Reviews of Barkerville Historic Town & Park (Museum)

Derek Travers

Went for Victorian Christmas. Absolutely lovely and wonderful weather!

Eric

Barkerville is just as awesome as I remembered it. So much fun with the fam. Lunch was awesome too, and you can even pay discretely with debit or credit then go back in character haha.

Emerald Shih

Great place to visit, rich with history. Don’t miss the tours, especially the Victorian Town Tour. The tour guides and actors are superb. So much to see, if you can budget a whole day there. Or more. The admission ticket is good for two days.

David Monteith

Great experience really found the outfits of the staff and the acting to be very good. However I came very unprepared for the school in the Chinese neighborhood, and the lady in the school had to remind me to be polite, my apologies as you were very right, a question should start with "please", I looked incredibly foolish belting out "tell me about the school" sorry. That being said I couldn't think of what to ask earlier today. Now I would love to know more about the history and the local Chinese dialects that might have been spoken, was the Chinese community mainly from the south? Etc.. just some curiosity as when I was in a museum in Southern China I found information pertaining to barkerville and that actually inspired me to visit barkerville in the first place. Really did enjoy the trip, next time I will remember to write down my questions.

Wendel Schwab

Walking into Barkerville is like walking into the past. The people who run this wonderful place work very hard to maintain the spirit and environs to the town's heyday from the 1860s to the 1960s. At one time, this historic town was the biggest city North of San Francisco and West of Chicago, now it's a few streets that were once abandoned, but have now been lovingly restored and inhabited by the people who work there. There are two restaurants, Wake Up Jake and Lung Duck Tong, the latter serving Chinese food, a cafe, the House Hotel Coffee Saloon, where you can get sandwiches, drinks, and other food. There are stores, such as Mason & Daly, General Merchants, where you can buy a lot of neat gold rush era stuff. There is really too much to do to list in a single review. I always have a blast whenever I go to Barkerville, and I always go back again and again.

Kun Z

It’s a very special place. It’s very interesting to walk around in the town and see a lot of historical things. I had a great experience at this place several years ago. I always want to go back again with kids. They will love gold panning and the shows as I did. ????

Kaelen Cohen

Great visit!! If you truly want the full Barkerville experience you must stay overnight at one of the accomodations. We stayed at the Kelly House and there's something truly special about the town before and after the gates close to the public. Can't wait until the next time!

Michelle Mccready

Take a step back in time when you walk through this town. Days of old are alive and dynamic in this working piece of history that draws you into the stories of the people that called Barkerville their home. This isn't just a collection of old building brought to the site as a tourist trap. Rather, this place is the archive of an actual town, mining camp, and community that thrived in this valley. The "town folk" that now walk the streets and run the businesses here are a part of the narrative of this town and will share the tales of the people who made this place their home while facing adversity with courage and ingenuity. Please note: Barkerville is not dog friendly and your furry friend will have to wait outside the gates in one of the kennels. Service animals are allowed.

Wallace Koopmans

No other place like it. Every British Columbian should visit as well as any visitors to the area.

Ashley Taylor

Always love barkerville! I could walk through a million times! The bakery is definitely must! And I also grab my favorite candies from the general store!

Jo key

Great place to see, but a lot was closed and no shows due to covid, so never got to experience the whole vibe of the place, which was disappointing.

Foto Gini

This place is pure magic! We are going there at least one time every year and always find things we haven't seen before. You can meet great people there, artists with body and soul impersonating the characters they are playing very well. …

Edward - MamaYeh RV Park

A great winter retreat at Barkerville Historic Town before Christmas in 2018! This was our first time in winter to stay at cottage in Barkerville. The atmosphere in winter there was completely different from visiting in Summer! We stayed three nights there. The whole town was closed in winter. On last day, a beautiful day, we were walking through town on our newly purchased snow shoes. I found nobody else except me and my wife on the streets. The whole town was so quiet and peaceful! The experience was amazing!

