regional Park

Large trail network

A wide web of trails on the hillside above the Rose Valley reservoir, quieter than Knox Mountain and big enough to lose an afternoon in. Photograph the trailhead map before you start.

Map
Indoors

Best museums & galleries in Kelowna

Almost all of it sits in the Cultural District, four blocks of former fruit-packing sheds behind the waterfront.
All 4 museums & galleries →
Cultural District

Kelowna Art Gallery

Public gallery, contemporary Canadian

The city's public gallery, on the corner of the Cultural District, showing contemporary Canadian work alongside a permanent collection built around the region. Small enough to see properly in an hour.

Map↗ Website
Cultural District

Okanagan Heritage Museum

Regional history, free admission by donation

The valley's history in one building: syilx material culture, the fur trade, the orchards and the packing houses that the surrounding streets used to be. Start here and the rest of the city reads more clearly.

Map↗ Website
Cultural District

Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum

Inside the Laurel Packinghouse

Housed in the Laurel Packinghouse, the last of the big fruit-packing sheds still standing downtown, which is as much the exhibit as the collection inside it. It covers the two industries this valley has lived off in sequence.

Map↗ Website
Cultural District

Rotary Centre for the Arts

Studios, theatre, gallery

Working artist studios you can look into, a black-box theatre and a gallery, on the same block as the museums. Worth walking through when something is on rather than making a detour when it is not.

Map
Out of town

Best day trips in Kelowna

The Okanagan runs 200 kilometres north to south on one highway, so everything below is a drive rather than an expedition.
All 4 day trips →
Penticton

The Naramata Bench

About 1 hr south

A single road above the east side of the lake with dozens of wineries strung along it, tighter and far less corporate than the west bank. Base the day in Penticton and work north from there rather than the other way round.

Map
Summerland

Kettle Valley Steam Railway

About 1 hr south

A restored working section of the same railway the Myra Canyon trestles belong to, running a 90-minute round trip through Prairie Valley and out onto the Trout Creek trestle. The one place you can ride the line instead of walking it.

Map↗ Website
Vernon

Vernon and Kalamalka Lake

About 45 min north

Kalamalka shifts colour through the summer as calcium carbonate crystallises in the water, and the provincial park on its shore holds the best swimming within an hour of the city. The Okanagan Rail Trail runs most of the way there.

Map
Osoyoos

Osoyoos and the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre

About 2 hr south

The bottom of the valley, where the climate turns properly arid, and the Osoyoos Indian Band's centre interprets the antelope-brush shrub steppe and the Okanagan Nation's long presence in it. The drive down Highway 97 is the wine route end to end.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Kelowna (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
May

Spring Okanagan Wine Festival

Ten days of tastings, winemaker dinners and vineyard events staged across the valley by individual wineries and restaurants. The 2026 edition runs from 1 to 10 May.

May

Knox Mountain Hill Climb

The longest continuously running paved hill climb in North America, up 3.5 kilometres of the Knox Mountain park road and roughly 245 metres of elevation. The 67th running is on 16 and 17 May 2026, and the park road closes for it.

Jun

Fat Cat Children's Festival

A free outdoor children's festival in Waterfront Park in the third week of June, with workshops, live performances and a parade along the waterfront.

Jul

Rock the Lake

Three days of rock at Prospera Place, a few minutes from the water. The 2026 edition runs from 10 to 12 July.

Jul

Across the Lake Swim

A 2.1-kilometre crossing of Okanagan Lake, run since 1949 and the oldest and largest open-water swim in Canada. The 2026 swim is on 18 July.

Jul

Parks Alive!

Roughly fifty free concerts and performances staged in parks and on street corners across the city through July and August. No ticket, no schedule to plan around, and it is how most of the city spends its summer evenings.

Sep

Okanagan Feast of Fields

A wandering harvest festival run by FarmFolk CityFolk: a glass in hand, a walk across a field, and tents of Okanagan chefs, growers and producers. The 16th edition is at Summerhill Pyramid Winery on 13 September 2026.

Oct

Fall Okanagan Wine Festival

The harvest counterpart to the spring festival, and the busier of the two: vineyard tastings, winemaker dinners and crush events across the valley while the fruit is coming in.

Getting around

Kelowna transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
YLW

Kelowna International Airport

About 15 kilometres north of downtown on Highway 97. It is the largest municipally owned airport in Canada and handled 2,315,432 passengers in 2025, which made it the ninth busiest in the country, and a terminal expansion opened in January 2026. Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto are the year-round trunk routes. BC Transit route 23 serves the terminal and connects to the route 97 spine at the UBC Okanagan exchange.

