Communities

Nelson is also called Queen City. Built on a slope of the west arm of Kootenay Lake, the cityscape still offers almost the same sight as it did over a hundred years ago. 350 old stone houses from the pioneer days are lovingly preserved and maintained. They make a stroll through the city a special visual experience and a journey into the past at the same time.

The heart of the city is Baker Street. In pioneering times, horse races were held here, lined with miners who populated the saloons, pubs, and bathhouses on both sides of the street. Today, restaurants offer a diverse international culinary cuisine and cafés invite you to linger after a stroll through original boutiques, specialty shops, and sports and leisure outfitters. The imaginative markets and folk festivals of the summer months and Nelson’s famous vintage car show in September attract numerous visitors.

Kaslo impresses with its beautiful location at the shore of Kootenay Lake and is often called the most beautiful little town in BC or Switzerland on the American continent. The town was founded in 1889 as a landing stage for paddle steamers that connected the lake with the railway line to the Slocan Valley. The SS Moyie sailed Kootenay Lake until 1957 and is the last remaining paddle steamer. Faithfully preserved and extensively restored, she is now the attraction of the city.

Castlegar is the shopping and economic center of the region and connects the area daily to Vancouver and Calgary by its airport. The annual sculpture exhibition transforms the whole city into a fantastic open-air gallery, which is best explored on foot. Visiting the Doukhobor Museum and Zuckerberg Island with its chapel, visitors learn about the history of the Russian-Christian community, which found a new home here between 1908 and 1938 after persecution by the Tsarist Empire.