Which is Best for Family Camping: Tent, Caravan, or Campervan?

Introduction

With the current difficulties surrounding international travel (due to Covid-19) set to continue right through the summers of 2020 and 2021, there has been a surge in demand for alternative stay-at-home holidays (or ‘staycations’). Camping holidays, with the independence that they bring, are proving particularly popular. For some inspiration for places to go in the UK, check out some of these best family camping sites, or these 8 top child friendly campsites. Also, take a look at these top tips for how to make the most of your UK ‘staycation’. Before setting off, take a look at some of our top tips for holidays in a van with children.

Realising that life is too short, some people may even be using these strange times as a catalyst for planning a transition to a whole new future life of travel on the road. If this tempts you, take a look at some of the reasons why we choose full-time family van living.

For anyone who is considering taking the plunge and buying equipment for this type of holiday (or even for a complete change of lifestlyle), it can be a confusing space to navigate if unfamiliar. So what is best for a family camping holiday? Is it a tent, caravan, campervan, motorhome, or something else entirely?

Rather than attempt to answer this question all on my own, I have instead joined forces with a selection of my favourite family travel enthusiasts, each with their own personal perspective. I hope that this range of personal stories can provide some useful insights into why people have made the choices that they have, in regard to their preferred methods for taking a camping holiday.

Not everyone has the deep pockets for that amazing looking, brand new, shiny, space-age motorhome (which in some cases can cost as much as a small house!). That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy some great family holidays away together, though. There are plenty of great options out there, to suit a range of lesser budgets. Here we look at some of them in more detail…

Tent

First up is the timeless classic for camping, the humble tent. For this, we hear from Sam, from Our Victorian Home. Although quite new to camping, she is keenly looking forward to many fun family holidays together with her husband and 3 young children in the future…

“Not wanting to take our planned holiday to Spain this year, we have instead opted for a classic British ‘staycation’ instead. What better way to do it, I asked myself, than by going camping?! We have recently bought a VW Caravelle – not as a campervan, but as our family car. This gives us loads of space for taking a lot of gear away with us on holiday. I’ve obviously been camping before, but this would be my first introduction to large scale proper, full family camping (with my family of 5), with all the equipment that goes along with it. 

Now, my husband is the sort of person who doesn’t like to do things by half, so when we decided to go camping for our chosen holiday this year, we went a bit crazy with all the stuff we’ve bought – ‘all the gear, no idea’ springs to mind! My passion is for interior design, so I also liked the idea of being able to setup a proper ‘home’ while away.

So, we have an enormous inflatable tent (an Outwell Stonelake 7atc) – with a large ‘lounge’ area, as well as plenty of space to sleep – and the benefit of no annoying poles to have to mess around with. We have travel bunk beds for 2 of our kids, to help save more of the indoor floor space. Raised sleeping off the floor also helps to keep the kids warmer, not to mention making them mega-excited! Then, we bought a stove and a kitchen side board, a bbq, an Outwell roll up table, two large Outwell chairs, two Vango blow up chairs and sleeping bags for the kids. We decided to spend a bit more on a solar powered electric box and gas powered fridge, so that we aren’t tied to an electric hook-up when on site. We have even gone so far as to buy telescopic skewers for marshmallow toasting – as I say, no half measures!

All this stuff does take time to set up. Still being new to it, a first attempt saw us ready to go in roughly 2 hours – hopefully in time we’ll get quicker! This summer, we are touring between a few UK locations but, given the setup time, in future I think we’ll aim to just stay in one place for longer. To be honest, that’s usually how we like to spend our holidays anyway.

Buying all this stuff has also cost us a fair amount (a lot more than we planned when we first started buying it all – one thing always leads to another). We managed to pick up the tent second hand (nearly new), with some extras thrown in. This saved us over £1000 on the price of a new one, so is something to consider if you’re looking to save some pennies. I console myself with knowing that it all still cost us less than a campervan would have, and will not require maintenance and an MOT each year, or indeed somewhere to park.

So far at least, we’re really taken with camping holidays. Our children in particular, love it. It provides us with a great chance to get back to nature and enjoy some quality family time together. For more from our UK family camping adventures this summer, follow us on Instagram.”

If you like the idea of camping with family in an inflatable tent, you should also take a look at this review of the Berghaus Air 8.

For something with a little less set up time, as well as a few more comforts, also consider a pop-up camper tent. Though less portable than a conventional tent, this type of trailer tent does come with its own advantages. If it’s something you’d like to try, why not think about a pop-up camper rental?