Alie Desrosiers

Just went there today, it was amazing and I have some tips and advise. The drive up is beautiful, just take the corners slow as they can be misjudged as how sharp they are. Plan to be there from 10am until atleast 4pm or later, it is needed. Take the 10am tour as it should not be missed. The actor who talks and walks you through the European part is amazing. She keeps you engaged with her knowledge, delivery and humor. After the tour go back and visit the buildings that interest you, grab a cup of coffee. I recommend paying the $7 for the souvenir mug as you then get unlimited coffee. Look in the shops and do not miss the bakery, it is everything and more. I then recommend you walk through Chinatown on your own first. The tour for that starts at 2:30pm so you have time. It is given by an Archeologist. However the lack of 5 stars is due to this tour. Within the first five minutes of her presentation, she makes fun of the guide of the Eruopean tour which was totally uncalled for and I found rude. Though she is very knowledgeable, her delivery was very dry and I found myself loose focus. Was a few kids who also felt this and became board, while a few adults also left the tour within the first 20 or 30 minutes. The information was super interesting and I loved hearing about it, but the presentation wasn't the best. Especially since the first tour was sooo very engaging. This is why I recommend you read up first before doing the tour, that way if you want you can just skip ahead. The guide also wore her mask the whole time while outside, which made it even harder for myself and I'm sure others to hear and understand her. Barkerville as a whole was amazing, I highly recommend everyone go as there is soo much to learn, see and explore.

Jennifer MacLachlan

Great interactive museum town. Fantastic way to learn about history. A must do for kids for sure... It will give them a leg up on social studies curriculum. It's so much more interesting to learn about the past from actors portraying people than from reading the information in a book!

Just Me

Great experience, whole family loved it. A little disappointed some things weren't open this year because of covid, but understand it. Kids actually want to go again which is great.

Coolmax 1855

Awesome piece of British Columbia history! Great shops..the candy and bakery top knotch yummiest!!! Will definitely be returning!

Crystal McAndrews

Love this place. Great hiking available. Wheelchair accessible. There are real characters roaming around from in the gold rush time period, which adds to the charm. Horse drawn carriage rides. Fresh baked bread! Fantastic souviners too

Derek Blanche

An excellent time, well worth visiting. Recommend camping at one of the local parks/camps.

Sabrina Sullivan

Clean. Organized. Friendly. Informative. Entertaining.

B G

Fantastic family fun! Whether you want to learn how to gold pan, want to take a carriage ride or just want to walk through a period of history this is the place for you!

Chase M

Don't miss out on seeing Northern BC historic culture. Such an amazing town

Nilesh Patel

Still worth a visit! Got the candy and the characters but with covid no shows. Great history lesson for this Era of BC...some crazy donuts too now!

Wayne Macdougall

Finally made it there. Quiet because of covid. Perfect.

Dean Lythgoe

Was nice to visit and see the history of the mining days in Canada (BC). Had a nice time exploring the town and seeing what goods the shops have to offer. You have to wear masks inside buildings but outside is fine to take them off, social distancing was easy enough to follow as it wasn't too busy while I was there. One family or a certain number of people is sign posted before you enter buildings with hand sanitizer provided outside. Be sure to check out Jack of clubs lake on your way out if you need to cool off in the spring/summer, the water is nice and cool to dip your feet into! Only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because their was quite a few stores that were closed, but I know thats because of the impact covid has had on this place.

Brenda McDonald

A great little town full of information on the history of gold mining/panning, little shops, historic buildings and people in character-dressed in period specific attire. It was really neat and we learnt a lot about that Era.

Deep Thoughts While Driving

Awesome place to take the family. Great little hikes and plenty to see you do.

John Bruce

Great example of a gold mining town with interesting staffed exhibits. With COVID-19 it is not as open as much as it looks like it could in regular year.

Lisa Janzen

Wish the photography was open!

Dani

Barkerville This was our first visit to Barkerville. We thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the local folks who were in character for the late 1800’s. We arrived at 9:00 am when they opened and there were not many people in line. The COVID incident has reduced the numbers in the park this year. As we visited we heard typically they would have over a thousand people a day but the average now is only around 200. Many of the shops and buildings are closed due to Covid19 but the ones that were open were great fun. We were able to see them all in about three hours. There were no long waiting lines and we conversed profusely with the locals. We heard the history of many of the characters and shared a little of our own history. ????. Our three favourite places were the Bakery, the Blacksmith shop and Miss Belle’s sewing shop. We enjoyed watching , learning facts, seeing the progression of the day’s events in the lives of a gold rush town. We also took a wagon ride that takes you through the town. It was very enjoyable. We got to talk to the driver, who filled us in on a little bit of the history as well as her own growing up years and her life with horses ????. Social distancing was well kept as folks would wait at an entry till others exited the premises. Hand sanitizer and washing stations were located throughout the town to assist in the reduction of transferring any germs. Funding has been provided for winter activities as well and this year they will be open for sleigh rides and winter activities. A plus is that the road is now paved all the way out to Barkerville. A smooth and quick ride compared to the gravel roads of yesterday.

