Are American Campers Still Welcome in Canada? | Ep. 56

Every now and then, a message from a listener stops us in our tracks—and this week, that happened.

We received a heartfelt note from a listener in Fort Collins, Colorado who asked:

“Do you think American campers would be welcome in Canada this year, or would we be asking for ill will? We’re appalled at what’s happening in our country, but maybe we should just stay within the U.S.”

It was such an important question that we decided to create a special bonus episode of the RV Canucks Podcast to answer it.

Let’s Get Right To It: Yes, You’re Welcome Here.

As Canadians and part-time RVers, we want to say this loud and clear:
Yes. American campers are welcome in Canada.

RV life is about connection, freedom, and shared adventure—and those values don’t stop at the border. While there may be tensions between our governments at times, those disagreements don’t reflect how we feel about our neighbours.

We just returned from a trip through the U.S. and were met with kindness and generosity at every stop. The same is true for American travellers in Canada. This is a community that transcends borders. You’re not just tourists—you’re part of our shared road family.

Tips for RVing in Canada as an American

If you’re planning a Canadian camping trip this year, here are a few quick reminders to help make your journey seamless:

1. Bring Your Passport

You’ll need it to cross the border in both directions. It’s simple, but essential.

2. Provincial Parks ≠ State Parks

We don’t have state parks here—ours are provincial parks, and they offer a very similar experience. If you’re a fan of U.S. state parks, you’ll love exploring places like Ontario Parks, BC Parks, and more.

3. No BLM Land, But Crown Land Exists

We have Crown land, which is public land managed by the federal government. It comes with different rules, so do your research if you’re into boondocking or off-grid stays.

4. Leave the Gun at Home

Yes, it’s technically possible to travel through Canada with a firearm en route to Alaska, but for general RVing? It’s not worth the paperwork or the potential delay at the border. Leave it behind.

5. Empty the Fridge

Crossing the border is smoother if you avoid bringing fruits, vegetables, and meat. It’s easier to stock up after you arrive in Canada.

6. The Exchange Rate Is in Your Favour

Right now, the U.S. dollar stretches further in Canada—your spending power is up to 40–45% higher. That means groceries, fuel, and even campsite fees can feel more affordable than you’d expect.

7. Fuel Costs

Fuel is priced by the liter, not the gallon. Multiply the cost per liter by four for a rough conversion. Yes, gas is generally more expensive here—but the strong U.S. dollar helps offset that.

8. Water, Dump Stations, and Hookups

Canadian campgrounds—especially provincial parks—typically offer potable water and dump stations, even if you don’t book a full hookup site. And yes, the water is clean and safe to drink!

9. Speed Limits Are in Kilometers

Your vehicle may have a KM/H toggle, or you can just remember that 100 km/h is about 62 mph. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it quickly.

10. General Vibe: Friendly and Familiar

Canada might feel a little different, but it’s not unfamiliar. We’re welcoming, especially to fellow RVers. Just don’t call our Prime Minister a governor 😉 and you’ll be just fine.

So—Should You Come?

Yes. Come visit.
Support our local economies, enjoy our beautiful parks and landscapes, and share stories by the campfire with us. Whether you’re from Colorado or anywhere else, we’re happy to have you.

If you do come up, let us know! We’d love to say hello—maybe even feature your story in a future episode.

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📩 Got a question? Email us anytime at hello@rvcanucks.com or message us on Instagram or TikTok.
📘 Planning a trip? Check out Episode 31 for a deep dive on how to RV in Canada as an American.

