So I have booked to go to canada for 3 weeks in the summer, Initial idea was to rent a small camper van and travel around in but it looks quite expensive… (and so many options when trying to book one that I have no idea about?)

We (me and my sister) are flying to Calgary and want to travel quite a bit around the Rockies… at the moment its looking at about £1200 for the two weeks for a camper van. Does anyone know of a good/cheap company to go with for one or what have others had experience doing out there???

thanks!

Living in Calgary so can’t help you much but I would avoid the camper van option. As you’ve discovered it isn’t that cheap and is actually fairly limiting (good luck trying to park a camper van in Banff / Jasper at the height of summer, even normal cars are a challenge….) Plus driving it up / down mountain roads can be exciting…

I would rent a car and do a combination of tent camping / hostels and the odd hotel. Even then the key national parks campsites get booked early. The key however is to look for “walk-in”; what this means is that your car isn’t literally by your tent. A bit of a phaff from the bear perspective but they are generally nicer; quieter pitches.

The fireweed hostel in Field (Yoho NP) is a real gem; the Louise hostel can be ok and the ones along icefields are a mix.

Hope that helps.

2nd car + tent + hostel + cheap hotels.

Camper van hire is stupidly expensive. Driving a small car will be cheap out there as fuel is cheap but the locals will take the piss for not driving a truck.

2nd car + tent + hostel + cheap hotels.

Camper van hire is stupidly expensive. Driving a small car will be cheap out there as fuel is cheap but the locals will take the piss for not driving a truck.

Small camper vans don’t exist in Canada. We had a small one a couple of years ago, we could have slept six in it. We had it for 9 days £1300? 900 Km. Good way to see the country. Nation Parks campsites are good. Be aware of yogi bear.

Me and the missus were over there in the summer many moons ago. We used Moose Travel and spent about 6 weeks bumming round BC and Alberta. Had an amazing time and the guides/drivers were quality.
Granted, this was about 8/9 years ago so things might have changed but still worth looking at.

http://www.moosenetwork.com/

Really flexible and all hostel digs so quite cheap (at the time anyway).

What is it like for ‘wild camping’ (but with a camper van) can you just rock up wherever with your camper van and stay the night or do you always have to go to a designated spot? what sort of prices are we talking for a spot for the van per night?

However you travel, this is the sort of scenery you see on a regular basis during the summer

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Crag – Many thanks!! I am already most definitely looking forward to it!!!

You can’t “wild camp” in the National / Provincial parks in the sleeping in the car context (or actually any other context). The wardens are pretty hot on it and I know people who have been caught just kipping prior to a big day.. Banff / Jasper is pretty crowded (by Canadian standards) during July / August so I think people will have tried most tricks at least once.

Parks Canada

Provincial Parks

Again, going back 10+years, we did it with a truck camper through Canadian Affair. Costs were quite reasonable IIRC. Basically a chevvy/GM/Ford pick up with a camper unit strapped to the load bay. Although youre not meant to go ‘off-road’, the trucks are 4wd and good ground clearance and some of the roads in the back country were graded anyway.

‘Wild’ camping was an option to a degree in the less frequented places (Elk Lakes Provincial Park I think was one), although back then the Provincial Park campgrounds were really good anyway and I doubt if things have changed that much.

Summer months do get busy, we would go either Spring or Fall.

Great place, great people, great lifestyle, my spiritual home and ended up buying a place out there – which I’ve now sold. Too old for work permit, even then, so the memories are fab! Enjoy