The Anmore Camp and RV Park is located at 3230 Sunnyside Road, Anmore, British Columbia, Canada. It is just 45 minutes out of Vancouver, yet situated right next to the pristine wilderness of Buntzen Lake. With big sites and clean air, and close proximity to hiking and mountain biking trails, this park is popular with families and active people. It has some major pros, and just a few minor cons. This review attempts to cover all aspects, so you can decide for yourself whether the pros outweigh the cons for your needs.
We intend to publish similar reviews for all the parks we visit. We also invite readers to submit their own reviews. Share your knowledge, and help us to create a large collection of in-depth reviews to help others in the RV life! Please contact Maggie for more details.
Location and Local attractions
The community of Anmore is just north of Coquitlam and Port Moody. There is a bus stop immediately outside, where you can catch a comfortable shuttle bus. You can also drive down the hill and get to downtown Vancouver within about 45 minutes, if you prefer, and don’t mind dealing with a lot of traffic. Buntzen Lake, Sasamat Lake, and Belcarra Park are all nearby, all with beach and picnic areas.
This map shows where the Anmore Camp and RV Park is. You can zoom this map in and out, and also change it from Map view to Satellite view.
Sites at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There are about one hundred 30 and 50-watt sites, plus a small campground for tents. The sites tend to be large, with space to park your vehicle, plus an area to relax, and a fire pit. Most are easy to back into. Most have full hook-ups.
Buntzen Lake
For most people, Buntzen Lake will be the best thing of all about staying at Anmore Park. The entrance to Buntzen Lake is right next door to the park. However, to actually get to the beach, you need to drive, bike, or hike about 2.5 km. There are 600 parking spots, and the gates are closed when the parking is full. In practice that means you cannot drive in after about 9.30 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday in the summer. However, the hike to the lake is very pleasant. The bike ride down to the lake is fun, and there are plenty of other bike rides and hikes you can take all around the lake. I wrote about biking and hiking around Buntzen Lake here. And you can stop along the way on your hike or bike ride for many great views, including this one from Buntzen Lake’s floating bridge:
There is also a hike that goes all around the huge lake. If you do that hike, you can stop along the way to admire the views from the small suspension bridge.
Many of the hikes offer splendid views. The view below is from the Energy Trail, a short, family-friendly hike next to Buntzen Lake that I wrote about here.
Buntzen Lake is a beautiful place to spend a long, hot day. The breeze off the lake keeps you cooler than other places. You can choose to swim in the lake (which is surprisingly warm, despite being glacier fed). Of course, you can kayak or canoe (boats are available to rent). Also, I wrote about a very affordable, inflatable kayak, the Intex Challenger K1 Kayak, that is perfect for RV life here. Here is a video of Maggie trying out that Kayak on Buntzen Lake:
We also enjoyed a lot of quality time kayaking with our grandkids, and even once took the dogs kayaking.
There is trout fishing from the jetty, although I think that to actually catch anything, you need to grab a kayak or bike and head off to the more peaceful North Beach. There, the water seemed to be teeming with fish. The lake is stocked with trout every year. Be sure to get a BC fishing license, available online here.
Shopping near Anmore Camp and RV Park
Right across the road from the RV Park is a local convenience store with an ATM machine, and kayak and canoe rentals. It also sells an interesting variety of ice-creams. Staff are friendly, and will give you the change you might need for the laundry. However, it is a small store in a fairly remote area, so prices are not cheap.
To stock up on groceries, you are better advised to drive down the hill to the Thrifty Foods at 170 Brew Street, Port Moody (7 km away). If you want something cheaper, there is an enormous shopping center 8 km away at 2929 Barnet Highway. This is the Coquitlam Centre, which has a Walmart that does not allow RV parking, but does have a wide selection of groceries and other goods.
Bike Trails and Hiking at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There are numerous trails for hiking and mountain biking in the area. Read more about hiking and cycling at the Anmore RV Park here. This video shows you one of the beautiful bike rides you can do just outside Anmore Park:
Be aware that there are many bears in the area, so take normal precautions. It is highly recommended to have a bear bell. Pets should not be allowed to roam freely in the woods, as there are several predators that could attack them, including bears.
Public Transport near Anmore Camp and RV Park
There are two comfortable shuttle buses that depart from right outside the park. In 25 minutes, the bus will get you to the Moody Central Skytrain station, from which you can easily access downtown Vancouver, and most of the rest of greater Vancouver.
In Coquitlam there is a large regional shopping center, along with other smaller malls in the area. Port Moody is a much smaller city with no large shopping malls. From both cities you can connect with the Translink SkyTrain system that will give you access to Vancouver for sight-seeing.
Accessibility and Availability of Anmore Camp and RV Park
This is the one big drawback to this park. It is really not that easy to get to. Every GPS in the world will advise you to take a route up East Road. We have a dedicated RV GPS, the Garmin RV 770, and even that usually sensible and cautious GPS recommended this route. The trouble with this route is that it is a residential neighborhood with narrow roads, there are numerous steep up and down hills, and somebody decided to make this even more challenging by adding speed bumps, plus stop streets in stupid places. The maximum grade is 12%. It is really quite a harrowing route, and I have seen many reviewers complain about it. We drove it after we booked, without our trailer, and I was ready to cancel the booking. We were brand new to towing, and I just did not think it would be within our capabilities to get our Fifth Wheel up that route.
Luckily, we were able to find a different route. This route will not show up on your GPS or on Google maps, so I have included a map here to show the route. For this route, follow Ioco Road (be careful as it suddenly turns left at an intersection, and it is easy to accidentally leave Ioco. The spot where it turns left is between the “M” and the “o” on the map). Turn right at First Avenue, and then turn right again at Sunnyside Road, which will take you all the way to Anmore RV Park.
