This post is sponsored by Tourism Harrison. I was provided accommodations at the Harrison Beach Hotel as well as meals from Milos Greek Taverna and Muddy Waters Café. We were also provided a complimentary boat cruise from Shoreline Tours. All opinions listed below are my own.
Harrison Hot Springs is a beautiful lakefront resort community, located about an hour an a half away from Vancouver. While it does offer peace and tranquility, it also the perfect getaway for families that want to explore the outdoors. Harrison Lake is surrounded by Hicks Lake and Sasquatch Provincial Park. Just steps away from downtown are watersports, boat tours, wildlife viewing, hiking, golfing, spas, fishing, restaurants, shopping, and festivals and events. The village offers both hotel and camping options. What I found very impressive was that the downtown offered several charging stations for electric cars. It is something that I wish we saw more readily available everywhere. Harrison offers many family friendly options but is also a great choice for a close kid-free getaway option.
Day One
We checked into our beautiful suite at the Harrison Beach Hotel. The suite had a full kitchen, which would have been great had we been staying longer and could have done a grocery shop instead of eating out every meal which can be expensive. Our room featured a queen size bed in a separate bedroom and a double pull out bed in the living room. We were on the second story which gave us the perfect view of the lake. Had the weather accommodated for it, our patio had an outdoor table perfect for enjoying the view. After settling in, we decided to stroll along the main street, Esplanade, taking full advantage of the photo opportunities with the Sasquatch and Bigfoot statues around. We popped into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and picked up complimentary bigfoot paws. For dinner that evening, we ate at Milos Greek Taverna. The recently renovated restaurant was beautiful. The walls were covered in Greek images that you wished you could just walk into. We had the Chicken Souvlaki and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. The portions were very large and we stretched out leftovers into a late lunch the next day. We spent the evening relaxing in our room.
Day Two
We took full advantage of being on vacation and slept in. We brought muffins from home and paired it with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory dark chocolate that we had purchased for breakfast. After breakfast, we took a two-hour boat cruise with Shoreline Tours. Our three-man crew were very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. I am normally prone to motion sickness but found that the size of the boat and the speed we were travelling at that I had no issues. We were able to travel indoors and outdoors at our leisure. On the tour we sailed along the lake’s west side, floating beside Echo Bay, Echo Island and Rainbow Falls. The crew filled us with lots of local facts and folklore about the area as we sailed. The fully licensed boat had several affordable food and drink options available. My daughters choose a hot dog for lunch. She appreciated being able to go into the cockpit of the boat and meet Captain Mike. After the tour, we went back to our hotel for leftovers from our dinner at Milos Greek Taverna. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool. The hotel offers pool specific towels so that we didn’t have to use the ones from our room. We timed our trip to the pool perfectly and scored it all to ourselves. Normally hotel pools are too cold that I generally watch my daughter from the sidelines. The temperature was warm enough that I happily went swimming with her. For dinner, we wanted something quick and convenient so we dined on pizza. Village Pizzeria is located right behind the Harrison Beach Hotel so it was a two-minute walk to grab it.
Day Three
After slowly packing up and checking out of the Harrison Beach Hotel, we headed to the Muddy’s Waters Café for breakfast. It was clearly a very popular destination as the tables were almost full. The weather was beautiful so we ate our breakfast on the lakefront patio. I ordered the Farm House Homemade Mediterranean style yogurt topped with homemade granola and fresh seasonal fruit and my daughter ordered the Breakfast Bun that was scrambled farm eggs, smoked ham, aged cheddar, local tomato and Spanish onion with butter and mayo on a toasted Portuguese roll. We had a little bird decide to join us while we ate, calmly sitting on the extra chair at our table. We paired our breakfasts with a Chai Latte and Mocha Frosticino. We decided to take the long way home and visit the Hometown Heroes lottery home located near Cultas Lake.
We had a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable trip. I look forward to returning with my family again in the summer. My daughter recently turned 12 so she is old enough to participate in Eco Tours kayaking tour with me and she is excited to try the outdoor water park.
Let me know in the comments what your favourite part of visiting Harrison is or what you would be most excited to do if you haven’t been?