AIBU to not understand the appeal of caravan holidays?

[Pegasuspicious]

This is not aimed at people/families who can only afford a caravan type holiday. Or have young children who like to visit the beach, amusements etc.

I have a few friends and colleagues who absolutely love going to the caravan for a week or weekend. A colleague has one in a non-touristy area and says her and her husband (husband is retired, and their kids are well into adulthood) love going every other weekend. They don’t go to the beach or out and about, they stay in the caravan the whole time!

I just don’t get it. I find them pokey, uncomfortable and when you need to use the bathroom it’s like showering/shitting in a cupboard. Am I missing something?

I’m with you op. It’s a tie between that and camping. I would rather stay home than do that.

Why are those the only options? I wouldn't book a tiny room on the 4th floor in the same way I wouldn't book a caravan!
I would book a villa or a nice spacious hotel room/suite either of which is preferable to a caravan

I’m with you and I only like a holiday where I don’t ha e to do anything! I want some else to cook, clean and make my bed! Otherwise it’s not a holiday for me. Last caravan I booked was lovely (not cheap). I had to clean every day and strip the beds ln departure. It’s just not a break if I’m still doing it all.

There are lots of appealing things.
Its relatively cheap, which is attractive even if you can afford other options.
Caravans can be situated in prime locations by the sea/nature where proper buildings aren't close to.
The indoor/outdoor living and the doing things in a more simplistic way can be fun in the way camping is, only softer.
Some people like the cosy tiny house vibe.
There can be positive associations from childhood.
I'm sure there's more.

We love a caravan holiday. It is those or nothing for us at the moment. We go to a cheap one in Suffolk every year. About 45 mins from beach but we go to spend time with some family down there. Costs us £200 for six of us plus two dogs for a week.

I love it when it's raining and its pattering on the roof, or the seagulls walking on it in the summer.

We can chill in there on thr evenings after dinner, in the summer sit on the veranda and gave a drink or have dinner outside. There's plenty of room for the kids to play and the dogs to go out, and the kids always end up making friends on the site.

It is just a few mins walk to the pub, to the village etc.

I find them really cosy and even if we didn't go out one day (unlikely but possible if someone was poorly or weather was bad) the change of scenery is nice.

My family had a static in Ireland when I was growing up. My parents then bought one in France. Bloody loved those holidays as a kid and as a parent. We normally do one in the uk each year now.

ALWAYS get an extra room and no sleeping in the lounge if you can afford it.

😂

Our family have had a static caravan next to the beach in Devon for 50 plus years, it's a lovely bolthole and I use it regularly. But I could not bear the thought of being in a camper van. Horses for courses I suppose.

They're great because they live nicer holiday accommodation, AirBnB, rentals, hotels with more availability for the rest of us

I don't mind them for a short break (e.g 4 days) to a part of the UK I haven't been before. Generally similar price to a hotel but with all the modcons of a freezer as I have a thing about ice in drinks and outside seating areas to chill once we're back in the evening. I find hotel rooms can be a bit claustrophobic in UK without balconies and those windows that open a teeny crack.

I won't cook in them though, always eat ouy or grab buffet bits for making a cheese and wine evening.

I can't think of anything worse than having to trail away to my own static caravan every weekend though.

If said caravan was somewhere cool like Broadstairs or Brighton then I would love the idea of just going there for a few weekend getaways when the weather's nice - but you paint quite the bleak picture with your example.

I’m baffled too op. I know people with huge lovely homes - they’re minted - and they love nothing better than towing a caravan to a random field (often somewhere quite local and nothing special) and spend the weekend sitting on deckchairs sipping tea from plastic cups made from a tiny kettle on a tiny stove.

I think it’s a particular mindset - because these people I know could easily afford a hotel or Airbnb or could sip tea in their garden! But they love the van.

It's not for me, each to their own. Different preferences and the low cost can mean more holidays than you would otherwise have. I am sure for some there are also local places or people you meet who are good company.

J’adore a caravan. I can’t even really articulate why. Those sites are little worlds of their own. The nostalgia, the sea air…. ♥️

We do eurocamp sites a lot (France, Italy, Spain etc) and most of the accommodation there is static caravans. I quite like having a bit of divided space as opposed to one hotel room (villas are out of our price range). We don’t spend much time actually in the accommodation to be fair.

I think it's the same reason people have second homes in their favourite location for summer holidays, but more affordable. It's a home from home with all your things, you can make it all comfy and it gives you a holiday whenever you need it without needing to book or worry about whether it will be how you like it. We go to Haven parks a lot because I like to have the familiarity of a place I know, same caravan set up so I know what to expect, and I sleep better when the surroundings are familiar. I can really see how owning one would take a lot of the little stresses out of holidays. If I could drive I'd love to get my own caravan to travel round.

I think it's a point about what's likely to be available on a particular budget level?

I think it’s the cute factor, everything in a house but smaller. Being able to have separate bedrooms on holiday so the kids go to sleep earlier (in theory), the handiness of having a kitchen for budgeting and fussy eaters. If you’ve got a view of the sea you wake up and step outside and immediately feel like you are on holiday. I grew up on caravan holidays and there’s also the nostalgia factor, for bunk beds, a booth or a corner seater sofa looking out of the big window. Having said that I would still very much see it as a base, I wouldn’t spend a whole day in the caravan unless it was torrential rain or I was feeling ill.

Yeah I like the smallness. Going to a bigger place on holiday felt like more space than I wanted to be responsible for. But yeah it may be different if you aren't seeing it as a base. For me the advantage is having the beach/nature/other local feature right on the doorstep, that's what I've come to a different place for.

Each to their own, you can get some lovely and comfortable well appointed static caravans with good facilities, but for me there’s nowhere I’d want to spend every weekend within a reasonably short distance from my house, to make it worth travelling there and back. So I get why others enjoy it, but not for me.

I definitely don't get the appeal of going to a static caravan and just sitting in it.

I love the freedom to be able to take a familar and comfortable sleeping environment with me to somewhere beautiful, and not have the stress of uncertainty whether whatever accommodation I book will actually meet my needs, to be able to set it up at a moments notice and be right where I want to be with views, easy access to beach and walks etc.

I don't feel any need for a large or luxurious bathroom, but if I did feel such a need while on a camping holiday, I'm rarely too far from somewhere with appropriate facilities. All I need in the caravan is somewhere to go if I have a need in the night and I don't have a problem with that being in a small space. If I am just camping for up to 3 nights I don't bother with showering. I'm not usually near enough to any other humans for them to object. If it's longer I do prefer to use a local swimming pool rather than trying to shower in a caravan because I like more powerful showers than a caravan will do. That just adds to the fun of the holiday and is not a problem.

This really, people have second homes by the sea not everyone can afford an actual house so they buy caravans.

My step dad's neice has one it is huge more like a lodge, her husband died recently and she went to their caravan after the funeral and her friends onsite rallied round her, i think she is planning on retiring there.

The OP specifically said this is not about budget or those who can only afford cheap options

some people like returning to the same place each year and hanging out with those people they mainly see on holiday. Is this the situation?

We had a touring caravan when I was a child. Often went to the same campsite each year. That area is special to me now and somewhere I go to regularly.
When it was at home I used it as a play house! It was on a raised area in our front garden so used to play in there with my friends/siblings for hours!
Seriously considering getting a campervan or possibly a trailer tent now. The urge for wandering is upon me!