Stop by The Beanery Cafe
The Beanery Cafe is my favourite cafe in Summerland, and one of the best in the valley. It's located right at the start of the main stretch of 'Downtown'. I put downtown in quotes because Summerland is quite small and the downtown is essentially just one street (appropriately named 'Main Street') lined with some shops and restaurants.
The drip coffee here is on point, the espresso drinks are strong, and the food is considerably better than most cafes. The panini sandwiches are especially impressive; they are well thought out, stuffed to the point of overflowing, and grilled to perfection in their panini press right in front of you.
We love camping in Summerland, but we are lazy with our camp stove in the mornings, so it's become a ritual whenever we camp here that our first stop each morning is The Beanery for a drip and a massive sandwich. Personally, I would take the camping/Beanery combo over a 5-star hotel any day.
They have plenty of nice indoor seating as well as a few tables outside along the sidewalk. I would recommend you get your food for here and drinks to go. Have your breakfast and start your coffee outside on the patio, then once you've eaten, take your coffee with you to go explore the town.
Wander Downtown and Shops
Like I said earlier, the downtown in Summerland is more of a street than a district, but it is a very nice street. If you were in a rush, you could walk the whole street end to end in around 10 or 15 minutes, but with so much packed alongside the road, you could easily kill an hour or two.
Highlights on the street you shouldn't miss are
- True Grain Bake House: A top-notch specialty bakery that sells a huge selection of bread, sweet treats, and even specialty flour and baking supplies.
- The Carousel Collective: A quirky antique store with… uhm… ahh… stuff. Go check this one out yourself and let me know if you can find the words to describe the eclectic collection of knick-knacks and nostalgia-inducing wares.
- Sunday Market: If you can line up your visit with the Summerland farmers market, which runs 9-1 every Sunday, the whole main street is blocked off and comes alive with booths set up along both sides. There is everything from produce stands from local farms, handcrafted gifts from local artists, and unique food trucks.
There are several other thrift stores, clothing stores, and other harder-to-define stores along, so give yourself some time to wander and pop in wherever calls to you.
Ride The Kettle Valley Steam Railway
This is the main tourist attraction in Summerland. It is really cool, really dorky, really fun, and really slow-paced all at the same time. I had a great time, but I can understand how the experience might not be for everyone. So here is a brief description of the experience if you're on the fence about whether or not this activity is for you.
When we arrived, we were a bit confused because the train was backwards. The classic cow-catcher tip of the train was hooked up to the passenger cars, and the bulky rectangular end led the train. This looked quite odd and way less cool than it did in all the murals you see around town.
Turns out there is a good reason for this. The train does the same route on every ride, leaving the station, following the tracks down the mountainside and out onto the Todd Creek Trestle. The trestle is the midpoint of the ride, and for me it was also the highlight.
It's the highlight for 2 reasons: Firstly, the trestle itself is super cool, and the views from on top of it are amazing, but secondly, this is where they do a cool maneuver where they unhook the engine car, drive it past the passenger cars, and then hook it up facing the right way onto the other side.
Since it is all downhill to the trestle, the engine car is hooked up backwards like that to actually steady the train along the descent. Then it is hooked up into the typical configuration to haul everyone but uphill to the station.
The train stops near the trestle for around 15 minutes, and you can hop out and get a photo with the train that now looks a bit more like the murals you've likely already seen around the area.
The whole journey takes about an hour and a half, starting at 10:30 AM and ending around noon. The conductor speaks through the speakers throughout the ride, pointing out interesting details in the landscape as it rolls by and shares fun facts about the train's history, and points out some interesting tidbits about the train's operation that you wouldn't gather just from watching it chug along.
Even if you're not that interested in trains or rail history, the views along the entire ride are stunning. You weave around the mountains and look down to the wide stretches of farmland, up into distant rolling hills, and pass iconic landmarks like Giant's Head Mountain.
Lunch at Dirty Laundry Winery
Nothing works up an appetite quite like a 25km/h train ride! You can grab a bite to eat back in town (Giant's Head Brewing and Bread & Cheese Co are local favourites), or if you're after something more unique and with more of a view, head to Dirty Laundry Winery.
You will have seen the patio during your train ride (and probably waved at the patrons as you passed). There is a second train that leaves the station at 1:30, so if you really take your time with your meal, you will be able to watch the train pass from a new vantage point.
There is something for everyone here. They have a full cafe-style drinks menu with coffees, teas, and matcha. They also have an expansive menu of local beers, ciders, and wines (it's the Okanagan after all). And for food, they focus on smoked meats (vegan alternatives are available) and pizzas.
The kitchen does a great job with it all, but for many, the patio and the views are the main draw. You will see the patio when you pass by below on the train. It's perched up high above the vineyard and looks down and out to a gorgeous stretch of the Okanagan Valley.
Fruit Stands
After lunch, head over to Granny's Fruit Stand. This is a cute little shop just off the highway that sells a wide variety of local fruit and products made from it, like jams, pies, and baked goods. They also have a cafe/bakery attached that sells a solid selection of typical baked goods.
It's a cute little stop on its own, but it can also be a strategic snack load-up before our next stop of the day, which is the beach!
Sun Oka Beach
After the fruit stand, it's time for the beach, and Sun Oka is where I'd take you. It's a sandy stretch just south of Summerland, and after a morning of trains and wine, it's the perfect place to just stop moving for a while.
The water stays shallow for a long way out, so it's a good one for families or for anyone who prefers to wade in slowly rather than commit to a cold plunge all at once. There are picnic tables scattered right on the sand if you want to eat with your feet close to the water, and more of them tucked into the grassy area behind the beach under some shade trees if you've had enough sun for one day.
