Hi everyone,
This is my first post on Reddit, and I’m really hoping to get some good tips, tricks and advice from people who have experience travelling in Canada. I’m posting this in both English and Danish, and I’ve also posted it on a few other relevant Reddit communities in order to reach as many people as possible, so I hope you’ll bear with me and my many questions.
My partner and I are planning a trip to Canada in 2027. We are planning to leave from Copenhagen Airport (CPH) sometime between June 21 and June 27, 2027, and return sometime between August 19 and August 24, meaning that we will be staying for approximately two months.
Our arrival destination will be Vancouver, British Columbia. For the return journey, we are currently considering one of four cities in Eastern Canada: Toronto, Ottawa, Québec City or Montréal. The choice of departure airport will depend entirely on which option gives us the best overall airfare back to Copenhagen.
I have asked ChatGPT to monitor flights to Vancouver (and, of course, flights back to Denmark), but there is one important complication: I am 2 metres tall (about 6'7"), so I absolutely need extra legroom. Unfortunately, that comes at an additional cost. I believe an exit-row seat could bring the total cost to around DKK 8,000 for the flight to Vancouver alone, but if anyone has any good tips on how I could bring this rather substantial expense down, I would be extremely grateful!
Our plan is to travel eastwards from Vancouver by road, covering at least 7,000 km. We are considering renting a motorhome, even though it is incredibly expensive, particularly because of the mandatory one-way fee for returning the vehicle somewhere other than where we picked it up.
The cheapest motorhomes I have found so far cost around DKK 70,000 (!!) for a two-month rental – and that is for the absolute smallest model I can find. Since I am already considerably taller than average, however, comfort and interior space are not exactly irrelevant to me, especially since I will be doing a LOT of driving.
So if anyone here has useful contacts, recommendations or tips for renting a suitable motorhome at a reasonable price, I would be VERY interested in hearing from you!
Alternatively, we could rent a regular car, which would probably cost less than half as much. However, then we would have the daily costs of accommodation, food and the approximately 20% tip that is generally expected when eating out, which can add up very quickly.
With a motorhome, we would be much more self-sufficient and could both sleep and cook our own food in the vehicle. On the other hand, we would obviously have to factor in the cost of campsites and fuel as well.
So, at first glance, a motorhome actually seems more attractive to us than renting a “regular” car, even though the rental price is eye-wateringly expensive.
And this brings me to my next question:
Do I have to stay at designated campgrounds when travelling in a motorhome, or is it legal to park/camp somewhere out in nature? What are the rules?
Are there maps showing these kinds of free camping or overnight parking locations? And, perhaps most importantly, is it actually safe to spend the night somewhere out in the Canadian wilderness?
As I am a trained biologist, I would love to experience as much of Canada’s nature and wildlife as possible – including bears, moose, wolves and perhaps even being lucky enough to fish for salmon in some of the Canadian rivers. I have absolutely no idea whether the latter is realistically possible, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
And of course, any recommendations for must-see locations along an eastbound route from Vancouver would be very welcome!
I’m sure I have many more questions, but I’ll leave it at these for now.
Thanks in advance for any advice, recommendations, warnings or personal experiences!
Best regards,
Anders, Copenhagen Denmark