Plan Your Trip to The Okanagan Valley

Fly, drive or do a a combination of both to get yourself to the Okanagan Valley!  

Kelowna International Airport (airport code YLW), is a fantastic airport that brings you to the heart of Okanagan Wine Country.  Don't forget to check to see if your airline works in collaboration with any of the following airlines for the easiest connections when you travel:  

• Air Canada
• Air North 
• Alaska Airlines
• Central Mountain Air 
• Flair
• Pacific Coastal Airlines
• Westjet

Alternatively, Penticton Airport (airport code YYF) is a great option to fly into.  Why drive 4-7 hours when you can hop on a 50-55 minute flight from Vancouver, Calgary or seasonally from Edmonton (which is a 11 hour drive!)?  

Airlines that fly into YYF are:

• Air Canada
  
• Pacific Coastal Airlines
• Westjet

 Are you up for an adventure? Want to arrive to Kelowna by seaplane? 

Vancouver based, Harbour Air offers seasonal, 1 hour direct flights between downtown Vancouver to Kelowna, landing on Okanagan Lake and dropping off at the marina of Manteo at Eldorado Resort.  (I am unsure if this will be running for the 2024 season so please check directly with Harbour Air)

So now you're here, yay!  No matter the length of your stay, renting a car is a great option to explore all the beauty of the Okanagan Valley.  

Kelowna International Airport (YLW) has the following car rental companies located in terminal, just outside of arrivals:

• Ace
• Avis
• Budget
• Enterprise
• Hertz
• National

Penticton Airport (YYF) is a much smaller airport (it's very cute IMO), but still has an in terminal counter for:

• Budget (also has a downtown location where you can also find a location for Enterprise as well.  

*Don't forget to look for deals on places like Hotwire or my personal preference, Expedia.  For me, even if I'm just in the planning phase of my travels, I often book a car rental right away as I usually get the best deal booking in advance, and have the option to cancel up to the day of, without paying a dime.*  

We finally have Uber in Kelowna and we also have a local rideshare app called URide.  The amount of drivers is slowly increasing and getting better all the time.

Okay, I have one last option for car rentals and that's with TURO.  TURO is in over 7500+ cities in the US, Canada and UK and it is slowly growing in the Okanagan Valley.  There are currently up to 80 different vehicles at any given time available for rent.  This car sharing company has a very user friendly app for Apple and Google and has a variety of vehicles and filters that help you search for features such as wheelchair accessibility, all-wheel drive, bike rack, pet friendly, ski rack and so much more!  I think my favourite filter though, is that you can select a "green vehicle" filter for electric and hybrid rentals.   All rentals with TURO are also carbon-neutral.

Ok.... I lied I have one more suggestion and though it doesn't really have anything to do with visiting the part of the Thompson-Okanagan area that Farm to Glass works in, it's worth checking out if you are visiting from abroad and are looking for the full Canadian experience:  

Rocky Moutaineer offers luxury train travel which a selection of routes and though I've never been, I've had many friends and guests who've gone and have nothing but rave reviews.  Highly recommend checking them out if you are visiting for an extended period of time.  

If you ever have any questions about anything, feel free to reach out any time... I'm always happy to help.

Jess - Owner/Guide/Fun Person at Farm to Glass Wine Tours