What are the downsides of swapping tent camping for a campervan?

[Thickasabrick89]

We currently do a lot of tent camping and have done (with the same tent) for years.

2026 so far, we have 5 weekends/long weekend camping trips booked in. We go, rain or shine.

We don't want a bigger tent as we would then require a bigger car (and bigger air tents can be 50kg!!!). We also don't want to compromise on time as we regularly go after work on a Friday and get to location for around 6:30-7ish. We then don't want to have to put up a tent for the next hour and mess about.

I'm tempted by a campervan that would replace one of the 2 cars we own. We are a small family of 2 adults and a 4 year old and we do not plan more children. Soon she'll be starting school and we'll have school holidays separate. It would mean I could go camping with her with ease without having to faff about with a tent. Or even days out to the beach. My husband is a big lover of astro photography too so he could go out and not have to rush back home for bed on a Saturday night or whatever.

We would look at VW transporters or Ford Transit custom campervans size wise with a pop roof.

Currently we restrict our camping to second may bank holiday (due to it being cold in the tent prior) and early September (gets dark at 7 after this so we avoid putting a tent up in the dark)

We would most likely buy outright. Not brand new but newer

For those in the know, can you be brutally honest with me about the negatives we should consider.

We use ours also as day van for mountain biking and paddle boarding otherwise it wouldn’t be worth the cost. And we always take bikes so we can nip away while parked up (the driveaway awning helps with that too.)

I had one for a few years and had a lot of fun trips with my primary aged DC. We absolutely loved just packing up and dribving somewhere for 1 or 2 nights. It was exciting and fun.

The biggest drawback was that once you were camped up somewhere - you had no transport for day trips. Campers are not very agile for exploring - the lake district would be very difficult to traverse. So you are kind of stuck to one spot and have to walk everywhere from where you are.

Once my DC were over 12 we got rid as there's just not enough privacy with teenagers for changing etc - unless of course you invest in a large one with separate rooms.

Would you try an inflatable tent? We swapped our big canvas one for inflatable years ago and I love it. We have a electric pump (runs off car) and so it takes about 15 mins to unrole and peg down and 5 to inflate. We have an 8 man. In the central area my 6ft3 hubby can stand up, there are 2 sleeping pods that would take 4 people each to sleep, but we do kid one end and 2 adults the other, all on camp beds comfortably. The middle section takes all our cooking stuff and other bits (including camping toilet) with still room to sit round on the floor or chairs to play a game or chat. The porch takes shoes and coats etc. Deflating is just a matter of opening the valves and opening leaving it while packing other bits in the car, then rolling it from the side without the valves to push the last of the air out before you role. The first few times we did it, making it fit in the bag was a challenge, but it's easy once you have practice!

My favourite holiday ever was pre-kids hiring a camper van and mimbling about for a couple of weeks. I was an expert at packing up and going. Really enjoyed not having to get in the rain putting up a tent and then being soaked and cold. I have wanted one ever since.

Budget sadly doesn't allow, but I tell myself it's because I couldn't work out how to have enough space and fit car seats for 2 kids. Not sure if that is an issue with just one kid, but you don't need to make space for car stuff in a tent.

Cost is one factor but another is some car parks forbid crossover vehicles from parking including the car park nearest me, even if you have a blue badge - friends got a ticket and it was a new transporter wheelchair adapted! The height is a consideration for underground parking too

For me, the main thing would be how small they are inside. We have a tent but have lots of friends with VW campers and there's just not a lot of space for anything other than sleeping, whereas our children can be in a different area of the tent drawing or playing etc. Even when all the adults are sitting around outside, I've never seen our little group of kids choose to hang out in one of the campers ever, it's always one of the tents.

The caravan was new but then Covid hit, so it was parked up just after buying it.

Then the technician found damp at the first service and it was a total nightmare to get it fixed. Bailey were complete shits about it and we ended up having to sell it back to the original dealer for much less than it cost to buy. The repair didn't work either. It was a gorgeous little caravan but towing is also interesting, especially if you live in the countryside and they randomly shut roads...

If you do get a caravan, get it from a very close by dealer. Our local Bailey dealer wouldn't touch a warranty repair if you'd bought from another dealer.

VWs can be a bit temperamental but the warranty is pretty good on them.

We had a small motorhome 6.4 metres. That’s the same size as most campervans. Motorhomes are better designed than campervans, so they feel roomier inside. We’ve come up through the ranks from tent camping, a caravan and a motorhome. Motorhomes are the very best in luxury camping. You have comfortable beds, with a proper duvet, a fridge/freezer, a toilet and a shower, a kitchen and comfy seats for the evening. People are often quick to say they wouldn’t have a campervan or a motorhome because they need a car. This is rubbish as your campervan or motorhome is your transport.

Parking a camper of the type OP is thinking of is no different (probably easier) than parking a family car, unless you're really not a good driver. There is a lot of packing and moving things around with a campervan though. I think a family with a car and a camper and only one child is a really good set up @Thickasabrick89 .