Transcript

1 (5s): Hello everyone and welcome to the RV Canucks podcast. This is episode 56. We have a very, very short impromptu episode today because we have listener mail. So it is March 29th, 2025 And we received a lovely little bit of mail a day or two ago And we are responding to it on the podcast. We’re probably gonna put it up on our socials as well. And we felt it was probably a good topic to kind of break out into its own episode as opposed to like lumping it into our next regularly s scheduled episode. But the reason we are responding through all of these channels is actually because we can’t respond to the people who sent us the mail. 1 (45s): And we discovered recently through one of the most recent updates of our podcast hosting platform, that we could turn on this function that would allow people to send listener mail and it, and it’s a little link at the top of every bit of show notes that says Text the show. And So we got this lovely message and when I went to reply, I realized that it’s a one-way communication. We actually cannot reply to it. So I would say for now, we’re probably gonna turn that feature off. But If you would like to send us listener mail, we love it. Please do. You can message us on TikTok, you can message us on Instagram and you can send us an email anytime, hello at RV Canucks dot com. That’s R-V-C-A-N-U-C-K s.com. And we can reply directly to you as well as you know, throwing it in, throwing it on the show. 1 (1m 28s): So with all of that being said, I think, you know, I will read the listener mail and then maybe we’ll talk about it. So our lovely listeners in Fort Collins, Colorado wrote and they asked, do you think that American campers would be welcome in Canada this year or would we be asking for ill will, we are appalled at what is happening in our country, but maybe we should stay within the us. So I think this is a super, super important topic and it’s one that so many people have been talking about. I’m seeing it happen every day online, whether it’s on, you know, RV forums that we’re on or Disney forums that we’re on of like what to do. Do you keep your plans? Do you cancel them? And I think, you know, we talk about this a lot and li listen, like Dan and I and the girls just got back from America last weekend. 1 (2m 14s): So, you know, we chose not to cancel our plans. We went ahead anyway. We had zero problems. Everybody was really lovely as normal. And I think, you know, when it comes to the RV community, I would say two things. Number one, I would say, you know, it is a true community, right? If you are generally camping or you are interacting with other RVers, no matter where we are in North America or you know, across the world, we’re still a big community. And I think that kind of really shines through. And the other thing that I would say is, you know, there’s probably nothing better than coming up to our country and saying, Hey, you know, we’ve decided to come visit and see your beautiful country and support you economically. And I think that’s a fantastic thing, right? Like, and I don’t think anybody would, would necessarily have a problem with that. 1 (2m 56s): You know, is there 0.01% of the world that are just grumpy ’cause they’re grumpy? Sure. And we could run into those on any, any trip. But I would say ultimately, you know, we’ve had this conversation a lot, but I would say don’t let it dissuade you. We love, you know, the American people, we love our own people. I think, you know, our quarrel economically isn’t with the people, it’s with, you know, the systems and, and whatever trade war is going on right now. Yeah, 2 (3m 21s): The governments are quarreling. There’s some disagreements between the governments. But I think everybody in Canada would welcome your visit. We’re friendly. You are friendly, come on up. Whether you’re from Colorado or anywhere else, big shout out to the people of Colorado. You’re welcome to come. But we can distinguish between a quarrel between our, our governments and just being like good neighbors. You guys are hardworking. We’re hardworking, we’re about to head into tourist season here in Canada. You know, probably the middle of May depending on where we are in the country. So come on up, come for a visit, I think is the message that we’re trying to say, right? 1 (3m 57s): Yeah, for sure. And to aid in that we thought we’d probably maybe remind people about some tips that we’ve talked about in the past about, you know, how to make that transition from America into Canada successful from a travel perspective. 2 (4m 10s): Yeah. So we’re, we’re not gonna go in depth on this episode, we’ll refer you back to episode 31. If you want to get into things where I think what we’re gonna do is give you a couple of things just to like put in the back of your mind and maybe put on that mental checklist of, hey, we should do a little bit more research into this or a little bit more research into that. Just enough to get like your brain juices flowing. Does that make sense? So just to maybe set the stage with a real easy one. We don’t have states in Canada, we have provinces. So this is like actually the province of Ontario, it’s, it’s pretty big. We love it, but we don’t have state parks, we have provincial parks. But If you, but that’s the comparison of a state park to a provincial park would be pretty standard, would be very similar. 2 (4m 54s): So if you’re a state park camper, you’re probably gonna wanna look for a provincial park here. We don’t have BLM land, we have crown land. So crown land is federal government land. There are some regulations about where and how you can camp on it. If it’s something you wanna do. There are better resources that are up to date on YouTube. We would encourage you to get on there and do your research that way. But it can be done. You’re gonna need a passport. So If you don’t have a passport, you’ll, you’ll have to do whatever it takes to get a passport in the us. You’ll need a passport to get into Canada. You’ll need to to get back into the us. So, and, and it’s not a big deal to cross the border. So there are a couple of tips we would suggest. 2 (5m 36s): If you have a gun, it can be done. You can go from the lower 48 to Alaska for example, and you can bring your gun through Canada. It’s a bit of a hassle. So unless you really had a reason like you’re going hunting or something that’s like a whole thing, you’re gonna have to research separately. You don’t need it just for an RVing trip. So just save yourself the trouble and leave it at home because that’s one of the things the border agents coming into Canada, they’re gonna ask you about. And if they find one or you answer yes to that question, it’s you’re gonna spend a lot of time at the booth. So just leave it at home. You’ll save yourself a big hassle. Like everything else. We’ve said this many times, leave the fridge empty, don’t put anything in there. 