Darlington Provincial Park Camping With Two Kids in a Van
By Michael · October 27, 2026
Darlington Provincial Park is a campground on the shore of Lake Ontario in Bowmanville, about an hour east of Toronto. We’d been living in our van in Markham for a while, eating our way through the plazas, and this was our first trip out of the city: three nights of camping with Spencer (3) and Archie (almost 1).
The short version: we paid $38.75 a night for a non-electrical site, $142.36 CAD for all three nights with the booking fee and tax. Check-in is all online, the sites are spread out, and ours had a view of the lake through the trees. The things to know before you go are mostly about water, showers and how far things are on foot.
We filmed the whole first day: watch the episode.
Quick facts
- Where: Darlington Provincial Park, Bowmanville, Ontario. A 57-minute drive from First Markham Place for us.
- What we paid: $38.75 a night, non-electrical site. Electrical sites were $43.75.
- Total for 3 nights: $142.36 CAD ($116.25 for the nights + $9.73 web reservation fee + $16.38 HST).
- Booking: online through Ontario Parks. You pick your exact site on the map.
- Good for: families who want a lake campground close to Toronto without a long drive.
- Good to know: campfires allowed when we were there, firewood $10 a bundle at the camp store, showers warm (not hot), and camping season ends around mid-October.
How booking and check-in work
We booked on the Ontario Parks website and did the online check-in the day before. When we pulled up, the gate was paperless. A sign told campers to proceed to the campground and check in with the confirmation email, and there was nobody in the booth. You just drive to your site.
When you book, you choose your site from the park map, out of whatever is still available. That’s how we ended up on site 115.
Here’s how our receipt broke down for three nights:
| Item | CAD |
|---|---|
| 3 nights × $38.75 | $116.25 |
| Web reservation fee | $9.73 |
| HST | $16.38 |
| Total | $142.36 |
Why we picked a non-electrical site
The electrical sites were $43.75 a night, so going without power saved us about five dollars a night. We could skip the hookup because the solar on our van had kept the battery close to 100% pretty much every day, even on a cloudy one like the day we arrived.
If you need power, we walked past the electrical sites in the next section: each one has a power pedestal.
The campground: Lakeside, Cliffside and Hilltop
The campground is split into three sections: Lakeside, Cliffside and Hilltop. We were in Cliffside, the middle one. On the drive in you pass the dump station, garbage dumpsters and the camp store before the loops start.
Our site, 115, had:
- A fire pit and a picnic table
- A little nook for a tent
- A view of Lake Ontario through the trees
- No water, no power, no sewer
One warning: there was a very big, very low tree right at the front of our site. We ended up parking at the front with the van a little tilted, and our levelling blocks helped. If you have a tall van or trailer, look closely at the site photos before you pick.
The sites felt spread apart, so there’s some privacy between neighbours. We didn’t have beach access from our site, but we could hear the water. On our walk we found a lookout over a small pebble beach below the cliff. We didn’t make it down to it that first day.
The camp store and firewood
The Ontario Parks store sits near the entrance. It’s a nice one, with a fireplace inside and a patio of chairs outside. Inside we saw local Ontario honey, Darlington Provincial Park t-shirts and hats, sticker sets, pins, magnets, socks, board games, ice cream, coffee, chips, drinks, bread, milk and a few other basics. We picked up a magnet and a bag of marshmallows for s’mores.
Firewood is sold from the shed outside: $10 a bundle. We bought one and figured we’d come back for another if we burned through it.
Water, showers and the dump station
This is the part we’d want to know before going.
Drinking water. There’s a tap at the comfort station near our site, marked potable water, for drinking water fill only (no dishes). It’s on a walkway, not somewhere you can drive up to, and we didn’t have a hose long enough to reach it from the van.
Filling a van or RV. The freshwater fill for vehicles is the blue tap at the dump station, back near the entrance. Know that before you arrive with an empty tank.
Showers. The showers are individual stalls, eight in total (four on each side of the building). Rina tested the water: warm, not hot. The stalls are on the small side, but we figured all four of us could fit in one.
Playground. Rina spotted a playground on the park map, but it turned out to be a long walk from our section, so we skipped it that day.
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Camping at Darlington with kids
The best part for us was simply having space. After a stretch in the city, Spencer could run around freely, and you could tell he’d missed that. He helped carry the firewood, set up the chairs and threw sticks on the fire (with a lot of reminders).
A few things that worked for us:
- Bugs. It was a little buggy around the site in late September. Spencer went full Crocs with long socks and long sleeves, Rina brought mosquito coils this time, and we got the fire going early to help keep the mosquitoes away.
- A small tent. We set up our one-person tent next to the van as a bug-free spot. Rina and Archie hung out inside it, and Spencer loved it. We still sleep in the van for now. I’d like to take Spencer tent camping out west someday, when he’s a bit older.
- The camping chair. Spencer got a bigger camping chair, and his old one went to Archie. Small moment, but it was a sweet one.
Before the drive: breakfast and a grocery run in Markham
We left from First Markham Place that morning. Breakfast was a quick Hong Kong cafe-style meal at Magic Fusion Cuisine in the food court: macaroni, borscht and pasta. Then we shopped for three nights at Freshway Supermarket in the same plaza: fresh Vietnamese Black Thorn durian, frozen durian ($10 for 400 g on special), a coconut tofu dessert, dumplings for breakfast, mango Pocky and the real Kinder Surprise with the toy inside. Our rule was simple: if it fits in one small cart, it fits in our fridge and freezer.
Every place we eat this season goes on our free Toronto Food Map.
Our verdict
For a campground an hour from Toronto, we liked it a lot. Booking and check-in were easy, the sites are spread out, and ours had a lake view through the trees for $38.75 a night. Non-electrical was the right call for us since our solar kept up.
What we didn’t love: the low tree at the front of our site made parking awkward, the drinking-water tap isn’t somewhere you can drive to, and the playground is a long walk from Cliffside. We also didn’t get down to the beach that first day.
If you’re going, plan your water fill at the blue tap by the dump station, bring something for the bugs, and go before the campground closes for the season in mid-October.
FAQ
How much does it cost to camp at Darlington Provincial Park? We paid $38.75 a night for a non-electrical site. Electrical sites were $43.75. Our three nights came to $142.36 CAD with the $9.73 web reservation fee and HST.
How far is Darlington Provincial Park from Toronto? About an hour. Our drive from First Markham Place in Markham was 57 minutes.
Are there showers at Darlington Provincial Park? Yes. The comfort station near us had eight individual shower stalls. The water was warm, not hot.
Can you have a campfire? Yes, when we were there. Firewood was $10 a bundle at the camp store.
That night we cooked Hong Kong wonton noodle soup at the campsite, which is our next episode. You can watch this one here.
