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Picnic shelters

BC Parks offers picnic shelters at campgrounds and day-use areas across British Columbia. A shelter provides a covered space and picnic tables for your family and friends to enjoy a meal or group activities in B.C.’s great outdoors. Some shelters are offered on a first come, first served basis. Others must be booked in advance.

This page provides information on:

To see if picnic shelters can be reserved at the park you are planning to visit, check the park’s webpage. For full details of our reservation policies, download the reservation services policies and terms [PDF].

Booking a picnic shelter

  • Anyone over 16 years of age can make a picnic shelter reservation via camping.bcparks.ca
  • You can also make a reservation by calling 1-800-689-9025 toll free from Canada and the US or 1-519-858-6161 internationally
  • Shelters are reserved one day at a time, so reservations on consecutive days must be booked individually (see reservation times and group sizes, below)
  • A picnic shelter reservation can be made up to one year advance of your planned visit
  • You must pay all fees in advance to secure your booking (see fees, below, for more information)

Reservation times and group sizes

  • Typically, picnic shelters can be used between 8 am and 8 pm (this varies between parks, so find the park’s webpage to confirm)
  • Booking a shelter ensures you can use it between these times but does not allow you to use it overnight
  • Your shelter is held for the entire time it is reserved (and will not be given to another party if you arrive late)
  • Maximum party size varies between parks, campgrounds, and shelters, so please find the park’s webpage for specific details

Fees

  • Two types of fees must be paid when making a picnic shelter reservation: park user fees and transaction fees 
  • Park user fees pay for your picnic shelter; transaction fees are processing charges that help maintain the reservation service
  • The main park user fee is a flat rate for any shelter in your park (the rate varies between parks, so find the park’s webpage for details)
  • The online reservation service lets you put three reservations in your shopping cart, but separate transaction fees are applied to each
  • You can pay all your fees using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Visa Debit, or Mastercard Debit
  • The Youth Group Rate, Seniors Discount, and the Social Services Camping Fee Exemption do not apply to picnic shelters
  • Transaction fees are $6 per shelter per day (plus tax) and there is an additional $5 surcharge for transactions made by phone
  • You will be charged an additional $6 (plus tax) for each change or cancellation you may make

For more information on cancelling or changing your reservation, see changes, cancellations, and refunds, below.

Changes, cancellations, and refunds

  • You can change or cancel your reservation via camping.bcparks.ca or by calling 1-800-689-9025 (1-519-858-6161 internationally)
  • If you cancel your reservation up to 28 days before your arrival, park user fees are refunded (subject to our cancellation policies)
  • If you cancel within 28 days of arrival, no refund is given (changing the date of your reservation is considered a cancellation)
  • To change your reservation to a shelter at a different campground or park, you must cancel and re-book
  • All transaction fees, including cancellation fees and phone booking surcharges, are non-refundable
  • Reservation changes or cancellations must be made by the account holder who made the original booking
  • Reservations cannot be transferred or sold to another party, and any attempt to do so will lead to cancellation without refund

For more information on getting a refund, see the cancellations and refunds page. For full details of our cancellation and refund policies, download the reservation services policies and terms [PDF].