Friday Evening: Quick Walk and Dinner
You will probably be arriving later in the day. Either you're finishing work in Kelowna before heading down, or you just spent the whole day driving over from Vancouver.
Because of this, we will take it easy tonight. Get into town, drop your bags at your hotel, and head straight for the Waterfront Trail.
It's a flat paved path that runs about a kilometre along Okanagan Lake Beach, from the SS Sicamous Museum to Rotary Park, and it's the easiest way to get your bearings after a long drive. If you need a reason to push all the way to the far end, there's a giant peach next to the park, out of which Tickleberry sells ice cream.
If you managed to get in early in the day, Okanagan Lake Beach is a great spot to start your relaxing weekend.
Either way, by the time evening rolls around and the group starts chatting about where to go for dinner, head to Elma.
Elma is a Turkish-inspired restaurant right on Okanagan Lake, and the room alone is worth the visit: big, bright, and decorated with tiles, lighting, and other pieces sourced directly from Turkey, which gives it a warmth and feels intentional.
The menu takes that same foundation and runs it through the Okanagan lens, modern Turkish cooking made with local ingredients, and the drinks list leans into local wine, beer, and spirits too.
The location is amazing, and it's the restaurant in town everyone is talking about.
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Click here for discounts and booking tips!Friday Night: Brewery Or Bedtime
Since this is just a weekend itinerary, the days are jam-packed to make the most of the time we have. So Saturday has an early start and a busy schedule, so probably best to have a decently early night.
But… you are an adult after all, and I can't send you to bed and stop you from going to a brewery instead. But what I can do is make sure you go to the right one.
The menus don't vary much from place to place. Everyone runs seasonal brews plus a few curveballs, a stout here, a radler there. If you're a serious beer drinker, compare menus online first. If you're more like me and think a beer is a beer, just pick based on the patio.
I've worked through most of the breweries in town and order the same hazy pale ale at every one, so for me it comes down to atmosphere, and Cannery Brewing wins that by a wide margin.
They've got what they call the Backyard, a large fenced-in space with picnic tables on artificial turf. It's right alongside the road, but somehow it still feels removed from the city once you're inside it. There's an outdoor bar and a burger truck, so you never need to go inside, which keeps the whole place feeling like a beach day even though there's no water in sight.
Other solid stops if you want to turn it into a bit of a crawl: Neighbourhood Brewing, Yellow Dog, and Highway 97 Brewing.
Saturday Morning: Coffee & Farmers Market
I hope you didn't have too much fun at the brewery last night, because today we're starting early.
Start of the morning with a coffee at Wayne and Freda. The patio has picnic tables under what might be the largest umbrella I've ever seen, and they keep the bay doors open all summer, so even the indoor seating feels like sitting outside. Order the coffees to go, enjoy the patio for a little, then take your drinks with you to the market.
Next, head to the farmers market. Earlier really is better here. Penticton shuts down its entire downtown core for this market; the stalls run for multiple blocks, and once the crowd builds, it moves at an actual crawl.
Getting there close to the 8:30 am opening means you actually get to browse the dozen-plus stalls of onions, garlic, potatoes, greens, and fruit so fresh it's tempting to eat it on the spot, rather than shuffling along behind everyone else.
Past the produce, it turns into a bit of a free-for-all: baked goods, flowers, pottery, art, a tarot card reader, a henna artist, even a foot massage stand last time we went. It runs Saturdays from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm between April 18 and October 31, so check you're not visiting outside that window.
Saturday Afternoon: Beach Day
Spend the early afternoon at Skaha Lake Beach. This is my favourite beach in Penticton. It sits on Lake Skaha, which is noticeably smaller than Okanagan Lake and warmer because of it.
The water is clean and calm and stays shallow for a long stretch out, so you can wade to chest depth and still have plenty of room to swim. A line of buoys marks where the swimming area ends, and past that there's a steep drop-off where the lake gets deep fast.
It's a busy beach, but it's big enough to absorb the crowds.
There's a building near the centre point of the beach with a concession selling ice cream, fries, and poutine, plus public washrooms with running water and clean change rooms.
The sand runs the full length of the waterfront, backed by a concrete path, and behind that there are grassy areas with picnic tables, benches, trees casting welcome shade, tennis courts, and a playground. It has a charming community feel, with locals and visitors mixed together, which makes it a bit chaotic but in the right way.
If you're travelling with camp chairs in the trunk, you can steal our favourite move here. Instead of setting up towels on the sand, we just take the chairs right into the water. The water is calm and stays shallow enough that you can just sit in ankle-deep water, keeping cool and either reading or yapping in the sun.
Saturday Evening: Naramata Bench
Once you've had enough sun, head out to the Naramata Bench for the evening. First stop is Creek and Gulley, an unpretentious cidery with one of the best patios in the valley. It looks out over their own orchard, down across the bench, and then down again to Okanagan Lake, layered views the whole way.
The staff are friendly, and the cider is spot on, but they only do small bites, so treat this as the warm-up rather than dinner itself.
From there, head to Poplar Grove for dinner. The restaurant sits on the estate, and the kitchen runs on a straightforward principle: look at what the local farmers have, figure out what's at its peak, and build the plate from there. Also, they stop serving at 5 pm, so make sure to get there early enough to have some time to soak in the view.
They forage what they can themselves, work within the Okanagan's seasons rather than around them, and the menu shifts accordingly, so what you order will depend on when you show up, which is the appeal for most people.