Maybe you don’t like the thought of having to own or set up any of your own stuff. In which case, consider ‘glamping’ as an option. The UK, in particular, now has a broad distribution of glamping sites offering accommodation in tipis, yurts, or other unconventional or repurposed buildings and vehicles. You could even get yourself a luxury lodge with hot tub!

Rapido Vintage Caravan

If the thought of all that setting up and putting down of a tent puts you off, something with some more permenant fixtures and fittings might be for you. Next, we chat to Caroline, from Cakesreisjesga. She has recently bought and renovated a vintage folding caravan and, along with her family, is looking forward to many adventures in it in future…

“If you like travelling, like we do, this year has been quite challenging. Normally we would fly out to Canada in April and then make another big trip in July. But Covid-19 messed that all up.

We didn’t feel like flying or staying in hotels, so we went out to search for an alternative way of travelling. We first thought we would have to stay and camp in our own country and that was fine by us, but camping in Belgium can be quite challenging because of the bad weather and rain we often have.

Back in 2010, we went camping in Italy and a young couple arrived with a little trailer that turned out to be a cute folding caravan. We loved it but, as time passed, we forgot about that little Rapido.

In our search for an alternative way of travelling, one day it popped back into our heads and we decided that this was the perfect solution for us!

We quickly found one for sale and bought it for 850€. We worked hard for 4 weeks to transform the vintage Rapido of 1973 into a modern and cute travel companion. The fabric and paint cost us another 400€. So the investment was comparable to a good family tent. 

We were lucky that the borders reopened in time, so we could travel to Italy anyway. Sadly, it’s not only in Belgium that the weather can change in an eyeblink! We had showers, wind, heavy rains and all the weather you can imagine there, but Rappie (that’s how we named him) kept us dry and protected. 

Since you’re lying a bit higher from the ground than in a tent, it’s warmer at night. The caravan is big enough to sleep the 4 of us and in case it is necessary, our double bed can be transformed into a dining table that fits 4 people. There’s storage space in little cabinets that fit under the table and we combined it with a blow up closet and a day tent from Quechua, to have more covered outside space in case of rain. 

Now we did a long trip of 3 weeks in which we moved 1 time to another campsite. But we will do some little camping trips with it as well. Since Rappie is put up and ready in 30 minutes, it’s easier and faster to travel with than a regular tent and it doesn’t take any space in the car, so that means more room for extra travel stuff! 

Are we happy we bought it? Yes we are, because it has a lot of advantages compared to a tent. The only downside for us is that it’s bigger to store than a tent. 😉

If you would like to follow our adventures, you can see them live on Instagram. For loads of travel tips to help you save money, check out our blog.”

VW Transporter Campervan

Next up, we hear from Claire, from Tin Box Traveller. Along with her family, she has been on an ownership journey from first tent, then caravan, now onto a campervan – so she is well placed to offer her opinions on this comparison. A VW Transporter has long been a popular choice for the base vehicle for a campervan. If this interests you, as well as Claire’s family experience here, also take a look at this other alternative view of life in a T5 with a family of 5.

“We’re maybe a bit unusual in that we have gone from camping as a couple, to having a caravan when our kids came along, to now having a camper van. Usually people want more space as the kids get older!

Our reasons for selling our caravan and getting a campervan last year were all logistical. We loved our caravan and having a home from home when we went on UK holidays. However, my husband’s job in the armed forces started to take him away from home a lot more. This meant our caravan was sitting idle as I couldn’t tow it anywhere because I didn’t have a B+E driving licence. 

So, we decided to get a campervan that we could both drive. It’s been a good compromise with lots of the positives of caravan life. We can do camping holidays with more protection from the elements than we might have in a tent. But, as a negative, if we want to go out for the day we have to pack things up before we leave the site.

Getting a drive-away campervan awning has been essential for storing camping gear – so we don’t have as much to reorganise when we go off.

Camper vans can cost anything from a few hundred pounds, to tens of thousands, depending on the set up. We sold our family car and put some of the left over funds from selling our caravan into buying a VW T5 long wheel base van. It doesn’t have a fitted kitchen or bathroom so is technically a day van rather than a camper. 

To give us the basic fittings we need for holidays, we had a Forty Winks kombi bed added. The kids sleep in removable Cabunk bunk beds that fit above the captain chairs in the cab. For those wanting to convert further, the possibilities are endless for this type of base vehicle, due to their popularity for use as campervans.

We’ve had our van since October 2019, so haven’t had much opportunity to use it yet. However, now that lockdown restrictions have eased, we have lots of plans to visit campsites in Devon and Cornwall this summer. In the long term, we plan to hop on the ferry to Spain and drive back up to the UK through France.

