Tips for an awesome road trip in Canada BC !
 

Hi everyone,

I just came back from an AMAZING road trip with my girl in Canada BC. 2 weeks of pure magic !!
-----> [Video here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c9ikubBU1g) <-----

Here are few of my tips to make the best of a road trip in a rather short amount of time:

INTRO: Depending on your time you may choose other options, but we had 9 days for a road trip around Vancouver.
So we decided to drive around Vancouver Island. Because the other destinations were kinda too far in driving time (rockies etc.) We didn't want to commit one day to get there and another day to return. And this vacations ended up being the best vacations I EVER HAD. (watch the video if you are not convinced :D )

WHAT TO RENT: After loads of research and time spent studying different options, we found the best option to be renting a Van, cheaper than RV, and able to sleep inside. Not relying on sleeping in hotels, B&B etc is going to save you tons of money ! We found an amazing option, renting "Hippie" Vans on this website: www.wickedcampers.com .
The rooftop tent is so amazing, 2/3 min to set it up and here you go, you can sleep wherever you'd like ! Plus you got to love those paintings :D

WHERE TO GO: Talking about Vancouver Island, the central part and the south easily covered us a full busy week. We changed spot every day. There was so much diversity !! Not a single day was the same, every place had it's own little thing that amazed us. The west coast from Sooke to Port Renfrew is absolutely stunning, with loads of national parks and amazing view of the USA right in front. French Beach national park is a quick (but definitely worth) visit. Pretty much all the national parks that we visited were worth the time spent. We decided not to go to Tofino because of the time we had left. It's a good 6 hours drive to get there and come back. (it's a dead end road). But it might be for another road trip there !

WHERE TO SLEEP: Wild camping being not clearly legal, (even though we found no official website stating it wasn't) we decided to sleep in campgrounds. While there is a lot of them, there is a lots of RV campings without any interest. We simply slept in all the Campground linked to the national parks. They are all pretty much in the middle of the trees and rivers. You can find all of them here: www.gocampingbc.com
They are roughly around 20 dollars CA each. They usually don't have showers nor electricity, but they offer clean toilets and water. We simply washed our selves in the many rivers that the island offered us. (Wild adventure feeling intensifie :D ) and bought an electric inverter (30 CA$) to plug on the Van. That was clearly enough for phone charging, camera and computer.

Here are few tips for a nice road trip on Vancouver Island.

Feel free to add suggestions that I might have forgot :p

Have a nice trip !
(Sorry for my English, it's not my native language !)

You had a lovely time. I have never thought about sleeping in van. My travels have always been work related and I seldom travel with friends. Thanks for these tips. Some time in the future, I hope to utilise this.

thanks for this! My husband and I are just starting to think about a trip to Vancouver for summer 2017 and we wouldn't have thought of a van or sleeping in a campground.

In Nova Scotia I extremely recommend a side road trip about the south shore. There are lots of lobster shacks, lighthouses, and good-looking view to be had. If you have the time, it's value the drive out to Brier isle, at the finish of the Digby neckline, across 2 car ferries.

If you ever decide to come back, you HAVE to visit Tofino and Ucluelet! I see how you might not have had enough time this time though. But for next time, I highly recommend checking out the bears and the whales in the Pacific Rim, if you're into fishing it's the spot to be, and the Wild Pacific Trial is absolutely incredible. http://www.tofino-info.com/ is a really good resource if you ever come back :) Glad to see you liked my home base!

Vancouver to Tofino, British Columbia

Even if you’re not a Vancouverite, this is one trip worth travelling across Canada to do. (Fly in and rent a car.) Head to Horseshoe Bay for the ferry to Nanaimo, then hit the Pacific Rim Highway (BC Highway 4) for a gorgeous, windy drive boasting views of mountains, lakes, coast and through ancient temperate rainforest. Blink and you might miss the sight of a mama bear and her cubs frolicking in a stream.

We have some of the best roads here without a doubt but the drive to Tofino is one of my absolute favorites.