Campervan hire US / Canada

[sandspider]

Hi all

Myself and the wife and kidlet are thinking of hiring a campervan next year, April or May ish, and driving around the US or /and Canada for a month or so. Ideally starting in the us and returning the van in Canada, or vice versa.

Just wondering, has anyone here done this? Any hire companies, places to see, routes to travel etc. to recommend or to avoid? Will be googling, obviously, but any recommendations would be useful. And I reckon someone here will already have done this!

Many thanks.

 

[Rewulf]

Ive not done it , but did look into it as an alternative to staying in hotels ect about 4 years ago.

In the end we used the hotel option and a hire car.
Starting in one country and ending in the other a is often not possible, and you really need to consider the cost of hire, and fuel, which are both more expensive in Canada.
A large RV is really only good for 10-15 MPG, and can be as much as £100 a day, whilst a car can give 45 MPG and cost £30.
A decent B and B or hotel can be £50 to £100 per night , but it really depends on where you stay, if you want to be in the popular 'park' areas like Banff or Jasper in season, its defo £100 a night .

Having said that, its a great experience, depending on how much time you want to put into it, a steady 3 week trip could see you land in Calgary or Vancouver and do a circular route taking in the Canadian Rockies, Jasper, Banff, Whistler, through wine country to Glacier nat park in the US, Seattle and back to Vancouver or Calgary.
Weather wise April and May are not the best of months, with late snow and rain, tail end of August and September are better, and still avoid the crowds.
But that all depends on what you want to see and do ,Vancouver and Seattle are great cities, and the Rockies are amazing.

Take account of mileage, it may not look far on the map, but the route I mentioned is around 2000 miles, you dont want to spend too much time driving if possible.

[rimfire4969]

We looked into it but decided on the hotel / motel route in the end as they are far more numerous than RV camp grounds. Plus take into account the very usefull info above from Rewulf.

[sandspider]

Thanks chaps, useful stuff rewulf.

We have a 2 ish year old and the idea was that a campervan would be familiar and safe rather than a new hotel every night... If it wasn't for her it would be simpler!

[welsh1]

A few years ago we flew to Toronto picked up a motorhome and drove round for 2 weeks, did the usual tourist things like Niagara falls ,and the lakes ,driving and getting around was a doddle, freeways almost everywhere, the parks we stayed at for a few nights each were great, with lakes, baseball practice pens, loads of entertainment for the kids, each pitch had a truck wheel to light a fire and we just threw a grid on top and used it as a bbq, sat out till late most evenings toasting marshmallows with the kids lol.

If you search online there are quite a few companies that will do the fly drive package.

We had a great time.

[grrclark]

I have done it a few times in Canada and would recommend it highly.  The first 2 times we had a 5th wheel camper which was great as you could leave the camper and drive around in the pickup truck so you didn't need to take your 'house' everywhere and could also go to lots of places where you couldn't take a camper van,

As Rewulf suggests it is more expensive than renting a car and doing different hotels, but it also offers a very different experience.

The first time with a 5th wheel we did Calgary to Vancouver following a varied route between mountains and vineyards and everything in between, the second time we did a circular tour starting and finishing in Calgary all around the different mountain national parks.

We have also done numerous hire car and hotel trips to BC as well, I think it is an amazing part of the world for so many reasons.

Our third camper trip was in Ontario starting and stopping in Toronto and that was in a relatively small camper van as we knew we would be stopping at campgrounds with decent facilities, so the camper provided a mobile wardrobe, breakfast kitchen and beds and not a lot else.  The 5th wheels were a different thing altogether with every feature that you could want.

We never had any issues in finding a campground or place to stop and never pre-booked anywhere.  A lot more campgrounds in Ontario were much more geared up as holiday parks with bars and entertainment, that was much rarer in BC with the emphasis much more about enjoying the outdoors, although there were a few places that offered more.

Regrettably the company that did the 5th wheel hire is no more and you only seem to get camper vans now, but i would absolutely do it again and some of the camper vans/buses are amazing things.

Crossing the border with hire vehicles can be difficult with insurances and the like so perhaps better to stick to one country only and spare yourself a load of hassle and time in trying to cross the border.

[Rewulf]

On 21/08/2018 at 21:07, sandspider said:

Thanks chaps, useful stuff rewulf.

We have a 2 ish year old and the idea was that a campervan would be familiar and safe rather than a new hotel every night... If it wasn't for her it would be simpler!

Good advice from Grr.

I will say this, I can understand your reasons for the camper van plan, and obviously its your decision.
But in my opinion, its not the sort of holiday that will appeal so much to a toddler.
Bearing in mind, Canada ,as a destination is not the cheapest place to visit, whichever way you do it , you could have 2 very nice holidays for the same price.
Canada is a scenery holiday experience, and involves a lot of driving to get to various bits, the driving part to me was some of the best parts, the Icefields Parkway drive is one of those things that stays with you all your life.
A small child would likely sleep through it !
A trip to Disneyland in Florida would maybe set you back £3- 4000, or a top Spanish ,Greek or Turkish resort, around £ 2000, my 2014 trip to Canada and Alaska for 3 weeks cost £8k , and trust me ,I could have spent a whole lot more.
Ultimately , if its something you and your partner want to do, I completely understand, but me I would wait till theyre a bit older, and can appreciate it more, and more importantly, remember it.

[Walker570]

Hired one in 1978 on our first ever visit to the USA. Brilliant.  We then hired a seriously large one and did 10 days in Florida... the camper van was superb ...Florida ..The Pits unless you like getting eaten alive by mossies which bite a piece out and fly up a tree to eat it. MIND..Canada has it's insects as well.

