Campgrounds and RV parks near Duncan, BC

Duncan sits in the Cowichan Valley on southern Vancouver Island, roughly 60 km north of Victoria and 51 km south of Nanaimo along the Trans-Canada Highway. The city is the commercial hub of the Cowichan region and is known as the City of Totems, with dozens of carved poles displayed downtown. RV travellers use Duncan as a base for the Cowichan River corridor, Lake Cowichan, and the smaller communities of Chemainus, Cowichan Bay, and Mill Bay. Private RV parks cluster along the river and near the highway. Riverside RV & Camping and Chemainus River Campground sit on riverfront acreage with full and partial hookups, while Country Maples RV Resort and Chemainus Garden RV Resort cater to larger rigs with pull-through sites. Osborne Bay Resort adds a saltwater-side option on the east coast near Crofton. Beyond the private parks, BC Parks operates Cowichan River Provincial Park west of Duncan and Gordon Bay Provincial Park on Lake Cowichan, both handled through the BC Parks reservation system. Together they cover the full range of RV needs, from serviced resort sites to shaded provincial-park loops.

Private RV resorts around Duncan, including Riverside RV & Camping, Chemainus River Campground, Osborne Bay Resort, Country Maples RV Resort, and Chemainus Garden RV Resort, take bookings directly through their own websites or by phone. For summer weekends and long weekends, reserve two to three months out. Monthly and seasonal stays are common, so daily inventory tightens quickly once school lets out. Cowichan River and Gordon Bay provincial parks are reserved through the BC Parks reservation system on a three-month rolling window that opens at 7 a.m. Pacific each day. A site with an August 1 arrival, for example, opens for booking on May 1. Most parks require reservations to be finalized by 8 p.m. two days before arrival, and the reservable season at Cowichan River generally runs mid-May through early September.