Planning your caravan holiday
If you are a family of experienced caravan holidayers, then you will have your pre-expedition routine down to a fine art, but for the uninitiated there is a lot to think about before loading everything up and hitting the great open road in search of fun, relaxation, and a bonding experience that you will all treasure forever.
In this article we share with you a few of our top tips for preparing for your best caravan holiday ever.
Deciding when to go
If you’ve got school-aged children then the only time that you’re realistically going to be able to go on a caravan holiday is precisely when the rest of the world wants to go on a caravan holiday — that means that the roads will be busy, campsites will be booked, and prices will be high. One trick is to choose a location that has different school holidays to where you’re from — for example there is generally only a little bit of overlap between UK school holidays and the holidays on mainland Europe.
If you don’t have school-aged children to worry about then clearly the best time to go is anytime that is not school holidays, but keep any eye out for local events or festivals — this could be a reason to travel, but if you’re not interested in cheese rolling or kite flying or whatever the local festival is then you might be better off choosing a different time to visit.
Choose what sort of holiday you want to have
There are some great caravan parks in some of the world’s most stunning locations, so to help narrow down your search you need to try and visualise what you’d like to be doing on your holiday. Lying on the beach? Hiking up rugged hills? Wandering through woodland? The activities that you want to undertake will play a big factor in finding the destination that is right for you.
Book a site
Caravan parks will vary enormously in terms of what facilities are available so you need to shop around but also you need to book ahead as the good ones get snapped up quickly. Will you need wi-fi? Will you want a swimming pool? Will you need to do laundry? Will you need easy access to a local shop or a supermarket? Are you taking the dog? All of these questions will help narrow your search. Most caravan parks will carry some sort of grading from the relevant tourism authority — gradings aren’t any reflection on service, but do give you some guidance on the types of facilities that you can expect to find. Recommendations from friends and family are always helpful, however review sites can sometimes offer a distorted view.
Pack lightly
When you are towing a caravan it is tempting to just pack everything that you might possibly need. This is an easy mistake to make, but the more stuff you take with you the less room you’re going to have in your caravan and the harder it will be to find anything that you actually need.
Experience the world slightly differently with a caravan holiday. A travel expedition like no other.
