Guides · Booking BC Parks · Checked
How BC Parks booking works: the 7 am window and the rest
Seven rules explain most of what people see on the reservation site: why a July weekend is gone by 7:01 in April, why you cannot book Friday on a Thursday, and why booked sites keep coming back. Each one below is quoted or summarised from the BC Parks page it links to.
Three months ahead, at 7 am, one day at a time
Each morning at 7 am Pacific the day three months out opens for booking. A stay is booked from its arrival date, so a Friday in July opens on the same date in April. The window was four months until the 2026 season. Group sites open 12 months ahead.
“You can make a reservation for your entire stay up to three months before your desired arrival date”Source: BC Parks, frontcountry camping; the change, BC Gov News, 29 Jan 2026Online booking closes two days before arrival
At most parks you cannot book online for tonight or tomorrow. That is why our home page shows the first weekend you can still book, and why this weekend is a first come, first served question by Thursday evening. Parks with internet at the gate take bookings up to the day.
“Most reservations can only be made up until 8 pm two days before your arrival date”Source: BC Parks, frontcountry camping$6 to book a night, $6 to change or cancel
The booking fee is $6 per site per night, to a maximum of $18. A change or a cancellation is $6. Cancel more than seven days out and the camping fee comes back in full; inside seven days, part of it. Cheap to hold, cheap to drop: this is why booked sites come back so often, and why a watch works.
Source: BC Parks, frontcountry camping; reservation policiesBook on the first day and the dates are locked
A reservation made on the day its window opens cannot have its dates or length changed afterwards. The named occupant cannot be changed either, a rule from 2016 after sites were resold. A no-show loses the site at 11 am the day after arrival, with no refund.
“It prevents people unfairly securing reservations for popular dates by booking more nights than they intend to use”Source: BC Parks, frontcountry camping; BC Gov News, 2016Stay limits, and three nights on a long weekend
Most parks allow 14 nights per calendar year per park; Porteau Cove and sẁiẁs allow 7. On a statutory holiday weekend the minimum stay is three nights.
Source: BC Parks, frontcountry camping2026: higher fees at 59 parks, $20 more for non-residents
At 59 high-use parks the summer nightly fee went up by an average of $13.29, to $42.91 for BC residents. From 15 May 2026 anyone who does not live in BC pays a flat $20 a night on top, wherever a fee is charged. High-use means over 80% occupancy on average in peak season and over 95% on weekends.
Source: BC Gov News, 29 Jan 2026; 2026 camping fees sheetAbout half the sites cannot be booked at all
Of the roughly 10,700 campsites BC Parks manages, about half are first come, first served. There is no list of them; each park page says which of its campgrounds and loops are reservable.
“Of the 10,700 campsites BC Parks manages, approximately half are available on a first-come-first-served basis”Source: BC Gov News, 2022What this means for a weekend
For a Friday in July, be on the site at 7 am Pacific on the same date in April; the long-weekend Fridays need three nights. If you missed it, the sites still change hands: cancellations are cheap, so a watch on your dates does the refreshing for you and emails the official booking link the moment a night opens. Pick a park →
For this weekend, online booking has already closed at most parks by Thursday evening. About half of all BC Parks campsites are first come, first served, and there is a second system of rec sites that never had a booking calendar. Where else to camp →