Canadian Motorhome Trip

[thirtle26]

We are thinking of a holiday in Canada, a country we have never visited. If anyone has either been on an organised trip by C&CC or another provider we would very interested in your comments. Our main criteria is driving an RV with slideout. The holiday could last 2 to 8 weeks.

[colin]

Canada is a huge country, did you have a particular area you wanted to visit?

We have been to BC, spent 3 (or was it 4?) weeks on that alone, not sure why you want a organised trip. A standard RV in north America can be fairly big without any slideouts.

[Derek Uzzell]

A recent-ish Canada-related forum discussion

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Motorhoming-in-Canada/51476/

[Alanb]

My first reaction to this thread was almost identical to Colin's first sentence.

 

In the past, I have taken three holidays in Canada, on which Alberta and BC were visited by crossing the Prairies from Northern Ontario. The Maritime Provinces would been an alternative possibility.

 

When I last researched MH hire some 15 years ago, there was a basic average daily travel limit of 150km before additional distance charges were imposed. Assuming that you are hiring and not borrowing from a relative, please do look at the T&Cs and plan accordingly.

 

Alan

[thirtle26]

Thanks for replies so far. Will look on previous threads as well. Thought about western Canada with possible train trip through rockies. Looking at organised tours just because we have no idea of hiring. When we go to Europe we just book eurotunnel, look at the weather and head wherever. Some hire companies seem to have similar motorhomes to ours but really want something different.

[Robinhood]

We did a three-week tour of The Rockies from Vancouver in August 1999.

 

The RV was booked through a UK-based company, but Fraserway, the provider, are still about the biggest Canadian renter, and details are fairly easy to decipher.

 

https://fraserway.co.uk/uk/

 

We had a fantastic time, staying in a number of remote provincial parks, and visiting Banff and Jasper amongst other places.

 

Travelling was relatively easy, and we got into the habit of turning up early at sites, getting a pitch tied down, and then heading back out to tour around.

 

Having some nights in Vancouver at the beginning or end is a good idea; despite some of the well-publicised issues, it is a stunning city.

 

However.....

 

....we returned to Canada in June this years, and used a car to tour (since we wanted to head out onto Vancouver Island for part of the time). Whilst an RV holiday would probably suit us better than hotels, we were very glad we'd made that choice.

 

The whole place was very, very busy. It is another area that is drowning under the weight of tourism. You can't get anywhere near, for example, Lake Louise, and the queues for the shuttle bus from some miles away were anything up to three hours long!! (Having been warned, we turned up very early, and only had to wait around 40 minutes). Parking at other "honeypot" sites is nigh on impossible in a car, let alone an RV.

 

The whole wouldn't have been helped by the fact that some of the largest RV sites close to Banff and Jasper were closed for redevelopment, and it was obviously causing pressure on pitches (people were just not finding spaces in the busier areas).

 

It would be wrong to say we didn't enjoy ourselves, but the contrast with only 20 years ago was stark - it was much quieter, much more accessible, and rather more enjoyable.

 

Don't let it put you off; the place is well worth a visit, but be warned about the pressures of tourism.

 

 

[Will86]

We've been to the US a few times but I have relatives in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan so called the hire company for their comments (the start point not remembered) The lady who replied thought I was mad "What do you want to do that for, we fly across there"

 

There are some areas where you are expected to speak French

[dick GCT]

Had a Eastern Canada M/Home trip with the CCC in September 2018. Escorted Tour , 3 weeks long. Our motorhome was a 28ft.long one with slide outs.

Flew to Toronto, night in hotel, met up with other 6 couples plus escort couple.

Tour was clockwise , 2100 km in total, taking in Manoutuin Island, drum making session, a huge National Park, Ottawa, Kingston and Fort Henry. Back to Toronto and City Tour to finish off.

A truly wonderful 3 weeks!!

[curlygriff]

Just do it yourself, we hired via Cruise America 3 years ago when we were 77.

 

Always wanted to drive the Alaska Highway which is approx. 1450 miles long, we drove EVERY INCH, came back to our starting point and off we went following Alaska Highway but did over 6000 miles taking 11 weeks, a one way trip into Alaska, words CANNOT describe our journey

 

Picked RV on Seattle and dropped it off in Anchorage.

If just the 2 of you as already mentioned why a slide out??? large enough to play tennis in them.

Buy the Mile Post more detail in that than any map.

 

[alan k]

WE did our British Columbia trip in May June 2014 as part of a longer trip in the USA and Canada.

 

We used Trailfinders in the UK to organise our entire trip, we stayed with family in Washington DC and on Vancouver Island. They organised all our flights and hotel stops as well as the motorhome hire.

 

We collected from Vancouver and using the routing of several hire companies suggested tours, we made up our own route and added some days to give us more local sightseeing rather than driving all the time. We were early in the season, late May early June , we left Vancouver travelled east just above the USA border, staying in various towns before reaching the Okanagan Valley (wine growing area), then headed north and east Revelstoke and various other places to reach Banff. A couple of nights in Banff, then north along the Iceway, Lake Louise still had a covering of ice, and finished up in Jasper. 2 or 3 nights in Jasper before heading west and south down the Fraser Valley. We found lots of interesting places we'd never heard of but wasted our time going to some of the heavily promoted winter resorts which were a bit "Disney". Back to Vancouver, a brill 2 weeks in a standard (for the US) 4 berth camper, big lazy V8, 3 speed auto with overdrive!

Jasper National Park campsite was starting to get busy, in mid June with people starting to arrive for week or 2 week stays but everywhere else was fine. We only queued for 20 mins for the Iceway Glacier trip and that was only because of a booked group.

 

Everybody everywhere but especially in the National Parks and small towns were ever so friendly and helpful and gave us lots of local info where to park, where we could stop for the night, usually by the river and the railway, and all wanted to chat and loved our "Yorkshire" accents

Its one of the easier places to solo, no language barrier, people happy to see you, and lots of gide books and info available to decide on a route.

 

cheers alan and sue

 

PS we met the CCC tour,cant remember which campsite, and some mentioned alot of driving, and a hectic schedule and were amazed that we did it ourselves but it did give that chance to explore a bit more and to make the exploration a bit more interesting for us rather than the standard fare.

[thirtle26]

Thank you for comments, info and suggestions. Will follow them up and see if we manage to get to Canada either on our own or with CCC.