Renting a Camper Van
Renting a camper van and touring the country was always a dream of mine. We made that a reality in 2022 when we flew out to Las Vegas. Planning that trip seemed quite daunting to do, with lots of moving parts to keep in mind. It is an amazing way to travel the country on a budget, and I am going to share what we did in hopes it will help you with your next trip.
Where to rent a camper van
There are several larger companies to rent from around the U.S, such as Moterra, Escape Camper Vans, and Traveller’s Autobarn. You will need to figure out where you want to go before you pick a van company. Not all companies have hubs in all areas. If you have your heart set on a certain company you can always choose the company first, then the trip location second. There are several factors you should take into consideration when picking a company to rent from;
- Nightly rate
- Rental fees
- Insurances and waivers
- Mileage Costs (included or $ per mile)
- Rental Equipment
- Distance to your destination(s)
- Distance from the airport
- Van types
- Cancellation policies
- Minimum driving age
- Is your trip one way or round trip?
Planning
You could take two approaches to your trip, pre-planning or no planning. No planning would be going where your heart desires with no real goal in mind. This is best if you have a long time or just want to wander. If you have goals, pre-planning is necessary. When I first started planning our very long distance road trip I had no idea what was acceptable to do and drive in one day. It will vary in certain situations, if you are bringing your whole family you will need to stop more often and take it slow. It was just the two of us and we powered through pretty much the whole trip. That can get really tiring very quickly. Here is a map of our travel loop from our trip:
This loop consisted of 1,181 miles and 22 hours of driving over 8 days, timing not including our stops and driving through the National Parks. Our major stops were the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion and Death Valley. This is a lot to shove into one trip if you’re looking for relaxation. If you looking for adventure, then this is perfect for you. When you’re planning your trip you need to pick one or two primary destinations. After you pick your primaries, pick a couple other spots you’d like to see but if you don’t have time you can skip. Our primary spots were Bryce Canyon and Zion, and our secondaries were the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Death Valley.
We made camping reservations at Bryce and Zion but nowhere else. The key to planning your nights is knowing roughly were you would like to stay, then having a backup plan. In the locations we did not have camping reservations, I had a plan as to where we could stay if we did end up there. We were originally supposed to overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Page, Arizona but ended up continuing to a boondocking spot outside of the Grand Canyon. If I hadn’t already known about the boondocking spot in advance I would have felt like we couldn’t continue on in the night. I would highly suggest creating a google map of your entire itinerary and mapping out several spots in your route that you could camp at.
On the same note, in your google map create a layer with points of interest. These help break up really long drives with fun stops and things to look forward to. In our case I pick out a few cool coffee shops or bakeries, road side attractions and stores. You’ll need time to get out and stretch and enjoy the towns you pass through.
You picked out what you want to do, now how are you going to do it and how much time do you have?
Example Itinerary (what we did):
Day 1: Fly into Las Vegas, stayed the night
Day 2: Picked up the camper van, Hoover Dam, Partial RT66 to Grand Canyon-300 Miles
Day 3: Grand Canyon hike, Horseshoe Bend, Bryce Canyon-320 Miles
Day 4: Bryce Canyon, Drive to Hurricane, Utah for ATV rental-140 Miles
Day 5: Zion-20 Miles
Day 6: Zion
Day 7: Zion to Death Valley- 330 Miles
Day 8: Death Valley to Las Vegas-150 Miles
If I could emphasize one thing: Leave time in your trip to do the things you’re driving to. You don’t want to spend 6 hours of your day driving, every day. If I could re-do our trip I would take out Death Valley entirely and add two days in Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.
Getting There
Getting there is half the battle when you’re not close to your goal destination. We flew from Portland, Maine to Las Vegas before we rented our camper van. The only logistical factor when you add this segment in is how much stuff you intend to bring with you. You can’t easily bring camping chairs, a portable stove and other camp items on the plane with you. Most camper van companies have these things available to rent. I will get into that below. In our travel itinerary we flew to Las Vegas, then took an Uber to the van rental location in town. It was fairly simple to get the van.
Your Stuff
Depending on what type of van you rented, you will have very limited space for your items. We ended up keeping our clothes inside our suitcases on our trip for ease of access and needing to move things around a lot. I do not advise bringing anything more than necessary items for this type of trip. I thought we would be going without if we didn’t have camp chairs and some outdoor items but we ended up not missing them at all. We used picnic tables and the table in the van if we wanted space. Some things I couldn’t have gone without on our trip: Nalgene water bottle, wet wipes, sunglasses, comfy driving shoes and audiobooks. Not your typical list of necessities but it worked!
Food
This section will tie in with “your stuff” pretty well because your options are dependent on the set up you rented. If your van has a small fridge, sink and stove you’re in good shape to make your own food. You’ll most likely have to rent the kitchen equipment and dishes for as an add on to your rental price. If you don’t have a stove you may be stuck with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and restaurants.
In our case, our van had a small fridge, stove, microwave and sink. We opted out of the kitchen set with dishes, silverware, pots and pans. It may sound overly frugal but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We brought our hiking utensils in our checked bags, bought paper plates and paper towels at a grocery store and were set to go. We chose not to have to cook any of our meals. We got apples, granola bars, sandwich stuff, snacks and premade salads at a grocery store before we took off for the bulk of our trip. Not cooking in the van took a little bit of stress off the day for cleaning up in small spaces.
Planning to rent a camper van can seem like a daunting task but it is so worth it. It gives you the freedom to travel around with all of your things, and gives you a central hub to base all of your activities from. Happy Traveling!