Crawford Bay

Crawford Bay is on the East Shore of Kootenay Lake, about 4 km from the Kootenay Bay ferry terminal on Highway 3A — the short way in from Nelson and the West Arm. Straight-line, it is about 41 km from Nelson and about 69 km from Creston at the south end of the lake; both are BC Geographic Names coordinates measured against each other, not a drive-time estimate.

The alternative to the ferry is Kootenay Pass on Highway 3, the road link between Creston and Nelson that avoids the water crossing. See Kootenay Pass status or the ferry schedule to choose between them.

Ainsworth Hot Springs, across the lake on the North Shore, is about 8 km from Crawford Bay by straight-line distance — reaching it by road means the Kootenay Bay ferry to Balfour and then Highway 31, not a direct crossing.

The resort states its current pool hours as: Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am to 7:30 pm (last entry 6 pm); Monday 10 am to 3 pm. Closed Tuesday. Verified 2026-09-22 against the resort’s pools page. An adult day pass runs $18.00, verified 2026-09-22 against the same page.

See hours, day pass prices and the cave for everything this site tracks about the resort.

This site does not keep an opinion on that — it tracks live conditions and dated facts, not a verdict on where to go. What it can confirm: Crawford Bay is a settlement on the East Shore of Kootenay Lake (BC Geographic Names’ Community record, cited below), with its own beach parks and a short, direct ferry link to Nelson.

For the fuller picture — shops, studios and events — Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism, the region’s own tourism board, keeps its own East Shore page; see nelsonkootenaylake.com.

This site tracks live conditions and dated facts from named sources, not a business directory, so it has nothing sourced to say about which artisan studios are open in Crawford Bay right now, their hours or their locations.

Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism keeps a current listing of Crawford Bay’s shops and studios; see nelsonkootenaylake.com before making a special trip.

Two BC Parks properties cover the shoreline near Crawford Bay.

This site has no sourced list of restaurants or cafés for Crawford Bay — a business directory is not what this page attempts to be.

Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism’s East Shore page and local listings are the places to check before a visit; see nelsonkootenaylake.com.

This site’s campground data file has no entry tagged directly to Crawford Bay. The nearest one, by the straight-line distance this site measures, sits about 4 km south and is grouped under Gray Creek instead: Crawford Bay Cottage & RV Park, offering cottages, tent sites and RV lots on Highway 3A. 32 full-service RV lots plus two cottages and tent sites on Highway 3A; the site does not mention a boat launch. Call 250-227-9010 or see the operator’s own site.

This site tracks no hotel, motel or B&B data for the area; Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism keeps an accommodation listing at nelsonkootenaylake.com.

The operator named above, Crawford Bay Cottage & RV Park in Gray Creek, is this site’s nearest private campground to Crawford Bay, about 4 km away.

This site’s own community data marks only Nelson and Creston as incorporated gateway towns; Crawford Bay is not one of them, and this site’s data files carry no population figure or services inventory for it.

Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism’s East Shore page is the best public starting point for current services; see nelsonkootenaylake.com.

Crawford Bay is a community of approximately 350 people, situated in the Purcell mountain range on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. It lies on Highway 3A, about 76 kilometres (47 mi) by road north of Creston and 48 kilometres (30 mi) by road and ferry northeast across the lake from Nelson.

Verified 2026-09-22 against Wikipedia.

11 listings: 3 places to eat, 3 places to stay and 5 shops.

• Riondel
• Kootenay Bay
• Gray Creek
• Boswell
• Sanca
• Kuskonook
• Sirdar