Map↗ Website
BUS

Kelowna Regional Transit

BC Transit runs the city network. Route 97 is the RapidBus spine, linking Westbank and West Kelowna through downtown to Orchard Park and UBC Okanagan, and it is the only route frequent enough to use without consulting a timetable. Routes 23 and 90 continue north from UBCO to the airport, Lake Country and Vernon. The wine roads are almost entirely off the network, so transit covers the city and not the vineyards.

↗ Website
CAR

Driving and the Bennett Bridge

Highway 97 is the valley's single north-south artery and it runs straight through the city, crossing to West Kelowna on the William R. Bennett Bridge, a 1.1-kilometre five-lane floating span opened in May 2008 with a sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists. Kelowna is roughly four hours from Vancouver by road. A car is the honest answer for the wineries unless you book a tour, and British Columbia's impaired-driving penalties are severe, so settle who is driving before the first tasting.

Map
BIKE

Okanagan Rail Trail

Fifty kilometres of former rail bed from downtown Kelowna to Coldstream near Vernon, at no more than a 1.3 percent grade, with more than twenty kilometres of it along the shores of Wood and Kalamalka lakes. It starts a few minutes from the downtown hotels, so a rental bike opens up the north half of the valley without a car.

Map↗ Website
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Kelowna, Canada

The classics to order before you leave.

Okanagan cherries

The valley's headline summer crop, picked from late June into August, and the reason fruit stands line the highway north of the city. The late varieties bred at the federal research station in Summerland are what keep the season running past the middle of summer.

Okanagan peaches

August fruit, sold within a few kilometres of the tree, and the strongest single argument for visiting in the back half of the summer. Kelowna's own orchards lean to apples and cherries, so most peaches come up the highway from Penticton and Summerland.

Okanagan apples

The crop the city was built on and the reason its oldest nickname is the Orchard City. Ambrosia was found as a chance seedling in a Similkameen orchard an hour south and is now grown across the valley.

Icewine

Grapes left on the vine until they freeze hard, then pressed still frozen, which concentrates the sugar into something closer to syrup than to wine. Canada produces more of it than any other country and several Kelowna estates bottle it.

Okanagan sockeye

Sockeye run up the Columbia and into the Okanagan River each autumn, a fishery the Okanagan Nation Alliance has spent decades rebuilding. Restaurants that name their source will tell you when what is on the plate came from here.

Bannock

Pan-fried or oven-baked bread, now on menus across the valley in savoury and sweet versions. The Indigenous-owned kitchens are where it is cooked with the most intent rather than as a garnish.

Nanaimo bar

A British Columbia invention named for the town on Vancouver Island: crumb and coconut base, custard buttercream through the middle, chocolate on top, and no baking involved at any stage. Every bakery in the province keeps a version.

Poutine

Fries, cheese curds and gravy, Quebec's contribution to the national menu and now unavoidable everywhere in between. The test is whether the curds squeak, which means they are fresh.

Kelowna fact sheet

Kelowna at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Canada
Region
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (Central Okanagan)
Population
144,576 (city, 2021 census); 222,162 in the metropolitan area
Founded
Oblate mission established 1859, incorporated as a city in 1905
Nickname
The Orchard City
Language
English
Currency
Canadian dollar (CAD, $)
Time zone
Pacific Time (UTC-8), PDT in summer
Calling code
+1, area codes 250, 778 and 236
Airports
Kelowna International (YLW), about 15 km north of downtown
Power
120V, types A and B
Emergency
911
Ideal length
3 days
Getting around
By car, by bike, by wine tour
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The name comes from an Okanagan word meaning grizzly bear.
  • British Columbia's wine industry begins in a mission garden. Father Charles Pandosy's Oblate mission planted the Okanagan's first vines in 1859 to make sacramental wine, and the valley now carries around 84 percent of the province's vineyard acreage.
  • Kelowna became Canada's first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in October 2025, on an application led jointly by the City of Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, Tourism Kelowna and Okanagan College.
  • The Knox Mountain Hill Climb is the longest continuously running paved hill climb in North America. It closes a city park road every May and runs 3.5 kilometres up roughly 245 metres of elevation.
  • Summerhill cellars its wine under a four-storey pyramid built as a scaled replica of the Great Pyramid at Giza, on the winery's own theory that the geometry improves what is aged beneath it.

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