In this article, I will teach you the most efficient approach to find the best and most convenient campground for your next campervan adventure, no matter which country you choose to explore. I have used this technique successfully in the US, Australia, and Europe.
Why is it so vital for you to learn this technique?
The internet is flooded with marketplaces for finding the best or most convenient flights (Momondo, Skyscanner, Google Flights, etc.), hotels (Expedia, Booking.com, Trivago, etc.), flats (Airbnb, Booking.com, etc.) and car rentals (Kayak, Rentalcars.com, etc.).
When it comes to camping, though, your choices are frighteningly limited.
There is not one single provider to help you compare and find the best and most convenient campground for your needs.
With the technique you will learn in this article, you will be able to find campgrounds anywhere they exist.
During our campground research, we have found multiple web apps that are trying to solve the mentioned problem; however, to vancationers like ourselves, they do not fully satisfy our needs.
I will list the apps that I have found for North America, Europe, Australia, and the world and tell you at the end why they don't really help me out in looking for a campground that suits my needs.
North America
Recreation.gov
It is a page that has very comprehensive information and allows you to reserve any outdoor recreational activity in the US. It partners with 12 Federal Bodies, e.g., the National Park Service, and therefore only offers campgrounds on Federal Lands. I find the design very clean and straight forward.
Reserve America
While recreation.gov is your go-to site for Federal Lands, Reserve America is the site for state and local government parkland campgrounds in North America. Since it offers all kinds of outdoor activities and packages, it can be hard to navigate.
Campendium
Campendium is a great non-governmental site that has compiled 20.000+ campgrounds in the US and Canada. It is based on reviews provided by users and thus filled with crowdsourced details such as amenities, prices, and photos.
Hipcamp
This relatively new app is sometimes considered the Airbnb of camping. It helps campers find camping opportunities on private land, where owners allow people to camp on their properties. They have recently expanded also to cover National and State parks with almost 19.000 campgrounds. Unfortunately, Hipcamp is only available for the US.
The Dyrt
Another privately run, review-based platform focused on the US only. It has a super quick search for your type of camping near you and offers offline usage for a fee.
As an example, I searched for the Lo Lo Mai campground, where we stayed in Sedona. The only two web-apps I could find Lo Lo Mai on were Campendium and The Dyrt. As it is not a state or government-run campground, I could not find it on Reserve America and recreation.gov. Vice versa, when I was looking for the Mather Campground at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I was able to find it on all privately operated sites; however, I was redirected for booking to recreation.gov.
Europe
Camping.info
The most comprehensive page for Europe with about 23.000 campsites in 44 countries. It is German-based and available in English; however, some parts of the page sometimes remain in German. Direct booking is not available.
EuroCampings.eu
Another very comprehensive and user-friendly page with about 10.000 campsites, with some direct booking options. What I like most is the section 'Great little campsites', highlighting campgrounds with less than 50 campsites.
Leading Campings of Europe
One minute into my research, I was very disappointed. This page only has 38 campgrounds in continental Europe in its inventory. Not satisfactory at all!
Camping Europe
This page offers most European countries and then redirects you to the main page of the country where you want to book a campsite. On my search for Scotland, I was redirected to UK parks gave me only two results upon my search close to Inverness. Very disappointing as well. With the foolproof technique, I'll teach you below, I got 10.
Australia
Full Range Camping
Australia's biggest camping community with 10.000+ camping spots. To search for campgrounds, you have to register first.
Findacamp
A privately run site offering to find campgrounds along your route. Its campsites are added by users. So far, it does not cover the entire country.
Worldwide
Pitchup
This is a UK based company trying to tackle the worldwide campground scene. It is a nice start, however, by far not comprehensive enough to be the only tool to find the best and most convenient campground on your next road trip.
Camperado
It claims to be a camping guide for campgrounds and RV parks worldwide. Yet upon my user test, it failed utterly. It was not user-friendly, information savvy, or comprehensive.
iOverlander
This is a great app and website with a lot of overnighting listings, campgrounds and free camping spots alike. It is maintained and updated by travelers and the information provided is, therefore, a little bit subjective. Still one of the best tools for off-the-beaten-track travel and free camping.
The foolproof technique in detail
As you can tell, the most comprehensive (and most modern apps) can be found for the North American market, which is a shame; when there are 44 countries, you can rent a campervan in.