Sarah 's google account

Such a cool place to walk around. I'd suggest taking the tour if you can. So much neet information. They do have debit, and places to eat, neet plays at different areas.

Cheryl MacNaughton

Great value for the cost of admission. The history of the Canadian gold rush in the 1860's is preserved and alive with the actors. Really special place. Recommend going and spending the day.

Katie Blight

I went last weekend, on labour day. I've been dozens of times and always enjoy it. I loved the on street discussion of the future of the colony by the actors, they did a beautiful job. They were engaging and many people stopped to watch. The blacksmith was incredibly friendly and showed some techniques to my husband and friend (who both enjoy metalworking). Lunch at the lung duck tong was delicious but food came out in strange order and one person waiting the entire meal to receive food and our appetizer came last..... So that was weird. It wasn't busy in there either. The new trails across the creek are coming along beautifully.

Csaba K

A unique time travel into the gold rush area with contemporary shops, restaurants and crew. Very well worth the visit!

John “Jay” McGowan

Many of the exhibits closed at the moment and limited live entertainment. This does not detract from the authentic feel of strolling through a frontier village. Period costume actors are available in the stores and strolling through the venue. They bring the period to life with stories and facts. Well worth a visit though make reservations as there is limited admittance.

Darla Bracklow

Even BETTER during COVID19 - fewer exhibits open but because there weren't crowds of people we were able to see, hear and learn about exhibits which in past visits we couldn't even get close to! Well done Barkerville!

Noah

Very interesting historic town, reasonably priced, they did replace all acts with actors due to covid but most gave super interesting facts about life in the 1800s especially the lady in the church. We did the gold panning at the general store instructor was a bit rude to the woman in our group but put our gold in a little vile and sent it home with us. We then ended off our day at the cemetery just up the hill and visited billy barkers grave. I would say Barkerville is definitely worth your while.

Amanda W

Very cool place! My favourite part was the people re-enacting various tasks. If you had the pleasure of having a quick chat with any of these actors you’d find they’re a wealth of knowledge and have a great sense of humour. Unfortunately my husband couldn’t come with me as we didn’t want to put our pup in the doggy prisons out front. It’s a shame we couldn’t bring her in with us as she’s a lot more behaved then the kid I saw throwing rocks in there today. Someone should open a doggy daycare next door, they’d make a killing! Tip: bring a wide lens camera to get great pictures of the rooms!

Sean Greene

Would have been nice to see everything up and running. Sadly the Marxist government still thinks we're in a pandemic. Probably will be forever. Once we get a sane government I'm going back for the full experience.

rose o'neill

Beautiful place. Wonderful people. Amazing area. So much to see and do.

Alan Forseth

So happy to have been able to visit Barkerville once again. Great job with your COVID proticals

Tyler Palmer

This is a great place for the whole family. Education+Entertainment= good all around weekend experience for all.

Dana Storm

Took a road trip up to Barkerville, took the back way from Likely definitely took longer than expected but worth it. Also Barkerville was amazing with so much to see! Sadly got there after hours but was still able to look around. Will go again!

Jellybean AutoCrafters

We had 15 vehicles participate in our 2020 Fall Colours Specialty Car Tour, so when we stopped in for a tour at Barkerville, we were very pleased with the service and the town itself. We enjoyed our time there and will be back at some point.

doug richards

Incredible! Guides are well informed! A MUST SEE! Very reasonable prices...$16 for 2 day admission. Go to the courthouse and see Judge Begbee ( spelling probably wrong) before the revisionists have him removed ( the revisionists had his statue removed in Vancouver)

Erik de Groot

Awesome. Beautiful buildings great skits and GOLD! GOLD! Really has been fantastically restored and contains so much history about the gold rush in the Cariboo region. A must visit if in the area. Note admission is for 2 days and it is easy to spend 1.5 days there.

Charlie Myles

Had an amazing time visiting Barkerville. The restoration, the period actors, the tours, along with the history of this site make the two-day admission worth the money and time! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and every inch from the park reception to the courthouse.

Ms-S Van

What an awesome place! Lots of things closed due to COVID, BUT.. it was hard enough seeing everything in only 3 hours anyways! Actors are awesome and so informative, check-in staff were absolutely wonderful. We went during a power outage and they helped give us credit card slips to be able to buy some gifts from the merchants. This was a highlight of our whole trip and I highly highly recommend the visit!! An absolute must-see!!!

