Campervan in The Philippines.

Bad idea.  Driving a van by a foreigner would be dangerous.

mugtech wrote:

Bad idea.  Driving a van by a foreigner would be dangerous.

Why do you say that Mugtech? The Toyota Hiace is no larger than a mid size car in terms of footprint.. (less than 15ft long but very space efficient). Not like the monster RV's we have stateside.  I have driven rentals and our own car all over in the Philippines without any real issues other than the first time coming back from the province at night on the Cebu coastal road was a bit terrifying due to the smoke, pedestrians crossing and many unlit vehicles.. But assuming one drives during the day it shouldn't be a problem.

I think its a reasonable idea, but wonder about where tourists would safely park it at night as there aren't really designated campgrounds like we have in the US. Also would they be allowed to take it on ferries to visit multiple islands?

pnwcyclist wrote:

without any real issues other than the first time coming back from the province at night on the Cebu coastal road was a bit terrifying due to the smoke, pedestrians crossing and many unlit vehicles.. But assuming one drives during the day it shouldn't be a problem.

I think its a reasonable idea, but wonder about where tourists would safely park it at night as there aren't really designated campgrounds like we have in the US. Also would they be allowed to take it on ferries to visit multiple islands?

Those safety issues are worse at night or early morning .  Can't see tourists parking vans every night before sunset.  For sure no campgrounds, no ferries would take a van to Mindoro.  Sounds quite limited, better to encourage public trans, a bus from Ilocos Sur to Manila only costs $17, even less for senior citizens.

Driving a large vehicle here is one thing, but I think OP version of camper van is similar to that of a RV but smaller due to road differences here.

or I guess if you have a SUV or anything larger than a pickup, you could just get your own camping gear and go.

so I assume by your meaning camper van, some or all of these equipment would be provided along with the vehicle?


I love driving RV in US or Canada and doing road trips, even hear stories of some of my friends doing this in Australia, being able to drive to some camp site, just chill, enjoy everything nature has to offer or even just cross country joy ride... The only thing we have to worry about is probably a wandering bear in US/CA or some venomous "insert name here" in Australia. usually those areas have other campers doing the same thing, not necessarily using a RV, they packed a few bags, jumped in their car and just got out the city for a couple days. dedicated camp sites sometimes offers toilets, some even have basic electricity and maybe even showers, unless you are hardcore and like to wander off trail. I have even seen campsites with vending machines.

I'd imagine camp sites here are a lot different.

The only problem here would be safety, robbers, murderers and rapists. Too many s*** can go wrong, some wandering nut job decides to rob you, then robbery turns into murder or worse, rape and murder.

Sure there's wandering nutjobs in US/CA too, but usually they rob you and just run off as they don't want to add a murder charge on top of robbery if they got caught.

side note - Sensible notion is if you do get robbed, just hand everything over as fast as possible and hope they go away, don't jeopardize your family by playing a hero. Your life and your family's life is worth more than anything material they can take from you.

Stay Safe Ya'll (This Site should have a Emojicon that has a face mask)

C'est un francais qui poste en anglais

renting a van itself is not easy there is a huge offer with or without driver on a  daily basis  with extremely few demand ....nationwide ....

Camper van ... only some Americans will be interested and  mostly on Luzon .... most of island  hoppers  will not use a camper van  because of extremely high costs  of ferries transfers  and risks to have your belongings stolen .... and many areas  like Palawan and Mindanao  Islands .... you would have to keep an eye  on your camper van 24 hours not to have it stolen ....

its exactly the same thing as for bangka (local boats)  ... easy to steal .... keep this in mind or better... just forget about this idea ....your money will be wasted ...

a camper van is a home  for many pinoys  first it takes only a couple of hours to have it repainted  and .... few bucks to have new "papers" and license plates ...

One guy from Boise Idaho  did it back in the late 90's .... his 2 campers vanished  and he returned home with nothing ...

From a very long time French expat  in PH .

All the best ,