Not quite the fishing village it's billed as, BALFOUR is a fairly
shoddy and dispersed collection of motels, garages and cafés - albeit in
verdant surroundings - designed to catch the traffic rolling on and off
the Kootenay Lake ferry. RV campsites line the road south to Nelson for
about 2km, the quietest being those furthest from the terminal, but a
much better option is the campsite at Kokanee Creek (reservations
possible ), about 10km beyond Balfour ($17.50; May-Sept) with a sandy
beach. The handiest motel for the ferry is the Balfour Beach Inn and
Motel , 8406 Bush (tel & fax 229-4235; $40-60), with heated indoor pool
but convenient also for the small pebbly beach just north of the
terminal.
About 15km north of Balfour on Hwy 31 - look out for the telegraph poles
wearing ties - AINSWORTH HOT SPRINGS is home to some one hundred
residents, making it a town by local standards. The tasteful Ainsworth
Hot Springs Resort (tel 229-4212 or 1-800/668-1171; $100-125) is ideal
if you want to stay over while taking in the scalding water of the
mineral springs (daily 10am-9.30pm; day-pass $10, single visit $6.50),
though the chalets are expensive and, despite the lovely views and the
health-giving properties of the waters, local opinion rates the Nakusp
Hot Springs rather more highly. Note that you don't need to stay in the
resort to sample the springs. The nicest local motel is the cheaper and
smaller eight-room Mermaid Lodge and Motel (tel & fax 229-4969 or
1-888/229-4963; $40-60) alongside the springs and pools. Cave
enthusiasts might want to take a guided tour of Cody Caves Provincial
Park , 12km up a rough, well-signposted gravel side road off Hwy 3 3km
north of town. From the end of the road it's a twenty-minute walk to the
caves, whose kilometre or more of galleries can be seen by tour only:
contact Hiadventure Corporation (tel 353-7425; $12).
A touch further up the increasingly beautiful Hwy 31 comes the self-contained
Woodbury Resort and Marina (tel 353-7177; $40-60), a collection of
motel, cottages, campsite ($16-20), restaurant, pub, store, heated pool,
boat rentals and water-sport facilities all pitched on the lakeshore
with lovely views and a small beach, it makes an attractive long-term
accommodation prospect if you're tenting. Directly opposite is the
Woodbury Mining Museum (July-Sept daily 9am-6pm; $4; tel 354-4470), a
quaint pioneer building crammed with mining regalia and the entrance to
a thirty-minute underground tour of the old lead, zinc and silver
workings.
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