Peachland is a small town strung along one road beside a very large lake, which turns out to be close to ideal with children. Almost everything below is on Beach Avenue, within a few minutes of MacKenzie House, and most of it is free.

The Peachland waterfront. Photo: Accuruss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On the water

Swim Bay

The town’s main swimming beach, and the one place with lifeguards: certified guards are on duty from 15 June to 28 August 2026, seven days a week, 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. It is a sheltered, gently shelving bay rather than open lake, which makes a difference with small swimmers. The District tests the water regularly and posts signs if anything is wrong; Swim Bay has not recorded an unsafe E. coli reading in about a decade of testing.

The Wibit floating water park

An inflatable obstacle course anchored just off Beach Avenue, within sight of the Ray Kandola Heritage Pier and a short walk from Swim Bay — towers, slides, climbing walls and balance beams to fall off. Open to ages five and up. It runs through the middle of summer, usually from early July to early September; check okanaganwibit.com for this season’s hours before you promise anyone anything.

The other beaches

Cove Beach at the north end and the small beach at the 13th Street viewpoint are both quieter than Swim Bay. Antlers Beach, at the Deep Creek end of town, is a marked swimming area with room to spread out.

On land

The waterfront walk

Centennial Way runs level along the shore between Heritage Park and 13th Street. It is flat enough for a pushchair or a first bike, and there are beaches, benches and the pier to break it up. Chevallier Park has the playground; Cousins Park has the washrooms.

Peachland Museum

At 5890 Beach Avenue, in the old eight-sided church. The upstairs is the draw for children: a large scale model of the Kettle Valley Railway as it ran between 1955 and 1965, built and maintained by the Central Okanagan Railway Company. The Visitor Centre moved into the same building in 2024, so you can ask what else is on while you are there — one stop, not two.

Peachland Art Gallery

A few minutes further along the waterfront at 5684 Beach Avenue, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, with changing exhibitions by local artists. Small, free and quick, which is exactly what you want on the way back from the beach.

Hardy Falls

Closed 4–14 August 2026 for creek restoration work; reopens 15 August. Otherwise this is the best short walk in town with children: fifteen minutes of nearly flat path, crossing and recrossing the creek on small wooden bridges, ending at a narrow waterfall. Go in late September or October and the creek is full of spawning kokanee, bright red and impossible to miss. Peachland Creek is the third-largest stream-spawning kokanee habitat in the Okanagan Basin.

When it is too hot to be outside

Midsummer afternoons here regularly pass 35°C, and the sensible local pattern is beach in the morning, indoors or in the shade from about one until four, back out in the evening. The pool at MacKenzie House is unheated and sits in full sun, so it is at its best exactly when the lake feels like hard work — and the yard is fully fenced, which takes one worry off the list. Kelowna, twenty-five minutes north, has the wet-weather options if you need them.