Vancouver Island

[Nigels]

We want to spend 3-4 weeks touring Vancouver Island, last two weeks of August and first two weeks of September.

Do we need to make reservations for Provincial parks or commercial campgrounds or at this time of year can we just take a chance?

Any recomendations for campgrounds places to visit greatly appreciated

[Chuckinca]

With this great economy you can probably just wing it and get by fine.

I just know the major tourist places like Butchart Gardens and the Empress Hotel.

We took the ferry from Port Angeles and took one to near Vancouver, BC on the return.

ENJOY!

[caper]

Living Forest campground in Nanaimo is a great park. If not too busy you can get an ocean front site. If not you could get an ocean veiw site. If available site 200 is a great ocean view site. You get a view of the water plus the mountains on the main land. it is also a great place to stay as a base camp while you visit the island. We have been at Living Forest for the last two winters. The owners and staff are very helpful and will make your stay most enjoyable.

[Hutch65]

I've heard good things about Brown's Bay / Ripple Rock north of Campbell River (Browns Bay - Resort, Marina & Ripple Rock RV Park - Campbell River, BC Canada - RV Park), very scenic but you do have a several kilometer dirt logging road to navigate to get there (which can be a little rough at times, but they do grade it).

We just spent a couple days at Weir's Beach on the south part of the island (Victoria RV Resort :: Weir's Beach RV Resort :: Victoria BC, we live 15 min from there) - very lovely, friendly staff, and right on the oceanside as well but you should call first to check availability/reservations. It can seem a little crowded in a couple spots, but we found it very quiet in the evening, very clean, and generally just an excellent place to be.

I hear lots of good things about Living Forest too, from my coworkers who frequently stay there. We'll be heading there Aug 3-7th. Also heard that Mountain Aire just south of Nanaimo is pretty good too (Welcome to Mountainaire Campground and RV Park, where we have a beautiful campground in Nanaimo, British Columbia.), haven't stayed there yet so I can't comment personally.

On the West coast of the island, Crystal Cove Resort near Tofino looks quite nice (Crystal Cove Beach Resort: Tofino Cabin Rentals and Camping Accommodation, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada), but we haven't stayed there yet. When we inquired a month ago they said they book up pretty quickly so I don't know how lucky you'll be.

Hope that helps!

[jonnys_walkers]

There are 3 campgrounds to choose from that make excellent places to park for sight seeing around Victoria.
Fort Victoria
Thetis Lake Campground
Goldstream Provincial Campground
All Provincial campgrounds have many of the spots reserve only. You have to reserve online (fee) and if you are reserving on a long weekend you must pay for all three nights of the long weekend. The last two weeks of August are very busy as they are just before school starts.
If you want to PM me I can give you more options.

[Nigels]

Thanks guys this is all great information