Do most campgrounds make you move after a couple of weeks or are there several available where one can stay for three months at a time? We are thinking that we want to stay put for a few months so that we are not constantly driving. Do snowbirds winter in one place all winter long? Thinking about full time RVing when we retire, but we don't want to feel like we constantly are on the move and have no place to just chill.

You generally can stay the entire length of your time on one site. Assuming you have reservations for that time.

It's a personal choice. Some stay put, others may move monthly or even more often. First timers generally move about trying to find that perfect place, then settle down.

Depends on what kind of campground. Most NFS campgrounds have a 14-day limit, bur private campgrounds can write their own rules.

Most State and Federal Campgrounds including COE, have a 14 day limit. Some premium sites may have shorter stays. The shortest we've seen were all lakeside sites and they were posted 7 day maximum. Most private campgrounds welcome long term stays but you have to pay for your electricity separate......Dennis

In private campgrounds you can usually stay as long as you want. However, if you have not reserved your site for your entire stay, they may have someone reserve your site and you may have to move.

Campgrounds and length of stay | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

PawPaw_n_Gram
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
ljr wrote:
Sorry to hijack but that sentence got my attention. Can you name a couple? I'd like to go.

Here is a link about the Arizona SP Long Term Camping program
Arizona LTC

wa8yxm wrote:
COE parks, 2 weeks and you have to move. Do not know if you have to leave the park.

At the COE parks we've visited in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma - you have to move to a new campground/park - but it can be on the same lake.
StephJohn2010
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
We usually stay at private parks. Usually 1 month at a new place... sometimes 2 or 3 in our favorite places.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 18, 2014
Depends on the CG.. Many membership parks you have to move out after 2 or 3 weeks, stay out a week and then you can return.. In my case usually to the same site.

COE parks, 2 weeks and you have to move. Do not know if you have to leave the park.

The county park I sleep in during my week out, It is a month.

Some private parks (including the membership park I am in if you want to pay the price) it's ........ YEARS.
Jayco-noslide
Explorer
Jan 18, 2014
This varies a lot but, generally speaking, private campgrounds don't restrict how long you can stay and public(government operated) campgrounds have a 14 day limit. But lot's of exceptions. Some states have state park campgrounds that allow long term and it is generally cheaper than renting daily. Some of the campgrounds that limit to 14 days allow you to leave for 1 day and return and some don't.
hitchup
Explorer
Jan 18, 2014
We've only stayed at private RVParks/Campgrounds. The majority have metered electric, so we pay a little extra. But since they don't all have a website or even advertise that they have monthly sites, definitely call to verify.

Most of the time, we encounter lower rent in the Winter (or off-season) months, but that's because we end up in snowly cold areas.

Once we got to stay in San Antonio, but the winter rate wasn't much different than summer and it was already Feb, by the time we arrived.
Opie431
Explorer
Jan 18, 2014
We have found some state and Federal campgrounds that have a two week limit during the season and unlimited before and after the season.
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Jan 18, 2014
When I first headed out as a newbie full timer coming down from the midwest south I found that most CG's offer monthly rates without added electric fees. So I was shocked when I hit the Florida state line to find out the rate was PLUS electric! :B

That said there are many CG's that offer monthly rates without added electric fees. "Except" in areas that are popular snowbird destinations.

I did finally stay in Florida during the summer months and trust me I could not find one that offered 'off season' rates. It just doesn't exist there because to be able to stay alive in an RV in summer you have to run the ac 24/7's and no CG wants to eat that electric bill!
jrp
Explorer
Jan 18, 2014
one more point, in some states you will find some of the private commercial campgrounds only allow stays over 30 days if you submit in advance to an application, a background check and a credit check. This is because their state landlord/tenant laws say anyone staying over 30 days (even in a campground) is "in residence" and it then takes a court order to evict them, even if they refuse to pay the rent.
But there are many RV parks, particularly in the popular winter snowbirding areas, who welcome stays of 3 - 6 months long.
laws vary state by state and owner policies vary campground to campground, don't assume you can stay more than 30 days without asking up front
ljr
Nomad
Jan 18, 2014
PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Arizona state parks have some winter season rates.

Sorry to hijack but that sentence got my attention. Can you name a couple? I'd like to go.
ljr
Nomad
Jan 18, 2014
Quite a few State and County parks in the south have monthly snowbird rates during the winter. I move every couple weeks for most of the year and then stay for 2 or 3 months somewhere in the South over the Winter. This year I was at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland, MS ($450/mo) for 2 1/2 months and now I'm at Lakepoint Resort State Park in Eufaula, AL ($575/mo) for 2 1/2 more.

Sometime the monthly rates aren't listed online and you have to call.

(I'm usually fairly happy with the weather around here but this year they are setting records for cold temperatures. Should-a gone to Texas.)