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Campervans

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We are in the very early stages of potentially purchasing a camper. I’m interested to hear of others experiences. We’d want something that sleeps 4 and has a bathroom. I’m also keen to understand what it like touring one of these things in the UK/Europe.

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  1. A few people I know with them said to hire one first and have a few holidays before you buy, which sounds good advice. As for Europe, I have a mate who had a big one for 4 and his comment was most of the nice European towns are a nighmare in a big van. You need to park outside and have bikes to get about, which just means planning I guess.

      • Mate of mine has a huge bugger of a van thingie (inside a double bedroom, fitted kitchen, plunge pool and home cinema) which tows the smart car with the ebikes on the roof to be used for those charming but inaccessible continental villages. He wisely invested in continual boosting of his pension pot whilst I thought “Hope I die before I get old”. I hate him with every fibre of my being

  2. My Mum and Dad bought one for retirement touring. Unfortunately just before Covid, so not used much early on.
    One bit of advice from dad – use it (or at least run it) regularly to ensure it all works before a long trip.
    2 hours on the M4 hard shoulder waiting for a recovery truck is not many peoples idea of a holiday.

      • Or with the neighbours if it’s parked outside, and effectively acts as an extension without planning permission that blocks their light much of the year.

  3. We’ve had an Autosleeper Kemerton for about 5 years now. As very longstanding tent camper I just realised I couldn’t be doing with cold, damp mornings any more, and I never really enjoyed the process of putting it all up and taking it down again.
    Having inherited a bit of money, we looked around for about a year, learned a lot about different internal layouts etc and finally took the plunge on the Kemerton, which is basically a factory converted Peugeot Boxer panel van, as it has a sliding side door. It was 10 years old but had only done 12,000 miles.
    There’s already some good advice on here but definitely go on a few localish weekend trips first before trying anything more ambitious.
    Using electric hook up at campsites is a great way to save battery and in all honesty we have mostly stuck to campsites, or Aires if in Europe, which are really cheap and a great (if often less picturesque) way to park in cities, although they don’t tend to have electric hook up facilities. We always take our ebikes on a bike rack, which have been a fabulous way of getting about. It has to be said that although we’ve been all over the uk, Europe is much better set up for campervanning, and the same goes for cycling, France and especially Belgium in particular.
    In a week or so we will be off to the Scottish Western Isles, which I’m really looking forward to.

  4. We’re thinking about it, too, as my mum’s static caravan in Norfolk is coming to its end in 2026 and Mrs F is planning on retiring at the end of the year.

    Next week we’re hiring a VW Danbury Highline in Scotland to see how we get on with it. Pros: it has a toilet (essential for me) and shower (less essential as we’re staying on sites). Cons: the bed is the kitchen table, so lots of folding/unfolding to get on with.

    It is tall enough for me (5′ 11″) to stand up in, and the footprint is only about a foot wider and longer than my VW Golf estate. I don’t want to drive anything bigger, some of those white Mobile Home things are the size of a Luton box van.

    There’s a Campervan show at the NEC in October. An opportunity for a niche AW mini-mingle, perhaps?

    • My parents had something similar in the early 70s and eventually admitted that it wasn’t big enough for 2 x adults and 2 x kids if the weather was bad so got a tent too, which gave them somewhere to leave luggage. I’ve got a dirty lens on this subject but would say that the Danbury would be fine for two, for a long weekend, as long as you both get on. Other people I know who have campers have bigger vehicles but, as noted above, there are problems with parking, cities and country lanes.

      • I can’t honestly see us doing more than long weekends in it, Mrs F likes her creature comforts too much, plus I’m going to carry on working four days a week for the next few years. A week, tops, in Scotland, perhaps.

        But a static caravan costs about the same, and comes with running costs – site rent, gas bottles, annual gas boiler inspections, insurance, etc, and is always in the same place. Granted, West Runton is very nice, but it would be nice to go elsewhere.

        Anyhow, this time next week we’ll be on the NW coast. I’ll report back in mid-August.

    • Ha, I’m going to that campervan event at the NEC! Mrs L thinks it might be time for an upgrade but I’m yet to be convinced. (I assume she’s referring to the van…)

      • I’m guessing the single-cubicle type, not the multi-head open showers you get in chokey or a school gym. No comparing wrinkly tackle and no flicked towels. I hope not, anyway.

  9. We‘ve had a VW California Ocean for 4 years and love it. It’s a perfect size and not much different in length to a typical estate car which means it’s perfect for narrower roads. My other half now uses it as her day to day car and it presents no issue driving around town etc.
    We’ve had many great trips up in the highlands, Wales and England. Not been abroad yet but hope to change that in the near future. Also great for festivals.
    Only down side is lack of a built in toilet which I appreciate that’s a deal breaker for some. We tend to stay in camp sites which means we have those facilities on site.
    If you are unsure if a camper van is for you definitely worth renting one before taking the plunge.