During the summer season, there's a concession running on site, so if you didn't load up enough snacks at Granny's, you're not totally out of luck. For washrooms, the change building has flush toilets, and there are two pit toilets by the adventure playground, one of which is wheelchair accessible. Worth knowing: the pit toilets get shut down after September 30, sometimes sooner depending on the weather.
Gordon Beggs Rotary Beach
If Sun Oka has you feeling like you've had enough sand and sun for one stretch, cut it short and head over to Gordon Beggs Rotary Beach for something a bit more active. This one is clearly built with the community in mind, and it shows in all the little features packed along the shoreline.
Starting from the right side, you've got a proper sandy beach to work with, and this is where most of the fun stuff is clustered. There's a slide right on the beach that dumps kids into the shallow water, which is about as low-stakes as water play gets. Past that are two large docks you can either lounge on or use to ease into the lake.
Keep walking, and you'll hit a stretch of natural stone that's been manicured into a dock jutting out into the water. It looks decorative, but it's actually doing some real work, since it shields the swimming area by the first docks from the wind coming across the lake, with the marina also protecting the area from the other side.
Past that stone dock is a long wooden one that stretches well out into the water, and at the end of it is the real highlight: a slide that drops you into the deep end, open to all ages this time, not just kids. The detail that got me was the little hand pump at the top that lets you pump lake water up to rinse the slide down before you go, which turns the whole thing into a makeshift waterslide rather than just a dry metal chute.
If sliding isn't your thing, there are also stairs and ladders going straight down into the deep water, so you can skip the wade-in altogether and just get on with it.
There is also a nice flat walking path that hugs the side of the lake and passes by several playgrounds, tennis courts, dog parks, and other community projects that will likely spark one of those 'I really see why people choose to live here' conversations.
Dinner at Shaugnesey Cove
For dinner, head to Shaughnessy's Cove, an institution of a pub with a big patio sitting right on the water. After a day of trains, wine, and beach hopping, this is exactly the kind of low-key spot to top it off.
The menu sticks to the classics you'd expect from a proper Canadian pub: burgers, wings, fish and chips. The drinks list leans heavily on local favourites too, which tracks given you're sitting in the middle of wine country.
Worth knowing that Shaughnessy's Cove has been around a lot longer than its current owners, the Mackenzie Hospitality Group. This pub has a storied history stretching back almost 35 years, so you're not just getting dinner with a view; you're getting a piece of Summerland that's been doing this a long time.
Giants Head
Giant's Head is the hike everyone in Summerland ends up doing eventually. It's also one of the best views in the entire area, so if you only have energy for one hike today, make it this one.
There's free parking at the base, and from there you've got a decision to make: hike the whole thing, or cheat a little and drive partway up. The driving option only works when the gate at the base is open, which runs April 15 to October 30, Monday through Saturday, noon to 9 pm.
Just keep an eye on the time, because getting stuck up there after the gate closes is not how you want to end your day. The road itself is narrow and winds around quite a bit, so take it slow and watch for cars coming down the other way.
If you drive up to the upper lot, you've got two trail options to the peak. The Grind Trail is short and direct, but it's steep the entire way, no easing into it. The Friendly Giant Trail takes a longer, switchback route that crosses paths with The Grind a few times along the way, and that extra length buys you a noticeably gentler climb. Either one gets you to the top in 10 to 20 minutes depending on your pace and how often you stop to catch your breath.
We drove up and opted for the Friendly Giant trail, which already seemed quite steep, and we watched a few others slip and fall on the steeper route since the path gets slippery with the dry dust. The time difference is negligible and might save you a load of laundry!
If you're starting from the bottom and hiking the whole thing, there are four ways up, and they range pretty widely in effort:
The roadway itself is an option, walking or biking the paved road up (2.6km, 230m gain). It's steady and flat, but you're sharing the road with cars and bikes coming down, so stay alert.
The Grind Trail is the quickest and most direct route (1.6km, 275m gain), though quick doesn't mean easy. It's steep from start to finish, and you'll need to walk a short stretch of roadway to reach the trailhead.
The Friendly Giant Trail is the easiest option, but also the longest (2.23km, 135m gain). The switchbacks keep the grade manageable, though you'll need to walk further along the roadway, past the Grind's trailhead, to reach the start.
The East Ridge Trail is the longest and most challenging (3km, 335m gain), meandering up and down the east side of the mountain rather than climbing steadily. The upside is you can start right from the main lot without touching the roadway at all.
Whichever way you go up, the views at the top deliver. One side opens up into the distant valley, and the other gives you sweeping views across the lake.
There are a couple of details at the summit worth slowing down for. There's a large boulder set into a concrete platform with a plaque telling an Indigenous story about the mountain's history, which is worth a quick read.
The other feature took me a minute to figure out. Scattered around the top are about a dozen little metal poles sticking out of the ground, each with a hollow rectangular tube on top that looks a bit like a telescope, except there's no lens inside.
Etched into the side of each one is the name of a well-known Summerland landmark. I found one labelled Todd Creek Trestle and looked through it out of curiosity, and there it was, framed perfectly in the distance, no magnification needed, the same trestle I'd ridden the steam train over that same morning. I ended up wandering between every single one to see what it pointed at. There are so many that I ended up testing my wife's patience a little, but it was neat!
Final Thoughts
This itinerary works well if you're coming for the day from Penticton or Kelowna, and it also works well if you're staying in Summerland itself.
If you want another similarly cute and quintessentially Okanagan day trip, consider a Day Trip to Naramata, or a Day Trip to Peachland.
And if you're in the deep end of planning your Okanagan vacation, get started with our Penticton Guide and our Kelowna Guide.
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