Parking in Oyama is free, and there are three places to put the car. The small lot beside Lu Lou’s at 16020 Oyama Road, street parking on the roads around the isthmus, and the lot at Station Beach, the main public beach on the Wood Lake side. None of them charge, none of them gate, and all of them are a short barefoot walk from the sand.
The honest part: the little lot beside us fills quickly on hot weekends. July and August, roughly 11 am to 3 pm, it’s musical chairs. If you’re coming for a peak Saturday, either come before 11, come after 3, or roll straight to the Station Beach lot and walk the sand back to the order window. Weekdays are easy almost all day, and Mondays you can practically park on the centre line. (Don’t. But you could.)
Public washrooms are at the parking lot, a short walk from the beach and the grill, which matters more than anyone admits when you have wet kids and a long drive home.
You also don’t need a car at all. The Okanagan Rail Trail runs right past the window, so bikes roll up to the rack at the door. And Wood Lake itself is the best parking lot we have: beach your boat, SUP, kayak or canoe on the sand in front of the grill. No dock, no permit, no fee, just pull up.
Getting here: Oyama is off Highway 97 near Pelmewash Parkway, twenty minutes north of Kelowna airport and fifteen south of Vernon. Point your nav at 16020 Oyama Road and it lands you at the lot. Directions buttons for Google, Apple and Waze are on the find us page.
Park once, then stay a while. The menu covers lunch, the soft-serve counter covers the drive home, and the beach guide covers everything between.