There are so many stories about travelling in Mexico that we thought we’d put together a summary of our time there.  We spent six months in total, from September to March, travelling the length of Baja from Tecate before heading to the mainland where we turned south, then east across the Yucatán peninsula and finally exiting Mexico into Belize.

Security

Probably the first thought for anyone thinking of driving to Mexico – we had plenty of warnings about cartels and corrupt police!  We do take our safety seriously and set ourselves up to receive warnings from the UK Foreign Office to receive security updates on the country via email.  We also had a map of the country downloaded from both the UK and Australian governments to give us a visual image of the areas to be avoided due to cartel activity.

The police and military are highly visible and we’d see pick up trucks carrying armed personnel on a daily basis.  Checks on the road are common but we were not stopped very often and when we were, we were asked a couple of routine questions before being waived on.  

We had a plan between us for dealing with any difficult situations but we can gladly say that we never had to use them and felt safe for our entire time in Mexico.  

Roads and driving 

It’s safe to say that covering long distances in a motorhome in Mexico takes far more time than any sat-nav will tell you.  The toll roads are not too bad but other than that expect roads littered with potholes and topes (speed bumps).

Fuel stations are plentiful and we’d heard plenty of stories of scams operated by the attendants.  We almost exclusively used Pemex because their diesel was ultra low sulphur and they accepted credit cards.  One of the scams involves not zeroing the pump but the attendants we met usually pointed out that the pump showed zero.  They also bought the card machine to us so our card was never out of our sight.

Weather

Along the coasts it was either very hot or very hot and humid with nighttime temperatures of 23° to 28°C.However by heading inland and getting up into the mountains we found the perfect combination of warm days and cool nights.

Shopping

It’s probably quite shameful to say that we mostly shopped in Walmart and Costco, mostly because it was easy and we knew what we were getting. We did top up in some local markets but was a bit hit and miss with the small stores as to what stock they carried.

Food

We loved the food here and as it was so cheap, we ate out often.  We also learned not to be put off by the appearance of a place – we had some great food out of small family restaurants that you could easily walk past. 

Water

Even the locals don’t drink the tap water in Mexico and instead buy large 20l garrafones of water from a purification shop.  We were able to find plenty that had hoses so we could fill the tank directly.  We spent about £10 a month on water and we use the water from our tank for everything in the van – drinking, cooking, washing up and showers.  We do have a filter system and everything that comes out of our taps is filtered so in a few places we did fill up on campsites without any issues.

Campsites

Most of our favourite campsites were run by Europeans and former travellers – they know from experience what makes a good place to stay.  That’s not to say that non-European run sites were bad (some were exceptional), they were just different – usually not so well organised or maintained to such high standards but there’s nowhere we would not go back to.

For those with cassette toilets, dump stations are rare; we have a separating toilet which makes things a lot easier and emptied our grey tank on wasteland away from towns and rivers. 

Van storage 

We came home to the UK for a short visit and left our van on a campsite without any problems.  Many campsites offer this service. 

In Mexico we had a 10 year Temporary Import Permit as we are registered as a Motorhome on our registration document. We did not need to suspend our TIP.

The final leg of this tour of Mexico began with two weeks based in Santa Maria del Tule, a short drive from Oaxaca city, where we were joined by June’s daughters who had flown out from the UK for a holiday. 

We picked the campsite because it also had rooms for rent (as do many campsites here), had an airport nearby and most importantly, due to the number of personal recommendations we received!

Tule itself has a number of attractions including the world’s widest tree and some great food.  We ate at the Mercado Gastronómico several times as well as having lunch at Casa Embajador, a local mezcal producer.

With the hire car (it’s so good when the children are old enough to drive abroad!), we were able to explore the local area including the ruins at Mitla, the Zapotec’s main religious centre, known for its intricate geometric patterned architecture.

At Hierve El Agua two waterfalls are encrusted with petrified calcium carbonate and other minerals giving the impression that they are frozen.  

Oaxaca city is a great place to visit and has something for everyone. We took a taxi from the campsite and spent a day wandering around the major sites before lunch in the Mercado 20 de Noviembre and a drop or two of mezcal, accompanied by chapulines (cooked grasshoppers) overlooking the main square.

The hilltop Zapotec ruins of Monte Albán give great views over the surrounding countryside and are a fascinating place to visit.  

The girls and I also did an afternoon’s cooking class at Dos Corazones, learning to cook a few dishes passed down to Chef Adhey from her grandmother.  We booked this trough Tripadvisor and can highly recommend the activity.

Having bid farewell to the girls we headed to the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, avoiding the main town of Puerto Escondido to stay in San Agustin, a small village a little further south along the coast.  We were however defeated by the heat after a few days so started heading north and east as we moved inland.  

The Cañón del Sumidero was carved by the Río Grijalva and was formed about the same time as the Grand Canyon.  We took a boat trip along the river between the 1,000m walls, spotting the local wildlife.

We arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas on Valentine’s Day and we’ve never seen anywhere decorated to celebrate all things love quite as much as here.  The town is located in the. mountains at almost 7,000 ft in altitude which made for the perfect weather of warm days and cool nights.

We were also recommended a great place to eat by fellow travellers which was close to the campsite.  You could quite easily walk past Comal but we had one of the best meals we’ve eaten in Mexico here, all cooked over a fire with the kitchen open to the diners.

We continued north from San Cristóbal following the scenic but previously too dangerous to drive, Highway 199, stopping at the Cascadas de Agua Azul, where the water really does live up to its name.

At the end of the highway lay the ruins of Palenque, one of Mexico’s most important archeological sites and definitely our favourite Mayan ruins.  The process for getting into the site was a little convoluted with us having to visit three different cashiers (job creation scheme?) before taking the shuttle bus to the entrance.  We loved the fact that on this mostly reconstructed site, we could really get amongst the ruins and climb on a couple of the pyramids.  We didn’t use a guide and found the site easy to navigate including the stretch through the jungle.

After a couple of days on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and meeting up with friends and fellow travellers in Merida, we began our tour of several cenotes, large water filled underground caves.  

Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzama are linked by a narrow gauge railway where you are pulled along the rails on rickety horse drawn carts.  The journey to the cenote was as much part of the fun as swimming in the beautiful clear waters of the cave.

Our last cenote was Choj Ha and we definitely left the best to last!  This was a large open cave with the roof completely covered in stalactites and the clearest water.

Our biggest disappointment was Chichén Itzá, Mexico’s most famous Mayan ruins.  The site was smaller than we expected and even by arriving as it opens, there was no escaping the crowds.  Unlike other sites you cannot get too close to the ruins and they allow hundreds of souvenir vendors to set up stands.  We were there a little more than an hour before deciding it was time to leave.

Our penultimate stop in Mexico was a couple of nights next to Bacalar Lagoon, the longest freshwater lake on the Yucatán peninsula. The lagoon is home to stromatolites, one of the oldest forms of life and thought to provide the earliest source of oxygen for life to begin on earth. 

Our final stop was a campsite/beach club and restaurant in Calderitas on the Caribbean Sea.  Not our usual type of campsite but a great place for us to gather everything we need to move on to our next country.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our posts from Mexico and we will do a summary of our time here shortly.

Campsites used

El Rancho, Santa Maria del Tule: MXP350pn on a fully serviced level grass pitch.  The site has toilets, showers, a well equipped kitchen area, a washing machine and lines, a swimming pool and a couple of rooms to rent.  It is a 10-15 minute walk into Tule for its restaurants and attractions, 20 minutes to Oaxaca city centre and 30 minutes to the airport, both by taxi.  

Camping Don Taco, Bahía de San Agustín: MXP350 pn. Beachside so parking on sand. Some sockets around to plug in, showers, toilets, kitchen area and large palapa with tables and hammocks.  Small area for van parking but lots of communal space and short walk to shops and restaurants. 

Camping & RV Park San Nicolás, San Cristóbal de las Casas: MXP350 pn on a fully serviced grass/gravel pitch.  Showers, toilets, kitchen and a large communal room with a pool table  – the town is at 7,000ft so the nights are cool. There’s a laundry close by and the town is about a 15 minute walk away.  Lots of trees around. 

Costa de Sol Camoung, Champotan: MXP100pppn basic beach camping (power available at extra cost) but you can still use the showers, toilets and swimming pool.  A fair distance from any town so you need to have anything you need with you. 

Cenote Xnuuk: MXP200pppn.  Small campsite with its own cenote run by a couple of German travellers.  No power except in the palapa.  Outdoor hot shower and composting toilets.  They offer a laundry washing service and they sell fresh bread when they bake.  Access to the cenote whenever you want.  

Yax-Ha Cabañas and Trailer Park, Calderitas: MXP350 pn.  Grass pitches with hook up, several water points (filter needed) and unusually, a dump point!  Access to the sea but it was a little rough when we visited so we didn’t try.  The site is shared with a restaurant which is open to the public and runs more like a beach club with a resident DJ blasting out music poolside from lunchtime until close.  Luckily for us we visited midweek and the music stopped relatively early.  Toilets and showers are used by both the campsite and the restaurant. We had a good meal at the restaurant but it was relatively expensive for Mexico; there are several more restaurants within easy walking distance but we were being lazy! 

Other park ups

Agua Blanca: MXP100pppn.  Small grassy, sloping parking area next to an event venue and the beach.  No services.  Quiet when we visited.

Pemex, Zanatepec: Free.  A bit of road noise but relatively quiet until the night attendant decided to blast the radio through the tannoy system in the early hours for a couple of hours!

Cañón de Sumidero car park: Free.  Car park for the canyon boat trips.  No services except toilets during the day.  The security guard closes the gate at night so it’s very quiet.  

Cascadas de Agua Azul car park: Free (you pay a fee to enter the park).  Large car park area for the falls where it is possible to stay overnight.  The area is full of shops and restaurants but they are quiet at night. 

