We've been camping in our pop-up for 8 years, and we've always wanted to take a trip out west.We live in Georgia, and are wanting head head to the Grand Canyon, but it is a heck of a haul from here, and my wife and I both could only take a week, or so off at a time, so the drive out and back would take up most of the vacation.We are thinking about flying out, and renting an RV for the week, as we prefer campgounds to hotels. Has anyone done the RV rental thing? The one downfall I see is none of them seem to include a car to tow behind. Then you have to unhook etc, if you want to leave the campground.We always walk around the campgrounds with the kids talking that one day we'll get a class A or C. The kids would think it was awesome to ride around in one for the week.Thanks for any advice.

We have done the fly-in-and-rent thing, several times. Being from Europe, there is little choice... We twice rented Class C campers in the US (Cruise America and Moturis/Camping World) and once a truck camper in Canada (Fraserway). We have actually been to the Grand Canyon on two of the trips, so I feel somewhat qualified to respond ;-)Our experiences were good with all three companies and rentals, but there was a clear ranking. In my opinion, one week is quite short for that sort of trip. Some thoughts:- The pickup/return time and location of the rental may not be very convenient with relation to your flight/airport. Even the major players are pretty far off the airport and you need to take their shuttle out to their location and back. Some rental companies have rather restrictive pickup/return times, too. You can figure that you will lose at least the complete first and last days of your trip in the process.- While you can rent bedsheets, tableware and so on with the camper, you will still need to bring or buy any food items. And, of course, your personal belongings. It can be quite time consuming to set up a rented camper for actual use.- You need to clean the camper upon return, and you probably need to have it in around 10 in the morning. That means you need to spend much of the second-to-last day driving near the return location and getting ready for rental return.- I am not aware of any company that would rent out a camper with a toad.- The nearest stations for the Canyon are probably Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you want to camp at one of the campgrounds in the park (Maher), be sure you have a reservation (unless you are travelling off-season). Reservations can be made online.- If you want to rent at one station and return at a different station, you will need to rent with one of the major companies. And even then there are a lot of restrictions.It is doable, but one week is very short. We travelled three weeks with two rented Class C campers in February/March of 2014, from Las Vegas to Phoenix. That was a very good time of the year to rent (low prices, off season). Pictures from the trip are here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104581754261901190566/albums/5991853658484168417

Not quite the same but wife and I traveled from Chicago to South Carolina last summer. We drove and stopped half way down and rented a travel trailer at a KOA to stay the night. With you flying rent a car and eather rent tt for night or stay in one of the cabins. Cheaper then hotel and you'll be staying in campgrounds.

If you really want to enjoy the Grand Canyon my suggestion is to forget the rented camper and concentrate on a great Grand Canyon trip. Fly to Phoenix, rent a car/van and drive to Williams, AZ. Take the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Railway has several packages including lodging, food (which is excellent) and the Train ride to the GC. You can also do a package that includes a night or two in the Grand Canyon hotels. Plus, Williams is on old Route 66 with plenty of side trips nearby.

We have done it numerous times in Canada. We land at the airport, pickup the RV, head to the nearest hyper market (the Costco on steroids that was invented in Canada decades ago) and we are on the road with the RV and spend the first night after leaving home in the campground. We take our photo and fishing gear and only the clothes we will need and this is not a problem even with the stupid TSA restrictions. We do make sure to take anything of value on the plane so it will not be stolen by the TSA or airline employees. The quality of service provided does vary and we have found the smaller family run operations to be the best. They have had the same range of RV choices as the chain operations. For getting around we go with either a 1-ton 4WD pickup with a slide in camper or a Class B motorhome. No problems with getting into any campsite and for places like Zion and Canyonlands we can park in the regular parking lots at trail heads which would not be possible if we were towing another vehicle. There are B+ motorhomes with double slide outs and these provide a lot more room inside and we don't need the exterior storage space for a 2 week trip. We are used to chartering boats for a week or two and taking only a duffel bag to the boat for our personal gear so transitioning to doing the same with an RV was no big deal. What is great is that at the end of our trip we arrive before noon at the RV rental place, have it inspected, and our flying home the same day. We do not waste a week driving to an area and back home again but spend all but 2 days actually camping and exploring. There are many places to rent an RV in Arizona and I would also check out Las Vegas as well.

Road Bear RV Rentals in Las Vegas gets the best reviews. We rented from another company a few year ago and it was not a good experience. We rented an RV in Alaska and had a great experience. The benefit of picking up the RV in Las Vegas is that you could also see the Hoover Dam.

RV Rentals??? | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

edsland
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
Not quite the same but wife and I traveled from Chicago to South Carolina last summer. We drove and stopped half way down and rented a travel trailer at a KOA to stay the night. With you flying rent a car and eather rent tt for night or stay in one of the cabins. Cheaper then hotel and you'll be staying in campgrounds.
joerg68
Nomad III
Jan 06, 2015
We have done the fly-in-and-rent thing, several times. Being from Europe, there is little choice... We twice rented Class C campers in the US (Cruise America and Moturis/Camping World) and once a truck camper in Canada (Fraserway). We have actually been to the Grand Canyon on two of the trips, so I feel somewhat qualified to respond ;-)

Our experiences were good with all three companies and rentals, but there was a clear ranking.

In my opinion, one week is quite short for that sort of trip.

Some thoughts:

- The pickup/return time and location of the rental may not be very convenient with relation to your flight/airport. Even the major players are pretty far off the airport and you need to take their shuttle out to their location and back. Some rental companies have rather restrictive pickup/return times, too. You can figure that you will lose at least the complete first and last days of your trip in the process.

- While you can rent bedsheets, tableware and so on with the camper, you will still need to bring or buy any food items. And, of course, your personal belongings. It can be quite time consuming to set up a rented camper for actual use.

- You need to clean the camper upon return, and you probably need to have it in around 10 in the morning. That means you need to spend much of the second-to-last day driving near the return location and getting ready for rental return.

- I am not aware of any company that would rent out a camper with a toad.

- The nearest stations for the Canyon are probably Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you want to camp at one of the campgrounds in the park (Maher), be sure you have a reservation (unless you are travelling off-season). Reservations can be made online.

- If you want to rent at one station and return at a different station, you will need to rent with one of the major companies. And even then there are a lot of restrictions.

It is doable, but one week is very short. We travelled three weeks with two rented Class C campers in February/March of 2014, from Las Vegas to Phoenix. That was a very good time of the year to rent (low prices, off season). Pictures from the trip are here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104581754261901190566/albums/5991853658484168417

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RV Rentals???

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