They don’t have to cost mega bucks. I converted my own camper van a couple of years ago in ann old shape vivaro and use it all the time for weekends away and as my daily drive. It cost me < £4k to convert It’s so much easier, quieter, more comfortable and LOT warmer than tents! I did have to make the bed longer than I’d have liked to accommodate dh’s long legs which takes up a lot of space, but we have an awning, a cooker, a toilet and a bed…. All in a vehicle I drive to work every day.

Edit - I also have a diesel heater and a fridge!

Have you considered a trailer tent as a best of both worlds. The scandi ones are ace - comfortable, spacious, can stand up in them and cook etc. all set up in five minutes and can still drive the car away for day trips. They come up second had and might be a really good option.

It’s really easy to park a camper or small motorhome. We used to go everywhere in ours. It would take a few minutes to pack everything away, I would put the kettle away and DH would unplug the electric hook up. You don’t have stacks of stuff out!

We actually have a decathlon 4 man air tent. It is probably 10 years old now and TBF doesn't take long for us to put up, maybe 10 mins max. Any bigger though and it may not fit in the car nor would I be able to lift it! The ones we saw in Go Outdoors which would have been a serious upgrade would have filled the entire boot and weighed 50kg!

We purchased a vw long wheel base campervan with a converted pop top roof last year after like you doing years of camping etc we were looking to upgrade our car anyway and just fell in love with the idea. Family of 4 - 2 kids aged 6&8. And a cocker spaniel!
we went as soon as we got it last year in February and did pretty much 2 weekends away a month! Also went to France via the ferry which was fantastic!

there is actually a lot more storage than you think and it takes time to get your cupboard layout right so you have the right stuff easy to access. Kids love it.

downside I guess if you need to pee in the night 🤣 if you do want to venture out in the camper then you obvs need to put your beds back and roof down however we seemed to get the knack of doing this quick rolled all the bedding up together with bungees and then left chairs and tables up at the campsite on your pitch obvs if the weather is good.

if we go for longer than two nights we sometimes take a drive away awning so we can throw everything in if we shoot off.

costs yes higher to run and also higher than a tent pitch can also still be quite expensive if you don’t shop around

once you’ve got everything in there for the season your main bits it’s just a case of chucking food and clothes in for the weekend and off you go

we don’t have a heater and once your in and warm it’s always cosy.

also I drive it every day school run etc it’s a lwb and never have an issue parking etc x x

We are currently in ours in Portugal, it's great to take your house with you everywhere, and we use it year round as it's well insulated but yes the running costs do add up. Ours is a fiat ducato conversation just under 6m (but not one with rising roof which tbh I wouldn't have seeing people struggling in cold and windy weather in them ). Theres just two of use but it would sleep 4, storage is limited but after a few trips we have a good system for what we actually need and use now.
The only real disadvantage I think is that it's sometimes more difficult to go places once you are on site if you mainly use campsites (but you wouldn't get that so much with a VW T5 size van. Or have a driveaway awning). We have folding electric bikes and utilise public transport, a lot but we can't always get to places we'd like to on trips away.

Not quite what you asked, but my tip for making camping easier is to get as large a car as possible. It is so much less stressful when you don’t have to tesselate every time you pack. Much quicker too. And you can have all the camping stuff pre packed up permanently so it’s not hard to get it all in and out. Even just putting your normal duvets in rather than the packing away of sleeping bags in stuff sacks etc.

I wouldn’t normally suggest buying a bigger car to someone, but since you’re thinking of buying a campervan, it’s not much different…

another couple of downsides:

• parking it when not in use, often for months on end and annoying the neighbours

• paying insurance and road tax every month, even though you only use it 3 times a year

It will also be their second family vehicle so not an extra van sat around.

We used ours all the year round. There’s zero point in having one and only using it three times a year. Ours was parked on our drive, no neighbours were annoyed.

You can’t just get in the car to explore the area as you had to pack up and make everything secure. Unless you take bikes and want to just chill.

With a camper or motorhome there’s very little to pack away and make secure. Everything is fixed and self contained unlike a caravan.

My brother was trying to decide between a camper van and touring caravan. He had a caravan years ago but hired a camper van to try it out. Hated it. Has bought a touring caravan again. Like others have said, it was awkward having to pack everything up to go on a little trip. And it was difficult to find places to park. And expensive to run.

I don’t understand the “pack everything away” thing.

Campervans and motorhomes are self contained. You literally don’t have stuff out to pack away. If you do, you’re doing it wrong and using it like a caravan rather than the self contained vehicle that it is.

We never had a problem parking.

I think maybe it depends on how much time you spend in the van, and where you want to go. They are in Scotland, where there are a lot of camper vans.

I’m a bit bemused by some of the comments here. Problems parking? I think our campervan is 5 inches longer than our previous vehicle, a saloon, and why on earth would it annnoy our neighbours?