La Chiapaneca Restaurant, Palenque: MXP250 pn.  Parking in the grounds of the restaurant, a short drive from the ruins.  Electric is available at an extra cost.  There is a pool but it didn’t look too clean when we were there.  A little road noise.

Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzama car park: Free.  Large grass field used for parking for the cenotes tour.  Toilets available during the day and very quiet once everyone had left for the day.

Near Chichen Itza: Free parking next to a large sports field.  Nothing there but a great location from which to get to the ruins first thing.

Cenote Choj Ha: MXP100pppn.  Overnight parking in the cenote’s small car park so again quiet once everyone has left.  Toilet and showers on site but possibly only when the cenote is open.

Laguna Bonanza, near Bacalar: MXP150pppn.  You are allowed to camp in their car park (we were in a grassy area so as not to block the main parking area) which also has a toilet and shower block.  Located right on the lagoon and the restaurant is open at weekends.  Insect repellent is a must!

This entry is titled as such as we loosely followed a tour with the same name in our Lonely Planet guidebook taking a large loop around the northern central highlands.  This area takes in colonial cities, Mayan ruins and beautiful natural spots.

We began by spending New Year in San Miguel de Allende, a former colonial town now inhabited by artists and North American expats.  The orange hued houses and cobbled streets make this a great place to wander around or just sit in the main square, drink coffee and watch the world go by. 

We went to the main square for the New Year celebrations and the Mexicans certainly know how to party!

The next colonial city was Guanajuato, a former centre for gold and silver mining nestled in a steep sided valley.  Whilst in the town we encountered some of the Three Kings Day celebrations – lots of music, dancing and parades in this case.

Puebla is known for its Talavera tiles which have created some of the most decorated churches we have seen and for its mole, a sauce made of a blend of chillies, nuts and other spices.  The typical mole here is brown, rather than the black Oaxacan version, using raisins to sweeten the dish rather than chocolate.

The geology of Mexico with its volcanic history has created stunning scenery and many spots for outdoor swimming, either in cenotes, flooded limestone caves, or in thermal rivers.

Our first spot was at Puente de Dios, a cenote with a collapsed roof so open to the sky.  We didn’t swim here as it was raining and comparatively cold, but we did explore some of the site on foot.

Our next stop was El Salto, but unfortunately for us our timing was off and the water which cascades over the waterfall was literally turned off by the hydroelectric company at the end of the falls.

We headed to the town of Tanchachin, driving mile after mile through fields full of sugar cane.  From here we took a boat trip to the Cascadas de Tamul where the water was definitely flowing.  It’s a trip we really enjoyed but word of warning, you have to row the boat yourself! The boats usually take a minimum of 8 passengers but we were with just two others so had to work a little harder to get to the falls.

A little off the beaten track is the Sótano de las Golondrinas, the largest known cave shaft in the world and the second deepest pit in Mexico, which twice a day is witness to the fight of thousands of white-collared swifts.  Just after dawn they slowly spiral out of the cave and fly away,  and just before dusk, they return.  We paid to enter twice to see both events.

The gardens of Las Pozas, near Xilitla, are the creation of eccentric Englishman Edward James.  He took inspiration from many sources to construct weird and wonderful concrete structures in the jungle.  The site was left to decline but is now slowly being restored and definitely worth a visit.

The Grutas de Tolantongo is a real tourist attraction (and charges accordingly) but we visited midweek when it is considerably quieter.  The site consists of caves, thermal pools and a warm, blue river along with shops and restaurants.  We try to avoid busy places but we couldn’t not visit here!

We found Mexico’s version of the Giant’s Causeway in the San Miguel Regla area.  The Prismas Basálticos are in a large park and you are able to walk in next to the columns.

Reading about the region’s mining history we were surprised to find references to Cornwall (yes the one in the UK).  The miners came over to share their expertise in the gold and silver mines but also bought with them, the Cornish pasty.  The pasty continues to be eaten today, although now containing fillings to suit Mexican tastes, and at the Museo del Paste, you can make your own and leave it to bake whilst you take a tour of the museum.  

For some Mayan history we headed to the east of Mexico City, to Teotihuacan, the region’s most significant archaeological site.  We didn’t take a guide but as many of the information boards are also in English we don’t feel we missed anything.  The site consists of three pyramids, the Pirámide del Sol, the Pirámide de la Luna and the Templo de Quetzalcoatl, linked  y the Calzada de los Muertos, the Avenue of the Dead.

The following morning we took a sunrise hot air balloon trip over the site (not expensive we thought at about £95 each which included, for us a flight of 45 minutes, tea/coffee with biscuits beforehand and a buffet breakfast afterwards).  This was definitely the way to see the entire Teotihuacan site and appreciate it’s splendour.

We also tried to visit the Pirámide Tepanapa in Cholula.  This pyramid is the world’s largest yet it looks nothing more than a small hill which is because almost the entire building is underground.  Unfortunately when we visited the tunnels into the pyramid were closed but we did walk up to the 16th century Santuario Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Catholic church which sits atop the pyramid.

