Parking a motorhome
Hi
We are considering buying a motorhome 6m to 7m in length and no more that 3m in height. Storage off road is not a problem when not in use and parking on site is clearly easy. Our worry is how easy is it to park a MH of this size when visiting towns/cities and tourist attractions both in the UK and in Europe. Are there any hints/tips/tricks that anybody can share? Or is the advantage of no towing and fast setup on site outweighed by difficulty in parking the unit when out and about on holiday?
We are concerned that the idea of motorhome ownership may be spoilt by restricting where it can be parked. For example, if visiting Birmingham for a day, are there places where the vehicle can be parked be it car park, on road parking, park and ride etc. Any experience or advice on this subject will be gratefully received.
Birmingham is just an example, this applies to all cities/towns (eg Nantes France, Rotterdam Netherlands, Brugges Belguim etc) and/or tourist attractions.
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You will only encounter problems in this country, it is less of a problem on the Continent where the motorhome is king, not the caravan. The answer in this country is to pick your site with more care to make sure the sites are close to amenities and transport routes or tow a small car.
peedee
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We changed from caravan to MH 5 years ago. We are more likely to visit sites that are nearer to villages or towns now, or nearer to areas of natural beauty where you can just walk off the site. Public transport or park & rides are an option, and research is needed in advance, pretty much always. Some towns are MH friendly, some towns have dedicated parking, most don't, even some park and rides won't take motor-homes as they have height barriers, some car-park spaces are just way to small even for our van at 6.3m. At other times you may find a suitable corner where you can park the rear end overhanging grass, but you need to get there in good time to do so. In the end if a town isn't motorhome friendly enough, then we find another that is, but the key is research beforehand using local authority websites and google maps etc..
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To a certain extent agree with some of PD’s posts. Buying a MH is about getting the size and layout that suits what you want to do. If you intend touring in UK, size is more critical. If you are happy using it as a caravan, dumping it on a Site, then you will need to consider how to get about around where you are pitched up.
If you like touring around in UK, hopping from place to place, visiting a variety of places from countryside, coast, and towns and cities, then slightly smaller is easier, but then you do gain in that you have all your comforts with you at all times. Something 6 metres, and you should be fine, we park up in towns and cities with no more effort than a bit of research as to local parking.
It’s a personal opinion, but not using the four wheels on your lovely holiday home seems a bit strange to us. Yes MHs are easier to set up and drive than a car and van, but then you lose all that lovely freedom if you just bung it on a Site, attach an awning and go and queue in the rain for a bus! (Don’t forget your 😷😁)
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We have had two motor caravansin in the past both a PVC then had a Coachbiult if you want the same space as a caravan?
If going abroad then yes go for it as PD says
In this country as we found, and seems to be getting worse, parking anything bigger than a PVC has more drawbacks,with now the proliferation of height barriers (main reason it seems it to stop the increase in illegal parking of some LVs)
It can also mean "choosing" sites with more thought , as to nearby places that are not easily accessible ,hance it seems as noted sites with public transport close or within walking distance or have cycles on board
We no longer tour "over there" and as TDL says once on site our almost go any where"support vehicle" is parked alongside
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We obviously visit very different places, and are willing to do much more research than you JV. Our average nights away in MH are in the 120 range, all in the UK and we tend to go out off site every day. Away from Clubland it is the norm. Our MH seldom spends more than two nights on the same spot, even if we do a one Site stay. It has wheels, we use them.......
All in UK....top of Long Mynd, country park near Humber Bridge, Under Pembroke Castle, beachside at Caerhays, Cornwall. Why would we leave it stuck on a Site?
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Research is probably key to your question. There are also several options. We prefer to find sites that are either in walking distance or with good transport links. For example if you take the Club's site called Seacroft at Cromer. It is an easy walk into the town where , should you wish, you can take the train to Norwich or Wroxham. Alternatively there is an excellent bus service along the coast from immediately outside the site, so probably all the options you could wise for. It is a similar system overseas except campsites/Aires are usually served by better quality transport systems. If you want to visit a Country House or similar I find a phone call or email in advance of a visit will confirm if there is space for you to park usually works. The smaller the motorhome the easier it will be to park. Some PVC's don't have a much larger footprint than a large 4X4. It's going to become more difficult the larger the motorhome is. You need to keep an eye out for parking spaces as some councils will expect you to pay for two spaces if the size overflows. Some Councils can be a bit sniffy on exceeding the width of a parking space if you are parked alongside a kerb.
David
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My advice is always to go for a van as small as you feel comfortable with. Ours is 6m and we would prefer 5 to 5.5m. Having said that, we have found very few places we've not been able to park and it's definitely easier than our previous 6.4m coachbuilt van.