Most of the hire companies are pretty reliable but do a bit of research and TAKE NOTE OF THE SMALL PRINT on the insurance.   I cracked a wing mirror(almost as big as in our bathroom!!!)

and on return they tried to charge me but I had done my homework and drew their attention to the small print. They apologised.

As far as your youngster is concerned, again, do your homework... that is the joy of the internet..you can plan stops where a young child would get a thrill.  BUT, I would also suggest leaving it a couple of years because it may spoil your holiday as well. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Walker570

[sandspider]

Thanks again, everyone.

The idea is that we do it sooner so that we don't have to go to Disney or similar (?), when the small one has an opinion! But your points are valid. We were originally thinking of New Zealand, but that's even more expensive and even further away, so Canada / US is a bit of a closer destination, while still being a bit more exotic & unusual than a couple of weeks on a Greek beach.

[ferguson_tom]

just be wary if you are planning on driving lots of miles some of the companies have quite limited daily mileage allowances and if you go over them you are charged X amount per mile and it soon adds up over a few weeks. Why both the US and Canada? Both countries are more than big enough to keep you occupied for a few years let alone a few weeks.

[sandspider]

I fancy Canada, and my wife fancies the US! We could just do the one, and it would probably be simpler...

[Rewulf]

29 minutes ago, sandspider said:

I fancy Canada, and my wife fancies the US! We could just do the one, and it would probably be simpler...

I took a one way flight to Calgary , Canada,3.9.14 , picked up the car and stayed the night there, theres a good shooting range in Calgary ?

Drove to Banff, 3 nights there, Lake Louise, Moraine,Minnewanka, hot springs , Gondola ect.
Icefields parkway to Jasper, 3 nights there, Pyramid lake, Whistler mountain cable car, Maligne canyon ect.
We then drove to Vancouver, via an overnight stop in Kamloops and wine country, or, you could go via the Sea to sky highway (Hwy 99) via Whistler.
Dump the car in Vancouver, and 3 nights in the beautiful city, Stanley park ect.

Scenic train, or bus to Seattle, the bus stops at US customs and you disembark/re embark 
3 nights near Space Needle park, lots to see and do there and on the sea front.

We then took a cruise via NCL , Alaska ,inside passage for 7 days, this can be done quite cheap with an inside cabin, but a balcony is about £1k+ pp
Amazing trip, whales, sea otters, bald eagles and bears, NCL have a relaxed cruising style , good for kids and great entertainment and food, massive choice of restaurants/bars.
Did more whale watching on a trip in Juneau, sea plane trip in Ketchikan, Glacier bay, and hired a car and drove back into Canadian Yukon for the day at Skagway.

Back to Seattle for a couple of days before flying back (from Seattle) via Iceland, easy to add a little Iceland trip on there if youre up for it.

For 2 of us we spent, with everything £8k, and thats with quite a lot of boozing and meals out, no travel agents involved.
I picked September because the crowds have mostly gone by then, and you get a good mix of weather, we had snow one day in Jasper, the day before it was 25c !
The leaves are just turning, and the salmon are running, plenty of end of season bargains too.

If I could do it all over again I would, amazing trip, and the best money I ever spent.

[sandspider]

Thank for another detailed post Rewulf, sounds good!

Was it a package of some sort, or did you book each bit individually?

Edited August 31, 2018 by sandspider

[Rewulf]

1 hour ago, sandspider said:

Thank for another detailed post Rewulf, sounds good!

Was it a package of some sort, or did you book each bit individually?

We started saving up for it and buying parts of it a year before we left, the original plan was to land in Toronto, spend a couple of days there, go to Niagara ect, before flying to Calgary.
It became a logistical nightmare, and stuck another £2k on the trip, so it got abandoned.

I based everything around the cruise embarkation time, so booked that first, £2k for a mini suite, plus another £800 on spends aboard , mostly alcohol !
NCL do it differently now with an 'all inclusive' package, but with a child with you thats probably not for you.

Used Air Transat for outgoing flights from Gatwick, think they were about £450 pp one way, coming back from SeaTac was really cheap, Icelandair £270 pp.
So with those 'unmovable' bits booked, I then sorted out the various hotels and B+B s and activities, all researched through Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic forums, I spent a lot of time on this !
It paid off, everything ran smoothly and everywhere we went was brilliant.
The weather was absolutely fantastic, even the snow.

It might seem a little extreme booking things far ahead, but when you want to do something on a particular day, it usually pays you to.

The only hiccup if you can call it that, was the sea plane trip, we booked it as a bear watching trip, but the rain coming off the mountains near Ketchikan, stopped the salmon running upstream, so no bears feeding at the site, so the pilot refunded part of the money and took us for a sight seeing trip instead, all good.
There was literally thousands of dead salmon at the river mouth in the town, literally swam themselves to death against the river current.

Alberta and BC are absolutely beautiful, and the Canadians we met were lovely, they love the Brits, not so much the Americans.
The country is vast, driving through it is a joy, general things are a little more expensive, petrol was cheaper, I think it worked out about 80p a litre, but the pound was good then too.
Vancouver is very cosmopolitan , very diverse in its citizens, trendy and laid back, could easily live there.
The US is cheaper, a fair bit cheaper, and I really liked Seattle, lots to see and do there.
But if I was to go and live somewhere else than Blighty, it would definitely be Canada, theres just so much room to breathe.
Any questions about it dont hesitate to ask, I could talk about it all day ?

Edited August 31, 2018 by Rewulf

[sandspider]

Cheers Rewulf, more useful stuff. Looks good, and I might be in touch again! ?

[Rewulf]

3 minutes ago, sandspider said:

Cheers Rewulf, more useful stuff. Looks good, and I might be in touch again! ?

No problem mate.