I have yet to purchase my Eriba but have been giving some thought to the issue of where to park your tow car on a caravan site.

To clarify - I am hoping to buy a Pan which will be towed behind a 1971 VW Bay window camper. I will use UK sites but also ones in Europe. I have camped in some of the large Eurosite/Eurocamp sites in France several times but I rented the large static mobile homes and with some I had to park my car elsewhere in a car park rather near to the static caravan.

On the same sites I recall seeing some caravans with their tow cars alongside the caravans. I have read that some sites ask you to drag your van to its pitch and then re park your car elsewhere. Recently, I spent a week at Wood Farm caravan site in Charmouth and the tow vehicles were alongside their vans.

I plan on tow my van to a site and use my Eriba for my kids and I will sleep in my VW. So technically, I guess, I will have two caravans! But, obviously to do this, I need my VW next to the van.

So - my question is - what is the general rule or is it a matter of each site has it's own set of rules? In particular, in France does anyone know if I would have to pay for two caravans as, on a quick search, they seem to want to charge even for an extra tent! Bleedin' robbers!
Many thanks
Jules

I think it is quite rare for UK camping sites to make you park away from the pitch. It is certainly the exception rather than the rule. Your VW will be your tow car so it will be accommodated on your pitch.
TonyP

Hiya up the present time we have camped in tents and recently a puck and now a troll we have been to many sites UK. We in all this time tent or caravan have not been asked to park away from our camp site.
Morphy

I have seen stories of people using camper vans as a tow car being charged extra, and in at least one instance which I believe I saw on here they were asked to use seperate pitches!!!!! Which is crazy.

Some sites want you to park outside to ensure quietness (tell that to the motorhome owners!!) Chew Valley (from memory) is like that I believe

Came across chew valley and it really appealed to me - A nice looking site. Then I checked the prices blimey! Then I saw only 2 dogs per pitch permitted! So that puts me out. Silly really as I have three well behaved pooches that travel and use crates not loose so the rule is a downer if you have2 cart horses it,s a bit different but three small crated dogs wouldn't even make 1 of some breeds.

There has been some controversy on this subject regarding the caravan club ~ with assorted topics on the subject available on this forum.
Not wishing to create another similar here I will pass those by ............... having spent a lot of time on numerous sites in the UK over the last 3 years I can honestly say most independent caravan sites really don't care where you park the towcar as long as its on your pitch and you observe the 6 metre spacing between you and your neighbours (legal requirement) fire regulations. Regarding being charged for 2 units when using a camper van I cannot comment as I only have a car.

Caravan site owners are in businesses and getting as many bookings as they can on any particular day is part of that process and as long as they are not fully booked are willing to consider any booking to fill their site.
Normally the only problem I found was admitting commercial vehicles (when I had a pickup truck) as this was regarded by some sites as a way of excluding "undesirables"

Never been abroad with the van so will leave that to others who have.

In France the pitches are usually large. We have a Toyota Hiace with windows (therefore, not described as a 'van') we've never had a problem and only once in France were we asked at reception if we used it to sleep or cook in we don't and they were happy with that. As far a charging is concerned, therefore, I'm not sure...... but as far as parking goes you will usually park your tow vehicle next to your caravan and in France there is usually lots of space, in the UK there is often less space but we've always parked next to the caravan and we've never been asked if we used the Hiace for anything other than towing!!! Enjoy your travels.

Thanks for the replies! Since posting this question I have had a look at a few campsites in France and it seems that some want a small fee for extra tents but the 'main' price for the pitch is for a caravan and a car. My VW T2 can be described as either I suppose - I believe they all left the factory as a van/bus and some were then later converted into camper vans by Devon, Dormobile to name a couple. As you have mentioned - I also saw that some of the pitches advertised are a good size anyway.
Back to my search for my Eriba!!!

We tow our Triton with a VWT5 campervan and have never been charged extra for the campervan on the same pitch, even when there has been more than the 2 of us. One campsite said they would charge extra if anyone was to sleep in the campervan - which is just stupid, so we would have just gone somewhere else had we had guests! We rarely have any problem getting both vehicles on a pitch but Italian pitches are often really small, especially those with a good view.