Tourist attractions generally have spacious car parks and the NT had started creating spaces for Caravans/MHs. We have never yet had to use public transport and we don't use bikes but we also don’t do cities or Europe. It’s a rare day that finds us sat on site as we're normally out and about in the MH.
The slim 6m PVC is about 0.5m too long to fit in a single Tesco parking bay. Our 6.4m coachbuilt needed 4 bays.
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www.park-my-Motorhome.co.uk might help if you buy a larger vehicle
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We only switched to a MH in March 2019. One of the reasons we changed was because we wanted to be able to tour more easily, particularly in France. Even with our caravan we preferred to either walk from the site or use public transport if available.
When we had the caravan we tended to go places for a week or more and use the car on a few of the days. Now we have a MH we move on much more frequently, typically 2 / 4 days.
In this country, as has been stated a bit more research is required. Our MH is a 6.94 metre coach built, here I prefer to park on site and use public transport for towns. Often National Trust and similar properties have suitable parking, although it is generally worth a phone call, as space is sometimes limited.
In France with the extensive Aire network and numerous small municipal campsites, it is fairly easy to find something within the towns, or close / adjacent to tourist attractions.
Typically we tend to restock / fuel on moving on days. There is not normally any problem getting into supermarket car parks. A few have bigger spaces. Otherwise we park at the far end of the car park. Farm shops also often have good parking and this can be checked on Google.
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Unfortunately, although it’s the obvious thing to do, it’s not always possible as was the case where my pic was taken. That’s why it often pays to pick quiet times.👍🏻
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In Britain, you learn to plan ahead and avoid peak times if you can. We've stayed in Britain for the last 15 years and finding parking has never bothered us.
A 2.34m wide motorhome (excluding wing mirrors), such as mine, just fits between the lines of a standard car park space; we pay for two bays if we are too long. Don't be tempted to park with your van's rear overhang obstructing a pavement.
Most major towns and cities operate efficient and cheap Park & Ride schemes. Not all the car parks are for motorhomes but I've never found a city or town that does not make space available in at least one P&R. Most attractions that rely on tourists make room for motorhomes - some will even raise height barriers for you.
Use sites with good public transport if there is somewhere specific you want to go. Some lucky people, like me, get the freebus pass.
If all else fails, go somewhere else. Searching for a parking space can be stressful. Don't let it.
My 6m van has a wheelbase of 3m so can turn on a sixpence. Rides terrible though! Check out the turning circles of any van that interests you - it's usually in the brochure or on a web site. If not, buy a different van.
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As a dedicated motor-caravanner for 45 years or so, I've learned that one of the downsides of motorhomes can be the width as much as the length. If you like to visit out-of-the-way coves or moorland villages, reachable by country lanes designed for a nineteenth century farm wagon, then the width of the motorhome can be a decided disadvantage. Most claim to be around 2.35m in width, although Baileys seem to insist on being wider still.
A van conversion can be a little less until somone fails to notice the wing mirror and removes it for you. Mercedes Sprinters are narrower than Fiat Ducatos, and centimetres do make a difference in tight spots.
Nevertheless, we've had 3 A-classes and a coachbuilt, taking our longer breaks in Europe without any size issues. Choosing to limit our travels this year has been more trying as Cornwall and Devon's country roads, many with unforgiving stone hedges has got me thinking of downsizing.
Other factors to consider? Many carparks don't accept vehicles over 3500kg, some less than that. Many motorhomes operate with extremely restricted payloads (ignore what a dealer will tell you if he/she thinks you're hooked), meaning that two e-bikes (& bike rack if needed) with other necessities (camping chairs, table, food, water, etc etc, not to mention any passengers over 70kg each, could easily nudge you over what's permitted. If you're going to need to tow something to compensate - car or bike trailer - it's not that different to a caravan, is it?
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JVB, surely part of the joy of going anywhere is searching/researching what is in the area you intend to visit. Unless of course you keep going back to the same old places over and over again.
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Quite agree Nellie. To me part of the enjoyment of going somewhere new is know what the options are before we go. Sometimes its just bus timetables but sometimes country houses some of which I have to contact before to check they have suitable parking for a motorhome. I like to check out the local eating places and their menus. To me the research is all part of the trip.
David
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Can't be bothered with all this pre-planning. We just look on a map to see where we have never been to before or for at least 20 years. As we are not tied to the locations of Club sites we can go anywhere. Research can be undertaken when we arrive by asking the hosts, other campers, tourist information or the internet.
I do think if you refuse to take your MH off site after arriving then you have either, bought one that is too large, lost your nerve or touring in the wrong area/country.
