Planning an RV trip around the school holidays: which region fits which holiday window?

Why the holiday window chooses your region

Families from the Netherlands and Belgium have no free choice of travel date: the school holiday sets the window, and the window decides which parts of the United States and Canada are pleasant, open and affordable. Those who first choose a dream region and only then look at the calendar regularly end up in a 45-degree desert or at a mountain pass that's still closed. The other way round works better: window first, then region, then route.

Dutch holidays differ per region (north, middle, south) and shift each year; the Belgian calendar is national but has differed for some years between Dutch-language and French-language education. Check the exact dates for your school and for the school year you're travelling in with the Rijksoverheid or Onderwijs Vlaanderen — the weeks below are approximate. A holiday that starts in the last week of a month also means different ticket prices from one that falls mid-month — another reason to know the exact dates early.

For each window we discuss which regions and Kamptribe routes fit, what you're better off avoiding and which reservations go with it. The guide on the best time to visit the national parks, below under related guides, goes deeper into the climate per park. Keep two things in mind as you read: the first and last nights are hotel nights near the pickup point, so a two-week window yields about twelve RV nights. That's the number to cost the routes below with realistically.

Summer holidays (July–August)

Summer is the window with the most weeks and the most catches. The Southwest — Las Vegas, Death Valley, Phoenix, the lower part of the Grand Canyon — is scorching in July and August, and Florida is oppressively hot then too, with daily thunderstorms and the peak of hurricane season approaching. The popular national parks are full, campgrounds are gone months ahead and some parks use timed-entry reservations for access.

On the other hand, summer is the best season for the north. The Canadian Rockies — Banff, Jasper, Yoho — only really open up then, with snow-free trails and long days; the same goes for Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier and the Pacific Northwest. Our Canadian Rockies route was made precisely for this window. The California coast is pleasant, although morning fog often hangs over the coast in July.

If you do want the Southwest in summer, plan for altitude: Bryce Canyon, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff sit at well over two thousand metres and are bearable. Avoid the low desert with children in the RV — an air conditioner that only works on shore power doesn't help on the road. If you do spend a day in Las Vegas, plan it around a campground or hotel pool and drive in the early morning.

May break and Easter holidays

The Dutch May break and the Belgian Easter holidays, somewhere between early April and early May, are a small but golden window. The Southwest is at its best then: Zion, the Grand Canyon and the desert around Las Vegas are warm without glowing, the desert is sometimes still in bloom, and the summer crowds haven't arrived yet. The California coast and Los Angeles are pleasant too, and Florida is attractive before the summer heat — with Easter as the busiest weeks in the theme parks.

Do watch the altitude. Bryce Canyon and the high parts of Utah can still have snow in April, the Tioga Pass through Yosemite is often closed until late May or later, and in Yellowstone and the Canadian Rockies many roads and campgrounds only open from mid-May to June. Our national parks sprint and the California loop fit this window well if you avoid the mountain passes.

Two weeks of May break is, for many Dutch schools, a matter of one week's holiday plus a few days off or taking extra leave; the Belgian Easter holidays last two weeks. Count honestly with the days you really have — including travel days and the mandatory first hotel night — before you choose a route. For a week plus a few days, a loop from Las Vegas with Zion and the Grand Canyon is feasible; with two weeks the California coast or Florida come within reach.

Autumn break

The Dutch autumn break falls mid to late October, the Belgian one around 1 November — and that two-week difference matters. In New England the fall colour peaks from late September to mid-October; with the Dutch autumn break you see the tail end in southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic, with the Belgian one you're largely too late. Moreover, many campgrounds in the Northeast close after mid-October, so check the opening dates for our Northeast family route.

The Southwest, by contrast, is pleasant in October: warm days, cool nights, and the Utah parks and the Grand Canyon are at their most beautiful and a good deal quieter than in summer. California too often has the best weather of the year in October. For a week or ten days, a compact loop around Las Vegas or Los Angeles is more realistic than a grand tour.

In this window avoid the Canadian Rockies and the high parks of the north: campgrounds close, the first snow can fall and the days are short. Florida in October and November is actually a good option: hurricane season is winding down, humidity drops and the theme parks are quieter outside the American holidays. For a family combining theme parks with the Everglades or the Keys, the autumn break is therefore an underrated window, as long as you keep following the forecast in the last weeks before departure.

Spring break (February–March)

The Dutch spring break and the Belgian krokusvakantie, in February or early March, are one week, and that limits the options to regions you can reach quickly and where it's pleasant at that time. Florida is the obvious choice: the dry season, pleasant temperatures, the Everglades at their best and theme parks that only fill up in March with the American spring break. Our Florida theme park route fits right in here.

An alternative is the low desert of the Southwest — southern Arizona and the desert of Southern California — where February is pleasant, although nights can be cold and the higher parks are still under snow. Everything north of that, from Yosemite to the Rockies, is not a good choice for an RV trip in this window. Those who do choose the desert take an RV with good heating and check whether campgrounds have water at the site outside the summer season.

With one week you are effectively on the road with the RV for five to six days, including the first hotel night and the early return. So choose one base or a short loop, and use the kilometre counter in the planner to keep your driving days short — a week should remain a holiday, not a relocation. A base on the Gulf Coast or near Orlando, with day trips around it, gives the children a rhythm and you a holiday feeling.

Reservation moments per window

For a summer trip, planning starts early. RVs for July and August are the scarcest and most expensive; those who book well ahead have the most choice in size and location. Campgrounds in the American national parks are largely released through Recreation.gov six months ahead, often at a fixed time, and the most popular sites are gone within minutes. Parks Canada usually opens reservations for the whole season in January or February, per park on an announced date.

For the May break and Easter holidays the same six-month rule applies on Recreation.gov, so you book the park campgrounds around October and November. Also check on nps.gov from early spring whether your parks are using timed-entry reservations that year — which parks do so, and how, changes per year. For the autumn break you book in April and May and check campground closing dates; for the spring break you book in August and September and keep an eye on spring break crowds in Florida.

Put the opening date of every reservation as a task in your trip plan, with the Dutch or Belgian time next to it — Recreation.gov opens on local US time, so for us in the afternoon or evening. The guide on reserving campgrounds in the national parks, below, explains the procedure step by step. If you miss the opening moments, check daily for cancellations: they mostly come free in the weeks before the travel date.

Put the holiday window in your plan

Start with the window, choose the region from it and take a ready-made family route as your starting point — the routes below are marked per season. Adapt the route to your real number of days, with the first and last hotel night included, and let the planner count the kilometres and the budget while you shift stops around. The planner counts campground costs per stop and fuel per driving day, so the window determines not just the weather but the budget that goes with it.

Share the plan with your partner or the other parents and put the reservation moments on the calendar as tasks. That way the school holiday isn't a limitation you run into afterwards, but the starting point everything fits around — and the anticipation is already part of the planning. And next year you copy the plan as a starting point for another window, with all the lessons of this trip built in.