When planning your trips, do you try and visit the same place, or places, every year (or travel season)? Do you have a favorite campground? Favorite RV park or resort? A favorite boondocking spot?
Some RVers swear by returning to familiar locations, cherishing the sense of community and predictability. Knowing exactly what to expect—be it a scenic lakefront view, friendly neighbors, or a specific site number—can make planning and packing a breeze.
Others might argue that this approach stifles the adventurous spirit of RVing, preferring instead to explore uncharted territories and uncover hidden gems on the road.
Another benefit of revisiting the same campground is the opportunity to build lasting relationships. Many RVers form close-knit friendships with fellow travelers they see year after year. On the other hand, some enjoy the thrill of meeting entirely new faces and hearing fresh stories with every new camping spot.
In one of Gail Marsh’s “Around the Campfire” series, she and other RVers discuss the pros and cons of returning to the same campground each year. You can read that story here.
As always, thank you for voting!
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I usually start out my season with a favorite, close by, campground to make sure things are still working as they should along with me.
Sounds like a smart plan, David, especially the last part.😉 Wishing you lots of enjoyable and carefree RVing in 2025. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
We have a favorite spot to stop overnight. Just far enough to get a good start on the trip, but close to home if something is wrong or missing. Earned frequent user status with discount.
All of our camping (1 week/month, year round) is at one of 5 or 6 local state parks within a couple of hours of our home.
My favorite is the Kalaloch Campground in Olympic National Park but it’s very hard to get a site.
Our coach is mainly used as transportation to and from our Florida and NJ homes. We make the trip several times a year. As such we usually stop at the same campgrounds we like each time we make the trip. These stops are almost always one night stays.
There is a nice USFS campground just 25 miles from the house. We do our “shake down” trip there each spring, sometimes a trip is two during summer, on week days, and often, our final trip is the year. It’s especially nice for the shake down because we can easily run back to the house in the toad if we forgot anything important, it if an issue arises, but far enough to not do it unless it’s important. It’s a nice place, no hookups, at the confluence of two rivers.
Not so much a favorite campground but a favorite area. We never have gone to a area because of a great campground. We go to places to see the sites or history of the area. I want a clean well cared for campground but basically we just eat and sleep there. We’re always out and about enjoying the area we’re visiting.
Three favorite spots depending on season
Yes. Shawnee State Park, Schellsburg, PA. We camp for 2 weeks, 3 times every year.
We have returned to Stone Mountain Georgia at least once a year for the last 52 years. We have family in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina and it’s the perfect location for our family to meet.
We really like Baycrest RV park just north of Homer, Ak. The park is clean and the staff is very friendly. The sites are large enough that we can park our dually alongside of our fifth wheel. The views of Kachemak Bay are spectacular.
We do, too, Gary! We are about to make reservations for this summer, probably in late June. Happy new year and safe travels! 🙂
We used to live in Anchor Point many moons ago…before all the thundering herds infiltrated the area. But it was a joy to see sunsets over the Inlet.
Thank you, RV Travel! 🙂 Yes, we try to visit a campground on the south side of Washington, DC twice yearly. It is near the neighborhood in which we lived for 26 years. It allows us to visit with former neighbors and colleagues in addition to attending our former church as much as four times a year. In planning this summer’s trip to Alaska, we are including our favorite campgrounds from our previous trip and substituting others for those we did not like. Happy new year and safe travels! 🙂
Not a great camping spot, but when I go out west I spend the first night at the I80 truckstop in Davenport, IA. It’s convenient and free. If you have never visited the trucking museum there it is worth the hour or two.
Davenport, IA. is not “out West”.
He spends the first night on his way TO the West. And he is technically already West as he is on the Western side of the Mississippi – ie. “Eastern half of the US” vs “Western half of the US”
We’re pretty much sticking within the 4 Corners States, even after my husband retires, we’ll never be full time. We take his vacation time in smaller chunks than we once did, we found we get more camping in that way. We’ll go farther afield again after retirement.
We do have favorite campgrounds-at Grand Canyon (we spend a few days at each rim annually), USFS ones in Colorado & Utah, where we base camp while my husband hikes. We have some favorite private CGs too, for overnight stops or more.
We do visit new CGs too, just depends on where we’re going to explore or meet friends.
We have many favorite campgrounds but since we are traveling to new places all the time to explore as much as this vast country as we can we don’t regularly visit them. On occasion when we travel through the same area to visit a new territory, we will revisit favorite spots. We have traveled and camped in 37 states so far with 11 more to go (we won’t be camping in Hawaii or Alaska) we will be staying in new “favorite” campgrounds.
Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon is one we go to every year. Lots of bike trails, the ocean, cool weather, lots to do in the area. Tough to get into though.
Our favorite campground is actually overflow for a USFS campground further down a dirt road, but unfortunately it burned in one of the many California wildfires a few years back. Used to go every year before the kids got out of school to enjoy the solitude of the river.
We used to until so many Idahoans took over the place.
Just about anywhere in the Black Hills but a special favorite is the Game Lodge CG in Custer State Park.
Cumberland Mountain State Park in Tennessee. We love this park so much and go there at least 3 times a year.
Rip Van Winkle campgrounds. We visit them a few times each season and have been doing so for years. Already have our reservations made for this coming season. And we are on the waiting list for a permanent site.
Believe it or not, we always spend a few weeks (spread out over the season) at Sunrise RV in Mina, NV. Endless roads for riding our Polaris RZR. Ghost towns and mining camps abound. Plus, we know quite a few residents of Mina now, since we’ve been going there for almost 30 years.
I have two but both have had significant flooding. Presently living in Mass we would frequent Winhall Brook in Vermont in July 2023. The second, I grew up in SC and spent 2 weeks every summer at Black Mountain Campground south of Burnsville NC. It was flooded this past September 2024. Both were opened areas to play ball and beautiful rivers.