Kamloops

Kamloops sits at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers in the dry interior of British Columbia, surrounded by rolling sagebrush hills and ponderosa pine forests that give the landscape a distinctly western character compared to the rainforest BC of the coast. The city of approximately 100,000 people is the largest in the interior before the Okanagan Valley, a position that has made it a natural crossroads: the Trans-Canada Highway, the Coquihalla corridor, and the Yellowhead Highway all converge here, and the railway lines that defined the city’s original importance as a junction town still pass through.

Kamloops has branded itself Canada’s Tournament Capital with good reason — the city has invested heavily in sports facilities and hosts more regional and national sporting events than almost any other city of comparable size in Canada. The combination of indoor arenas, cycling infrastructure, river access, and proximity to Sun Peaks Resort has created a genuine sporting tourism economy. But Kamloops is more than an events venue: the surrounding Thompson plateau offers mountain biking terrain that has attracted international attention, the Thompson River system is productive for trout fishing and river sports, and the city itself has a compact, unpretentious downtown with a growing food culture.

Sun Peaks Resort

Sun Peaks, 55 kilometres north of Kamloops on Highway 5, is the second-largest ski resort in Canada by skiable terrain — 4,270 acres of skiable area across three mountains (Tod, Morrisey, and Sundance), served by 14 lifts and a genuine ski village at the base. The resort receives approximately 600 centimetres of snowfall annually, with a consistently cold and dry interior snowpack that preserves quality well after storms.

The village at Sun Peaks is purpose-built but well-executed — a pedestrian-only European-influenced cluster of lodges, condos, restaurants, and shops at the base of Tod Mountain. Unlike Whistler, Sun Peaks is genuinely uncrowded relative to its size; the resort has capacity to absorb far more skiers than it typically sees, making for consistently short lift queues even on weekends. The intermediate terrain on Morrisey Mountain and the top-to-bottom groomed runs on Tod are particularly good.

In summer, Sun Peaks operates chair lifts for mountain biking (the trail network connects with hiking routes at altitude), and the village hosts cycling events that draw regional and national competitors. The alpine wildflower season in July and early August transforms the upper slopes.

Browse Sun Peaks and Thompson-Okanagan guided tours and experiences

Mountain biking in Kamloops

Kamloops’ mountain biking scene is built on the dry, rocky terrain of the surrounding Thompson plateau — trails that drain quickly after rain, offer minimal vegetation encroachment, and provide a technical challenge quite different from the rooty, loamy trails of the coast. The Kamloops Bike Ranch, operated by the city, is a trail centre with over 60 kilometres of purpose-built trails across multiple skill levels, including lift-accessed descents and a progressive skills park.

The Lac Du Bois Grasslands Protected Area north of the city — a rare dry grassland ecosystem with dramatic volcanic rock formations — offers hiking and mountain biking through an environment unlike anything in coastal BC. The grasslands are prime habitat for rattlesnakes, coyotes, and a variety of raptors, and the volcanic features (including hoodoos and columnar basalt) give the landscape a geology-class quality.

The city’s broader trail network connects urban Kamloops to riverside paths along the Thompson and to outlying trail systems through McArthur Island and Peterson Creek parks. The Tournament Capital Centre serves as a hub for sport events and has indoor climbing, ice, and aquatic facilities.

River life on the Thompson

The Thompson River system is historically significant for both the salmon runs that sustained Interior Salish peoples and the gold rush of 1858 that brought the first large influx of non-Indigenous settlers to BC’s interior. Today the Thompson is one of the finest trout fishing rivers in BC — the catch-and-release steelhead fishery (classified as a fly-fishing-only stretch) on the lower Thompson below Kamloops is considered among the most productive accessible steelhead water in the province.

Rafting on the Thompson and its tributaries — particularly the Clearwater and Adams Rivers — is a popular summer activity. The Clearwater River upstream through the Wells Gray area offers Class III-IV whitewater during spring runoff. The calmer sections of the Thompson below Kamloops provide float trips suitable for families. Kayaking on Paul Lake Provincial Park, 25 kilometres northeast of town, is a quieter paddling option.

The Adams River sockeye salmon run — one of the largest in North America — occurs every four years, with the dominant run returning 100,000 to over 4 million sockeye to spawn in the short stretch of river between Adams Lake and the South Thompson. The next dominant run falls in 2026. Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park protects the spawning habitat, and the viewing spectacle at peak run — when the river runs red with fish — is one of BC’s great natural events.

Kamloops downtown and culture

The Kamloops downtown has invested in a walkable core along Victoria Street and the riverside areas below. The Kamloops Art Gallery on Seymour Street hosts a permanent collection strong in BC contemporary art and changing exhibitions that consistently draw from national touring shows. The Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park, on the north bank of the Thompson, occupies the site of a 2,000-year-old pit house village and provides one of the most comprehensive interpretive experiences of Interior Salish culture in BC.

The Riverside Park complex along the south bank of the Thompson is the city’s main green space, with the Tournament Capital venues, a spray park, and river access. The farmers’ market on Saturday mornings at Riverside Park connects the Thompson plateau’s agricultural producers — particularly in summer when the dry interior climate produces exceptional tomatoes, peppers, corn, and stone fruit — with the city’s growing farm-to-table restaurant scene.

