Quesnel

The Gold Pan City — gateway to Barkerville and the heart of the Cariboo Gold Rush.

Quesnel sits at the confluence of the Fraser and Quesnel rivers, a city that has been a hub of the Cariboo since the Gold Rush era of the 1860s. Known as the Gold Pan City, it is the gateway to Barkerville Historic Town — one of the finest living history museums in Canada and the site of the greatest gold rush in BC history. Barkerville, just 90 kilometres east of Quesnel, preserves over 125 heritage buildings from the 1860s gold rush era, with costumed interpreters, gold panning demonstrations, and theatrical performances that bring the Wild West character of the Cariboo to life. It is one of the most remarkable heritage destinations in western Canada and well worth the drive from Quesnel. The city itself sits in a landscape of rivers, lakes, and boreal forest that offers excellent fishing, hunting, and outdoor recreation. The Quesnel River is one of the finest sockeye salmon rivers in BC, and the surrounding Cariboo plateau lakes offer world-class rainbow trout fishing. The Pinnacles Provincial Park, just north of town, features extraordinary hoodoo formations carved by erosion from the volcanic rock of the plateau.