So without further ado, let me introduce you to the best foolproof technique that you can use worldwide.
This technique is not rocket science; however, few people realize how simple it is.
It makes use of a map-based itinerary. Meaning that you have an idea of where your next overnight will be, and you start looking for a campground based on location.
This strategy works beautifully in advance for pre-trip planning as well as while on the road for more spontaneous searches.
Follow these 8 steps never to get lost looking for campgrounds again:
1. Open Google Maps and zoom in on the area you would like to overnight. When you do this while pre-planning, make sure you zoom in far enough; otherwise, Google Maps will search in the area that you are currently in. As an example, let's say you are heading for Byron Bay in Australia.
2. Search for 'campgrounds' or 'RV parks'. Google will give you multiple red pins with short descriptions, images, and reviews.
3. Start looking in more detail at the result with the best location for you - by tapping on it; you can look through the pictures and the reviews. Be aware that reviews are, of course, very individual; in most cases, though, they will give you a good idea of what to expect. For me, the first choice was either of the two campgrounds close to the town center. As I click on them, I can tell that they are Holiday Parks and also offer cabins; hence the pricing and reviews also reflect booking a cabin.
4. If you like what you see, click on the homepage link to get even more information and possibly book a campsite directly. Or better yet, call them up. Be aware that by far, not all campgrounds have an online booking system or a homepage, especially if they are a small independent campground. While pre-planning, we use Google Hangouts to call internationally, and while on the road, we always buy a local SIM card on our first day for mobile data and calling.
5. If you are not satisfied with what you see, keep going through the other results and start comparing location with amenities and price.
6. When calling the campground, be prepared to tell them the size of your campervan and what kind of campsite you would like - with hook-up (electricity, water and sometimes sewer) or without. Generally, the campsites without hook-up, also called un-powered campsites, are less expensive and have more scenic views as they are closer to the water. Yes, even if you aren't anywhere close to an ocean, a lot of campgrounds are located close to creeks or lakes.
7. Should you find out over the phone that your desired campground is full, the staff will be able to recommend another campground nearby. In our example for Byron Bay, one campground was fully booked, and the other one had a minimum stay of two nights and charged AU$120 per night (!). Receiving this information quickly over the phone, we saved tons of time browsing their homepages. It turned out that it was a national holiday that day, which was the reason that they were fully booked and so pricy. They recommended us staying 20 minutes up north in Brunswick Heads, where we found a campsite at a gorgeous campground for AU$55 right by the water.
8. Should you not have the option to call (no international plan/local SIM or the reception is already closed), follow the Google Maps results to navigate faster to the closest campground, as not all campgrounds are indicated by street signage.
How to avoid full campgrounds?
The best way to avoid full campgrounds is to avoid road trippin' in high season or on national holidays. That being said, your vacation schedule or company calendar might not always allow that. I feel you! The best thing you can do is to pre-plan and pre-book.
We are generally good at pre-planning and yet learned our lesson during our Australia road trip. We traveled over Easter and pre-booked our stay in Sydney for the holiday weekend and campgrounds in National Parks. What we were not aware of (and didn't research beforehand) is ANZAC day (one of Australia's and New Zealand's most important commemorating occasions, honoring those killed in war as well as returned servicemen and women), which in 2019 happened to be the Thursday after the Easter weekend. And we happened to be approaching one of the most popular areas on the East Coast - Byron Bay.
We ended up finding a gorgeous campground in Brunswick Heads, 20 minutes north of Byron Bay. We spend the day at Byron Bay and only pulled up to Brunswick in the evening. It turned out to be the perfect compromise, as Byron Bay didn't meet our expectations (there really is too much fuss about it), and we could have never found such a fantastic location for a campground as in Brunswick Heads.
What to do when the campground is full?
There is a brand new app, available only in North America (yet again!) called Campnab.
It is a campsite availability tracker and alerts you when a campsite on a fully booked campground gets canceled. So you then have a shot of booking that site and reserving your desired campground after all. It is a fee-based service available in the most popular camping areas in North America.
For all other countries, the best and fastest way is to call up the campground you would like to stay at and ask about their availability and their recommendations for other campgrounds. You can also always repeat the Google Maps technique described above.
How do campgrounds work?
After finding your campground, you should know a few more things for a pleasant experience. That's why we have compiled a separate article focusing on the essentials of campgrounds.
What is your approach to finding campgrounds? We are curious to hear from you.