This route is much better. It still goes through some narrow streets in a residential area. However, there are no speed bumps, and far fewer turns. It also does not have the roller coaster up and down features of the other route. The one big downside is that the last 4 km (2.5 miles) up to the park are steep, with our GPS registering 13% at one point – although only for a second, before settling back down to 12%. With our Fifth Wheel, it was a slow haul up the hill. As we really loved this RV Park we will probably do this trip again one day, but I sure am not looking forward to doing that uphill again!
General Atmosphere at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The park is family oriented and pet friendly. Very few party animals visit. We enjoyed some pleasant time there when our daughter and grandson visited. We also had some great family visits down at Buntzen Lake.
Pet Policy at Anmore Camp and RV Park
You are allowed to have up to 2 small dogs, or 1 medium size dog. As with most parks, dogs need to be on leash at all times. However, you are next door to Buntzen Lake, where there is a very large off-leash dog park where dogs can run freely and swim in the lake. It gets a bit hectic there on the weekends, and our dogs are intimidated by packs of large dogs running around. Dogs are not allowed to be on the main beach at Buntzen Lake at all.
However, there is an alternative – to the left of the Buntzen Lake boat launch area (if you are facing the lake), there is a small beach where dogs are permitted on leash. We headed off there, and found that it is actually a great place to be. On a busy day like that one, the party animals are on the main beach. That little beach to the left of the boat launch area is relatively quiet. If you walk as far left as possible, there are two picnic tables tucked away around a corner, where you can enjoy relative privacy, peace, and quiet, even on a busy lake day.
Noise Level at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The park is extremely quiet during the week, getting busier and noisier each weekend. There is the usual quiet time from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., which was very well observed during our two-month summer stay. This is not one of those parks where your vacation will be destroyed by loud, drunken party animals. There is a fair amount of noise of children playing, but we find that a pleasant sound.
Staff at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The staff are very friendly and helpful; however, the office is not staffed each day, so you sometimes have to wait for staff to be available. When we arrived, a staff member was on hand to help us with parking. Unfortunately, that was necessary because of low-hanging wires. However, the staff member made sure we got in safely. He also dropped by and kindly dropped off a step to assist us in getting into our rig. After our recent experiences with rude staff at the Burnaby Cariboo RV Park, we were quite shocked to be treated so kindly!
Value for Money at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The outdoor pool is under construction this year, so the value for money is less than normal. However, the close proximity of Belcarra Park, White Pine Beach and Buntzen Lake makes up for this. That feeling of being out in nature and breathing in clean air is pretty much priceless. And the park is super quiet at night – no trains and little traffic.
Update: We have been informed that the park is not planning to repair the pool, plus it has put up its fees – which were already high. At this point, we no longer think that this park offers reasonable value for money. We have reluctantly decided not to return to Anmore.
Wi-Fi at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The Wi-Fi is exceptional at this park. There are no restrictions at all on usage, and the speeds are generally good. Occasionally on a Friday evening we had trouble streaming movies. Yes, you can stream movies on the free Wi-Fi! For our blogs it was great, as we were able to upload videos easily.
Cable TV at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There are no cable hookups at this park, however you can tune in 2 to 8 local TV stations if you have an aerial.
Cellular Reception at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There is little to no cellular reception, so we used text messaging to communicate with family and friends. Most of the time we could not make or receive phone calls. We are on the Fido network, which apparently has not made it this far up the hill!
Washrooms at Anmore Camp and RV Park
The washrooms have been renovated recently. The shower area is located near the laundry room and has also been recently renovated. It is a good renovation, with a nice spa feeling. There is no cost for the showers, however they operate on a single push-on knob and do not have individual temperature controls. At one time they were running way too hot. We alerted management, and they went to great trouble to get it fixed quickly.
The washrooms are usually clean, but the showers are seldom spotless, and on one occasion got downright filthy. We were not sure if they simply did not have any cleaners there over that entire weekend. We complained about this too, and again management took immediate action to rectify the situation.
Facilities at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There is a volleyball area and a basketball court (with a kid-sized hoop), along with a games room. A lot of the time there are kids enjoying the basketball court, or riding their bikes all over the place.
The laundry facilities are clean, and the machines are near new. The management wants you to purchase their soap, so the washing machines are free (after paying $1.50 per soap pod) and the dryers take $1.00 and $0.25 coins. A lot of people bring their own detergent.
Guest Parking at Anmore Camp and RV Park
There is a small guest parking lot just inside the gate. Although there is a sign saying they should register at the office, this is actually not necessary. And usually not possible, as the office is usually empty. Visitors are requested to be offsite by 10:00 p.m.
Bottom Line on Anmore Camp and RV Park
The park offers the convenience of proximity to the city of Vancouver (especially if using transit), with a country ambience and proximity to wilderness areas and beaches. Although not a cheap park (nothing in and around Vancouver is cheap), it does offer an affordable way to be close enough to explore the beautiful city of Vancouver.
Weigh up all of these pros and cons, and decide if this is the RV park for you!
Did you enjoy this post or find it helpful? If so, please support our work. We write this blog because we love our RV life and want to share it with you. But we also need to earn a living, so we REALLY would appreciate if you click through to one of our reputable affiliates for your online shopping. We are proudly affiliated with Amazon, which sells pretty much everything, and has outstanding shipping and return policies. You can even have items shipped to a convenient pick-up point, if you are traveling and don't have a permanent address. Plus, many private camp grounds accept deliveries for their guests. When you buy from our affiliates by clicking on highlighted links such as Amazon, we make a small commission, and this is the only way we earn any income. Plus, it costs you nothing at all - a real win/win situation! |