Campsites used

San Miguel de Allende RV Park and Tennis Courts:  MXP500 p/n for a fully serviced, gravel pitch.  This is expensive by Mexican standards but has a well kept shower/toilet block and is in an ideal location for walking into town, so worth the extra money in our opinion.  Entrance is a bit tight through the small streets and larger rigs should follow the instructions on iOverlander as to the best route in.

Morrill RV Park, Guanajuato: MXP300 p/n with electric and water available on some pitches.  Has a decent shower and toilet block. This is nothing more than a car park really and vans are packed in and some areas are on quite a slope.  However again it is within walking distance of the town centre; downhill all the way there and definitely a workout on the way back if you don’t take a taxi.

Campamento Puente de Dios: MXP260 p/n but we’re not sure what this actually should have included as the one person we saw wasn’t very communicative!  It’s a forested site and it was raining so we didn’t venture too far from the entrance gate (also needed no trees for Starlink!).  We had intended to stay for two nights but the weather was showing no sign of improving so after visiting the cenote we moved on.

Campamento Tiempo & Espacio, Tanchachin:  MXP200 p/n including water and electric.  We received a really warm welcome to this little site nestled in amongst sugar cane plantations.The pitch was grass so a little muddy after the rain and we were able to use blocks to even out the slope.  They were great in helping us sort our trip to the Cascadas de Tamul and provided lunch for us when we returned which prompted an unexpected cooking and spice lesson from Lucy, one of the owners. The town has a good selection of restaurants all within easy walking distance.

Casa James Hotel, Spa & Museum, Xilitla: MXP300 to park overnight in the hotel car park which is close to Las Pozas. There is a toilet block in the car park and we spent a quiet night there.

Grutas de Tolantongo: MXP50 per day to park which allows for an overnight stay but on top of that it is MXP230 per person entry each day and a two night stay actually means three days of charges.  Camping for vans is in the car park so no facilities but the wider site has toilets, showers, water, small stores and restaurants.  We had a great couple of days there but best to avoid weekends when it gets very busy.

Prismas Basalticos Ecopark, Regla: MXP100 per person, per day entry. Like several other attractions, overnight parking is allowed in the car park and there is a grassy camping area but you pay for two days’ entry.  The park has toilets, showers, a swimming pool area, shops and restaurants. We had a quiet night once the bars closed (about 11pm). 

Teotihuacán Trailer Park: MXP300 p/n including water and electric.  Parking is on grass.  Site is a little bit messy with some old vehicles there as well as some vans in storage but the owner is really friendly and helpful and the site is within easy walking (3km flat) of the ruins.

Other park ups

Pemex fuel station near Ráyon: Free.  We stayed overnight at the back of the fuel station to break up a long drive.  There were a few dogs around but it was a quiet night.  

El Salto car park: Free. We asked to stay overnight after visiting the waterfall and it wasn’t a problem.  The site was very quiet.

Cave of the Swallows car park: Free.  When we visited it was very quiet and we were able to stay in the small roadside parking area next to the cave entrance.  We were on quite a slope however!

Pemex Fuel station near Zimapán: MXP50 – not sure if this was an official fee or it went straight into the attendant’s pocket but for £2 we were happy to pay it to break up another long driving day.  We parked at the rear of the fuel station and had a quiet night.

Pirámide Tepanapa car park, Cholula: MXP200 per night.  One of the car parks for the pyramid allows overnight parking.  It has toilets and the attendants are very keen to offer car washing, at a price!

Walmarts car park, Tehuacan:  Free.  It’s a Walmart car park so not much to say other than it was surprisingly quiet! 

Jardín Botánico Zapotitlán Salinas: MXP200 per night.  This is part of a larger nature reserve and we were able to park in the area of the cabins.   No services but very quiet and amazing dark skies for stargazing. 

Having safely crossed the border (see previous post) it was straight into the mayhem of Tecate and finding our way around a Mexican supermarket.  

From there it was on to our first stop which was recommended to us by @giasa.inviadi who we “met” on Instagram but who we’d meet for real at the ranch. It was great to be able to sit down with them, Raul (one of the ranch owners) and a map to plot out a route for Baja.

We basically zigzagged across the peninsula from one beach to another, moving from the heat on the Sea of Cortez to the humidity of the Pacific with one stay in the mountains for a couple of cool, dry days.

Baja is known for its beaches but the forested mountains of the Sierra de San Pedro Martin were a welcome change of scenery and at over 8,000ft a blessed relief from the sun and heat.

A little south from the Sierra is the area around Cataviña, a weird landscape of huge boulders and larger cacti.  

The landscapes have certainly been very different to what we expected and much of the central area is remote desert and extinct volcanoes.  

Motorhoming on Baja

The most difficult thing so far has been negotiating the pot holes in the roads! It doesn’t matter if you’re on the main north-south road or in a small town – every so often the tarmac is broken up, undulating or just not there. 

And if you dare to explore a little further then it’s dirt tracks and topes, speed bumps to us Brits, in a multitude of sizes.  On the plus side we’ve encountered no road rage and driving, on the whole, is quite a leisurely experience.  