    • I had a Transporter Kombi van for a while and hated using multistory car parks which were always close to the height limit. I got rid of it after a frustrating day trying to park in Guildford, replacing it with a Caddy as I already have a Crafter for bigger jobs. A mate recently scraped the roof of his brand new £51k Transporter on a car park barrier as he’d unloaded before leaving and the suspension had risen just enough to catch.

  11. There’s some good advice above, especially about trying before buying. I have had a motorhome (to me a ‘camper’ is a VW-type vehicle) for over twelve years now. I have zero regrets. Living in Europe, I have only ever used it in France, Spain and Portugal. We have stayed in over 250 places in that time, and the split is about 60/40 in favour of aires over campsites. Both have their advantages, noting that many aires have electrical hookups as well as waste drop-off facilities. Campsites in France are usually fine, as well as in Spain, noting that toilet facilities on French campsites are invariably unisex.

    As for some suggestions, here’s some of mine. Don’t get too concerned about makes. Instead, go for what layout/size suits your needs. Once you start looking, you will find the majority of motorhomes use Fiat engines/chassis. Whatever the make, then most garages can look after the mechanical aspects for most vehicles. Also, if you are looking to spend a lot of time touring continental Europe, then perhaps consider a left-hand drive. It is much easier driving a LHD in the UK on familiar road systems than it is driving a RHD in Europe.

    As for actual trips, make sure your first night or so is near home and/or civilisation. You will forget or overlook something. On my first trip I failed to consider that some hookups are often a distance from your vehicle. On my second trip, I took a 50m extension cable. Check also you have all the electrical connections you will need, especially in foreign-land. Note also that each and every country has its own gas bottles and connectors. A vehicle with an LPG tank is a good option, especially if planning to be off-grid for a while.

    Treat yourself to a few books. First off is the Haynes (?) guide to motorhoming. Second is some campsite/aire guides. I can recommend the ACSI campsite books if travelling off-peak. You pay a given fee on those sites in the books. I have saved an absolute fortune over the years using this discount system. If planning on staying on aires, then the Aires guides are essential. My go-to source for books is Vicarious Books (www.something or other). I can’t praise the service and choice of guides enough. A good satnav is essential, set to your vehicle size. Again, that was a ‘lesson learned’ the hard way!

    No doubt I have missed something. Meanwhile, go for it and enjoy. Whilst typing this, I am busy remembering all the fabulous towns, villages, lakes, castles, mountains, etc, etc, we have been to over the years and look forward to our next trip once the crowds thin out a bit in September.

  12. Sleeps four and has a bathroom? That’s not a vehicle, that’s a house. Buy a Ford or a Fiat van with no interior but a slidey side door. Coach-fit it yourself with ply; build a decent sized base for a double bed with storage underneath and install a 12 volt leccy system. Buy some camping chairs and a folding table, buy a little gas ring cooker that runs off a refill you can buy anywhere on earth. Buy a solar panel, a converter and a ‘leesure’ battery and some simple switches: lights, sounds, sorted. Jury rig a simple shower that hangs off the rear door. Buy a torch, a shovel and a big pack of bog rolls. Buy a two person tent for the other two. Have an adventure.

    Don’t drive down Fore St. in Port Isaac, whatever you do.

    • Think of a UK lay-by. Then go to France where the “lay-by” is just off the road and the size of a small park. There’s toilets and all mod cons and food trucks and guest bands (Elvis Costello is playing the A61 just below Carcassonne tonight) and free drugs and instead of water the taps dispense wine and there’s always a very helpful lady who can help with any problem, large or small, and it’s all free. That’s an aire.

          • The French invented the bidet. That makes them among God’s cleanest creatures. Unlike barbarian countries where smearing faeces around with a bit of paper counts as sufficient cleansing.

                • I was delighted to find a two footprints and a hole convenience still active in Patrimonio, Corsica. As is compulsory, in a windowless room with a broken light. I love a challenge.

                    • Brings to mind the Cyclades ferry I took from the mainland towards (I jumped ship halfway) Santorini in 1978; it was an ex-French Navy World War 1 minesweeper originally, which had been gifted to Greece in reparation after the French accidentally sank some Greek civilian vessels (gallic shrug). The modifications to turn it into a passenger ferry had been minimal to say the least. Using the loo afforded the incumbent with a thrilling view of the passing ocean through a worryingly large orifice in the hull.

                  • I had to use one of those on the overnight Cairo to Aswan train. The wobble over the points made aiming all the more challenging. Still, I can say with some authority that the Glasto bogs are not the worst.

                    • Indian railways toilets were two footplates and a hole in the floor that went straight to the track. Not a situation where you’d get away with not wearing your shoes to the loo on an overnight train.

