Hi all,

I'm in planning mode at the moment for a trip to British Columbia
(we live in Dublin, Ireland) in August/September 2008 for about 16 days. Myself, my wife and my son (who will be 23 months) will be travelling. We were bitten by the motorhome bug on a trip around New Zealand 4 years ago and have wanted to visit BC for a long time.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has travelled around BC in a campervan or from anyone that has had a campervan vacation with a young child. All tips, tricks and suggestions appreciated!

Hi Plates,

Camping_Girl has written a great web page about RVing in Western Canada:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/adecc/

The Open Roads Forum is dedicated to RVing (travelling in a recreation vehicle). The people who post there are very knowledgeable about the various campgrounds, different kinds of RVs, etc.

http://www.rv.net/forum

Since you'll have a young child, you may want to aim for a more leisurely pace than you might have kept up when you went RVing as an adult couple.

A nice circuit would be Vancouver - Horseshoe Bay - Langdale - Earls Cove - Saltery Bay - Powell River - - Comox - Tofino - Victoria - back to Vancouver.

I accidentally hit the post button before I was finished.

I wanted to say that a nice circuit would be Vancouver - Horseshoe Bay - Langdale - Earls Cove - Saltery Bay - Powell River - Comox - another place or a couple of places on Vancouver Island - back to Vancouver.

BC Ferries sells a package deal called CIRCLEPAC that gives you a 15% discount on the 4 ferries that are involved in that circular route.

http://www.bcferries.com/travel_planning/circlepac/

The stretch of the mainland from Langdale to Powell River used to be called the Sechelt Peninsula, but now is known as the Sunshine Coast.

Many people who have 16 days do a circular route that starts and ends in Vancouver and that includes the Canadian Rockies (both the BC and Alberta Rockies). I believe that would be much too rushed for you because (1) you'll be travelling with a young child and I think you need to slow down a bit and (2) because a motorhome is 15% slower than a car and it is not feasible to drive the same distances as a car.

You can look up driving distances and times at Map Quest (but add 15% to the time estimates):

http://www.mapquest.com

Tourism British Columbia has a very good website at

http://www.hellobc.ca

My website has some suggested itineraries. Although I consider them to be too rushed for you, they'll at least give you a rough idea of what can be fitted into a given time frame. Another useful aspect of my website, I think, is the TIPS section that contains information about weather, national parks entry fees, etc.

http://groups.msn.com/CalgaryandCana...kiesTravelTips

If you do include both the coast and the Rockies, I recommend that you fly into Calgary, pick up your RV in Calgary, drive through the mountains, drop off your RV in Vancouver, and fly out of Vancouver. Doing a one way journey will allow you to travel at a slightly more leisurely pace than if you attempted to cover the same territory in a circular trip. However, you might incur a high one-way drop off fee on your RV if you pick it up in one place and drop it off in another place.

If you do travel through both the mountains and coast in the late summer / early autumn, I recommend that you start in the mountains and end at the coast. The mountains start cooling off sooner, and the coast stays warm for longer.

Tourism British Columbia has a very good website at

http://www.hellobc.ca

Hope that helps.

To underscore BC's size and the impossibility of covering it all -- or at least the impossibility of covering it all and doing justice to any one region -- I looked up its size.

BC is 944,735 sq km. To give you a reference point that will be meaningful to you since you've been there, New Zealand is 269,000 sq km.

So you have to choose a fraction of BC through which to travel and just live with your decision, knowing that you are not going to see it all.

The reason I mention that is that many folks who post on the travel discussion forums beat themselves up trying to include everything.

bc and/or the alberta rockies are fabulous. you'll love the trip. fit in as many days as you possible. the okanagan area is a lot of fun with a toddler (vernon, penticton). nice lakes and beaches. tofino on vancouver island is beautiful. if you go in september, after the first weekend, the crowds will be less as the kids are back in school. the rv forum recommended above is very helpful.

Allow me to second the suggestion of sticking with one areaof BC and to also add a vote for the Okanagon Valley. This area (Pentiction, Summerland, Peachland,Kelowna, Vernon, and, further on, Salmon Arm) may be better for travelling with little ones.It still has spectacular natural beauty and wonderful wineries/orchards for Mom and Dad but,as it is a resort area for Canadians et al., it has the styles of restaurants that kids love and many attractions in addition to the wonderful beaches and playgrounds.

Thanks for all the great advice. Have to try and contain my excitement since the trip is a year away!