No-one drinks the tap water here so we’re buying all our water from Agua Purificada shops and they are everywhere.  We are using iOverlander to find those which have a hosepipe rather than using the 20l “garrafon” containers used by locals – think the big bottles on office water coolers.  In most places it would have cost us under £5 to fill our 120l tank and despite our water filter system, we think it’s a price worth paying!

We’ve had no issues with finding fuel and all but two garages have accepted our credit card.  We are aware of a number of potential scams involving fuel stations so are extra vigilant each time we fill up but so far, we’ve had no problems.

You definitely need a constant supply of cash! Most fuel stations and large grocery stores will accept cards but for campsites it has been cash only.  We both each have Monzo and Revolut accounts so can easily withdraw sufficient cash without any UK charges but there are local fees to pay.

Wild camping is not easy in our vehicle as we cannot get too far off the beaten track but campsites are, in relative terms, cheap.  We are also conscious of our security so only wild camp where we feel safe. We’ve paid between MXP150 and MXP500 per night, the equivalent of £5.80 to £19.30 at today’s rate and what you get for that varies widely – just don’t try to compare with any sites back home. We are dry camping so no hook up and we don’t use the campsite water to top up the tank.  It has been a little difficult to truly rate the campsites as we are still very early in the season so have had most places to ourselves (not that we are complaining about that!) and a lot of places are still preparing to open fully.

Campsites used

Rancho La Bellota: no set fee but a donation is appreciated. Our introduction to Baja and a great start.  This is a working ranch and has accommodation for fee paying guests but also a small area set aside for passing travellers with its own toilet and shower.  Spring water is available and the spring also feeds a small swimming pool. All very clean and well looked after. Raul is a font of knowledge for Baja and recommended places all along the peninsula.  He and his wife Caroline made us feel very welcome.  Only downside is the 17km of off-road driving to get to the ranch.

Campo Meneses, nr Ensenada: MXP500 p/n. The most expensive site we’ve used so far but wasn’t really much more than a car park for the beach. Basic showers and toilets.

Don Eddies, San Quintin: MXP325 p/n.  As we didn’t need hook up (extra cost) we were able to park on the water’s edge.  We had access to a shower and toilet.  Restaurant and bar on site.

Parque Nacional Sierra de San Pedro Martin: MXP60.67 per day entrance fee to the park which includes camping.  The access was a bit bumpy and probably not for big rigs.  Forested campsite and we noticed a couple of Portaloos.  Well worth the 100km drive from the main road.

Quinta Cristina, south of San Quintin: MXP200 p/n. A small seaside campsite but a bit of a gem – we planned two nights but stayed for five! There are no specific pitches but there are several palapas scattered around, each with a water tap, table and BBQ grill.  There are also a couple of Portaloos. No beach to speak of but the sea is accessible.  The owner came round a couple of times a day to check everything was ok.  It’s a local fishing point and families would come to fish and have a BBQ.

Papa Fernandez, near Willard: MXP150 p/n.  Beach camping on the Sea of Cortez.  Several toilets  (Portaloo or pit toilets – it was hard to tell!) but the reviews said not to use them so we didn’t.  Restaurant has good reviews but was closed when we visited.  Great beach for bird watching.

Guerrero Negro Campground: MXP350 p/n on a fully serviced pitch. Toilet and shower available.  Nothing more than a large, open car park which was fine for a stopover as we headed south.  The campsite is behind Mario’s Restaurant which was recommended to us.  We ate there and the food was fine but as we were the only ones there, the atmosphere was lacking a little! 

Wild camping spots 

Condor viewpoint – on the road to San Pedro Martir.  Sadly no condors but a great spot with amazing views out to the Pacific.

Cactus camp, Cataviña – a night hiding in amongst the boulders and cacti.

Playa La Gringa, Bahia de Los Angeles – a large area of wild camping on the beach with the town not too far for amenities.  Toilets available as you enter the beach but follow the road round for parking on more solid ground. Great place for bird and wildlife watching.  We took a wildlife boat trip with a company in town and it was amazing – blue footed boobies, ospreys, pelicans, sea lions and whale sharks.  

We picked up the Alaska Highway again at Watson Lake following it all the way to “Mile 0” at Dawson Creek (we did it backwards!). 

By this time our route was being determined by wildfires and we did have to take Jasper off the itinerary after the devastating fire there.

Although the clock was ticking on our time in Canada we still had for a couple of diversions so stopped at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park where we were lucky enough to secure one of the last camp spots for a couple of nights.  Camping here comes with free unlimited access to the hot springs and we spent a couple of hours soaking in the waters.

We were on a bit of a dash south but broke up one of the driving days with a stop at the Ancient Forest in the Columbia Mountains, a temperate rainforest located 800km from the ocean!  We came across this on Atlas Obscura – a great app for finding weird and wonderful places across the world. 

By not going to Jasper, our route took us past Wells Gray Provincial Park where we stayed a couple of nights.  The park is great for hiking and there are so many waterfalls. 

