British Columbia South Gunnagana five-hour drive or 50-minute flight from southeast Vancouver, is a speckled pine forest with rivers, sun-soaked vineyards and orchards that exudes peaches, cherries and apples. The country road around the Green Valley is slow enough to tread leisurely on a bike, covered with faded fruit rack signs and boutiques, a family-run winery.
While the entire Okanagan Valley is nearly 125 miles from the Washington border, the southernmost part feels like it was pulled from the past era, from the town of Naramata to the north to the Osoyoos in the south. “It’s peaceful and comfortable.” Similarkameen SIP and Cycle In the town of Cawston. “It feels like a secret place, no one really knows, we found it.”
Photo: Wine growers in British Columbia
The region marks one of Canada’s few desert environments (semi-arid deserts rather than dunes resembling the Sahara), while the soil’s unique minerals combined with extreme swaying temperatures, the varieties produced here have a unique flavor. The area is home to Oliver, the wine capital of Canada, and Cawston, the country’s organic agricultural capital, but there are many other ways to explore when travelers don’t drink award-winning wine overlooking the vineyards or taste farm-to-table fares. Hiking and horseback trails meander through fragrant yellow pine and wild sage, visitors can learn about the rich Indigenous culture of the Department of Health’s First Nations at a state-of-the-art arts and cultural center and the brewery of Canada’s only Indigenous winery.
You can’t stumble here with scenic wineries or restaurants, no more than a mile here, but here are some of the best places to stay, drink, eat and explore in this field shelter.
Where to live
Photo: courtesy of Spirit Ridge Resort
