4 Must Know Insider Tips to Reserving the Most Popular Campsites

Mark your calendars, starting on Tuesday, March 15^th at 7:00am PST, camping reservations open!

With demand for reservations for BC Parks’ campsites growing year after year, we often get asked, “How do I get a reservation at _____ Park”?

In this blog, we’re going to share our insider tips on how to secure that coveted frontcountry camping site.

One of the most important tips to remember is that long weekends are the busiest and weekends between the middle of May until the beginning of September are the second busiest. If you’re flexible, we recommend reserving your spot during the week; this is your highest chance of getting that primo spot in a popular campground.

Now let’s get to the three tips that will help you get into your dream camping destination:

1. Understand the basics of reservations. BC Parks uses a 3 month rolling window for all our frontcountry reservations which means, starting at 7 am on March 15th, you can start making reservations for arrival dates as late as June 15th. If you are a keener and are already thinking the Labour Day long weekend and want to arrive on Thursday September 1st, you can make your reservation starting 3 months before that time (or June 1st).
2. Shop around before March 15^th. Here’s how the reservation system works: when a customer clicks on a site, even if it’s just to view it, the assumption is made that you are going to reserve your spot and places a “hold” on that site. This means other customers see that as already reserved. Our advice? Spend some time on discovercamping.ca looking at spots ahead of time and pick your top three spots ahead of time. This way if “plan A” doesn’t work out, you have a couple of back up options.
3. Check out the Discover Camping mobile site. This is a true insider tip: the desktop site can run slower on the March 15^th launch, but the mobile site sees less traffic, allowing for a speedier user experience. Also, you can access the mobile site directly from your computer! Just click here on launch day.
4. Check back frequently. Life happens and plans change; which means reservable campsites are released back to Discover Camping. Check back often and frequently to benefit from someone else’s cancellation or shortened stay.

Here are a few more links to help you plan your summer:

• Everything about BC Parks’ Reservations: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/reserve/
• More detailed Tips for making reservations: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/reserve/top_reservations_tips.html
• The Discover Camping reservation site: discovercamping.ca
  
• Important News about BC Parks: bcparks.ca