Things to do around Vernon BC
 

Hey gang, heading out to Vernon next week with the wife and 3 kids.
Just wondering what all is worth checking out when we are out there. We are camping at the Dutch campground so close to town and the beach from what I understand. Any must see things around town?
Thanks in advance.

Head up to Silver Star for the day. In most years you can take the chairlift up and hike around and back down. There is also a company up there, again, most years, that is set up for horseback riding on the mountain right by the resort. We've done both a couple times and it was a great way to spend the day.

Hit Davison Orchards and get some pie!

Starlight drive-in at Enderby. If you are bored one evening.

Ellison provincial park on okanagan lake. Must see and you will enjoy the rocky areas where you can dive into the lake. Very popular with the locals. Golfing is fantastic. Predator ridge is great and even if you don’t golf go up there and have lunch overlooking the the course. Beautiful place and In the same area you have a few beautiful wineries that offer tours. That’s cool to see.
Historic Okeefe ranch is fun for the kids. Haven’t been there for many years and I’m sure it’s still the same. That one is just ten minutes out of Vernon towards Falkland.
If you like fish and chips you have to eat at C lovers. That is a must do if you like that stuff. I have not had better anywhere. Get the haddock.
If you have a big boat with you I recommend Mabel Lake. Even if you don’t catch anything it’s a beauty of a place to spend the day. Go to the Enderby end. Pm me if you need info. Kind of know the area. Lived there 25 years.

Vernon
 

I’m not sure of the timing, but there’s a very large RCACadet camp there. The end of season parade is spectacular. Much pomp and circumstance, and the bands are fantastic. Well worth a visit.

If you like swimming, go cliff diving. Think it’s kalamalka lake. Been 30 years.

Not sure what it’s like this year with COVID, but couple years back when I was in Vernon, we visited Splashdown Outdoor Waterpark. Was a ton of fun. Even has a nice view of the lake iirc (edit: nice view of that small lake next to the Okanagan lol)

It was a good place years ago. Think it was called Atlantis park. I’m not sure if it’s even open with this plague crap going on. That lake it overlooks is Swan lake.

We just came back from Vernon a week ago. Rented a place on the lake t(Okanagan) here and it was great - except the water was a little dirty (algae) but still a nice trip.

Kalamaka Lake beaches and the water is much cleaner and the lake is more picturesque - and the fishing is far better.

The wife and daughter went to farmers market and bought some pies, fruit, and other stuff and enjoyed their times there - Davison Orchards County Village also has better fruit compared to the road side stands. It has everting, vegetables, jams, spices, coffee shop, petting zoo, ponies, all sorts of things to do and they seem to do a good job of social distancing so it seems OK.

One more thing I forgot - if you like good, authentic Mexican, Los Huesos is the ticket.

They are often "sold out" as they only do "X" number of meals per day - but you can call them at 2 order a set of meals and pickup and bring it back home to eat - well worth it.

Real top quality Mexican - and since I'm in Texas and California all the time, and eat lots of Mexican - I can guarantee you this is authentic and top quality. Better than anything you can get in Edmonton by a long shot.

The verde sauce on steak enchiladas is my favorite.

We stayed at the big chalet like resort (Swan Lake Resort) right next to the water park last summer for a week. It was pretty nice.

The water park is called Splashdow now. Its open but with reduced hours.

That reminds me of the food tour we did in Kelowna that trip. Kelowna food tours I think it was called. The lady running it had done so for years and we went around to 4 or 5 different restaurants. I could just barely walk by the time I was done. The food was spectacular.

Not Vernon but not far away.

Take a float through Polson Park.

There are some nice golf courses if you are into that sort of thing

I mentioned it in a post. Yes there is predator. Probably played it a few dozen times and it’s a good one. Very expensive. One course no one seems to know about is the Rise. It’s designed by Freddie couples and it’s kind of hidden and lots of people don’t know about it. I have played it many time’s and it’s amazing. The price is good too. Will play this month.
Spallmacheen is also nice but it is friggen hot out on that track

Think it was called the same when I was last there in 2015. Had to google it to find the name and I saw it was formerly called Atlantis which sounded more familiar. It is apparently open

If you ride bikes the rail trail is a decommissioned rail bed that's a bike trail now, that starts right by the campground and goes along the lake 50 km to Kelowna. A short walk from the you is Kal beach, a very nice beach and pier, with a waterfront patio (Alexanders) for a beer and a bite to eat at the east end.The west end has a good coffee shop. Mondays and Thursdays there's a farmers market in town and if you want a nice float/tube down a beautiful river Enderby is close by. There's three good beaches (one is a dog beach) to walk to in Kal lake provincal park a couple minutes away. Great single track mountain biking there also.

Just cane back from Penticton area, not too far from Vernon and just wanted to say if you are expecting small crowds and distancing fuggetaboutit.

Everywhere we went, especially Osoyoos was PACKED wall to wall with people..it was nuts. Usually grabbed an ice cream and bailed out asap.

Not helping with Kelowna just a heads-up the area might be very busy. Sure is a beautiful area!

Yes it’s busy. Got to go to the areas where tourists don’t know. I’m from Vernon and I never go to Kal beach. Guess some people love the crowds but I usually end up at some quiet areas of Mabel lake.

I hunted up through the Monashee in the early to mid 90's for Mule deer. A guy I met out on the west coast fishing out of Nootka owned a water well drilling business out of Lumby so we even hunted Whitetails out of his place. Pretty nice area for sure.

Tons of great trout lakes out Lumby and Cherryville way. Echo is a beautiful lake and the monashee range is great. The is one of the areas where not too many tourists go
Word of caution. Lumby to Cherryville is the creepiest stretch of highway I have ever been on at night. Can’t explain it.

Lots of great ideas, thanks very much. I was expecting it to be busy but it is what it is, will try to avoid the busiest places.
Hoping to bring home a bunch of fruit on the way home too. Wife has been in canning mode lately so would like to can some peaches and pears.
Keep the info coming, we leave on Sat, going to stay at Revy for 2 nights and then on to Vernon for a week.
thanks again.

When you're in town check out facebook market place as there are frequently smoking deals on local fruit.