Museums & Galleries in the Okanagan
Museums, art galleries and heritage collections across the valley — local history, science and contemporary art for a slow, rainy afternoon.
42 verified indoor & rainy day spots across the Okanagan Valley.
Guide: a rainy day in the Okanagan →
42 matching spots — Museums & Galleries.
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Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum & Art Gallery
The Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum & Art Gallery in downtown Armstrong shares local history through its museum and two galleries of rotating exhibitions by regional artists. Admission is free and donations are welcome. Exhibitions generally rotate monthly from May through November; the local-artisan gift shop is generally open during the May–December season. From January to March, the galleries focus on used books and are open to the public on Saturdays for book sales. The annual book sale runs for one week in April, with dates varying each year. Archival requests are accepted year-round; contact the museum to arrange research time with the archivist.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Cardiff Miller Art Warehouse
The Cardiff Miller Art Warehouse in Enderby is devoted to the immersive sound and installation art of internationally known artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, with about ten large installations on display. Admission is about $10, and students with valid ID get in free. Private group tours run an hour and a half for up to 30 people.
Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Courtyard Gallery
A non-profit, artist-run co-op gallery in downtown Enderby showing and selling fine art and crafts by local artists. Exhibitions change regularly and browsing is free.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Enderby & District Museum & Archives
A small community museum in Enderby's City Hall complex with permanent and changing displays on the area's paddlewheelers, river drives and pioneer past. A reference room offers photos and newspapers for local and family history research.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO)
The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) is the National Research Council's radio telescope site in the White Lake valley, where free one-hour guided tours explain how its giant dishes and the CHIME telescope listen to the universe. There's no booking; tours are first-come, first-served, and the season wraps up in early November. Plan to switch off your phone and other electronics, which can disrupt the instruments. A fascinating, free outing for curious kids and science fans.
Open until Nov 1
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art
The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art has been showing contemporary work by emerging, established and experimental artists since 1989. As an artist-run centre, they empower artists and engage audiences by cultivating a vibrant space for connection, understanding and artistic evolution. In addition to art exhibitions, the Alternator runs a rotating roster of community outreach events and partnership activities, including the ArtMart art vending machine, workshops, live performances and more, so check their website if you'd like to plan your visit around an event. It's completely free to drop in and explore, and most events are free as well. Located inside the Rotary Centre for the Arts, the Alternator is an easy stop to add to your day if you're already in the building for a show or a bite to eat. Hours are the same year-round, apart from occasional closures for holidays and new exhibition installs, so check their website before a special trip.
Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Gallery 421
Gallery 421 is a commercial fine-art gallery near Pandosy Village with more than 500 original works by over 30 professional artists from near and far. Expect paintings and sculpture by local, national and international artists, plus blown glass. Walk-ins are welcome to browse, so it's an easy stop on a grey afternoon.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Geert Maas Sculpture Gardens & Gallery
The Geert Maas Sculpture Gardens & Gallery is a private garden and gallery in Kelowna's north end holding hundreds of works by artist Geert Maas, including one of Canada's largest collections of bronze sculpture. Viewing is self-guided indoors and out, admission is by donation, and exhibitions change often. Ring the intercom at the gate when you arrive, or call ahead to arrange a tour.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Hambleton Galleries
Established in 1963, the oldest commercial art gallery in BC's interior, now in the downtown Cultural District. Shows contemporary Canadian painting and sculpture with seasonal exhibitions.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence
The KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence is an aviation centre near Kelowna airport displaying nine vintage aircraft, including a DC-3, Mosquito and CF-104 Starfighter, in a working hangar. It adds an interactive aviation exhibit, a flight simulator and an airfield viewing gallery. Admission is a bargain at about $5 a person or $10 for a family.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Kelowna Art Gallery
The Kelowna Art Gallery is the city's public art gallery in the downtown Cultural District, with rotating contemporary and historical exhibitions across several galleries plus a courtyard installation space. Admission is about $10 for adults or $20 for a family, kids under 12 get in free, and it's half price on Thursdays. Family programs and a gallery shop round out a visit.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Okanagan Heritage Museum