Mark Wright

Such a great place! Please get out and support these amazing historical places before they no longer exist!

Maharsi Bodhi

Take a trip into the past. Barkerville is one of Canada's largest historic towns and will not disappoint. The residents of this little town take thier roles to heart. With newly built family cabins right on site, it's also got gorgeous, cheap accommodations available right on site.

Thomas Meier

Fantastic gold rush experience with great interpreters. Not only are they knowledgeable, they are also good fun and bring history alive. We spent two days and never had a boring moment. Fair price and not overcrowded. Highly recommended.

David Williams

Treasured historical site which is a must see. Unfortunately current conditions limited some activities and overall experience. Haven't been to the townsite for 25 years but feel much more could have been achieved towards making Barkerville a world class destination as well as the graveyard is poorly maintained should also be preserved.

A. Singh

Excellent Heritage site....Very knowledgeable things about Gold Mines , and about people & their living at that time involved in Gold mining...

Dan Hadash

What a great place! Everyone working there us awesome and really wants you to have the best experience possible. Go if you haven't been.

Tim Nguyen

Much too far to be worthwhile. I've been to Burnaby Village and Fort Langley, and this is not much different. Larger but essentially the same. If it was closer to home or other attractions it might be worthwhile. 10 hours there, 4 hours stay then 10 hours back.

sam logan

Definately worth a visit! They certainly hired the right people to fill the positions. It is a living museum and provides an authentic experience that we thoroughly enjoyed!

Ken Gurian

If you like history you will love it at Barkerville. I had planned to spend a few hours but instead spent a lot longer. The people who work there really know their stuff. The shops are interesting and everything is authentic. If you have the time take all the tours and go on a few short hikes.

Jen Hurtado

Very educational historic site for families of all ages. The theatrical performances on the street and in the court house are a must see. Ate at Wake Up Jake's, great service and amazing food. Stage coach ride is well worth every penny. Will visit again.

Trish Brooks

The town itself is AMAZING... historically you step back in time and it is an experience you won't forget. The cottages are amazing if you are looking for accommodations. 3 bed 1-1/2 bath with a full kitchen and laundry. Very clean and right next to the history. Don't forget to visit the cemetery while you are there.. just a short walk from the cottages. We will definitely be back!

Kelly Frankson

Still has the same charm it did when I was a kid! Mining for gold is a must and horse wagon ride was well worth the extra cost. Chinese restaurant has plenty of charm and highly recommend getting a steel mug and free coffee refills from the general store!

Bill Reid

Thought this was great!!! It was good going from building to building looking at the exhibits and learning about our province's history in this region during the gold rush!! We are lucky to have historical places like this to go to. We also got to see some bears and a moose in their natural environment... The campsite was also very good (Lowhee). We had electrical hookup. More full (water/electrical) hookup sites would be great. There is a river across the road from the campsite. It was nice to go there to cool off after a day of exploring at Barkerville.

Lisa McDougall

Love it will be back for a 3rd time this year , so lucky to have this little gem so close .

Daniel Appleby

Very neat to see such a historic place in its original condition including the "residents" of the town in full character. Definitely worth visiting as a BC resident!

Ulina R

Pretty neat place to visit but the cost if you want to have the “full experience” is just plain unreasonable. Seeing this historical place in person was really quite something though and the little hike to the view points was great. The views on the way there were breathtaking as well.

Taylor LaMarre

One of my favorite places to take my kids. Very happy this year they had the gold panning open to the public. The staff and the entertainers that work there are always super friendly. I was lucky enough to snag a custom made fire poker from the black smith.

D Chiu

Very interesting, especially the Chinatown tour. Thank you to Ms Chen for a great experience!

Julie Lier

It is always so amazing to visit this unique historic site

Wendy Shaw

Finally got to see this historic town, although still under some covid regulations. Some services/restaurants have a wait list... 1st come... so sign in! Wheelchair ♿ and ramps, with the offer of scooter should walking back be too much. …

D Suba

A historic town from the 1800s. Actors and the structures provide an immersive experience through interactive presentations, guided tours, storytelling activities and self exploration areas. Most of the structures and buildings are preserved from the original town. The actors and service providers are dressed in the clothing from the era. Visitors can also engage in gold panning, horse carriage ride and watch theatre performances for an extra cost. Teens, students and seniors get a discount. Overall a great place to learn and have fun for everyone.

Gail Janjua

Always a great time! Gold panning is fun, the staff are great and friendly, there are so many things to see and it's just a great environment.