BC Tulip Festivals 2026: A Spring Road Trip with Kelowna as Your Base
Every April, the Fraser Valley transforms into one of the most spectacular floral displays in North America. Fields of tulips stretch as far as the eye can see — millions of blooms in every colour, drawing visitors from across Canada and beyond. If you haven't experienced a BC tulip festival yet, this spring is the year to go.
And here's something many visitors don't realize: Kelowna makes an ideal home base for a broader BC spring road trip that takes in the tulip fields and still leaves plenty of time to explore the Okanagan Valley while it's at its most beautiful.
Canada's Largest Tulip Festival Is Right Here in BC
The Harrison Tulip Festival, held on a 45-acre working farm in Agassiz near Harrison Hot Springs, has earned international recognition as one of the most impressive floral events in the world. With over 14 million spring blooms — including more than 150 varieties of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths — it was named the World's Best Instagrammable Tulip Farm at the 2024 World Tulip Summit in the Netherlands. Not bad for a farm in the Fraser Valley.
New additions this season include a Night Garden experience, where the grounds are lit with lanterns and string lights after dark, accompanied by an evening market featuring local artisans, bakers, live music, and Dutch-inspired street food. It's a genuinely magical setting, day or night.
Further down the valley in Abbotsford, Lakeland Flowers hosts the Abbotsford Tulip Festival across more than 35 acres of tulips and wildflowers, running from mid-April through early May. The newly established Abbotsford Tulip Trail connects multiple farm experiences in the area, including a stop at Maan Farms, which claims to have Canada's only tulip forest.
Together, these two festivals offer weeks of world-class floral beauty — and they're both within a half-day's drive of Kelowna.
The Drive: Making a Loop Out of It
Kelowna sits roughly three and a half hours east of the Fraser Valley, making it a natural start or end point for a BC spring road trip. The drive takes you through some of the province's most dramatic interior scenery — mountain passes, river canyons, and the lush valley corridors around Hope and Chilliwack.
A popular option is to drive west to the tulip festivals and return through Harrison Hot Springs, adding a soak in the famous hot springs to the itinerary before heading back through the Coquihalla. It turns a day trip into a leisurely two-day loop through some of BC's most varied landscapes.
Spring in Kelowna: What to Do While You're Here
Once you're back from the tulip fields, Kelowna itself is full of reasons to linger. April and May are genuinely underrated seasons in the Okanagan — the crowds of summer haven't arrived yet, prices are lower, and the valley is absolutely beautiful.
Orchard Blossoms in the South Slopes
By late April, the hillsides around Kelowna are covered in blossom. Cherry, apple, and peach trees bloom in sequence over several weeks, painting the landscape in soft pinks and whites. It's one of the most visually striking times of year in the Okanagan, and largely overlooked by visitors who only come in summer. Scenic drives along KLO Road and the South Slopes area offer spectacular views — especially in the golden hour light.
BC Wine Month
April is BC Wine Month, which means most of the region's nearly 40 wineries are running special tastings, events, and releases. Spring is when many aromatic white varietals — Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer — are poured fresh from the previous fall's harvest. Patios at wineries like Mission Hill Family Estate, Quails' Gate, and CedarCreek start opening up, and the combination of vineyard views and blossoming hillsides is hard to beat.
Waterfall Hikes
Snowmelt in April and May sends the region's creeks and streams running hard, making this one of the best times of year for waterfall hikes. Hardy Falls Regional Park near Peachland is an easy and accessible trail suitable for most fitness levels. Mill Creek Regional Park in Kelowna and Fintry Provincial Park north of West Kelowna along Okanagan Lake are also excellent options. These trails are far quieter in spring than in summer, so you often have them nearly to yourself.
Myra Canyon Trestles
Just minutes from Southeast Kelowna, the Myra Canyon section of the historic Kettle Valley Railway is one of the most iconic trail experiences in British Columbia. Eighteen wooden trestles and two tunnels span a dramatic canyon high above the valley floor, with views that stretch for kilometres in every direction. It's hikeable and cycleable, and spring — before the summer heat — is one of the best times to visit.
Kelowna Farmers' & Crafters' Market
The outdoor season at Kelowna's beloved Saturday farmers' market kicks off in early April, bringing together local growers, artisans, bakers, and food vendors in downtown Kelowna. It's one of the best ways to experience the region's agricultural identity firsthand — and a great place to pick up local jams, produce, and specialty products to take home.
Paddling on Okanagan Lake
The lake is still cool for swimming in April and May, but conditions are ideal for kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding. Calm, glassy mornings make for spectacular paddles along the Kelowna waterfront, with the mountains still dusted with snow reflecting off the water. Rental outfitters begin operating in spring and the crowds of summer boats are nowhere to be seen yet.
A Note on Haskap Berries
If you're staying at Haskap Farms Vacation Rental, you're on one of the few working haskap berry farms in the Okanagan — and one of the best opportunities in BC to learn about this remarkable and still little-known fruit.
Haskaps are elongated, deep-purple berries that taste something like a cross between a blueberry, raspberry, and cranberry — intensely flavourful and exceptionally high in antioxidants. The name comes from the Japanese word hasukappu, meaning "little gift at the end of the branch." They're one of the first fruits to ripen in the Okanagan, typically ready in early to mid-July, which makes spring a wonderful time to walk the rows of bushes before the harvest season begins and imagine what's coming.
Frozen haskaps, jams, syrups, and other products from Haskap Farms are available year-round through the farm's website and at the Saturday Kelowna Farmers' & Crafters' Market.
Plan Your Spring Visit
Whether your focus is tulip fields, winery patios, waterfall hikes, or simply slowing down somewhere quiet and beautiful, the Okanagan in spring delivers. April and May are an ideal time to visit — mild weather, fewer crowds, and a landscape in full bloom in every direction.
Haskap Farms Vacation Rental is a licensed, pet-friendly farm retreat in Southeast Kelowna — one bedroom, one bath, private entrance, fireplace, covered patio, and a fenced outdoor area for dogs. It's a comfortable and genuinely unique place to stay while you explore everything the region has to offer this time of year.
Check availability and plan your visit at haskapfarmsvacationrental.com