We crossed the provincial border into Alberta and headed to Banff, one of the main tourist spots in the Canadian Rockies. 

We chose to walk into town one day, about 5km mostly downhill and on a marked path, to explore Banff more and whilst busy, it wasn’t unbearable. Whilst known as a skiing centre, there is plenty to see in the summer and by the time we took the bus back to the campsite we were exhausted!

From the town centre we took the tour bus, about 50 mins each way,  to Lake Louise to see the famous turquoise lake – it didn’t disappoint!  There is free RV parking (day use only) near the station in Banff and from there it’s a short walk to the transport hub. 

Johnston Canyon was also worth a side trip but an early start is needed in order to secure an RV parking space! We’ve taken to getting on the road early and having breakfast once we’re parked.  We can then take our time.

For all things in the Banff area forward planning is highly recommended. Being on the road we didn’t know exactly what days we’d be there so left it late to book anything – our four night stay at the campsite was split over two pitches and the timing of the buses only gave us two hours at the lake.

At the visitor centre in Banff we were advised that some of the Icefield Parkway had reopened and whilst we could still not get all the way to Jasper, we could now get to the Columbia Icefield Visitor Centre.

It feels like we’re always saying this, but this really was one of the most spectacular drives we have done! The road cuts through huge mountains, many of them topped by glaciers.  We ran out of superlatives to describe what we were seeing.

On our way to the US border we stopped at a trail head for the Paint Pots (another Atlas Obscura find!). We weren’t sure what we were heading to and a short walk took us to two small ponds and lots of mineral filled red/orange mud.

Sadly that was the end of our time in Canada and it’s somewhere that we’d certainly come back to. Next stop was Montana to see some new to us parts of the USA.

Motorhoming 

On the whole we are using free overnight spots but did use the following:

Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park: CAD26 p/n no services but water and toilets in campground (although water tap was out of order when we visited).  Forest site and some large pitches were shared. Camping fee includes unlimited access to the natural hot springs.

Falls Creek Campground, Wells Gray Provincial Park: CAD23 p/n plus CAD6 p/n reservation fee. Forest site with a number of pitches by the river.

Tunnel Mountain Campground Number 1,  Banff: CAD30.50 p/n no services.  A forested campsite with water and dumping facilities.  A free shuttle bus will take you into town but it costs CAD2 per adult to return to the campground.  

We’re using iOverlander on a daily basis to find park ups, water, dumps, LPG (propane) and laundromats.

Safe to say we had a blast in Alaska and ticked off a few things we had pinned on our Google map from when we originally started planning this trip.

We didn’t spend too much time in the larger cities, stopping mostly for supplies as larger supermarkets are not so easy to find.  Our route was almost a figure of eight starting and ending in Tok taking in Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Whittier and Valdez en route. From there it was back towards Canada.

We managed to secure a camp spot at Teklanika Campground in Denali from where we were able to explore the park on the transit buses.  We didn’t see too much wildlife but Denali showed herself in all her glory for the three days we were there; on average she is visible for only three days in ten so we were very lucky!  Only about half of the park is accessible due to the road being reconstructed after a landslide a few years ago when the permafrost melted but that didn’t take away from our visit at all.  They anticipate it will be another couple of years before the public is allowed beyond mile 43.

An unusual stop next at the Alaska Scottish Highland Games and a celebration of all things Celtic (they had Irish dancers too so not entirely Scottish!).  We passed a couple of hours watching people throwing various odd shaped things to the sound of bagpipes in the background. 

Before leaving the UK we had a good clear out of all our “stuff”, selling what we could and putting the money into a “days out” pot for doing things we wouldn’t normally do.  We arrived in Anchorage for one of those days – a flight in a float plane to a glacier, spotting wildlife as we flew over the Alaskan tundra.  Big smile time for both of us.

Homer Spit at the end of the Kenai Peninsula would be our most westerly point of this trip.  We spent a couple of days here with a beachfront park up and a couple of visits to the Salty Dawg Saloon, famous for people pinning $1 bills to the walls, ceilings and just about anywhere else they can find!

Seward was home for 4th July where there were parades on and off the water, fireworks and the Mt Marathon race where very fit lunatics run a 3.1 mile course up and down Mt Marathon just outside the town.  The race climbs almost 3,000ft and takes runners across mud and loose rock.  We were amazed to see two runners aged 84 and 88 cross the finish line!

We drove to Whittier to catch the ferry to Valdez but in order to get there we had to drive through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a shared road and rail tunnel between Portage and Whittier.  Road traffic flows for 15 minutes in one direction, stops for 15 minutes and then the direction changes for another 15 minutes.  When the road traffic is stopped, it’s the turn of the trains!

As we were on the ferry to Valdez we decided to take a boat tour (the power of social media!) and were able to book ourselves on the Lu-Lu Belle for a glacier and wildlife cruise.  We had an amazing day seeing humpback whales, albeit briefly, sea otters, sea lions and stunning glaciers.  Captain Fred gave a running commentary and his crew provided delicious, reasonably priced food and snacks from the galley.

