Camping brings a host of benefits to the table, yet its cost-effectiveness shines bright.
Of all the different travel experiences you can go on, camping remains the most affordable – especially for families. While it’s difficult to find proper statistics to back this claim up, there are a couple of real-world examples from happy campers to call upon.
One experience from a German camper in Europe found that the total cost per week of camping was just €486, compared to €780 for a week staying in hotels. That took into account all the various costs involved in camping, including extras like shower tokens, etc. Another experience from American RV owners saw that their trip cost $29.37 per night when camping and $93.96 per night when staying in hotels.
Both of those examples are great because they show camping is more affordable across two completely different locations. But why is this the case? What is it about camping that makes it more affordable for families? Let’s take a closer look.
Campgrounds Don’t Need Loads Of Amenities
Take your family to a hotel and you’re paying for things like breakfast, access to a pool, room service, and so on. You’ll often pay towards services that you don’t necessarily need or use, too. For instance, part of the room rate covers the cost of cleaning staff changing your sheets and tending to your room – even if you hang a card on the door handle to stop them from doing so.
The benefit of camping sites and campgrounds is that they don’t have to factor these amenities into the costs. Sure, they may charge extra for things like on-site showers or use of cooking facilities, but you choose whether to pay for these. If you’re travelling in an RV with your family, then you only pay for a site to park up, and that’s it!
Camping Is Designed To Be Family-Friendly
It’s quite evident that camping is made to be a family-friendly travel experience. You’ll find family campgrounds with loads of things for kids to do – and many of those things are free. They include simple stuff like access to a public park where your kids can play with other kids.
More to the point, hotels are not designed to be very family-friendly from a budgeting perspective. Small rooms are always the cheapest, but if you want to sleep a family, you need to either book the more expensive rooms or book multiple rooms next to one another. With camping, you either turn up in an RV or bring a couple of tents. The price for renting your camping area stays the same regardless of whether you’re alone or with multiple people.
When you look at these points, it’s so easy to see why camping is the more affordable travel experience for families. To be fair, it’s cheaper for every type of traveller, but families often get hit with extra costs at hotels and other accommodations. So if you’re looking for a fun and cost-effective way to travel with your kids this summer, give camping a try.