The wine list is Poplar Grove's own, and the food is designed around it rather than just alongside it. It's the kind of dinner that is a full experience rather than a quick meal.
Saturday Night: Sunset at Mount Munson
Cap the night at Mount Munson for sunset.
By now you've been here long enough that you've probably already noticed the massive white sign on the mountain across the lake that reads 'Penticton'. That sign is built onto the side of an ancient volcano named Mount Munson, and you can actually go right up there.
The big draw here is the sign. Built in 1937, the massive white PENTICTON letters are visible from clear across Okanagan Lake, and it's actually larger than the Hollywood sign.
Near the summit, there's also Pen-Henge, a small set of standing stones set up by local astronomers to mark the exact point of sunset during the equinoxes and solstices. It's a strange, low-key thing to stumble upon at the top of a hill.
Parking is free at a small lot at the base, and the walk up to the sign takes about 10 minutes. It's definitely not a hike, but it is a steep walk, and the path is dry and dusty. So you won't need hiking boots, but you might be struggling with flip-flops.
Sunday Morning: Coffee in Town
Ease into the last day with coffee at Soe Cafe. It's smaller and quieter than Wayne and Freda, with a sleek modern interior and a bit of sidewalk seating, known mainly for its matcha lattes if that's your thing. Suits a slower Sunday morning better than fighting another lineup.
Sunday Midday: Biking the KVR
Spend the late morning and early afternoon biking the KVR Pathway out toward Naramata.
The Kettle Valley Railway used to be a working train line. It's long since been decommissioned and converted into a multi-use pathway, and because it was built for trains, the grade never exceeds 2%, and the path is wide, even, and about as easy a ride as you'll find anywhere in the interior.
The full KVR runs 650 kilometres from Hope to Castlegar, but don't worry, the most used sections are much more reasonable lengths.
The most popular stretch starts in Penticton and heads toward Naramata, and most people turn around at what's called the Little Tunnel.
It's exactly what it sounds like: a small tunnel cut through rock, originally built large enough for a train to fit through. It's short enough that it never goes fully dark. You can see both ends from the middle, but it's still long enough to cool the air down inside a good 10 degrees from the hot air on the trail.
On either side of the tunnel, the views open up over the Naramata Bench, back toward Penticton, and across the full width of Okanagan Lake.
Just past the little tunnel, there is a small trail called the Lady Bug Trail. To find it, just head past the little tunnel and keep an eye out for a sign for it on the left. The sign labels it as a family-friendly trail, but I think that is based on a very BC definition of family-friendly. The trail is uneven, requires climbing up some rock faces, and you will need to look out for rattlesnakes.
But for typical BC families it's a great walk. The trail is short and takes about 10 minutes each way, and it takes you off the main KVR trail out to a cliff that looks up to the little tunnel and down to the lake and the sea of vineyards. There is a little bench at the end, and the view is stunning (although very similar to the view from the far side of Little Tunnel).
Now, you can keep going on the path all the way to Adra Tunnel, but that is another 15km from Little Tunnel, and about 5km of that, the path degrades a bit, and the sandy terrain makes the ride even harder. If you're an avid cyclist, go for it, but if you're already pooped by now, it's probably best not to push yourself too hard.
We were exhausted and ready for the brewery, so we turned around after the ladybug trail, and then we drove up to the Adra tunnel the next day, and I think we made the right call.
Adra Tunnel is really neat, but you can also do a drive/hike to reach it as well, and it's a bit less committal than the bike ride. If you're interested in more details about Adra Tunnel, you can check out our dedicated guide.
Even if you brought your own bike, it is worth renting an E-bike for this. Even though the path has an intentionally gradual slope, it climbs the entire way steadily, and the extra power really helps. The best place to rent from is Epic Cycling Outdoor Adventures. They are based right along the waterfront, which puts you about a 5-minute cycle from the start of the trailhead.
Their bikes are in great condition and have some serious power to them. We rode to Little Tunnel and back and still had around 70% charge on our batteries. The owners are friendly locals and will walk you through how the bike works and everything you need to know about the trail.
Sunday Afternoon: Cool Reward
Regardless of where you decide to turn around, the way back is a breeze. Coming back down the KVR, you will realize that the path you've been grinding up is actually quite a bit steeper than you realized. Be careful coming down because it's pretty easy to pick up a lot of speed and there are lots of obstacles on the path: hikers, deer, other cyclists, and clueless tourists grabbing photos.
The path pulls you down like a magnet straight to the pub. The default pit stop before returning your bike is Abandoned Rail Brewing. It sits right on the KVR itself, so it's full of sweaty, dusty cyclists and hikers doing exactly what you're doing, which gives it a great communal feel.
The patio is a loose mix of fixed tables and a generous scattering of red Muskoka chairs that seem to get rearranged constantly. They have a solid craft beer list and a food menu that covers the usual brewery staples: pretzels, burgers, pizza, smaller bites to go alongside a pint. Grab a drink, settle into a chair, and let your legs recover for a while.
Sunday Evening: Pizza Time
Finish the weekend with pizza at Trato. They do proper Neapolitan pizza, which means imported double zero flour, San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte, and a domed wood-fired oven that gets the crust lightly charred on the outside and soft through the middle. The pizzas come to the table uncut, which is either a charming detail or a minor inconvenience depending on your feelings about knife-and-fork pizza. Either way, it's properly authentic.
The wine list leans Italian; there are also classic Italian cocktails and local craft beer. It's a low-key way to close things out before heading home.
FAQ
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