Our final stop in Alaska was Chicken.  The story behind the name was that the original gold mining settlers wanted to name the town after the ptarmigan birds prevalent in the area but couldn’t agree on the spelling so called it Chicken instead!  After a beer in the saloon we camped, for free, in their carpark.  

Motorhoming 

For this section we did use a few paid sites, especially in towns.  Denali National Park has several campgrounds and advance reservations at this time of year are essential.

Teklanika Campground, Denali National Park: USD40 p/n for camping only and reservations needed.  No hookups, water for containers only and vault toilets on site.  There are full water and dump facilities for RVs close to the park entrance.  At Teklanika it’s a minimum three night stay and you are not allowed to move your vehicle between arriving and leaving but it’s easy to get around on the transit buses (additional cost of USD33 each but valid for multiple days). 

Fishing Hole Campground, Homer Spit: USD30 p/n for camping only on a large gravel carpark.  No booking for this one, just first come, first served and not much marking of pitches.  Water and dump available at extra cost (free if you head back into Homer).  Great though for easy access to the bars and restaurants of Homer Spit.  We also arrived early enough to get a waterside pitch.

Boulder Campground, Seward:  USD45 p/n in a similar carpark to above.  Being the 4th July all the municipal campsites were fully booked and we just managed to get one of the last places here; lots of pitches but big rigs were taking 2 or 3 places so it was a bit of a scramble.  Free service point just across the road. Good location between downtown Seward and the marina.

LuLu Belle RV park:  USD30 p/n for a fully serviced pitch.  We chanced on this place by sheer fluke as it is where the office of the tour we wanted to take was located. Close to the town centre.

The Alaska Maritime Highway is a network of ferries running between various points on the coast and the outlying islands.  It’s a great way, although not necessarily a cheap way, to see the country from a different perspective and is sometimes the quickest route between two places.  We used the website for booking and they are very adept at getting vehicles of all sizes on and off the ships.

Fuel on average was under 80p a litre!

We’re using iOverlander on a daily basis to find park ups, water, dumps, LPG (propane) and laundromats.

Having taken a few weeks away from driving Route 66, we picked up the road again just south of Kingman, Arizona taking the Oatman Highway over the Sitegreaves Pass and down to the Colorado River after which we were in California.

The drive over the pass was stunning but the town of Oatman, once a thriving gold mining town, is now one big tourist attraction with “wild” donkeys roaming the streets and a daily cowboy gunfight.

In Amboy, California we climbed the extinct volcano cone and walked down into the solidified lava lake in the centre. Definitely a unique experience!

After a couple of days in the Silverwood Lake area we hit the road to Los Angeles – we couldn’t put it off any longer if we wanted to finish Route 66.

Safe to say that the LA traffic lived up to its reputation and it took us 9.5 hours to drive about 150 miles into Santa Monica and out again to a campsite.

We’re not big city people (a bit strange given June was born in and worked in London all her life!) and if it hadn’t been for Route 66 we wouldn’t have even thought about visiting LA in the van.

There’s not a single designated finish point; there’s one on the road on Lincoln Boulevard, the much photographed “End of the Trail” sign on Santa Monica pier and a third, less well known original end sign on the door of the Route 66 booth at the entrance to the pier, where having signed the log book we also had our photo taken.

A few thoughts on Route 66

Planning is essential!  We thought we’d just hit the road and go but you do have to plan what to see and what road to take as there are so many options and unless your time is unlimited you won’t see everything.  As mentioned previously we used the EZ66 Guide for Travellers as our main planning tool along with the  Ultimate Route 66 Guide App.

Understandably many places play up their Route 66 connection no matter how tenuous, but there are some real gems to visit that we are glad we found.  All the business owners we met and talked to were so friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable on not just their area but much of the Route, usually because they had driven it themselves and often several times.  It was sad to see how many places hadn’t made it though and were in various states of decay. 

Travelling when we did in the offseason meant that a lot of places were closed or open only for limited hours.  For us that wasn’t really a problem as we tend to avoid overly busy places but if planning a trip then it’s worth taking into consideration.  The weather is another factor to think about when planning and we were lucky to avoid much of the winter snow

We really enjoyed from New Mexico to eastern California but that was as much about the natural landscapes as what was on the road itself.

To be honest we were quite pleased to get to the end but at the same time we felt a real sense of achievement at completing the full distance and were pleased we did it.  We saw and experienced a lot of America that we probably would never have seen without Route 66.

Motorhoming

Driving an RV in the southwestern US is so easy.  The roads are wide and the choice of overnight spots is beyond words.  Many of the campgrounds in the national and state parks have service points outside their entrances and therefore accessible to everyone, so we’ve had no problems finding water.

Fuel has remained cheap right up until the California border where it immediately increases by a couple of dollars a gallon, if not more especially in the more remote places – the most we paid was $8.50 whereas back in Arizona it had been around $3.90!

LPG, or propane, is easy to get and prices are pretty much as they are at home.

