A Girl’s Trip to Kelowna
A few months ago four of my friends from University were on the hunt for a place to meet up for a reunion that was easy to get to from Kingston, Toronto and Calgary. After a couple of long text threads we settled on Kelowna, which had the perfect combination of direct flights, outdoor adventures and (most importantly) wineries.
While November may not seem like the best month to take a holiday anywhere in Canada, Kelowna turned out to be the perfect spot for an extended weekend. And if this city is beautiful in November, I can only imagine what it’s like in the summer!
WHERE TO STAY
airbnb
Nothing beats staying somewhere where everyone has their own bed, so while we debated staying in one of the waterfront hotels, once we found this house on the water walking distance from downtown we were sold! The house itself was pretty basic, but the views from the backyard were amazing. And we happened to be staying in the Abbott Street Historic district which was full of Arts & Crafts cottages and mid-Century modern houses. If you like exploring the neighbourhoods in Palm Springs, you’ll like this too.
Hotel Zed
A close runner up in our hunt for a place to stay in Kelowna was Hotel Zed, a boutique hotel with all the essentials like a ping pong lounge, bikes and in the summer a pool. The rainbow theme of the hotel is another Palm Springs throwback (Saguaro Palm Springs vibes)
WHAT TO DO
Go for a hike
The number of hikes a short drive from Kelowna is endless. We decided to go for one that had the perfect mix of views, waterfalls and was only moderately challenging (to save energy for wine touring of course). Bear Creek Provincial Park fit the bill perfectly, and even better was only a 15 minute drive from our airbnb.
Take a Wine Tour
The real purpose of our trip was to make our way through a sampling of the 40 wineries in Kelowna. We did a wine tour with Discover Okanagan Tours, which was a great sampling of wineries, including Mission Hill, Mt Boucherie Estate Winery, and our favourite, The Hatch. (Try the Octobubbles). One day of wine touring wasn’t quite enough , so we headed back to Quail’s Gate to try some more wine and take in some views.
Visit some breweries and cideries
It turns out that the Okanagan isn’t just a world class wine region, but also happens to home to all the fruit , making it and ideal spot to make small batch ciders. We came across Truck 59 Cider at dinner at Salt and Brick, and decided to make a trip to the cidery on our last day. Not only was the cider delicious, the setting was pretty incredible. We watched a sunset and moonrise from the picnic tables while enjoying our cider.