The Okanagan Heritage Museum is a downtown museum covering the natural and human history of the Okanagan, from syilx culture to settler life, with exhibits such as Dinosaurs of BC. It also houses the Kelowna Public Archives. Admission is about $10 for adults or $25 for a family, kids five and under are free, and the second Sunday of each month is pay-what-you-wish.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Okanagan Military Museum
Museum in the Kelowna Memorial Arena building telling the stories of Okanagan people in military service, with uniforms, artifacts and archives. Admission is by donation.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum (Laurel Packinghouse)
The Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum tells the valley's fruit-growing and wine-making story from the historic 1918 Laurel Packinghouse in the Cultural District. Exhibits trace how orchards and vineyards shaped the Okanagan, and admission is by donation, with about $5 a person or $15 a family suggested. A good primer before, or instead of, a rainy winery day.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Lake Country Art Gallery
Lake Country Art Gallery is a free public gallery showing rotating exhibitions of regional contemporary art, with a small gift shop and a coffee house sharing the space. Entry is by donation, and donations are welcome. Its annual Under 200 show features affordable local work, and the gallery keeps longer hours during that exhibition. It can close briefly while new shows are installed, so check the exhibition dates before you go.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Lake Country Museum & Archives
Lake Country Museum & Archives is a heritage museum in Okanagan Centre Park telling Lake Country's story, from the syilx people and early orchards to the Applebox Belles and South Asian settlers. Volunteers offer guided looks at the collection. The museum stays open year-round, including on holiday Mondays.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Oliver & District Museum
Heritage museum in Oliver's 1924 provincial police building, with exhibits on mining, ranching, irrigation and orchards, natural history and the Syilx Okanagan people. Step inside the historic Fairview Jail on the grounds too.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Okanagan Art Gallery
Okanagan Art Gallery is an artist-run co-op on Main Street with a bright 2,100 sq ft space spread over six rooms. It shows paintings, sculpture and photography by South Okanagan, Boundary and Similkameen artists, along with work in glass, wood and metal. A member artist staffs the gallery each day, so you can chat with the makers.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Osoyoos & District Museum and Archives
Downtown Osoyoos museum (in its new Main Street home since 2023) with a collection of 4,000+ artifacts and photo exhibits on the town's early days, ranching, orchards and Syilx history. It also hosts community events like First Fridays and game nights.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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The Art Gallery Osoyoos
The Art Gallery Osoyoos is the volunteer-run community gallery of the Osoyoos & District Arts Council, at Main Street and 89th Street just west of Town Hall. New shows by local and regional artists open year-round, most running about three weeks. Look out for its popular Summer and Christmas Artisan Markets, which feature smaller, more affordable works.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Peachland Art Gallery
Community arts council gallery on the Peachland waterfront with rotating shows of Okanagan artists, workshops and events. Admission is by donation.
Kid-Friendly Lake View Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Peachland Museum
Peachland Museum is a volunteer-run history museum in Peachland's distinctive 8-sided former Baptist church on the waterfront, built mainly by volunteers in 1910. Highlights include historical photographs, artefacts and visitor information, and, on the upper floor, a model railway exhibit recreating the Kettle Valley Railway as it ran between 1955 and 1965. Entry is by donation (cash or card), with no booking or tickets needed, and dogs on a leash are welcome. More visitor information is at visitpeachland.com.
Dog-Friendly Kid-Friendly Lake View Great for Groups +2 more
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Gallery One Twenty-Seven
Gallery One Twenty-Seven is the Penticton gallery of painter Peggie Collins, showing her Okanagan-inspired originals alongside prints, posters, postcards and other small keepsakes. It also carries handcrafted jewellery and metalwork from local artists. It is a small, personal stop for anyone looking for local art to take home.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Lakeline Gallery
Lakeline Gallery is a two-floor downtown gallery on Martin Street, mixing street art and graffiti downstairs with a curated collector's gallery of original works upstairs. It also runs painting nights, graffiti sessions and other creative workshops, and private daytime viewings can be arranged by appointment if you'd like a quieter look at the collection.
Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Penticton Art Gallery
Penticton Art Gallery is a public gallery on the Okanagan Lake waterfront by Okanagan Beach, with rotating exhibitions across several gallery rooms. Browse regional, provincial and national contemporary art plus seasonal shows and sales. Admission is about $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and $20 for a family, while kids 12 and under, Indigenous visitors and support persons get in free.
