Spend the week on Skaha Lake. Skaha Beach, at the north end of the lake, is a long stretch of city sand and promenade on warm, shallow water, and it ranks among Canada's top beaches. Sleep at Wright's Beach Camp on the Skaha waterfront at the south entrance to town, where full-hookup sites open right onto a private beach and a roped swimming area.
You get two lakes from one base. A few minutes north, Okanagan Beach lays out nearly a kilometre of sand along Lakeshore Drive downtown, so you can trade the quieter south lake for the busier city waterfront whenever the mood changes. Summers here run hot and dry, Interior desert-belt weather, so the shaded, serviced sites by the water fill fast and are worth booking well ahead.
Climbers come to Skaha for the granite on the east side of the lake. Skaha Bluffs draws them to stacked rock walls and grassland benches above the east shore, day-use only, with no camping and no overnight parking, and the access gate stays closed from mid-November to mid-March.
Naramata Bench and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail
For a day off the beach, ride or walk the Kettle Valley Rail Trail north out of town. The old rail grade climbs a gentle 2.2 percent to Little Tunnel, about 16 km one way, through the vineyards and orchards of the Naramata Bench, where the cut in the rock opens out over Okanagan Lake. Wineries line the bench the whole way up, so the easy version of the day is a stretch of trail and a tasting on the way back. There's no campground on the bench, so sleep back at Skaha.
A provincial-park night at Okanagan Falls
When you want a BC Parks night instead of a serviced pad, the nearest one is sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ Park, right where the Okanagan River leaves Skaha Lake at the town of Okanagan Falls. It's a small riverside campground under cottonwoods, run by the Osoyoos Indian Band on Green Lake Road about 500 metres off Highway 97. There are no hookups here, so it's a fair-weather stop, and sites can be reserved up to four months out at 7 am Pacific. The campground also closes for the Okanagan Nation Alliance Salmon Feast on the third weekend of September, so check the calendar before you count on that week.
Bigger rigs and the west side of the valley
A campervan sleeps two or three; if you want more beds for a week parked on Skaha, the Penticton RV listings cover the larger rigs. On the west side of the valley, Bear Creek Park sits above Okanagan Lake outside Kelowna, closer to a West Kelowna base than to Penticton, and the Kalamalka Lake beaches farther north run with Vernon.