Our best friends have a motorhome and we meet them regularly, in this country and abroad. We also talk to lots of motorhomers on our travels. Whilst not wanting to stereotype motorhomers, some common differences between motorhomers and caravanners are apparent.

Motorhomers tend to move around much much more. We move around a lot over the months on end we travel, but having a car means a caravanner can stay several days at one site that is within driving distance of lots of places to visit. We are meeting our motorhoming friends in the Dorgogne next month. Because they will be with us, we can all spend a week in the same campsite in the middle of the area and drive everywhere in the car. If they were on their own, they'd stay in at least 4 campsites in the same time, to cover a relatively small area. Same when we move to the coast for a week, if they were on their own they would either mostly just sit on the same beach for a week or use at least 4 different campsites to move around. All this movement in big vehicles really spoils beautiful landscapes, especially in busy periods and causes chaos on the roads (e.g. The Gower!). Caravans do the same of course but they are on the road for much less time due to the availability of the car and, apart from getting to and from a campsite, they aren't generally driving down roads completely unsuitable for large vehicles. However, one could argue going backwards and forwards with the car is more miles and therefore more polluting?

Where campsites have separated pitches for motorhomes their 'overnighting' tendancy is fine, but the daily mass exodus and evening arrival on more mixed sites can really spoil an otherwise very nice site. Motorhomers also seem to cover greater distances between stops and are far more likely to arrive late, sometimes very late, I guess because there is less setting up involved. Also, I think the vast majority don't have children to worry about. Many sites, especially in Europe don't like to turn anyone away and will let them come in after the so called 'gates closed' times. Again, where sites separate the areas they use, this can be acceptable but we've had motorhomes arriving next to us after midnight.

Motorhomers tend to spend less money in the places they visit. We've heard many locals in popular tourist areas here and in Europe say this, that motorhomers rock up, get the picnic out, take a few pictures and leave. This apparently is a big problem in places like the Highlands and remote areas, where the roads are eroding due the increased heavy vehicle traffic with little benefit to the local economy, where locals rely on tourist spend to supplement meagre farming incomes etc. It's possibly because their vehicles are more spacious and comfortable and have proper kitchens/ovens/big fridges etc. that they 'eat in' for lots of meals and stay in for the evenings to watch TV. For us, part of the joy of travelling is meeting people, sampling the local food, wine, produce etc. It can't be just budget, as Roger says somewhere above, some of the popular motorhomes are like £80k.

Many motorhomers care less about the actual place where they stay than non motorhomers, it's more about location and they are only there for a night or two anyway. Why would anyone with an £80k van want to routinely stay in aires all the time? Some are better than others but many in very popular locations are dust bowl car parks with the vans rammed like sardines. However, with a motorhome, access to bus routes, train stations, walkable/cycleable routes to places of interest is really important if you aren't towing a car or motorbike.

At the end of the day, everyone is different and we all have different requirements. The love affair with motorhomes shows no sign of abating any time soon. Hopefully the tourist industry generally will get better better at accommodating them.

Happy Easter everyone!


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Funny you should say that, they have gone up through 4 different sized ‘camping cars’ in the last 12 years and have moaned about the drawbacks of all of them. They still work, so do a long 2/3 week tour per year and the odd weekend in the UK. The latest, at 7 metres, is the biggest and they moan about the wasted space and inability to go anywhere easily in this one. They say they might get a caravan when they retire!! Other people I know that have bought large expensive motor homes with redundancy or retirement lump sums, have admitted learning the drawbacks after purchase but have been reluctant to take the financial hit involved in changing. Having said that, we changed our new Triton after 4 years, but we’d spent about a year in it, so it didn’t feel painful to lose a little money.
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Like quite a few Eribafolk members we’ve done both. Or all three if you differentiate between campervans and motorhomes!
There are clear and obvious differences. There are also clear and obvious differences between the people who do each style. By that I mean there are obnoxious, antisocial and thoughtless people in campervans and motorhomes and caravans (fewer in Eribas?) and tents.
Sadly, similar experiences and anecdotes appear about caravanners on motorhome forums. The leisure world is changing and campsites too.
Look at the rise of adult only sites and the appearance of dog free sites.
I’m not sure I would like to see dedicated sites that exclude motorhomes or camping cars although having said that the huge range of aires and stelplatz across Europe exclude caravans!
We’re just going to have to become more tolerant or more assertive or give up.
Or what?
TonyP.
ex motorhomer

A motorhome instead of the T5 would have been lovely when we were a bit younger. Clippie used to say that sleeping up in the roof of that was like sleeping 'in a bl**dy coffin"! Out of my earshot he'd probably say he was verrrrrryyyyyy glad when we passed it to our elder son. We did use it as a daily drive for one of us though, which we couldn't have done with a motorhome, which is probably the only reason we didn't try one.

I'm not out to in any way diss motorhomers, they want a different way of travelling and I totally respect that. I hope my post above was balanced and looked at the matter objectively. In the T5, we used to want to get to as many places as possible during our 6 weeks of annual holidays when we were working. We had some really great times in it, but we used to do lots and lots of overnighters. Many campsites now gear themselves up with separate space for overnighters, which really does help. As for my comment about the detriment to the environment, we went about 12,000 miles on planes in the last 12 months, so I can hardly talk

Tony is right, we have to be tolerant and wait for the industry to adapt, which it is doing, gradually, with more and more campsites offering separate overnight spaces.

P.S. our elder son has installed a diesel heater in the T5 and subjects his partner to freezing conditions in the alps/Scotland/elsewhere, engaging in minimalism camping off grid - not sure I am heartwarmed, I wouldn't do it!!!!
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A newcomer to caravanning's perspective.

We're mid 50's, have had happy camping holidays in tents with young children and wanted to go back to enjoying the outdoors life in a little more comfort now the kids have largely fled the nest.

Our first thought was to get a campervan. Why? Because caravans are perceived as uncool and the preserve of boring middle class 'Abigails Party' England!
Campervans are perceived as cool. Young and hip; the preserve of surfers, youth and health!

Most on this site know the practicalities of caravanning outweigh the 'coolness' associated with campervanning (mode of transport at destination, economy - fuel and intitial outlay, depreciation - especially Eribas) but I maintain this is a big issue in people's decision-making. There is also a slight element of towing-phobia involved.

Eribas seemed to us to combine style and quirkiness with that caravanning practicality. We now go Eribering, not caravanning!!

Incidentally, there's some huge, ugly white box caravans out there as well as huge motorhomes. How do people justify the cost??!

I think Eriba's time is yet to come. More will see the light and move from the dark side. Watch the value of your Eriba investments grow!!

We are currently staying at Thirsk Caravan and Motorhome club site and have just had a scan round on the back of reading this thread. Motorhomes and Caravans are about a 50/50 split in terms of numbers, we are the only one's with an Eriba but what is obvious is the sheer size of these units compared with our Triton, the caravans especially are massive and I can't help feeling a bit inadequate!
Could it be that blokes especially buy these things as a macho type image thing? I can't see the fun in hauling one of these beasts around and seeing them go through the little market town of Thirsk is just horrendous, totally dominating and just too large for the road.
I too have had Campervans and Motorhomes and have never felt more content than I do with our Eriba.