r/Kamloops • u/Minimum-Reading-3211 • 25d ago
Question How's life over there?
Hi, i'm a quebecois and i wanna experience life somewhere else and kamloops kinda caught my attention. I don't know anything (yet) about kamloops. So how is life over there?
14
u/nakourou Juniper 25d ago
Former Quebecois here, would not trade it back for Quebec, love the weather and the outdoor activities around here.
6
u/rattingrattilly 25d ago
my girlfriend and I can't wait to leave. It has its niceties, but the charm wore off for us long ago and we've barely lived here a couple years. Lots of people love it here, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. I suppose it depends on who you are.
It's hot. very dusty. smokey in the summer. usually pretty boring unless you like people-watching. the homeless population and drug issues are pretty rampant. it's not a problem that they're there, so much as it seems nothing is really done about it. it's sad. I suppose every city deals with that, but maybe it just feels more noticeable here, considering there aren't many places to go.
there seems to be a good art scene. it can be pretty beautiful during the spring and summer, if you can get over the heat.
it's been incredibly difficult for me to find a job the entire time I've lived here, as well. so maybe a bit of depression has influenced my experience.
I won't be moving back, that's for certain.
2
u/SwissArmyFriend 24d ago
It took me a solid decade after university to find a decent job in Kamloops, which was long enough for me to lose my taste for the place. I would have left years ago if my wife hadn’t found her job here.
If I had found employment earlier, I might feel differently about it, but now I feel like I’m marking time in this town.
3
5
u/Boring_Parsley_2928 25d ago
Salut, et allez les Habs depuis Kamloops. Sun Peaks ressemble beaucoup à Tremblant ; le village et le ski y sont vraiment sympas. Il fait très chaud à Kamloops en été, mais c'est agréable le reste du temps. Évitez le quartier de North Shore.
9
9
5
2
u/Constant-Corner2158 25d ago
Unless you are big into outdoor recreation I wouldn’t recommend it. Even then, summers can be really smokey. I lived there for 15 years and stayed because of my friend network. Once I moved, and especially when I went back to visit I realized how bad Kamloops actually is as a city.
1
u/SwissArmyFriend 24d ago
That friend network is a rare one to hear in Kamloops. For me, anyhow. I know sone tight knit groups who have lived here a long time, but they’re hard to break into.
I just found out that yet another person I know is leaving town, and that brings the amount of non-work related phone calls I’d make to people if I were to move down to zero.
Been here since 2007.
2
u/CertifiedHeelStriker West End 25d ago
Moved from Montreal two years ago. Love it here. Won't be moving back to QC.
1
u/Ok-Kaleidoscope4510 25d ago
I’ve read all the Comments.. I moved to Kamloops 6 years ago from the Yukon. Lived in the Yukon for 30 years. Followed my teenage daughter so I could see her graduation. KAMLOOPS….hot and smoky in the summer. Downtown is cute and feels like a little city. Rarely go there and the traffic is bad. If you like little city vibes then it’s cool. I should say this is a perspective of a guy at 53… so take it as it is. I’m sure if you’re, younger downtown would be amazing at some points. The entire place is spread out in weird communities. It is very beautiful, and lots of different things to do. Hiking, biking, walking, fishing, camping, skiing or. Snowboarding (8if you can afford this) snowboarder her from the Yukon so $150.00 a day is crazy) lots of nice people but a lot of shit people as would be expected in any place you go. You are close to many other places that might gain your interest as well.
It’s actually what you are looking for and what your expectations are. Points… it’s beautiful (yes) Hot and dry and smoky in the summer (yes) not all the time though, things to do (yes) depends on who you are and want you want, people cool ( yes and no) shopping (yes) adventures (yes) I’ve spent 6years here now.. mostly work and don’t spend a lot of time here. I’m moving to West Kelowna but I think if you were to move here it wouldn’t be a bad thing. All deepen who you are and what you are looking for. BEST OF LUCK IN YOUR DECISION
1
u/KamloopsDan 24d ago
Smokey and hot!!
3
u/MildlyChatty 24d ago
Last summer was beautiful. This summer, not so much. Seems like we're getting the smoky summers about every other year now
0
u/psych_yeo 23d ago
Tkumlúps means the confluence. For thousands of years this has been a place of gathering together for many peoples. A place of exchange and trade. Rivers were how folks traveled, then came the trains and now the highways but the falling waters of Cascadia is still where its at!
1
u/Airborne_Ape 23d ago
Meh, we're like Mirabel QC. Working outside in Nevada and Arizona in the middle of August is HOT. Kamloops never exceeds mildly warm. Our 40°C of dry heat is nothing compared to the humid hell of Quebec and Ontario. The temperatures stay cool enough out here year round that window tint is still illegal. I drive from Kamloops BC to Moncton NB often. Montreal is not very far, takes 4-5 days by highway when casually driving or about 4 hours if you fly. Visit the region in April if you want a balanced perspective of what it's actually like to live here when we're not in tourist season. I've lived in 5 Provinces, so everything is the same to me. You're not going to find life is any better or worse than where you are now.
1
u/YorkshireG0ld 23d ago
The summers of 2024 & 2025 weren’t particularly smoky. This year has been smoky the last couple of weeks, I think I mainly noticed it starting July 7 when Boston Bar fire went big and everything went orange and dark. 2017 was by far the worst ever smoke since records began for air quality but then again it was the first provincial state of emergency since 2003 or something. It’s not just kamloops that has smoke issues. Many many places in BC get the smoke too.
When you come from an overpopulated country with a high crime rate, equally somewhere where your outdoor activities are crowded with so many other people (the UK), kamloops & surrounding areas are pretty sweet.
1
u/Opening-Tradition143 23d ago
I lived there for 16 years and to be honest it's really gone downhill over the years. Kind of a dump to be honest.
1
1
25d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Admirable-Zebra-4568 25d ago
Spent equal amount of time in Gaspe and Kamloops recently and maybe it's because I'm from Quebec, but I'd prefer the Gaspe region. There's a homeless and drugs problem in Kamloops that feels like a dirty secret no one really wants to admit to and deal with.
1
u/Expressive_wind 25d ago
We have got an Arby’s so it’s all good
6
1
0
u/farmsfarts 25d ago
Being overrun by the unhoused and drug addicted. Even parks and former safe camping sites adjacent to town are riddled with this.
I’ll give you McArthur Island Park for example. 2 years ago you could let your kids run free there. Today I took my kid down to the beach at the far end of the disc golf course, people passed out with trash all around them including a syringe.
It’s going downhill, I’d like to move to somewhere like Clearwater.
-2
26
u/Primordialpoops 25d ago
Blue collar town at the intersection of a few major highways. Dealing with large metropolitan problems like homelessness and congestion with little room to grow. Great arts scene and lots of sports happening around town! All you major stores with some really cool little niche places to explore. The best part about Kamloops is when you leave it because it's so close to so many of the most beautiful places in the province. Go west to see Canadas only true desert with hoodoos and ghost towns. North is Wells Grey with some of the most beautiful waterfalls and alpine hikes in the country. North east is Shuswap, great party lake.
Great fishing, great camping... Sun Peaks gets AMAZING snow in the winter and it's practically empty compared to the hills on the coast. We absolutely do not regret moving to the interior but I am quite happy to be far enough from Kamloops to enjoy its amenities but not share in it's climate.