With campground crowding and an increase in campers in general, we all know how hard it can be to reserve a last-minute campsite… even a site at all! Some of you are still just winging it when it comes to where you’ll be staying each night, but others of you have every night of your trips planned out for six months, some of you even a year.
As of this very moment, how far in advance have you reserved a campsite? Is it just tomorrow night? Four months from now? Six months? A year? A year-and-a-half? After you vote, please leave a comment and explain your answer. Thanks!
For the trip we are taking this summer, I made all reservations a year ago, as we will be in popular National Parks. I currently have reservations for 10 days in FL (to visit family) in Jan. Did that because the snowbirds make visiting FL in the winter difficult.
Hi, Deborah. I’m sorry it took me awhile to notice your comment was put into the Spam folder for no apparent reason by our sometimes-overzealous filter. (I did clear it a few hours ago.) Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I have made reservations for our camping trip, one year in advance. The popularity of the campground in August, makes it necessary. This way we are guaranteed our site and we enjoy the 6 days we spend at the campsite. I have made reservations one year in advance around Labor Day in order to walk the bridge. That is the only way, we are certain to get a site.
Six months exactly, all the parks I want to go to book six months ahead and if you don’t book then, there are no more 14 day stays available. All the weekends are booked and If I have to travel, when I setup, I don’t want to move every few days.
We just booked 5 nights in Key West, Florida, for our Class C. Right on the Water, we were able to get the best site in the entire Campground and it was under $100.00 per day! This actually was our second choice. We also would not have had a problem booking at another Campground in Key West either. So I am not sure why people are having to book 6 months, or more, out. Maybe because they are looking at State Parks?
We decided to do a Northeast road trip taking us into PA, NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, CT and RI about 3 to 4 weeks ago. Doing the research finding suitable campgrounds, HH Locations and Boondocking places proved to be quite painless. We found we were able to secure accommodations in the areas of our choice. Our trip will take us 6 weeks. It feels like things might be starting to settle down and booking campsites is a little easier than over these past 3 years. NOTE: Unfortunately, camping has become more expensive but it is the luxury we choose!
We are snowbirds so have to reserve for the following season in February. We’re looking at October camping at a SC beach and sites are already filling up so will need to book soon.
Here in Michigan, We always reserve our sites 6 months out to the minute (literally)
It is the only way for us to get to the campgrounds of our choice and into a site that we have stayed in before and know how nice it is there. The process is easy enough. We like that we can reserve a particular site and always have the site we want.
If we did not do this we would not have any site left for us.
We have a Coachmen Catalina Deluxe 25 RKS travel trailer.
Reserved five different “RV resorts” from December to May in the Southwest. Only the Arizona State Park in Tucson required 100% of the cost upfront. Worry free summer.
We booked our campgrounds in December for our trips in May and September. The May trip only had about 10 sites open so we were stuck with what they had. The Sept. one was no problem. We got to choose our site.
Canadian national park camping reservations go on sale on a specific date for each park – usually in January or February. You get on the site about a half-hour before it opens, and they note your presence. Then, at H-Hour, they randomize everyone that is on, and assign you a place in line. It is fair and works well. If you are in the first 25,000 or so for Banff National Park, you will probably get something decent. We have reservations for a week each in August and September this year, plus a week in Jasper in July. I had a booking for this week (end of May) but had to cancel due to surgery recovery.
Oh I really like your system. I tried Door County WI 8am of day allowed to reserved.within a minute the entire place was sold out. Your system seems to be better. Congrats on your bookings!
A popular county park near Mpls/St Paul now uses that system.
Random assignment of a slot may or may not be fair over the long run. To really be fair, the computer system should remember that your credential was #1 last time and move you to “last” the next time, etc. In other words, not random for those already in the system. That would ensure that everyone eventually gets the chance to be in that first group.
We like the system. We often book for Waterton using it and rarely do we not get a good site.
Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery, Gordon.🤞 We know you’ll enjoy your upcoming travels, especially after being laid up for awhile. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
It actually varies by the area and demand. If you’re looking for a site in Florida during the winter, you’re needing to book up to a year in advance. But if booking in Midwestern US in the late summer, a month or two ahead is plenty of time.
No reservations, but that is not entirely true. Our larger TT stays on site year-round at a southern RV park. We use it as a 2nd seasonal home. The reservation is auto-renewing. It is a new 55+ long-stay park. We do all our travels with a smaller TT (we have storage when we are in-residence at the above RV park). I usually make reservations 1-6 weeks before a trip.
To get the site we want at Assateague State Park (Maryland) requires a reservation one year in advance, not one year minus a minute but one year exactly.
Thank you, RV Travel! 🙂 I have a mid-November cross-country team reunion and have made campground reservations for 4 nights. Thanks again, have a great weekend, and safe travels! 🙂
We have one reservation at an RV park for an off-road poker run. Otherwise, we make no reservations. We just wing it and boondock.
In eastern WA, northern ID, and Montana, which is where our summer travel usually takes us, we always are able to find non-hookup sites on short notice. Hookup sites usually require anywhere from 30 to 90 days advance reservations. We prefer non-hookup sites in forested river or lake settings, so it works for us as the majority of rvers seem to want electric or full utilities.
We camp almost exclusively in state parks here in Texas. We’ve been fortunate to get reservations less than two months out. When we started rv camping 10 years ago we could usually get sites sometimes as late as two days out. When I was a kid my family could travel all over the western part of the United States and never make any reservations.
I travel full time visiting National Parks. To get a camping reservation for when I can be there generally requires being online at the instant it opens. I often book another campground as a backup ahead of time. Many times that is the one I have to use, otherwise I can the reservation. Most other times I use Harvest Hosts or boondocking
We try to avoid reservations.
Setting a date on where we MUST be puts more priority on getting to the destination than getting to the best memories along the way.
We have yet to get to an area whereas everything (including dispersed) was not an option. I guess if we were migrating snowbirds or vacation travelers, reserving a spot might be prudent. Nah, I think I’d still wing it and see what life brings…. Heh heh
We would do it a year or two ahead for some places, but most of the campgrounds we utilize only allow reservations to be made six month ahead – some are six months to the day and some are good for any day in the sixth month after the day the reservation is made. That creates an artificial shortage and the phone lines or websites are jammed on the first of the sixth month ahead.
we have booked multiple Florida state parks beginning November 2024 until the end of March 2025.
I am too old to make reservations way out, so I’m screwed when it comes to staying in our favorite places on a weekend. no chance, people working in fast food make more money than I ever made in the Military. Gas prices are making it stupid to go for 4-5 days, yet when you are in a campground on the weekend several sites are RESERVED and EMPTY, WHY? anyone want to buy a 2013 Winnebago?
We just completed a 1 month trip from WA to AR and back. One thing we noticed right away in campgrounds, is that all of them are dedicating a large number of their campsites to full timers. At several campgrounds on our trip, campgrounds kept maybe 10-15% of their campsites open for overnight campers. The rest were full timers. The last time I did extensive camping was in the early and mid 2000’s. I remember getting a campsite for $25-$45 a night. Now, even off season, the least expensive site was $40, and KOA is gouging at well over a hundred a night. I hate to see what their on season rates are going to set people back. I think it is getting less expensive to stay in a hotel now..
Some places you have to hit the reservation site just as soon as the window opens or you will not get in!