Explore guided cycling, hiking, and river adventures in the Kamloops area

Practical information

Getting there: Kamloops Airport (YKA) has daily connections from Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. By car from Vancouver: 3.5 hours via the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) through the Coast Mountains — one of the most scenic mountain drives in BC. From Kelowna: 2 hours northwest on Highway 97. From Calgary: 6.5 hours west through Rogers Pass and Revelstoke.

Where to stay: The Hotel 540 downtown is Kamloops’ full-service hotel with the best location relative to the riverside and arts district. The Quaaout Lodge at Chase, 45 minutes east on Little Shuswap Lake (operated by the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band), offers a lakefront resort experience with Indigenous cultural programming. Sun Peaks Village has ski-in ski-out condo and hotel accommodation at all price points.

Food and drink: The Noble Pig Brewhouse is the most consistently lauded craft beer and food destination in the city — a downtown taproom with a kitchen that takes pub food seriously. The Blue Collar Kitchen and Terra Restaurant are the current leaders in seasonal local cooking. Ferraro’s Market Grill downtown does excellent Italian-influenced food with Okanagan wine.

When to visit

June through September is the outdoor season — mountain biking, river activities, golf, and the full range of Thompson plateau experiences. The dry interior summer is reliably hot and sunny, with temperatures regularly exceeding 30°C.

December through March is the ski season — both for Sun Peaks and for the region’s cross-country trails and snowshoe routes. Kamloops itself has a relatively mild winter climate (significantly drier and less cold than further east), making it a practical base even in January.

The Adams River sockeye run (dominant cycle every four years, next in 2026) is a specific travel motivation that fills accommodation across the region for a two-week window in October. If your visit aligns with the dominant run, booking well in advance is essential.

Day trips and connections

Sun Peaks is 55 minutes north — the obvious winter day trip and increasingly compelling in summer. The Wells Gray Provincial Park waterfall system is two hours north on Highway 5 through Clearwater — a logical extension of a Kamloops itinerary. Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley are two hours southeast.

The Trans-Canada Highway east from Kamloops toward Revelstoke passes through the Shuswap Lake district — Salmon Arm, Sicamous (the houseboat capital of Canada), and the upper Columbia Valley — all within two hours, and connecting to the national parks corridor of Rogers Pass and beyond. The western approach from Kamloops through Cache Creek and the Fraser Canyon connects south toward Hope and Vancouver through a dramatically different landscape of dry hills and canyon rapids that marks BC’s transition from interior to coast.

The Coquihalla Highway south from Kamloops to Hope — one of the fastest and most dramatic mountain highway crossings in BC — is the main connection to Vancouver (3.5 hours) and to the Okanagan via the connector to Kelowna. The Coquihalla passes through the Coquihalla Summit (1,244 metres) with reliable winter snowfall that makes highway condition monitoring essential between November and April.

Outdoor recreation beyond mountain biking

The Thompson plateau around Kamloops offers an outdoor recreation inventory that extends well beyond mountain biking. Paul Lake Provincial Park, 25 kilometres northeast of town, has a swimming beach, camping, and excellent year-round hiking on the Paul Lake loop trail. Lac Du Bois Grasslands, as noted, provides hiking through a rare interior BC grassland ecosystem — one of the most botanically diverse habitats in BC, with over 400 plant species in a small area, including several found nowhere else in Canada.

The Thompson River system produces excellent year-round fly fishing — the catch-and-release steelhead section below Kamloops is world-renowned among fly fishing specialists, and the lake system above the city (Kamloops Lake itself, Paul Lake, Monte Lake, and dozens of smaller Interior lakes) provides productive rainbow trout fishing accessible to general anglers. The Interior BC fishing culture around Kamloops has produced a generation of innovative fly tiers — the “Kamloops trout” is specifically adapted to the alkaline lakes of the Thompson plateau and has been the subject of serious angling literature since Roderick Haig-Brown wrote about the region in the mid-twentieth century.

Golf is a significant Kamloops industry — the dry interior climate produces some of the most reliably sunny golf weather in BC, and the surrounding hillsides provide dramatic settings. The Rivershore Estates Golf Links, Talking Rock Golf Course (on Secwépemc Nation territory at Chase), and several other courses within 30 minutes make Kamloops a legitimate golf destination as well as a sporting and biking hub.

Frequently asked questions about Kamloops

What makes Kamloops the Tournament Capital?

The designation reflects the volume of provincial, national, and international sporting events the city hosts annually — athletics, hockey, soccer, cycling, gymnastics, and numerous other sports. The concentration of quality indoor and outdoor facilities, the affordable accommodation base, and the city’s organisational capacity have made it a preferred host for Sport BC and national sport organisations. Major tournaments run nearly every weekend through the sporting calendar.

Is Kamloops worth visiting in summer or winter specifically?

Both seasons offer compelling reasons to visit. Summer brings mountain biking, river activities, Sun Peaks alpine hiking, and the dry interior landscape at its most appealing. Winter brings Sun Peaks skiing (among the best underrated resort skiing in BC) and the city’s tournament sports calendar. Spring and autumn are transitional but pleasant, with fewer visitors and good weather in many years.

How far is Sun Peaks from Kamloops?

Sun Peaks is 55 kilometres north of Kamloops on Highway 5 and then the Sun Peaks Road — approximately 45 to 60 minutes depending on road conditions. In winter, BC road reports should be checked before departing. The road is maintained but can be snow-covered during and after storms.