Campgrounds and RV parks near Houston, BC

Houston sits in the Bulkley Valley of northwest British Columbia, on Highway 16 between Smithers and Burns Lake. It is a working forestry town flanked by lakes, rivers, and the Telkwa and Babine mountain ranges, and it serves as a practical base for RV travellers moving along the Yellowhead corridor toward Prince Rupert, Prince George, or the Alaska Highway. Camping options in the surrounding area mix BC Parks provincial campgrounds, a municipal RV park, and privately operated lakeside resorts. Closer to town, Cozy Cottages and RV at Round Lake Resort and Colleymount Noralee Resort offer small-lake settings with basic services, while Tyhee Lake Provincial Park sits near Telkwa, off Highway 16, about a half-hour drive northwest of Houston. For travellers willing to detour, Smithers Riverside Municipal Campground and RV Park sits on the Bulkley River in Smithers, and Red Bluff Provincial Park is reached from the Village of Topley on Hwy 16, then 45 km north on Hwy 118 along Babine Lake, the longest natural freshwater lake in British Columbia.

Provincial park sites in BC are handled through a single system. All campsite and group site reservations must be made through the BC Parks reservations system at camping.bcparks.ca, and when reservations are not available, campsites operate on a first-come, first-served basis. As of 2026, BC Parks uses a three month rolling window for campground reservations, reduced from four months previously, which means arrival dates can only be booked within that three month window. At Tyhee Lake, a share of sites are reservable and the remainder are first-come, first-served, so weekday arrivals often find space even without a booking. Red Bluff has 34 vehicle-accessible campsites of which 27 are reservable, plus a day-use area, beach, hand pump, dock and boat launch, and trails. Smithers Riverside is booked directly through the Town of Smithers rather than the BC Parks portal. On statutory holiday weekends, BC Parks requires a minimum three-night booking, with the specific nights depending on which day of the week the holiday falls. Private resorts around Round Lake and Francois Lake take bookings directly with the operator.