Camper van or caravan?

[FleetwoodRaincoat]

Never, ever thought I'd contemplate buying a caravan, but DH and I are looking forward to next year when DS will go off to uni, and thought we'd take the opportunity to travel around the country (both freelance so time off not an issue).

I can see pros and cons for both, but still can't decide.

Can anyone offer any words if wisdom please?

Budget up to about 12 ish K

I’ve had both. A Mazda Bongo and a caravan. The caravan was a folding one which was no more troublesome to tow than a trailer and we could keep it on the driveway. It only took a few minutes to level then the roof unclipped and the sides went up. Unpacked and sat outside with a beer in 30 minutes. The camper van was fine but much more room in the caravan even though it was only a 3 berth.

We have just sold our caravan and tow car. We have bought a Ford Transit van which we are converting to a camper. I loved our caravan but it was a pain to store and parking is bad in our street so difficult to get off our drive. Another issue we had is that when we went on holiday everyone knew as the caravan had gone so I worried about the house being burgled.

We've got a second-hand folding camper with sprung mattresses, heating, hot water, kitchen, toilet & sink, living/dining space etc. Pros: easy to tow and store on the drive, really comfy and easy to live in on site - it's basically a caravan with 2 double beds that you don't have to pack away during the day (unlike a caravan), and we have an air awning too. So lots of space. Also much cheaper than a caravan! Cons: needs to be dry for storing so you need to have somewhere to open it out to dry when you get it home wet, and it takes a bit of time to get all set up/packed away on site. We do really love it but I think that when kids are older and no longer want to come away with us we'll probably get a caravan. We hired a modern VW California campervan for a week once and found it very cramped and the bed not comfy, never again!

Thanks everyone, still lots to think about. I've heard that prices are severely inflated this year so will probably try to save hard and go for a big campervan/small motorhome next year.