2 (6m 17s): Yes, you can bring some stuff over. But our advice to people, And we do this going into the US and and so on, just come into the country with an empty fridge. ’cause then you don’t have to get into a conversation about like fruits and vegetables and agriculture safety and all those kind of things. It’s like common sense kind of stuff, right? The good news is, is that the US dollar is really strong on the exchange rate. Like what did you say? Like 40%? It’s 1 (6m 40s): Like 43, 45. 2 (6m 43s): Right? So what that means is a dollar Canadian, sorry, what that means is that your dollar is worth a dollar 40 Canadian, right? On average. Yeah, on average. Like we’re, we’re we’re kind of spitballing. Of course it’s probably gonna change as things go up and down, but you, you get the idea. So, so what that actually means is groceries here, in our opinion dollar for dollar are cheaper. Like, you know, $7 for butter in Canada and it’s $7 for, you know, Kerry gold butter in buffalo because your dollar is stronger. It’s actually cheaper to come by those kind of groceries in Canada because the exchange rate is working in your favor when you come here and people are really like booking up. 2 (7m 25s): If you look at the news reports, like I know they’re pretty busy in Nova Scotia Yeah. With American visitors. Like people are coming so like, don’t delay making your plans. You don’t need to fill up your tanks with fresh water. Like we have a bucket load of water here. And the reason I bring that up and it, it, it maybe it’s intuitive to everybody else. There’s an actual podcast out there where somebody was traveling to Canada and they weren’t sure if they could fill up 1 (7m 53s): With 2 (7m 53s): Water with water in Canada. So most provincial parks that have like car camping are gonna have a spot where you can bring in your trailer and fill up your, your wa your fresh water and drink out water. They’re gonna have a dumping station. Our RV parks are like your RV parks campgrounds or like your campgrounds. So obviously when you go into a place, you’re gonna want to research their exact facilities. But like 1 (8m 15s): I would say in general though, if it’s not a full hookup site, there will be a separate area for you to go fill up your freshwater. Like that is the standard here. And I compare that to when we went to Letchworth State Park in New York State and there was no water fill up. We just had to stop on the road and fill up from a spigot that was just, you know, at the side of the road near one of the campgrounds or campsites. 2 (8m 36s): Yeah. There will be a distinct spot where you’ll pull your trailer over off to the side and people will fill up. Yeah. And the same with the dump station. So I think you don’t need to fill up your tanks with water for worrying that we don’t have water here at the campgrounds. And then I good and 1 (8m 50s): Fresh. 2 (8m 51s): It’s good and fresh and they like, they have pretty rigorous testing standards. And then the last thing I think I’ll say is you are going to find that gas here is a little bit more expensive. We sell gas by the liter, we don’t sell it by the gallon, rough math and very rough mass as there’s about four liters in a gallon and that’s a very rough conversion as you’re driving down the road when you’re kind of figuring this out. So times the price of gas by four, you get an idea of what it is, a price per gallon. There’s a lot of complicated math, long story short as is probably a little bit more expensive, your dollar is a lot stronger and so you have more purchasing power when you come to Canada. And as Molina says, like if you’re worried about like your gas mileage, then vin’s not worth for you. 2 (9m 35s): Yeah. So just kind of giving you that so you don’t have sticker shock when you get here. But other than that, like it’s pretty straightforward. It’s kilometers per hour, not miles per hour, but your, your vehicle will have a little button where you can kind of flick back and forth and it’s pretty straightforward. Our speed limits are pretty close to yours. It, it’s gonna, the touch and feel and look is gonna be different other than like say the little things of why we travel to other parts of North America. Yeah, 1 (10m 1s): Right. For sure. I think that’s easy. I think it’s easy. Maybe, I mean, don’t call us the 51st state and maybe don’t call our prime minister or governor and you’ll be okay. But I don’t think anybody in this community would be, you know Yeah. Having those types of conversations anyway. 2 (10m 16s): Yeah. Come on up, come up for a visit. Like you can drive down our, you know, our highways and you can see American license plates. It’s not really a thing in the news. Like yeah, I mean it’s a news. The news of of the governments not of disagreeing over tariffs and stuff is there, but there’s not a thing of like people were turned away somewhere. That’s not in the news, 1 (10m 36s): Right? Yeah, not largely, no. Yeah. 2 (10m 38s): So 1 (10m 39s): There, no, come on up, we’d love to 2 (10m 40s): See you. Come on, we’d love to see you and 1 (10m 42s): Tell us when you’re gonna be here. We’ll come say hello. 2 (10m 45s): And I’m so sorry to the people in Fort Collins, Colorado that we didn’t, that we can’t respond to that we didn’t see your message. We don’t know you’re, respond to us sooner. Like I love Colorado too. Like I remember that drive We did through Colorado for, for, for about a day. It was amazing. Like Colorado’s awesome. So come on up, we’d love to see you. Yeah. 1 (11m 2s): Alright, so look forward in the very next couple of days, our next episode will be up, but we wanted to kind of shoehorn this in there before we get that ready. And the next one, if anybody wants to explore Ontario Parks is going to be one of our battle of episodes where we are going to battle between the Pinery Provincial Park and BLE Falls Provincial Park. So stay tuned for that. 2 (11m 25s): This area right here along Lake Huron, 1 (11m 27s): If you’re looking us on video, not everybody even watches this 2 (11m 30s): State, we didn, we didn’t even stage this, but if you’re looking on YouTube, it’s this shore of Lake Huron that’s right near Michigan. So it’s a really beautiful area. So tune in for that and give a quick download episode 31 and that’ll kind of get into the meat of stuff. Alright, so thank you and safe travels. Thanks everyone. Bye. Bye.