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But the reality is that parking a 6m+ MH in any busy UK car park designed primarily for cars can be challenging at times and driving around looking for a suitable space is tedious. There are obviously places where parking is easy such as those mentioned above e.g NT. However, choosing a site with convenient public transport links and/or within walking distance of places of interest is an good solution and generally not difficult to find, particularly if you’re prepared to walk a mile or two - good exercise as well.
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SB, I quite understand that using public transport is the ideal situation if available - we enjoy using our bus passes as much as everyone else - but I'm sure you will agree that parking a 6m motorhome on a quiet promenade is much easier than parking a 7m+.
However, it would seem to me that this detailed planning is OK if you are going to one site and then home but it takes away the spontaneity of what I believe touring ( especially with a MH) should be about. I would be interested for those who do tour, how far in advance ( location not time) do you plan. It seems at times to be more complicated than world championship chess.
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Not really Mikey. We are pondering over a few areas to visit early September at the moment, mainly around how busy they will be in terms of being able to socially distance, and what of interest to us is likely to be open. We have more or less finalised our choice based on the above, and I have browsed a few potential places, mainly to check if they are actually open, given that this year is not a normal one!
One or two we could have used aren’t opening, but there are dozens of others to choose from. So, in terms of hard planning, that will happen the day before we set off, a phone call to one or two, to see who has a pitch spare, given that UK is full of frustrated folks who normally holiday overseas!😁 we hope to get around eight nights away, probably using around 4/5 sites. None will be Club, and at the moment we don’t need to rejoin to use CLs as our choices are private Sites. Nothing checked out until day before we roll. So no deposits, no worrying about not being able to honour a booking, it’s about as spontaneous as we can manage given the whole Covid thing.😁
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It depends what you call detailed planning? I very much doubt that the researchers amongst us plan an hour by hour itinerary or even a day to day itinerary. It is just a question of having a look at what is available in the immediate area so that you don't have to waste time when you get on site. If you spend a week or two on a site that might be fine but our touring stops are usually only between 3 and 5 days on anyone site. There are a surprising number of campsites around the country that are either within easy walking distance of attractions or a short bus ride away. Why would I want to park my motorhome on a promenade when I can walk or catch a bus to it? It's your holiday so you can do what you want but I find it puzzling that you have to be critical of others who decide to do something different to what is your norm? There is no correct or incorrect way of holidaying in either a caravan or a motorhome, it is what suits the individual and long may it be it the case.
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I do think if you refuse to take your MH off site after arriving then you have either, bought one that is too large, lost your nerve or touring in the wrong area/country.
Rather a strange statement, why should you think that? We preferred to leave the car on site as much as possible when we had a caravan. In my opinion, It's not particularly pleasurable driving into or around towns.
Nothing has changed in that respect. The main reason for changing to a Motorhome was the ease of moving on , which we now generally do every 2 / 4 days.
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We often stay put on a site, not bothered at all about driving all over the place as we did with the caravan. Between us we've seen a lot of places so now we go to relax not spend hours off site doing the tourist bit. We choose sites where we have access to something. On our very short two site first trip ot this year, 6 days, we had easy walking access to a river, fishing, a pub and footpaths plus a nature reserve, the coast, two more pubs (and two community food shops if needed.) No research needed as we know these places...next trip is to a small town and a river and lots of easy walks.
All these places have good public transport but we're not doing that if we can avoid it just now. We're gearing down this year, not up, trying to avoid the disappointments of cancelled trips etc and the M/H can be used en route to see a couple of friends.
We haven't lost our nerve, or run out of places to see but we're not going on a ground breaking adventure either, just an easy holiday.
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Steve, We have met and read about many motorhomers who say once arrived they will never take their motorhome off site. It is the never I am referring to. In many cases we also prefer to walk/ cycle/bus to places of interest but we would never not visit a location just because it meant using the car.
We probably will swap to a motorhome in the coming years and hopefully it will hardly change our way of touring. We also move on after a few days because we prefer to be close to our areas of interest and wouldn't dream of staying 7 -10 days and driving 30 - 40 miles to visit somewhere, we would simply move closer.
Regarding size, it seems to be universally acknowledged that those with smaller motorhomes tend to use them as transport whereas those with much larger motorhomes use them as caravans - I accept there are always exceptions but it is not far off the mark.
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I would say don’t fall into the trap of dwelling too much on what others do, how they holiday, where they stay, how much planning or lack of planning goes into something. Everyone makes their own choices based upon their own wants and needs, and there is no right or wrong, just choice. By all means look and ponder, it can be a rewarding at times way to pass the time, but best not to comment😁
We own both, van and MH, and have a different holiday in both, because we choose it that way. We haven’t yet hitched the van onto the back of the MH, but who knows🤣
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