Well, well, well, 36 million more people now know they should come to Kelowna to eat, drink and have an awesome time.
Kelowna was featured in an article titled '15 of the best places in the world for food right now' that is running in National Geographic Traveler magazine and its website with additional syndication online with Yahoo! Travel and AOL.
The coverage reaches 36 million people in total.
The article is sub-titled 'our favourite places in the world to eat and drink' with a criteria of 'most delicious and most intriguing.'
This is the latest accolade for Kelowna, following its designation last year as the first and only UNESCO City of Gastronomy in Canada.
Tourism Kelowna worked with local food and travel writer Lisa Kadane for the submission to National Geographic.
While 'the best' list didn't include rankings per se, Kelowna appeared second in the non-alphabetical format of the article behind just the Greek island of Crete.
Kelowna keeps good company with the rest of the list, which included, in order of the article, the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai; Buon Ma Thot, Vietnam; Czechia (formerly the Czech Republic); Lucknow, India; northern Columbia (along the Caribbean coast); train trips through scenic landscapes in Sicily, India, Peru, Taiwan and the UK; southern Tasmania; Singapore; Somerset, England; Sonora, Mexico; the Turkish island of Bozcaada; Minneapolis; Cape Town, South Africa; and a bonus city London, England.
The Kelowna portion of the article touted the five-kilometre Boucherie bike route as the best way to experience local culinary riches of restaurants, wineries and fruit stands backed by stunning lake views and rolling vineyards.
Volcanic Hills Winery, Tula Restaurant at Little Straw Vineyards, Old Vines Restaurant at Quails' Gate Winery and Mission Hill Winery and its flagship Oculus red wine all garnered shout outs.
Tula Restaurant is billed as having Indian soul with wine country elegance with dishes like cedar-smoked tandoori salmon with Okanagan honey and apple cider vinegar, the ubiquitous butter chicken and chicken keema parantha (a flatbread stuffed with spiced meat).
To get around to restaurants, wineries, picnics and viewpoints, the story recommends Lakeside Eco-Sports for e-bike rentals and guided tours, Vivid Tours and Sip Happens.
For incoming travellers, the article points out that Kelowna is accessible via direct flights from Vancouver and Seattle-Tacoma international airports.
There was also some geography and history for context -- Kelowna sits on the shores of Okanagan Lake surrounded by glacier-carved stepped benches of the Okanagan Valley.
The first white settler was French Catholic missionary Father Charles Pandosy, who was the first to plant grapevines and apple seedlings.
Now, the traditional territory of the Syilx Okanagan people is home to more than 800 farms and 40 wineries, many of them family-and immigrant-owned.
You can see the full article here.
Earlier this year Kelowna was also named to a 'best of' list by the Eater platform.
The adoring attention comes after being named Canada's first and only UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
