Where adventure meets paradise…
The journey to Naramata begins with sinuous curves in the road, warm sunshine, and a growing sense of well-being as you leave behind city life and delve into the heart of wine country. You leisurely make your way along the Naramata Bench, meander through vineyards and orchards, pass wineries and charming bed and breakfasts, all the while bathed in sun and overlooking shimmering Okanagan Lake.
Adventuring in Naramata is easy with hundreds of trails, beaches and parks to explore and experience the Okanagan scenery. Activities are endless from biking, hiking, water sports, wildlife viewing, and more.
1. Explore Naramata Village. Naramata’s Manitou Park and Beach is a popular destination for locals and visitors alike. The park offers a white sand beach with plenty of shade trees right near the water. Washrooms and change rooms are available. It also offers a baseball diamond, a volleyball court, two kids playgrounds, a swim dock and picnic tables.
Wharf Park – Train Docks – also in the village, this is the original site of the old Train Dock at Mill Bay that was the port for the Naramata fruit co-op packinghouse. Many locals and summer visitors alike will have fond memories (and probably a few scars!) from plunging off the old train docks into the water below. And although the new wharf is somewhat smaller, there’s still a ladder to help you back up from all those fancy dives.
Three Mile Beach features three beaches – one for swimming, one for day moorage boating, and on the other side of the parking lot there is a dog beach. Paddling on a paddleboard or kayak is a wonderful way to spend a day exploring the many beaches surrounding Naramata.
2. Ride – Naramata offers hundreds of mountain biking trails surrounded by beautiful rocky bluffs, ponderosa pine trees and scenic views of Okanagan Lake. The Three Blind Mice area overlooks Okanagan Lake to the west, and is mainly composed of beautiful ponderosa pine, rock bluffs, and grasslands. Campbell Mountain is a great place to learn to mountain bike.
KVR Photo Ops 📸 Some say that the Okanagan Lake shoreline at Penticton looks like southern California with its beachfront bistros, sandy beach, blue water and surrounding sun-drenched hills. Penticton is the start of the Kettle Valley Railway’s Carmi subdivision, one of six KVR subdivisions that now provide wonderful trail experiences. The KVR Trail is the longest rail trail network in British Columbia—once a comprehensive railroad system, the decommissioned tracks are now home to an extensive recreational trail, and is the most popular ride due to its user-friendly 2.2% grade. From the benchlands on the east side Okanagan Lake, the trail offers up incredible views of the lake and nearby communities. And then there are the wineries…so many wineries! You can walk or cycle to many of them. At Little Tunnel you will be compelled to stop and take in the views. You must take a camera. Benches have been provided for you to rest and perhaps enjoy a snack or lunch. A popular access point and also kid-friendly, the Glenfir Station is accessed via a parking lot followed by a short walk to the tunnel. It’s a fun exploring adventure.
Rock Ovens Regional Park is a collection of stone and rock ovens built between 1911 and 1915 located on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail (KVR). The park is a collection of hiking trails leading to 10+ rock ovens which were built by the immigrant workers while building the Kettle Valley Railway. The rock ovens served as ovens to bake bread and feed the workers.
3. Sip – The Naramata Bench is a critically acclaimed winemaking area in British Columbia; known for its top-quality wines that regularly win national and international awards. With 43 wineries and two distilleries within 14 kilometres, you’ll find plenty of terroir to swirl, sip and savour your way through. The Naramata Bench is home to some of BC’s best known wineries, each in a beautiful setting and offering a selection of distinctive Naramata Bench wines.
4. Hike – The Naramata Creek Park hiking trail follows Naramata Creek up through a deep river canyon to a cascading waterfall. The hike is about 2.4 km, round trip, and takes about an hour or so. The towering rock slabs, trees and trickling creek help keep the gully cool, even on the most sweltering of Okanagan days. The trail is lovely year round, and worth visiting regularly to witness the changes that each season brings.
5. Off the Beaten Path – Pictographs ~ The colourful history of the Okanagan Valley is very evident in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. There are archaeological sites and provincially significant First Nations pictographs found on rock outcrops and canyon walls. At one time, the local Salish First Nations used Wild Horse Canyon as a wild-horse trap. Good’s Creek Canyon Trail was named for Dave Good, supplier of survey crews for the Kettle Valley Railway, built in 1915. Commando Bay was used to secretly train Chinese-Canadians for guerrilla warfare in 1944, during World War II.
Natural Waterslide – Hidden up Naramata Creek there is a waterfall that nature has carved out to create its own chutes and pools suitable for sliding. Follow Arawana, an old forest service road, to a trail to discover these rock slides to provide some cool fun on a hot Okanagan summer’s day.
