Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone in the Kelowna and Kamloops and the Okanagan Region could possibly recommend any good RV parks for our recce mission next July (bearing in mind this will be a 30ft one!!) We are coming over and have checked out the sites on the internet, but can't make up our minds. We will be staying in Vancouver for a while then moving onto Kelowna and down the Okanagon Valley - so any sites preferably with some facilities (to keep 4 kids happy!!! as it will be a holiday as well!) but that maybe located near to towns etc so we can check them out Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated..

http://www.camping.bc.ca/Thompson_Ok..._listings.aspx

Take your pick

Cheers R I C H.

The ones lakeside between Summerland and Peachland are rad. Get busy tho. Book early.

There's a nice quiet one the other side of the bridge (Westside) heading towards Fintry. Nice place. Reasonably close to town too.

No others spring to mind close to town, perhaps there's a few but they're not on my radar.

R.

The one RICH_007 mentions is called Bear Creek and we stayed there last weekend.It is great for kids being right on the lake with meadows and playgrounds.It is a Provincial park so no hookups.

Is the Campground at the Provincial Park (from Downtown Kelowna, Cross Bridge, turn Right and its a few miles down there on the Lake) still good, it was excellent when we were there (12 years ago now).

Do you want hookups and have you driven a 30fter before? From what we could see most of the campsites with hook ups were just ok. We stayed in Penticton at http://www.oxbowrvresort.com/index.htm. Very small sites, but great owner, very clean facilities and close to beach for kids. http://www.banburygreen.com/ gets good reviews.
In Vernon , we were at http://www.silverstarcampground.com/. Odd web site with irritating popups, but nice position by Swan lake, clean showers, and a pool, I think you could rent kayaks as well.

If you don't want hook ups , provincial parks are the way to go, usually very nice
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/explore.html

30ft is very long, we've had a 29 and two 31s. Never had any problems until this year. We normally avoid urban areas where ever we can, but since last trip was a reccie we had to enter dreaded towns. Only then did we realise how awful those things are in a town ( only took us the equivalent of 7-8 weeks!) We ended up leaving the motorhome hooked up and rented small cars- the relief was amazing. I would highly recommend it, it's hard to look around housing estates in a motorhome- if you value your sanity -don't do it!

That's the sucka.

R.

It's only long compared to what you're used to in the UK, my truck's 20ft long before adding a horse trailer or anything else I tow. Roads and parking areas are designed with N.American sized vehicles in mind, so it shouldn't really be a problem to drive round most areas of town.

Ya but Rich, you're forgetting Brits are used to snarling around little busy congested towns with narrow roads and small cars - a "big" truck seems huge.

R.

Hi, yep some brits do only do that, but we have business with long vans, and quite used to driving vans with carpets into very rural lanes, tight corners etc, and also drive quite a big car due to large family!!! I think we'll manage, though admittedly it could take a bit of getting used to I will look at the sites you mentioned though cheers !

Cheeky! I'll admit to tiny narrow rural roads but we've both got big cars Maybe that's why I'm such an amazing driver I'd turn that round and say the average North American would need several changes of underwear a day to drive on my roads even in a little car.

My point was that to do a reccie is different from driving around on holiday. I love driving the motorhomes we've had, I've happily tackled some of Alaska's worst gravel/dust. But not even a Canadian would use a 31ft motorhome with the turning circle of the QE II as their everyday vehicle, which is what we needed when we spent hours driving around estates with property papers checking out housing/ schools etc.

Getting back to the original post- have you thought about the heat in the Okanagan in summer. That's why we hooked up to use the AC. We had the back up of a generator but I'm not sure how long it would run AC and hours of generators are limited because they are so antisocial. Heavy shade would be needed otherwise .

Actually, probably not realised just how hot it is in Okanagan. Could you advise is it very hot?? My hubby I think is anticipating cold weather!!!!! I keep telling him it is hot in summer but I dont think he really fully believes me
We are looking for sites with full hookups though. And I think maybe you are right about reccie in the area in a huge vehicle, although a 29/30fter is necessary as we have 4 kids!! Not sure how we'll get around this one mind. We will just have to try and do our best and probably do another trip a little more out of season!!
Thank you so much everyone for all your advice though. We are looking at all the sites you have all recommended.

Any to all of you who live in the area, and see some mad english folk getting stuck in the middle of town, lost with 4 naffed off kids, blocking the traffic and generally causing mayhem, you will know who it is

It can be very hot- late 30s /40+. We were lucky we brought Penticton it's first rain last summer apparently!! Not good for us rain wise, but did cool the temperature down. Someone posted a great link to weather stats the other day http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/weather/winners/city.cfm. Take a look and you'll see what I mean, it's something to need to bear in mind when looking at areas to live.

Agreed a large motorhome is the way to go with 4 kids, I couldn't bear packing and unpacking for 6 every few days. I would actually go a little bigger than you, the layouts of the slightly larger ones seem to give more space than you would think for the extra foot or two. But the most important thing is to try to get slide outs. They look tiny from the outside but somehow give me the illusion of loads more space inside. Our first 2 MHs had 2 slide outs, this year we had one larger one in the living area, but I really missed a bedroom one. With 4 kids , I would want every inch of space I could get! Who are you renting from?

If your kids are only young, maybe the reccie bit isn't as relevant as they wouldn't tolerate hours driving around, and it will mean nothing to them. Mine were old enough to pay attention at least some of the time, and understood the importance. We wanted the opinion of both of them as well.

Hi, yep that is quite hot!!!. As regards the kids, they are mixed ages, 14,8,6,5. I know it will be a little mental!!!. We are going through Canadianaffairs and the motorhome is Canadream I think. The reccie will be quite relaxed as it is our first visit...
Are you looking to locate to the Okanagan area?? If so? how far away are you from doing so??

Thanks for the advice. Mel.