The first night worth building the week around sits on the far side of the Salish Sea, a drive-in pad under cedar and fir at SMONEĆTEN, the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve campground a couple of kilometres south of Swartz Bay on Highway 17. Hold the pad at Parks Canada first, then the over-height sailing out of Tsawwassen, then the van. In summer both ends of that night go before the rentals do. SMONEĆTEN is the Swartz Bay pad and not much more, so if the week carries on toward Goldstream or the Sooke coast, those south-Island nights sit on the Victoria campervan lander.
The Sunshine Coast is the other version of that trip, a shorter crossing out of Horseshoe Bay and a warmer beach at the end of it, with Porpoise Bay as the overnight. It's where the week goes when Island sailings are already gone for your dates.
A full-size motorhome is a different animal on either ferry, booking as an over-length vehicle at a different fare and deck. If you're weighing a bigger rig over a van, the RV version of this page rides the same Island and Sunshine Coast crossings.
The Sunshine Coast up Highway 101
From Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver it's about forty minutes across Howe Sound to Langdale BC Ferries, then Highway 101 north to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, a sandy-beach family park on the warm water of Sechelt Inlet four kilometres above the town of Sechelt. Sites sit in second-growth Douglas fir and cedar with grassy openings down to the shore, and paddlers use the beach as a launch onto the inlet. Reserve for July and August, bring cash for the park, and note that fires are allowed only at the three communal pits, not at your own site BC Parks.
Keep going north on 101 toward Earl's Cove and Skookumchuck Narrows is the stop worth the walk. A four-kilometre trail from Egmont reaches Roland Point, where an incoming tide forces the whole inlet through a rock gap and stacks the water more than two metres higher on one side, throwing standing waves and whirlpools that kayakers surf BC Parks. It's day-use only, so time it to a big tide, then drive back to sleep at Porpoise Bay.
The Sea-to-Sky and the mainland parks
Plenty of Vancouver rentals never touch a ferry and point up Highway 99 instead. The Stawamus Chief, Alice Lake, and the Garibaldi trailheads are the Squamish corridor, and the overnights up there sit on the Squamish campervan lander. East of the city it's Golden Ears and its lakeside sites, which belong to the Maple Ridge lander. For Lynn Canyon and the Grouse and Seymour trails right above the city, the North Vancouver lander has the closer pads.
