Hi
I fancy a motorhome camping trip to Canada, not sure why as I have never had a motorhome and have never been to Canada!

Just me and the missus 2 weeks any recommendations for areas to go companies to use etc?

Thanks in advance!

I did it with my GF and our mtbs. All round Banff – flippin brilliant. Way better than a hotel – the campsites are fantastic – more like 5 star outdoor hotels. So much room, facilities etc and staffed by professionals. Cheap as well. Get a big one with a proper double bed, shower, flat screen TV, kitchen and space for your bikes. We were met at Calgary airport, taken to the hire place, given loads of info on where to go / stay etc. Then given a lesson on how to use the thing – which you need as they are not that simple.

Very good holiday.

When I looked in the USA they were eye-wateringly expensive. Comparable to staying in a fairly flash hotel.

Trimix
Cheers, who did you use?

I cant recall, I will have a look when I get home and see if I kept the email / web address. As for price you need to factor in the fact you have a hotel + car + change of view whenever you want. Even if it was more expensive than a nice hotel it was way better. Some of the places we pitched up were just amazing – we stayed several times in campsites that were empty – sort of wilderness parking spots with a bear proof bin for your rubish. You just left your payment in a box. Obvioulsy there was no electricity or water, but the camper vans are fine with that for several days. Other places had better facilitiys than some of the hotels Ive stayed in. Oh and a view to die for. Also if you get bored with the view or dont like your neighbours you just move. As for neighbours – well the parking spots are actually very far apart so you cant even hear them. Not like UK campsites. Also being able to stop the van, ride your bike, come back, have a shower, cook lunch and then drive on to another venue is worth way more than money alone.

then drive on to another venue is worth way more than money alone

Yeah but how many miles do you have to drive?
You need to make sure you have enough fuel in the tank at all times.
Was in Saskatchewan/Saskatoon for summer hols and the distances between “towns” and fuel stations are huge ❗ Travelled over 400k on one trip, there was only 1 roadside fuel/food stop 😕

We did (me, wife & two kids) two weeks touring Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise etc ….

Really good fun and a variety of Camp Sites from full service at Tunnel Mountain (Banff I think that was) to very basic at Jasper.

The driving didnt seem a task and the great thing was just pulling up at a layby/rest area and having everything you need on tap.

Looking forward to going again 🙂

MrsG and I have discussed this several times, but never investigated it further. What sort of prices are you talking about (for a family of 4)?

Sorry cant remember what we paid but it wasnt cheap, but we had complete freedom and great fun.

We hired from http://www.fraserway.co.uk/ and booked the flights and camp site seperatly http://www.pccamping.ca/.

Try Canadian Affair

Highway 1 from Calgary to Vancouver has towns fairly well spaced out (lake louise, revelstoke, golden, kamloops etc) so you shouldn”t run out of gas if you’re careful. Canmore’s a nice little town about 20km east of Banff but outside the National Park, so no permit needed when you’re staying outside the NP. Some routes require a NP Permit for the length – e.g the Icefield Parkway up to Jasper.

Just to add to the mix.

I did a trip in the car/hotel which was great but saw quite a few motorhomes on the trip. All from the same company heading out of Vancouver (cant remember the one but they had the same massive logo on the side).

If it were me and I’ve spent a lot of time around calgary – banff – revelstoke – golden etc

I’d set off from Vancouver, head out via Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton and drive the 200km back road (summer only!)toward kamloops (which is the most beautiful drive i’ve ever done) then head into the okanagan valley via vernon and kalowna – see if you can get to Nelson too as it is lovely. More scenery changes than banff area which although amazing get a bit samey after a while

Vancouver is infinately better than Calgary if you fancy spending time there, Banff is like blackpool for the rockies and not in my opinion particularly nice.

I’d certainly recomend thinking about car/hotel as well as its much easier, probably way cheaper but then the camp sites are really well set up too

Plum

We did BC;
Van>Van island>Squamish>Whistler>Kelowna>Nelson>Van
I’d miss Kelowna if I did it again and find somewhere to replace it.
For 2 weeks, this was a nica amount of holiday/driving. I wouldn’t have wanted a tighter schedule as it wouldn’t have allowed us to experience all of the things which we did. The driving did get tiring (other side of the road and a massive wagon). We hired an RV privately from the people we stayed with (B&B) in vancouver. Much cheaper.

Cruise Canada and cruise America are the rv’s you see everywhere. Always seemed eye wateringly expensive

Canadream are another popular company.

Which ever way you cut its going to be expensive. Getting to Canada and renting an RV does not come cheap.

we did car/hotel. 6 nights in Canmore, 2 in Calgary (wedding to visit), one in Kamloops, 3 in Vancouver and one in Lake Louise.
The Listel hotel on Robson Street in Vancouver was very nice.

If you do go that way, don’t stay in the economy section of the Lake Louise Inn (not to be confused with Chateau Lake Louise):

although I think the non-economy section was ok

Fabulous. We’ll do it again.

We hired from Alldrive and did 3 weeks in a loop from Vancouver. They also do a Calgary-Vancouver (and vise versa) option.

Think about what type of vehicle you want. The all-in-one camper is OK if you’re travelling all the time but you’ll tire if having to pack everything up just to go to the shops for milk. We went for a “5th wheel” – an articulated vehicle using a big pick-up truck. When I say big, that’ll be a 6 litre V10 Turbo Diesel. Great when you unhitch and go for a spin.

Camper2 by druidh_dubh, on Flickr

We did around 2,500 miles – travelling every 3rd/4th day. 15mpg towing but fuel cost is so low that it’s as cheap/expensive as driving an estate car over here.

IIRC, total cost of the holiday (for three of us and paying for river rafting, horse treks, flights etc) was around £4k.

#1 tip – get lots of sleep on the way over. You’ll be tired when they start to explain all about hitching, un-hitching, brown water etc…. and then you have to drive the thing.

Camper1 by druidh_dubh, on Flickr

It was much warmer than we expected. Make sure your camper has AirCon.

we did Calgary-Banff-Jasper-Alaska panhandle-Prince Rupert-cruise ship down to VC island; a week around VC and Whistler. Was with 90 year old mother-in-law so did the car/hotel lark.
Everything in Canada was about 30% more expensive than here (exchange rate was 1.5 last summer!) so even getting breakfast for 4 people cost about £50, the VC aquarium £70 for 4 as was the museum in Victoria! So if you can self-cater I’m sure you sure you can go much lighter on your wallet than we managed (also because the novelty of being given twice as much food as you can eat in eateries does ware off after the first day or so!)

Cheers guys thats great info as always

what would i do without stw! 🙂