Camp Reservations

Personal preference is what it comes down to. I don't like the restriction of reservations for just an over night stop because I don't know where or when I want to stop exactly. We are retired so we don't have time constraints so I can deviate off route anywhere I want to. Never been shut out of a campground.


We have pulled into campgrounds for a night and have extended our stay many times because it was an area we wished to explore a little more and the CG was nice. Our primary travel area is the southeast from NC and all the Gulf states to TX. Never a problem getting in somewhere.


We use the RVPARKY app when on the road to find places to stay. We start looking around 2pm for a place to be off the road around 4pm. Easy enough to make it by a phone call. For stays of a week or more we do make reservations for our destination.

This is a personal choice and you will get all kinds of opinions. A lot depends on the popularity of where you want to camp, the days of the week, the size of your RV, and what hookups you want.

We do about the same as doxiemom. We may have reservations at the next place and I'm looking for where we'll be after that. The only time I got tripped up was over a holiday weekend when I had to call a few places before I found a site.

Nothing ruins an RV trip faster than needing to be somewhere at a certain time.

IF we make reservations, it's just for the next location , or if it's a holiday or real touristy area. We are full-time almost 9 years and have probably made 9 reservations in that time. Sometimes it's just a phone call to see if there are sites available and not really a reservation.

Because the DW and I don't like surprises I make reservations for all of our planned stops along our route. For me it's less work than trying to find a place to set down for the night after a day of driving.

Depends if you are full timing or just a weekend camper or ??

For me, I'm only a long weekend camper during the summer months..

I don't venture far, so stick to pretty much the State Parks in Washington State.

In order to get my pick of sites, we can reserve up to 9 months ahead and I do that to the day.. I already have all my long weekend camping trips in the books since December 2018 from May to Sept 2019...

I got all my favorite parks and sites, so I just make the long weekends work.

But I work full time and this is the only time I can get away, so I need to know I have a place to go when I want to go.

It would be different if I were retired and just out there at any whim.. Seems like during the work days, Mon-Thur are them best times to be able to just drive up to a park and get whatever site you want.. It's the long weekend time (Fri-Sun) that are always booked up..

Good luck!

Mitch