Last summer was the first time I got to experience Canada's wine country in the Okanagan and I absolutely loved it and have been itching to go back ever since. So, you can imagine how stoked I was when I was invited to the Osoyoos Oyster Festival last month with a few other media girls Flora, Mykenna and Samantha and we had the loveliest weekend. We drove up from Vancouver, stayed at the Watermark Resort in Downtown Osoyoos, and filled the weekend with wine tasting, cycling around the wineries, Oyster fest events and generally soaking in the relaxed vibe.

The landscapes are so gorgeous in the south Okanagan area, you really do feel like you've been transported to somewhere like Piedmont or the Napa Valley. The rolling hills and desert climate are unlike the rest of Canada so it was a lovely escape for the weekend. I love how laid-back things are in Osoyoos and the 4-ish hour drive is just far enough to make you feel like you're properly getting away from home, but close enough that the journey is pretty pleasant and doable if you're heading there for the weekend.

My favourite wineries:

Burrowing Owl: I absolutely love Burrowing Owl. The design of the winery is really unique, the wines are wonderful and if you can, I definitely recommend having lunch or dinner at the Sonora restaurant. It's fine-dining with amazing food, and the views of the valley and vineyard from the restaurant are beautiful.  They're also socially conscious too and they've contributed over $1 million to a captive breeding program to help restore the Burrowing Owl population. TIP: If you eat at the restaurant, try their rosé. They don't offer it anywhere outside of the restaurant and you can't buy it which makes it that bit more special, but it is to-die. 

Black Hills Winery: One of the more contemporary wineries, Black Hills offers a really lovely wine-tasting experience. You can sit outside on the patio or on the sofas by the pool and you're surrounded by sweeping views of the Okanagan hills. TIP: For a more elevated wine tasting experience, opt for the VIP Cabana by the pool. It costs $50/pp and includes wine tasting.

Stoneboat Pinot House: If you love sparkling wine then make sure to incorporate a stop off at Stoneboat. This was another one of the wineries we stopped off at on our cycle tour with Heatstroke Cycle and their wines are fantastic. They're very reasonably priced (most between $20-$30) and their Grand Piano Brut is out of this world.

Covert Farms: If you're looking for a special and outdoorsy wine tasting experience, look no further than Covert Farms. We visited on last year's trip to Osoyoos and it's such a beautiful place. The farm covers 650 acres of land and all their wines are certified organic. Their rose and white wines are wonderful. TIP: If the weather's beautiful, opt for their Harvest Signature Experience. It's $59/pp and you get to tour around the property for 1.5 hours in their vintage truck, pick strawberries from the farm and enjoy wine tasting and light bites on their outdoor patio.

Stay somewhere nice!

There are lots of cool places to stay in Osoyoos and you can choose to stay outside of town closer to the wineries or in the town of Osoyoos itself. We stayed at the Watermark Resort, which sits in Osoyoos town and overlooks Osoyoos Lake and it was a really great place to stay.

I was very lucky to have one of the Beachfront Townhouses all to myself (which was amazing!) and it's somewhere that I'd definitely return to. The townhouses are super nice, they're essentially 2-bedroom houses (some are split onto 2 floors, some are 1 floor) with a sofabed in the living room and 3 bathrooms, so you could very comfortably house 6 people.

It'd be such a great place to come with the whole family or a group of friends and it feels like a home away from home. The townhouses come with a full kitchen with everything you need, and the two-level houses have an upstairs balcony as well as a patio outside with a BBQ and chairs. The lake is right by the townhouses too.

Watermark Resort also has standard rooms and suites so there's lots of choice of accommodations depending on the type of experience that you want. The townhouses are set slightly away from the hotel, but you can easily access the main lobby and hotel restaurant within a few minutes walk. I loved that the townhouses were basically self-catering as you can treat it as your own home, however, you can also get breakfast delivered to the house in the morning (or the night before) so you get the best of both worlds. The resort also has a huge outdoor pool area and 2 hot tubs, and they have fitness facilities as well as outdoor yoga in summer. The resort is pet-friendly.

Despite the resort being in the town, it still felt very peaceful and sitting on the patio with a cup of tea in the morning was so lovely. Having experienced staying out by the wineries last year, and this year in the town of Osoyoos, I really enjoyed both but it was definitely nice being close to town with things like coffee shops, bike shops and stores all within walking distance.