  15. We’ve got an old (1992) Hymer B544 ( Google it – it looks like Walter White’s meth van)that we use for two or three weekends and the odd week away in the UK every summer. Bought it for about £8000 ten years ago and it’s still worth about that now. We love it, and it was cheap enough that we don’t need to worry too much if we don’t use it for a little while. I think if I spent a lot of money on one I would feel pressure to use it every other weekend or so in the summer. As it is we really enjoy our weekends away and feel no guilt when the van sits outside the house for a few weeks without being used. So I would advise not spending too much, at least at first.

    We really like the Hymer. It sleeps 2 comfortably and 4 at a push, has a bathroom and shower and is comfortable and fine to drive. They are well-regarded by van owners – people are always stopping us wanting to talk about their old one or offering to buy it off us. We had done a couple of road trips in the USA before we bought it, so knew we would enjoy the experience but, if I’m honest, I’m surprised how much we still look forward to weekends away in it ten years after buying it.

    A last thing worth mentioning is that it has completely transformed our attendance at festivals. I’ve always loved festivals but the van is now a must and means we attend more regularly, enjoy them more and save some cash on food.

    Good luck – and enjoy!

  17. I’m on my hols somewhere hot at the moment. A few years back we had a serious think about buying a quite nice 4 berth one but figured we would probably not use it enough whilst we are working and that we could spend the depreciation, storage and maintenance costs on nice holidays in the meantime.

    But there is a plan to tour the arse out of Europe in one when we do retire in a few years time.

    • Trouble for me is, I can’t do holidays anywhere hot (well, anywhere sunny, but the two go hand-in-hand) because (a) Ginger and (b) meds make me UV hypersensitive. I got sunburnt legs going for a 20-minute paddle in the North Sea last summer.

      And I can only stay in self-catering because I have dietary restrictions, and don’t trust hotel chefs not to sneak onion or garlic into their cooking. They’re like Kryptonite to me, and will wipe me out for two or three days.

      I had my first meal out in years, last week, in a posh pub. Ham, egg and chips. Hold the chips. And the peas. And the onion rings…

      • I have fair, delicate, sensitive, highly attractive skin and live in a part of the world with very hot summers. For my first few decades here I used to spend many whole days at the beach under the sun. But, unlike the olive-skinned natives, I’ve always coated myself head to toe in layers of Factor 50. A little humiliating (or sexy, depending on your worldview) but far preferable to sunburn. Nowadays I live closer to the sea so I tend to pop out for a swim, dry off and come home, never between the hours of 11:00am and 5.00pm (on weekday afternoons I often get the Mediterranean to myself around 6ish). But despite my precautions I still worry a little about skin cancer. For, like many here, I was born sometime in the mid-to-late 1900s and my parents knew nothing about sun protection. Getting a sunburn every summer was normal while I was under their misguided tutelage. “Have you started peeling yet?” was a perfectly normal question in the summers of my youth. I actually went to a dermatologist just recently cos I was worried about a minor imperfection on my back that I had wisely picked at until it bled and changed colour. Thankfully he just called it an unpronounceable name and told me it was nothing to worry about.
        Why, I remember the infamous “long hot summer” of ’76 when we had several whole days of sunshine and… chips, did you say? Mmm… chips…

        • The Type 1 skin that dermatologists rub their hands at the sight of. I feel your pain. I used to quite enjoy peeling, seeing quite how big an uninterrupted sheet I could get off in one go.

        • As if being A Ginger wasn’t bad enough – freckles, freckly-looking moles, skin that turns beetroot under a 60W bulb, the meds mean I burn long before I can see it. It feels like my skin is being thrashed with stinging nettles, and all I can do is bathe in calamine lotion for two or three days. Still, it beats having the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.

          I now wear long trousers, a wide-brimmed Australian outback hat (the one with the pocket in the top) and a Factor 50 long-sleeved t-shirt. They’re made of thin nylon and are fine with the lightest breeze, but can be a bit like wearing a bin bag when the humidity ramps up.

          I do also have some cotton long-sleeve t-shirts from the early 90s, but who wants to see a man in his mid-50s parading around in a Wonder Stuff shirt?

  20. I have now finished my dash round the NC500 and have thoughts about the camper van but too many to type on my phone. So you will all have to wait until next week. We had a lovely time and are now in a flat in Ballater with an actual bed. I slept like a baby last night.

  21. We borrowed friends VW Camper for a year whilst they went gallivanting across the USA. Decent-sized bed, gas bottle cooker, awning thingie, retractable “dining table” et al. We went to some fabulous places, mainly in Spain, loved the freedom of “Let’s stay here some more” or “Fancy San Sebastian today?”.
    “Shall we get one for ourselves?” I asked.
    “I never felt safe, especially in those quiet places in the mountains. Robbers, desperados, wolves, werewolves ..”
    End of conversation.

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