The Best Girls Weekend in Sunny Osoyoos, BC
We had the best weekend in the Canadian desert with our besties Treasures & Travels! Yes, you read that right, Canada has a desert, and it's the best. The sunny lakeside town of Osoyoos is full of wineries, beaches, and really good food - what more could you want? It's also one of the best places to golf in BC, or so we hear. We were too busy trying out all the wine and relaxing on the water!
Getting to Osoyoos, BC
Osoyoos is a gorgeous five hour drive through the mountains from Vancouver (or Seattle!), and it's a short two hour drive through wine country from Kelowna. You can also fly in to nearby Penticton! But we love roadtrips, and roadtrips with a bunch of friends are the best kind. Especially when you can stop at san dunes or fruit stands along the way! Thanks to Ford for hooking us up with the 2017 Ford Escape, our air conditioning broke right before we came so they saved the day by keeping us nice and cool in the desert heat.
Where to Stay in Osoyoos
If you want to visit Osoyoos in the summer, you'll definitely want to book your accommodations months in advance. We loved our stay at Watermark Beach Resort, they have awesome 2-bedroom suites (with a pull out couch) that are great for sharing during friend or family trips. While we didn't get to use it, they also have full kitchens, which is always nice when you're away for more than a couple days and don't want to eat out all the time.
But the best part is the location and the view! It's right on the beach, so you're steps from Canada's warmest lake, or you can choose to go for a night swim in their huge pool and hot tubs. Walking along the promenade at night was one of our favorite things to do in Osoyoos, and Watermark Resort is steps from the centre of Osoyoos if you want to hit the town!
The Restaurant at Watermark
We absolutely love when we don't have to venture far from our hotel to find good food and drinks, and oh boy, The Restaurant at Watermark is sooooo good. All the food is hyper-local and super fresh, and the best part? All the wine is local too! 🙈 We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset on the lake with the Farm to Vine Signature Dinner, which changes depending on the seasonal fruits and vegetables.
We started with a deconstructed caesar salad with the freshest peaches, and the most amazing salmon tacos, made with salmon from the lake! Kind of weird to think about, but also pretty amazing to know that your delicious dinner is sustainable and so local.
Each course is paired with some of the best wines in the region, so you get to sample some of the local wineries and learn more about the local wine before you set out wine tasting! We had the most delicious bbq spread, and all the meats are free-range, grass-fed, hormone-free and ethically farmed. The menu is done so well at the Restaurant at Watermark, and you can really tell how much thought and care they put into creating the best experience.
It's also pretty reasonable - the Farm to Vine Signature Dinners are 5 courses and start at $55 without wine, or $75 with wine pairings. And after 5 glasses of wine, you'll be happy that your commute is only an elevator up to your room!
Cantina and Cocktails
The next day, we had a completely different experience, but it was still soooo much fun! We love doing a mix of high and low when travelling, and The Cantina at Nk’Mp Resort was just what we needed after a day of wine tasting. It's a fun, casual, beach bum kind of place where you can relax in the sun on beach chairs and have frozen cocktails delivered to you. It feels just like Mexico, except in Canada...
We worked up a bit of an appetite by getting out on the water! We rented paddleboards from the local stand and made our way up and down the lake. Even just sitting on them in the middle of the lake was so enjoyable, it's just so nice to get out on the water sometimes! The water is warm, it's not that deep, and the temperature is just perfect.
Once we had worked off some calories, it was time to relax in the sun with our frozen margaritas before making our way over to the Cantina for sunset and tacos! This is one of the best places to come to just chill out, and the sunset was amazing because you get to view the sun going down on the lake. We ended the night by walking around the lake and down the promenade back to Watermark for a night swim, which was so perfect.
We had so much fun travelling as a girl gang! Osoyoos is an awesome destination to enjoy with all your friends, and we'll definitely be planning another trip back in the fall or spring. You can get to know Lindsay and Tegan on their blog, Treasures and Travels. Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip about all the wineries!
This post is sponsored by Destination Osoyoos - thanks so much for having us!