“ 1001 HOTELS AROUND THE WORLD ”

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Beyond Keremeos the road climbs 46km, eventually unfolding a dramatic view, far below, of OSOYOOS - meaning "gathered together" - and a sizeable lake surrounded by bare, ochre hills. Descending, you enter one of Canada's strangest landscapes - a bona fide desert of half-bare, scrub-covered hills, sand, lizards, cactus, snakes and Canada's lowest average rainfall (around 25cm per year). Temperatures are regularly 10°C higher than in Nelson, less than a morning's drive away, enabling exotic fruit like bananas and pomegranates to be grown and prompting Osoyoos to declare itself the "Spanish Capital of Canada". The houses are supposed to have been restyled to give the place an Iberian flavour to match its climate, but on the ground it's almost impossible to find any trace of the conversion.

The town is otherwise distinguished by its position beside Lake Osoyoos in the Okanagan Valley - Hwy 97, which passes through the town, is the main route into the Okanagan region. In summer the place comes alive with swimmers and boaters, drawn to some of the warmest waters of any lake in Canada, and with streams of American RVs slow-tailing their way northwards to where the real action is.

A visit to the new Desert Centre (mid-April to mid-Oct daily 10am-4.30pm, 1hr 30min tours every half-hour; tel 1-877/899-0897; $5), on Hwy 97 just north of town, may be the best way to get oriented here. There are tours over a 1.5km boardwalk through a small area of desert and it's a fascinating ecosystem of some 100 rare plants, including tiny cacti and sage, as well as 300 animals from rattlesnakes to pocket gophers that are now all under serious threat. Once irrigated this land becomes very fertile and only nine percent of the desert survives undisturbed, with a full sixty percent vanished altogether.

The relative lack of crowds and strange scenery might persuade you to do your beach-bumming in Osoyoos, though you may be pushed to find space in any of the town's twenty or so hotels and motels during high season: cheaper choices include the Avalon , 9106 Main St (tel 495-6334 or 1-800/264-5999; $60-80), Falcon , 7106 Main St (tel 495-7544; $60-80), and the Best Western Sunrise Inn, 5506 Main St (tel 495-4000 or 1-877/878-2200; $60-80), with an indoor pool and restaurant. Most of the motels are across the causeway on the southeastern shore of the lake, alongside the bus stop . For more choice and help, contact the infocentre at the junction of Hwys 3 and 97 (tel 495-7142 or 1-888/676-9667, www.osoyooschamber.bc.ca ). You're more likely to get a place in one of the half-dozen local campsites - try the Cabana Beach , 2231 Lakeshore Drive (tel 495-7705; $19-29; May-Sept), or the Inkameep Campground and RV Park on 45th Street 1km from Hwy 3 East (tel 495-7279; $16-25), which also organizes local hikes and night tours of the desert. Local eateries are almost entirely of the fast-food variety, but Beans Desert Bistro , 8323 Main St (tel 495-7742), has good coffee and food, as well as Internet access, or there's Finny's , 8311 78th St, for a lengthier menu of salads, steaks and burgers.

Moving on from Osoyoos involves a major decision if you're travelling by car or bike, the choices being to continue east on Hwy 3, or to strike north on Hwy 97 through the Okanagan to the Trans-Canada Hwy. If you're on a Greyhound, the bus heads north and the decision can be deferred until Penticton, the major parting of the ways for services in this part of BC.

More Osoyoos travel guides (each guide contains specific sub-sections):

Osoyoos

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