Kid-Friendly Lake View Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Penticton Museum & Archives
City-run museum beside the public library covering South Okanagan history from geology to the early town, plus a military gallery and rotating temporary exhibits. Kids can dig into science and history at the Hands-On Heritage Lab.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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SS Sicamous Museum & Heritage Park
SS Sicamous Museum & Heritage Park is a restored 1914 sternwheeler beached at the west end of Okanagan Beach, now a museum you can explore deck by deck. Wander the cabins, dining saloon and wheelhouse to learn about steamship travel on Okanagan Lake. The ship also hosts weddings and private rentals, so it's closed to visitors on some days, especially Saturdays; check before you go.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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The Lloyd Gallery
Long-running commercial gallery on downtown Front Street showing original work by around 40 Canadian artists in a salon-style space. Browse landscapes, wildlife paintings and bronze sculpture with no pressure to buy.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Gallery Artiva
Gallery Artiva is a village gallery in the Lord Aberdeen Building at SilverStar, showing and selling fine art, crafts and gifts by Okanagan and Canadian artists, from stained-glass coasters to local books. It also hosts occasional paint-and-sip classes with Vaz Art, with tickets booked through Vaz Art's website.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Summerland Arts Council Gallery (George Ryga Arts & Culture Centre)
Community art gallery and gift gallery run by the Summerland Community Arts Council in the George Ryga Arts & Culture Centre, next door to the museum. It hosts about six exhibitions a year by regional and BC artists, plus workshops.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Summerland Museum & Archives
Summerland Museum & Archives is a community museum on Wharton Street covering Syilx history, early orchard farming and the Kettle Valley Railway. Upstairs, the Giant's Head Model Railway shows Summerland in the 1920s and 1950s. Kids' drop-in workshops and the Bert Simpson insect collection add hands-on fun. Admission is by donation (suggested $5 per adult, $2 per child), and the front entrance has a ramp, though the second floor is reached only by stairs.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Canadian Wildlife Museum
Canadian Wildlife Museum is a private natural-history museum north of Vernon with 350+ mounted specimens, from mice to bison, displayed in life-like dioramas over two floors. Browse 45 viewing stations, a large butterfly and moth collection and a gift shop. Allow at least half an hour, or closer to an hour if you love wildlife. Admission is about $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $10 for kids 3 to 15, plus GST.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Gallery Vertigo
An artist-run gallery of the North Okanagan Artists Alternative, showing monthly exhibitions by regional artists across from the Towne Theatre. Free to browse, with featured-member shows and evening receptions.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Headbones Gallery
A contemporary gallery specializing in drawing, sculpture and works on paper, set on Old Kamloops Road outside Vernon. It mounts curated group and solo shows by Canadian and international artists.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Museum & Archives of Vernon
The Museum & Archives of Vernon is the North Okanagan's community history museum, with permanent and changing exhibits, streetscapes and dioramas in a recently renovated exhibit space. Admission is by donation, with about $5 per person or $20 per family suggested. It also runs a speaker series and holds the regional archives, the Greater Vernon Archives, a well-regarded spot for local history research.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre
The Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre is Vernon's main performing arts venue, hosting touring concerts, comedy, dance, theatre and family shows year-round in a 750-seat auditorium with orchestra and balcony seating, plus the smaller Marie Fleming Studio. Its Spotlight Series includes kids' and First Stages programming for young audiences. Tickets for every show are sold through Ticketseller.ca.
Kid-Friendly Non-Alcoholic Options Live Music Great for Groups Arts & Culture
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Vernon Community Arts Centre
A community arts hub in Polson Park with a members' gallery and art shop plus classes and drop-in studio time in pottery, painting and other crafts. Youth and adult classes run through the year.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Vernon Public Art Gallery
The Vernon Public Art Gallery is the largest public art gallery in the North Okanagan, presenting changing contemporary exhibitions through the year, with admission by donation. It also hosts artist talks, workshops and hands-on art activities for all ages, making it an easy, low-cost stop on a grey afternoon.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Sncewips Heritage Museum
Sncewips Heritage Museum is Westbank First Nation's living museum, sharing syilx history, language, tools, dwellings and present-day cultural practice through community-curated exhibits. Drop in for a self-guided look with no booking needed and entry by donation, or pre-book a guided tour for about $15 per person (groups over 15 should call ahead). Before you go, browse the gift shop.
Kid-Friendly Great for Groups Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Westbank Museum
Westbank Museum is a small community museum sharing the West Kelowna Visitor Centre building, with admission by donation. It covers the Fur Brigade Trail, pioneer families, orchards, forestry and even Ogopogo, so there's something for history buffs and curious kids alike. Look for the working miniature sawmill, and pick up local tips from the visitor centre while you're there.
Kid-Friendly Free to Visit Arts & Culture
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Lumby & District Museum
Lumby & District Museum is a small volunteer-run museum on Glencaird Street telling the story of Lumby and the Monashee area's logging and pioneer history. It opens on summer afternoons only, running seasonally from June through September, so plan your visit for the warmer months; outside that season the doors stay closed.
Closed for the season.
Arts & Culture
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Okanagan Falls Museum (Bassett House)
The Okanagan Falls Museum is run by the local heritage society around the Bassett House, a 1909 mail-order home shipped in pieces and hauled to the village by wagon. The grounds also hold pioneer photos and artifacts, an outdoor pavilion of early-1900s machinery and a log building honouring world champion rodeo cowboy Kenny McLean. Admission is by donation, and it opens from the May long weekend to the September long weekend, making it an easy summer stop on Main Street.
Closed for the season.
Free to Visit Arts & Culture