Guides · When the park is full · Checked
Where else to camp near Vancouver when BC Parks is full
About half of BC Parks’ 10,700 campsites cannot be reserved at all, and there are 1,505 rec sites, a BC Hydro campground and a handful of regional campgrounds that never show up in the booking site. Here is what to try, in order.
- Watch the park you wanted
In our first 8 days of reading the reservation system, a booked site night came back 16,551 times, and half of the ones taken again were gone within 4 h 39 min. A watch checks your dates every few minutes and emails you the official booking link the moment a site opens. Pick a park to watch →
- Take the nearest BC Parks park with space
As of Wed 14 Oct 20:59 PT, 3 of 20 campgrounds within 2½ hours of Vancouver have a site open for Fri 16–Sun 18, both nights. See the live list →
- Try a first come, first served campground
Stawamus Chief (109 sites), Skihist (58 sites), Emory Creek (35 sites), Roberts Creek (21 sites) are BC Parks campgrounds with no reservations at all, and Skagit Valley, Manning, Porpoise Bay and Alice Lake keep a share of first come sites. Nobody publishes how early they fill. The list →
- Try a rec site
Recreation Sites and Trails BC runs 1,505 recreation sites on Crown land: an outhouse, a fire ring, no water, free or $15 to $25 cash a night, 14 nights at most, and by rule nobody can hold a site for you. The table below is the ones within reach of Vancouver. The site pages say to come early on Friday for a long weekend; BC Hydro says mid-week is better still. The table →
- A regional or BC Hydro campground
Jones Lake (BC Hydro, 55 sites, free) and Edgewater Bar, Derby Reach (Metro Vancouver, 38 sites, $35), plus Vedder River campground in Chilliwack and Sunnyside campground in Cultus Lake. Each has its own booking site. The list →
- Walk in with a backcountry permit
Permits for Sx̱ótsaqel/Chilliwack Lake (Lindeman, Greendrop, Flora and Radium), parts of Golden Ears and parts of E.C. Manning cannot sell out: BC Parks limits the number of reservations at Garibaldi and Joffre Lakes, but not permit registrations. Register online from 14 days ahead until 8 pm on the day you arrive. Register with BC Parks →
Rec sites within reach of Vancouver
Status read 10 Sep 2026One per area, the biggest that was open on the day we read the pages. Fees are cash at the site. We do not estimate drive times to rec sites: most sit at the end of a forest service road, and the road column says how far.
| Site | Sites · fee | Road | Booking | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower KearsleyStave West, Mission · built for big rigs, on the Stave reservoir | 72$25 cash | 9 km gravel | some sites online, the rest first comestavewestcamping.com | open |
| Tamihi CreekChilliwack River valley · the biggest site in the valley; east loop open all year | 116$17 cash | paved | some sites online, the rest first comefiresidecamping.ca | open |
| Twenty Mile BayHarrison Lake · beach on the lake | 59$25 cash | 33 km gravel | up to 60% online, 30 days ahead; the rest first comewestharrisonreservations.com | open |
| Cal-cheakSea to Sky · the suspension bridge is closed | 63$18 cash | short gravel | first come only, self-register | open |
| Homesite CreekSunshine Coast | 30$20 cash | 2 km gravel, after the Langdale ferry | some sites online, the rest first comehomesitecreekcampground.com | open |
| Kane LakeMerritt · host on site; horse sites | 23$15 cash | 9 km on Kane Valley Road | first come only | open |
Bring cash. Check the site page the morning you leave: 6 of the 22 sites we track near Vancouver were closed on 10 Sep 2026.All 22 sites near Vancouver →
BC Parks campgrounds with first come sites
Park data read 10 Sep 2026- Stawamus Chief52 drive-in and 57 walk-in, nothing reservable109 sites, all first come
- Skihistnothing reservable58 sites, all first come
- Emory Creeknothing reservable35 sites, all first come
- Roberts Creeknothing reservable21 sites, all first come
- Skagit Valley, Ross Lake44 of 88 first come
- E.C. Manning, Hampton20 of 100 first come
- E.C. Manning, Coldspring13 of 66 first come
- Porpoise Bayplus 10 cyclist walk-in12 of 84 first come
- Alice Lakethe walk-in sites12 of 107 first come
Golden Ears is reservation only: its new sites were first come until 30 June 2026 and need a reservation since 1 July. There is no official list of first come sites; each park page says which loops are reservable.
Regional and BC Hydro campgrounds
- Jones LakeBC Hydro · Hope, signed Wahleach Lake · first come, 1 May to 31 Oct, 14 nights a season55 sites · free
- Edgewater Bar, Derby ReachMetro Vancouver · Langley · online, 1 Mar to 31 Oct38 sites · $35
- Vedder River campgroundFraser Valley Regional District · Chilliwack · books on its own sitesee the site
- Sunnyside campgroundCultus Lake Park · Cultus Lake · books on its own sitesee the site
How we keep this true
Site counts, fees, booking sites and status come from each rec site’s page on sitesandtrailsbc.ca, and the BC Parks numbers from the park operation data behind bcparks.ca. The date at the top is the day we last read them; the rows are replaced, never edited, on the next read. The live card and step 2 come from our own reading of the reservation system, stamped with the time. We do not list anything we could not confirm on an official page, and we never say what your chance of getting a site is, because nobody knows that. What we do know about sites coming back →