We avoid the large RV parks wherever possible as we don’t (or can’t) connect to the water, sewage and electrical systems. They are also expensive and in Los Angeles we couldn’t find anything cheaper than $90 a night. By contrast the Mesquite Campground in Death Valley National Park is $14 a night for a pitch without services.

We needed a plan to get us across the country to meet family in Las Vegas mid-December. Rather than drive aimlessly we decided to follow Route 66 to Arizona, have a break over Christmas and New Year, and then return to the Mother Road to do the last few hundred miles to California.

This first section took us through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We’re using a book called EZ66 Guide for Travellers which (once you’ve read and understood the format – something we highly recommend you do before starting!) gives driving directions and lists what to see on the way.

There are multiple incarnations of Route 66 as development over the years has caused the road to divert from its original route in many places. We’re finding that we’re doing an hour or so a day of route planning – unless you have all the time in the world or are making multiple trips, it is impossible to see everything and drive every mile.

With the exception of St Louis we have mostly driven through the cities and larger towns. Our van is not much bigger than some of the pickup trucks on the road so driving and parking has not been difficult. The southern cities, once away from the main tourist areas, have large numbers of homeless people and I’ve seen more drug taking here in the open in one month than in the 35 years I worked in central London.

We’re not sure what we expected from Route 66 but everywhere along the route plays on its connection and sells the same range of tourist goods. A lot of places are closed for the winter but we are finding the towns and the weird and wonderful sights they have to offer are all rolling into each other.

Once we left the central plains the scenery slowly began to change and we took more time to explore Texas, New Mexico and Arizona beyond Route 66.

As I’m rereading this it sounds quite negative but it’s not meant to be! We have enjoyed this section but it took us a while to get into what we wanted to see and where we were driving. But once we got our heads into it, we embraced all that Route 66 had to offer and yes, we do have some of that tourist tat onboard.

Motorhoming

As previously mentioned our vehicle is not big in the scheme of things here in America so getting around is quite easy.  As we’ve got further south and west, the fuel has got cheaper and we’re paying between 80 and 90pence a litre for diesel – it’s worth shopping around as prices vary wildly.  A word of warning though as not every garage has diesel pumps!

LPG, or propane, is easy to get and prices are pretty much as they are at home.

Water points in the northern states were harder to find as many are shut of for winter.  In the south we’ve had to hunt for free water but there are many places selling it.

As we’ve moved west, the choice of overnight spots has opened up so we have moved out of Walmart and Cracker Barrel car parks to BLM and Forestry Land – no complaints from us about that! 

We stayed on one campsite at Gillespie Lakes in Illinois which averaged $15 a night (we had a couple of discounted nights plus a couple at weekend rates), but we’ve avoided the large (and expensive) RV parks.

After leaving New Brunswick we moved fairly quickly through the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, knowing we were on borrowed time in respect of the weather, pretty much driving in a straight line along the northern bank of the St Lawrence river and the border with the US.

We spent a few hours exploring the old town area of Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cobbled streets have a very European feel and French is the main language.

The old buildings are now mostly restaurants, art galleries or tourist shops and parking issues aside (more on that below) we enjoyed our time there.

We found a great spot near St Geneviève-de-Berthier where we stopped in the carpark for a nature reserve on one of the small interconnected islands in the St Lawrence River.

After a good walk along a couple of the marked trails, we awoke the following morning to our first sprinkling of snow!

On our way to Niagara Falls we drove through Toronto but didn’t stop having visited just a couple of months previously.

Niagara Falls are as you would imagine and the noise of the water and the water spray can be heard and seen long before you get to the actual falls. We found the actual town to be quite underwhelming!

Our final stop in Canada for this visit was near Fort Erie on the banks of Lake Erie and looking across the water to Buffalo, USA. Whilst here we were on a mission to eat anything we couldn’t take into the US which was mostly fruit and vegetables so we had a very healthy couple of days!

This was the end of our stay in eastern Canada and we will return to the western provinces when the weather starts to warm up a little next spring. Now all we had to do was clear the van of anything not allowed into the US and hope that they let us in when we cross the Peace Bridge into New York State.

Motorhoming in Quebec and Ontario

We’re having no problems finding diesel (despite not all fuel stations selling it) and LPG, but water sources are starting to get harder to find in these northern regions where public taps are switched off for winter.  

Park ups have also been easy to find via iOverlander but day parking in Quebec was a nightmare – we had parked overnight in a small carpark a few kilometres outside the city which was just too far out to walk and despite our best efforts, we couldn’t really work out the buses! Parking for RVs was shown by the marina but when we got there we found the space full with boats that had been taken out of the water for winter. We eventually found another carpark where we fitted into one space and where another (Canadian) van had stayed overnight without an issue. However when we came back to the van after exploring the city, we had a ticket, thankfully without a fine, telling us there was no RV parking in that car park. At least we had seen all that we came to see.

Niagara, not surprisingly, has plenty of parking. We opted for the car park furthest from the city but still within walking distance (shuttle bus is also available).