Follow our campervan adventures this summer on Tin Box Traveller.”

Mazda Bongo Campervan

If you’re liking the idea of a campervan, another slightly smaller popular option to consider, is the Mazda Bongo. We catch up with Jenny, from Travelynn Family, to hear all about her family camping experiences so far in her Bongo…

“As a family we love an epic road trip, whether it be traversing Africa in a Land Rover or driving through Europe. However, we had never taken the plunge into purchasing our own camper until very recently. We didn’t want to be tied down to how far we could drive from our front door during a school holiday. We love travelling to far flung destinations so weren’t too sure we’d get enough use out of owning our own camper. We always loved the idea of having one, but we thought we’d just make do with a tent in the back of the car for European road trips, or hiring for further afield. A camper was always a ‘nice to have’.

But 2020 has changed all that… and in June we bought a Mazda Bongo off eBay!

Why a Mazda Bongo? Well, we didn’t have a huge budget (£7500 absolute max) and we wanted something compact, yet able to sleep the four of us comfortably. After 4 months of living in a Land Rover with roof tents, we knew we would be absolutely fine in a small camper, and we wanted something that could navigate narrow roads and mountain passes with ease. Plus, 4WD functionality is a must for us, for the places we plan to take it in future.

Mazda Bongos are imported from Japan. As they are no longer made, there is no car showroom to visit and the specialist conversion companies tend to import the 2WD only. The only place to buy the 4WD ones is on eBay or Autotrader. We were happy to buy a cheap, unconverted one and then pay for a conversion on top. But, in all honesty, all the cheaper ones we found (around £3k) had serious corrosion issues and weren’t mechanically sound. A conversion on top is around £4k.

We were looking for a very long time, but patience finally paid off and the right Bongo popped up on eBay! We jumped on it with an offer of £7150, which was accepted.

For us, slow road travel is the way forward and after a couple of reccy trips, we already feel at home in our Bongo. We’re off to France next month, but have plans to drive him to Morocco and further afield one day. To follow our travels, keep an eye on our Travelynn Family website.”

Classic Hymer Motorhome

This is my own, personal contribution. Anyone looking for a bit more space onboard than a campervan offers, may want to consider a motorhome. For anyone who doesn’t know, along with my husband and 4 young children, we have spent the last year living full-time in our classic Hymer motorhome. We hope to continue with our family adventures, just as soon as we can…

For our family of 6, I don’t think there is any better vehicle to suit our full-time travel needs, than our beloved classic Hymer motorhome from 1991, lovingly referred to by us as ‘Hazel’. The old girl has faithfully carried us for thousands of kms all around Western Europe and Morocco, over this past year – before we were stopped in our tracks (sadly, along with everybody else). We are itching to get back on the road when we can (especially because we have to see it parked up in our driveway every day). For our newest baby (who has just been born), this will be his first taste of life on the road. For more on how we manage to do this, see our top tips for holidays in a van with children.

We love the travel life and everything it brings. Living full-time in a ‘van’ as a large family does mean that we need some decent internal space. When away on the road, we prefer to tour and regularly move on, rather than setting down camp in one place for an extended stay. We also like to wild camp when we can and it is permitted (or at least tolerated), both to save on daily expenditure, and because often remote, wild places can be the prettiest to stay in. Campsites are great for kids and for re-supplying, but I wouldn’t ever want to spend my whole life on them. This means an onboard toilet is essential – to ensure we never leave any mess behind. All these requirements pointed us to a motorhome as being best suited to us.

Not having the budget for a shiny new van, we instead went for a classic Hymer motorhome. This is our second such vehicle, after our family somewhat outgrew the first. This larger model that we chose this time is a b644, has space for 6 people and cost us £10,500 when we bought it just over a year ago. Based on a Fiat Chassis, this was pretty much the largest such van that we could get that was still just under the 3.5t threshold for a standard driving license. It was manufactured in Germany back in 1991, and is left hand drive. This is no problem once you get used to it (and actually an advantage for foreign touring away from the UK). 

We may have compromised on the age of the vehicle, but certainly didn’t on quality. Classic Hymers from this era have a strong retribution for build quality, with the interiors finished in solid wood and definitely built to last. There is also an enthusiastic online community for them, which is useful for technical advice or help with sourcing obscure parts. The only downside with a vehicle of this age was a lack of proper seatbelts in the back (a common problem). After hunting around, I eventually found someone who could retrofit some securely for me in a way I felt confident with. This was really the last piece of the jigsaw in creating for us our perfect vehicle, after solar panels on the roof and refillable LPG gas cylinders had already been two other beneficial upgrades we’d made for long term touring.

