In south-central British Columbia, the region known as Valleys & Vineyards built its culinary identity on what grows in its own soil. The fall harvest yields not only impressive grapes, but vegetables and fruit in equal abundance. You’ll find roadside stands filled to the brim with ripe apples, pears, and stone fruit; restaurant menus built around the freshest local ingredients; and wineries that turn the same land into award-winning bottles.
A long weekend here is enough to cover four areas in one trip: North, Central, and South Okanagan, as well as the Similkameen Valley to the west. Together, they’re home to more than 200 wineries, 60 plus grape varieties, and a food scene worth traveling for.
Dine your way through Kelowna’s award-winning culinary scene
Kelowna is the perfect place to start an Okanagan Valley food and wine trip. In 2025, the city became Canada’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy—a fitting recognition for a place with more than 500 restaurants, fueled by farms close enough to supply them.
Executive chef Neil Taylor runs CedarCreek Estate Winery’s on-site restaurant, Home Block. He builds the menu based on the winery’s own gardens and local farmers, foragers, and ranchers, using the freshest ingredients available that week. Further south, Frankie We Salute You takes a different approach to the same idea with a plant-based restaurant turning the valley’s produce into dishes like their Okanagan Harvest Burrata, paired with seasonal fruit and vegetables, and cauliflower wings.
And for a sense of the caliber of wine that you’ll find in this region, Mission Hill Family Estate was recently named Winery of the Year for a record sixth time by the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada. Tastings at the winery feature Oculus (the 2020 vintage scored by critic John Schreiner was the first Canadian red wine to be awarded a perfect 100-point score) poured in the tapestry-adorned Chagall Room.
Each fall, the valley-wide Okanagan Fall Wine Festival celebrates local gastronomy, timed to coincide with the week the year’s grapes are harvested. Expect vineyard dining, grape stomps, and outdoor samplings across more than 100 wineries.
Niche Wine Co. in West Kelowna, one of the valley’s Indigenous-owned wineries, also rents a small cluster of vineyard-side cabins called the Outside Inn. On your way out of town, detour north to Davison Orchards in Vernon for u-pick apples and a farmers’ market stocked with fruit fresh off the trees.
Stay and eat at wineries along the Naramata Bench and Penticton
A group of people dining outdoors at Poplar Grove Winery in Penticton
Courtesy of Destination British Columbia/Kari Medig
About an hour’s drive from Kelowna, the Naramata Bench is one of the most densely planted stretches of wine country in the Okanagan Valley. You can visit several local vineyards in an afternoon.
Many wineries here also run their own restaurants, with menus built entirely around what’s growing nearby. Lake Breeze Vineyards’ Patio at Lake Breeze sources from its own two-acre farm, while Hillside Winery’s Bistro serves what it calls terroir-to-table cuisine on a patio overlooking the vines.
At Poplar Grove Winery, chef Stacy Johnston designs small plates around the freshest seasonal ingredients. And a stay at the Inn at Therapy Vineyards comes with a vineyard and winery tour, a guided tasting, and breakfast served on the patio overlooking the lake.
Continuing south, stop at Summerland Heritage Cider Co. for small-batch, farm-pressed cider. At the south end of Okanagan Lake, Penticton rounds out this area with plenty of food options.
Hooded Merganser at Penticton Lakeside Resort pairs a Mediterranean-inspired menu with lake views from every table. On Saturday mornings, vendors at Penticton Farmers’ Market fill the block selling just-picked tree fruit, fresh produce, jars of preserves, and fresh-baked goods.
Visit Oliver and Osoyoos wineries and restaurants in South Okanagan
Walking through a vineyard in South Okanagan
Courtesy of Destination British Columbia/Kari Medig
South of Penticton, about an hour’s drive away, the valley gets warmer and drier. Osoyoos, located in Canada’s only pocket desert, provides the heat needed to stress the vines into concentrated, structured wine. The terroir here is unique, with vines rooted in volcanic and desert soils—part of the more than 60 grape varieties grown across the Okanagan Valley—and nearby glacial lakes buffering the vineyards from the extreme temperatures.
In Oliver, the Golden Mile Bench and the Black Sage Bench are home to some of the best wineries in the Okanagan Valley and close enough that a single day easily covers several from each. On the Golden Mile side, Hester Creek grows some of the valley’s oldest vines, planted in 1968, and pairs tastings with Tuscan-inspired dishes at onsite restaurant Terrafina— the potato truffle pizza in particular is one that regulars keep coming back for.
Across the way, Burrowing Owl Estate Winery’s Sonora Room serves up vineyard views, along with contemporary dishes like their refreshing cherry salad. The Guest House at Burrowing Owl offers ten rooms, each with a private deck and a short walk to dinner.
At Kismet Estate Winery, winemaker Manpreet Dhaliwal pairs the wines with dishes from Manzil, the onsite restaurant serving regional Indian cuisine made with local ingredients and designed for family-style sharing.
Enjoy the fruit harvest in the Similkameen Valley
Past Osoyoos, the road narrows and the Similkameen Valley opens up, a quieter stretch lined with roadside stands, orchards, and organic farms. (Keremeos’ nickname is the Fruit Stand Capital of Canada.) Visit Parsons Farm Market and leave with your fill of apples, pears, and peaches plucked right from the family’s own trees.
A few minutes down the road, you’ll find Cawston, known as the province’s organic farming capital. Here, Klippers Organic Acres’ restaurant, Row Fourteen, builds its menu from the regenerative farm onsite, working directly with local producers to craft seasonal and nutritious dishes.
While the harvest is the main event in this area, the valley’s artisan wineries are no less impressive. Clos du Soleil, a certified organic winery on Similkameen’s Upper Bench, produces Bordeaux-inspired wines shaped by minimal intervention, biodynamic winemaking, and the valley’s rocky terroir.
Nearby, Crowsnest Vineyards pours small-batch wine flights alongside wood-fired pizza and locally famous artisan sourdough bread. For an overnight stay, Similkameen Wild Hotel & Winery Retreat comes complete with its own small vineyard and a saltwater pool.
By the end of a few days exploring Valleys & Vineyards, you’ll understand why those in the know rank the Similkameen and Okanagan Valleys among North America’s best food and wine experiences—nowhere else packs this much of both into a single trip.
