If you’re thinking about renting an RV for the first time for your family vacation, you probably have a lot of questions. What should I pack? Does the rental include mileage? Can we use car seats in our RV rental? etc.
When we rented our first RV for a family vacation through the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, the process was fairly easy but it did require a bit of extra planning and research because we were newbies to the RV rental world.
Here are a few of the things that we learned from our first time renting:
Book early: We recommend reserving your campsite before booking your RV rental and booking the campsite early. We booked our campsite a week after reservations opened for the season with Parks Canada and by then the best RV campsites were already taken.
There were no sites left with sewage or with water hook ups and only a few left with electrical. The water and sewage hook up wasn’t a deal breaker for us. Both of our campsites had water fill up and sewage dump stations and most RVs can sustain themselves for a few days without having to be hooked up. Electrical hook up however, was a must have for us because our campsites had restricted hours on when generators can be run and we didn’t want to have to rely on the generator for all of our power needs.

Back in vs. pull through campsites: Pull through sites are a bit easier to drive into than a back in site so you might want to take your comfort level with driving a larger vehicle into consideration when booking your site.
If you plan to use the awning or slide out, make sure that the configuration of your campsite will work and that the RV will fit when they are fully extended (we called the campsite directly to discuss this with staff before we booked it).
We wanted to rent a Class C-XL RV (29 feet) but the only campsites left with electrical hook up were too small so we ended up having to rent a C-Large instead (25 feet). The C-XL would have given us a bit more privacy with a closed bedroom door but the C-L ended up working out fine for our family.
CAMPSITE TIP: If you can’t reserve the exact campsite that you want when you book, keep checking the reservation system often to see if anything else opens up. Campgrounds receive cancellations throughout the season and usually for a small fee you can make changes to your campsite location.

Spend some time learning about RV systems before you leave home. A few weeks before we left, I thought it would be fun to watch the movie RV to get the kids excited about our trip. The movie is about a man named Bob Munro (played by Robin Williams) and his dysfunctional family who rent an RV for a road trip from Los Angeles to the Colorado Rockies, where they have to contend with a bizarre community of campers and some RV mishaps along the way.


We didn’t want to spend time on our vacation trying to figure everything out so we watched a few YouTube Videos before leaving so that we wouldn’t end up in any of the situations shown in the movie.
Our RV rental company spent an hour going through everything with us before we even received the keys. After a tiring 8 hour travel day before we arrived to pick up the RV (and with another 4 hour drive ahead of us to get to our campsite) we were thankful that the overview was just a refresher because we’d researched a few things at home already.

Confirm the number of and type of seat belts that will be in the RV. If you’re traveling with children research the car seat guidelines for the destination you are visiting (they differ from Province to Province in Canada). Not all RV rentals have 3 point seat belts if using a car seat.
Tristan was 8 years old at the time of our trip so we brought her booster seat with us and she needed a 3 point seat belt. Always contact the RV rental office to make sure that the car seat you will be using is compatible with your rental RV.

Use Google maps to estimate the amount of kilometers that you will be driving on your road trip. We did this and added an extra few hundred kilometers to account for driving from the campsite to attractions and to get groceries.
Most RV rentals do NOT include mileage in the cost of your rental so you will pay extra based on the number of kilometers driven (unlike car rentals that offer unlimited mileage). You can purchase mileage packages in advance that are discounted in price and less expensive than paying the standard mileage rates when the vehicle is returned.
MILEAGE PACKAGE TIP: Purchase the mileage plan that has less kilometers than you estimate you will need. If you purchase a mileage package for 1500 kms and you end up driving only 1200 kms you won’t get a refund for the 300 km difference.

Check to see if you need to purchase any type of park pass. If you’re planning to camp in a National Park in Canada, the cost of your campsite may NOT include the cost of a National Park Pass. You can buy a single location pass or a Discovery Pass for 12 months that provides entrance to 80 different parks across Canada. And a bonus – kids 17 and under are free.
Buying food/meal planning for your trip: One of the reasons we rented an RV was so that we could cook our own meals instead of eating in restaurants the entire trip (this ended up saving us a few hundred dollars on our vacation).
Before leaving we created a meal plan to make grocery shopping easier and prevent food waste at the end of the trip. We tried to think of meals that didn’t require using a lot of condiments (there is no way we would use up an entire bottle of ketchup in a week). We did factor in that we would eat some lunches and dinners at restaurants based on where we would be and what we would be doing that day.
RV MEAL TIP: Even though RV companies will tell you the the fridge is full size, it is slightly smaller than the one you will have at home and same with the oven. Keep this in mind when you are buying groceries that require refrigeration and if you are planning to cook large meals in the oven.

We enjoyed renting an RV for the first time for our family vacation and we plan on renting one again in the near future. The RV was easy to drive and to operate, it was convenient and our girls loved the experience!
What questions do you have about renting an RV for the first time for your next family vacation? Please share in the comments section below.

is a Canadian lifestyle and travel blogger, sharing stories, information and resources about family travel and everyday family life.
Lots of good tips and pictures made this a good article for those, like myself, that have never rented an RV.
Thanks Roselyn! Vacationing in an RV for the first time was easier than we expected!
My family actually lives in a travel trailer! It was daunting at first, but you quickly learn and it becomes fun. The ability to travel whenever and wherever you want is amazing.
I agree. The freedom to be able to travel freely in a travel trailer on a permanent basis would be great!
I can’t wait to rent an RV for the first time. It’s on my bucket list to travel across country in an RV. This post reminds me of camping. I miss the trees and the permanent smell of campfires in campgrounds. 🙂
Traveling across the country in an RV would be a great bucket list trip!! We would have campfires every night!
These are all great tips and advice! I would love to rent an RV for a vacation. Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks Stephanie!
These are great tips! We considered renting an RV for our trip to Utah last year, but ended up not doing it because a one-way rental (Denver to Las Vegas) was so expensive.
Thanks Tracy! Yeah…one-way rentals can be more expensive, however, some rental companies have specials on one-way rentals – if they send out a newsletter, sign up to be notified of any specials they might be offering.
We have always talked about this but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome Jennifer!
This is great! My husband and I were recently talking about renting our first RV for our vacation. I love that you have listed useful tips to help newbies like us! I am going to bookmark this so we can use it as a reference if we decide to go the RV route.
Thanks Heather! I’m glad that you found it helpful!
We just booked our first RV trip, and all of these tips are amazing! Thank you so much! We’re excited, but I feel a little more prepared after reading this!
You’re welcome Jessica. Have an amazing trip!!!
Love your blog! It was very informative…especially your tips! I have never been on an RV trip, but would like to “venture out” someday 😉 As for the movie, I have seen it and thought it was hilarious! Without your tips and information like you’ve provided, my trip would probably look just like the Munro’s! Lol! So, thank you for sharing! 😀
Melissa – it was a funny movie – I’m so glad that we watched it before we went – a good reminder of what NOT to do-lol