More importantly than anything, its vintage looks (I think) make it really cool. It’s always a head turner and I honestly don’t think I’d want to swap its retro character for a shiny new one, even if I could afford to do so. To follow our family van life adventures, keep an eye on this website, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Mercedes Vario Bus Self-Build

Those with creative flair may be drawn to the idea of taking on their own vehicle conversion, so as to end up with a vehicle that is configured exactly to their own requirements. Lastly, we hear from River and Thariea, from Slowly Wild, who have done just that, settling on a Mercedes Vario Bus as the perfect base vehicle to meet their family needs…

“Yep, that’s us. That family of 5 who sold up all their belongings, gave up their rented house and bought a bus to live in full-time.

We never thought we would ever own a bus! Initially, we were looking to buy an XLWB Sprinter or Crafter van and we had been waiting for the right one to come up for 3 months with no luck. This was until a family friend mentioned that we should get a Mercedes Vario as they are super reliable. Being a family of 5, we knew we needed a spacious vehicle to work with and Vario was much bigger than the vans we were previously looking at. We opened up our search to include them and a week later bought the first Vario bus that we went to view, for £8k.

It is worth noting our vehicle is rated at 7.5t and so an extra UK driving license (C1) is required, unless you have grandfather rights.

Being the creatives we are, buying a ready to go camper was never an option for us. Firstly, we wanted our campervan to be carefully designed to meet our family’s specific needs. Plus, the idea of crafting our own home on wheels and getting everyone involved excited the hell out of us! We can attest our self-build journey so far, while being super fun, also comes with its own set of challenges and requires an extra serving of positive vibes. But don’t worry, the self-build community is full of like-minded people always willing to help.

We are aiming for a budget of £8k to convert this bus into our rolling home.

So, why did we give up all of our things to embark on this journey? Well, we found that even at our old home, we were practising minimalism to some extent. The idea of stripping back to bare essentials and cutting the ‘noise’ out of life brought us joy and allowed us to focus on what matters most. With this new quest, we are taking the same concept and putting that into motion, but this time in just a 150sq ft box on wheels!

We aim to have the build completed by the end of December – ready to travel come Jan 2021. We have loosely planned a year trip travelling between Europe and Morocco.

On this new venture, we plan to slow down our lifestyle, to get back out in nature, to create memories as a family and to experience new cultures. In doing so, we hope to inspire and empower others to chase their dreams too. To keep track of our progress, follow us on Instagram.

So, which is best?

I guess this article just goes to show that, ultimately, choosing a type of camping will never be a ‘one size fits all’ activity. What is right for one person or family will not necessarily be right for another. Only you will know what is likely to work best for you.

Generally speaking, tent camping and caravans may suit people who prefer to travel to a single destination and stay there, leaving your car free to explore once you’ve arrived. Campervans and motorhomes may better suit people who would rather tour around, regularly moving from place to place. The downside of this is that obviously your home is also your only vehicle, so has to go everywhere with you – even a quick run to the shops. This kind of routine driving and parking will be easier with a smaller campervan. The trade-off of going small though, is obviously reduced living space. Campervans and motorhomes (particularly those with onboard toilets) will also be better placed to take advantage of the network of camper stops that exists across Europe, as well as wild spots where permitted, whereas tents and caravans will, in almost all cases, be tied to campsites. At the end of the day, there are both positives and negatives to all of these possible choices.

As well as differences in size and convenience, there is also a range of costs involved. Tents will likely be the cheapest. With any vehicle, age and condition will influence their initial price tag. Regular maintenance and annual MOTs (or equivalent international testing) are other ongoing expenditures to factor into the overall cost of owning a campervan, motorhome, or other converted vehicle.

One theme that seems to be consistent, however, across all of these options, is the value placed by everyone here on camping as being a great type of family holiday. All the people we spoke to seemed to share our own love of getting back to nature, along with displaying a desire for more quality time together as a family. It’s great to see that, no matter how they have chosen to go about it, so many people seem to also be enjoying this kind of travel – in some cases, even sharing our vision for a whole new way of life.

So, whether planning a holiday, or hoping to change your life for good, you should definitely get yourself out there and get camping with your family. You’ll be creating memories that will stay with you all forever. At the very least, you can tell yourself this when you’re inevitably sat somewhere cowering from the rain!

Like what you see? Pin it…