Campground Review - Bonanza Gold Motel and RV Park - Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

Description

The Bonanza Gold Motel and RV Park is a basic, full service and big-rig friendly campground just off the Klondike Highway, about 1 mile outside of Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. The campground is near the Klondike River and has nice views of rocky and forested mountain slopes. This campground is a convenient place to stop while traveling the Klondike Highway/Top-of-the-World route and for exploring the many attractions around Dawson City.

Location

Bonanza Gold Motel & RV Park
Box 5000
Dawson City, YT, Y0B 1G0, Canada
Park: +1 867-993-6789
Latitude: 64.041186 N, Longitude: -139.403865 W, Elevation: 1,214 ft (370 m).

Details

We stayed for 5 nights at the Bonanza Gold Motel & RV Park in late May, 2018. This is a basic, full service, reasonably clean, and reasonably well-maintained park.

The electricity was out at our site when we first hooked up. The park manager was very understanding and sent a maintenance person right away to check it out. Turned out a breaker at the main panel had been turned off for maintenance earlier in the day and not reset. Problem solved and kudos to the park for resolving the issue quickly.

Cost

For 5 nights at a 50 amp full hookup back-in site we paid about $51(CN) per night, including tax. There were no fees for pets or an extra vehicle.

Ratings (1-5)

Accessibility – 3/5

The campground is accessible via paved roads. Lanes in the campground are gravel – reasonably well-maintained but with some potholes and large puddles. The park has back-in sites and can accommodate large rigs. The campground facilities have few provisions for Universal access.

Facilities/Amenities – 3/5

The campground offers basic amenities, including full and partial hookup sites, dry tent sites, RV dump station, restrooms and coin-op showers, coin-op laundry, coin-op RV/car wash, free WiFi, and cable TV. Restroom facilities were clean and in good repair.

Laundry facilities are public, heavily used, and could use more frequent cleaning. Several machines were out-of-order.

Site quality – 3/5

RV Sites have full or partial (water/electric) hookups, cable TV, and WiFi. Electric service is 50/30 amp or 30/15 amp. Sites are back-in, gravel, spacious, but with little separation between sites.

Scenic Value – 3/5

The park site is in a valley between scenic rocky and forested hills. Unfortunately, the campground is essentially a large parking lot with a cluttered and utilitarian look detracting from the scenery.

Location/Isolation – 3/5

As noted, the campground is essentially a large parking lot with little separation between sites so does not feel very isolated. The campground is generally quiet, although noise from the highway or low-flying aircraft is heard at times. The park is, however, conveniently located for exploring Dawson City and around the area.

Paws Friendliness – 3/5

The campground is pet friendly, but does not have an enclosed pet run or cleanup bag stations. The park is large enough for a decent walk with your pet. The park has access to hiking and bike trails for longer walks.

Overall Rating – 3/5

Overall, the Bonanza Gold Motel and RV Park is a convenient place to stay while travelling the Klondike Highway/Top-of-the-World route and for exploring the many attractions around Dawson City. We enjoyed our stay here and would certainly return another time.

Additional info

Internet access

We received a moderate 4G signal at this campground. Access was roaming, but did not cost extra with our Verizon Unlimited plan. High speed data usage throttled down after 500 Mb per device per day. We used the free campground WiFi service a few times. Campground WiFi had spotty availability and internet speeds were generally slow for either campground WiFi or cellular connection.

Water Quality

The campground water tested hard – we added our water softener to the water filtration stack.

Nearby Amenities

A grocery store, gas stations, restaurants, visitor information, and some RV and automotive services are available nearby in Dawson City, YT. A wide range of grocery stores, restaurants, shopping, and RV and automotive services are available in Whitehorse, YT (329 miles / 530 km), Fairbanks, AK (389 miles / 626 km) or Anchorage, AK (505 miles / 813 km).