Park the van at Rathtrevor Beach at the east end of Parksville and the campsites sit back in the Douglas fir, a five-minute walk from two kilometres of open sand. At low tide the Strait of Georgia pulls back almost a kilometre and leaves warm tide pools and hard flats you can walk out on, and when the water comes back in it runs warm over sand that baked in the sun all afternoon. That first night is the one to lock. Sites open on camping.bcparks.ca three months out, with the new inventory landing at 7 a.m. Pacific, per BC Parks, and summer weekends go the morning they come available. Book the site first and the van second.
The loops sit back in the trees rather than along the water, so nobody gets a beachfront site and everybody walks about the same five minutes to the sand. The washroom buildings have hot showers, which matters more on night four than it does on night one. If a beach week with the family needs more room to sleep than a van gives, an RV rental in Parksville fits the same loops.
Englishman River Falls
The closest inland day is Englishman River Falls, about 13 kilometres southwest of town off Highway 4 on Errington Road, per BC Parks. Two waterfalls drop into a narrow rock canyon with footbridges over the plunge, and when the river runs low there's a swimming hole below the lower falls. It's a few hours of trails, not a reason to move camp, so leave the van at Rathtrevor and drive out for the morning. There is a campground here too, pit toilets and drinking water, and it is the fallback when Rathtrevor is full for the nights you want.
Little Qualicum Falls, west on Highway 4
Keep west on Highway 4 and Little Qualicum Falls is about 19 kilometres from Parksville, a forested gorge with upper and lower falls linked by a loop trail, per BC Parks. Swimming is closed through the falls stretch itself, so cool off at the Cameron Lake day-use area a few kilometres further west. Upper and lower camping loops sit above the gorge, so this one doubles as a night away from the beach if you want one.
Farther along Highway 4, the road runs right through Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park, where trails wind under 800-year Douglas firs, one of them more than nine metres around. It's day-use only, no camping, and there's no dedicated RV parking, with the roadside lots filling on summer weekends, says the local tourism board, so go early and carry on.
North off Highway 19, the Horne Lake Caves are a guided walk into the calcite and fossils, with tours running through the summer. There's no camping at the caves park, so it's a half-day out and back to the beach.
The Beach Festival and booking the peak weeks
Midsummer is the crush. The Parksville Beach Festival sets up a gated sand-sculpting exhibition in Community Park from mid-July into mid-August, on the festival's calendar, and July is the driest month on this coast, around 26 millimetres of rain against more than 200 in November, in the Environment Canada normals. That's when Rathtrevor sites vanish, so book early. A peak site runs $51 a night as of August 2026, on the BC Parks fee schedule, and any stay starting May 15 or later adds a $20 non-resident fee, under the 2026 rates. Winter is the opposite, rain rather than snow at sea level and thinner services, with the campground staying open at a reduced off-season rate.
Coming off the ferry from the mainland
Most people reach Parksville by ferry into Nanaimo, then Highway 19 north about 40 minutes. If you'd rather base near the terminal, the Nanaimo campervan lander covers the beaches and camping on that side. For the rest of Vancouver Island and the mainland, start from the British Columbia campervan hub.