Advance Reservations

It all depends upon where and when.

We live in Indiana, so we make reservations for Christmas week in Florida or South Carolina in January.

We make reservations in March (Florida or South Carolina) in April or May the year before.

In Indiana, for dates like July 4, Memorial Day, Labor Day, we make those reservations on or as near as possible as Jan 1, as in Indiana you can't make reservations until January 1.

Everywhere else, we may make reservations 2 weeks out (If doing State Parks in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, or Kentucky. Or if we have a known date we want to take, we do it immediately, as soon as we know we have the time off work.

The days of just showing up and getting an open campsite are pretty much over for everything East of the Mississippi River.

We've been fortunate too. In 31 years of marriage, we've had to cancel a campsite only once. We've canceled 2 air-line flights and a Carnival Cruise, but only once in 31 years have we canceled a campsite!

We plan ahead, pay ahead, and enjoy.

It all depends one where you're going and when. If you're headed to a popular destination during high season that needs to be taken into account.

And don't forget there are three seasons: high season, low season, and geezer season. :) We are in prime geezer season right now and places where it's warm and nice to visit are busy. Not as bad as high season, but busier than you'd expect.

We're very similar to the above. Hi Dutch!
Anyway, when we want to be near a city we reserve a couple of weeks or so ahead. If
we're just wandering around it's sometimes only a couple of hours.

What I have done is I go to web site to reserve a camp site for certain days. Then I look at the overall campground showing what sites have been reserved for those days. If there are a lot available, then I don't worry about making a reservation. If it is getting full, I will check the same place a few days later and see what my options are.
I have reserved a particular site for a state park once, and it was very difficult to get into. When I got there, plenty of better sites were available, so I never wanted to get into that situation again.

garmp1 wrote:
How far out do you make your reservations? We are a couple of years retired, but have family commitments so timing can be critical. How far in advance do you:
a.) start planning,
b.) make reservations?

It appears that us baby boomers have taken over the campgrounds and camping is more popular than ever.

we generally travel spring and fall. parks and CGs are not as crowded and we only make reservations when we absolutely, positively have to be somewhere at a specific time or if we're going to be somewhere very popular on a holiday weekend. otherwise we have no trouble finding a spot.

Although I'd prefer to camp without reservations, that approach can make getting a site difficult these days. In our area, regional county parks can be reserved 6-months in advance. During peak snowbird season, appx December through April, scoring a campsite can be a real challange.

Some of our winter reservations in Florida are made before we leave the previous winter. Florida state parks have an 11 month reservation window, and even having your finger on the mouse button the instant the window opens may not be fast enough to get a site at the more popular parks. As others have said, reservations for other times and other areas may call for varying advance reservations, depending on the length of the stay and other factors, such as holidays.

For in state reservations I make them 11 months out or the maximum time allowed

Here in Colorado for most CG, commercial or otherwise, a reservation is generally needed throughout the summer season. USFS CG fill up fast on weekends, so if one wants to get any sort of spot on a weekend, a reservation is a must. During the week, it's much easier to find open availability.

State parks are generally the same way -- fill up fast on weekends, a bit more relaxed during the week.

For Rocky Mountain NP, reservations are pretty much needed for the entire season, as it's more of a destination than other places. Folks tend to stay in the CGs inside the park for longer periods.

Yes, there are first come/first served or walk up sites available, but they usually go very fast. Many of them have occupants on Thursday afternoon, for the weekend. Good luck trying to find a space on a busy weekend.

H E R E is a very good cheat sheet that another member here posted in RV Lifestyles. It's a wonderful resource in planning, and I'll be using it for sure for the 2017 season!

We often make a reservation for our first night out as anything North of our area can be very crowded at almost all times of the year. Because our itinerary is only a suggestion, we seldom make reservations.

When we were traveling with our DGKs during school breaks, we often had to make reservation and our itinerary was usually locked in if going to Natl. Parks in the West and Northwest.

We usually like to travel during the shoulder seasons, the weather is usually nicer, crowds are usually smaller and the wildlife is usually more active. Reservation are not as important in that case.

We don't think of ourselves as getting older, only that our girls are catching up with us in age. For some unexplainable reason, however, we don't like driving four to six hundred miles a day any longer and now that it takes less time to set up in camp, what with hydraulic levelers, usually only hooking up the electric and cable TV if available, we pick campgrounds that have very esthetic views and natural amenities that lure us into staying for several days instead of just overnight.

You just never know when you'll discover one of those places and often they are popular and without a reservation you may have to move a couple times in order to stay for a week and we do try to make reservation for those places.

We normally don't make reservations except for those special places that are very popular or if we are traveling during high season.