What standards do you go by in deciding whether or not a camp site is a good value, overpriced or "I won't pay it"? Our opinion- We will consider the degree of hook-ups (water, elec.,sewer, cable TV or more) We use mostly public, state or federal campgrounds and usually care only about elec. and even sometimes dry camp. We also prefer natural surroundings not manicured lawns and pools. However, I still consider what's offered to evaluate the price. We consider levelness, condition of roads, space, bathrooms and staff. To us, under $20 is a bargain, $20-$30 is normal and 35 and up is expensive especially if the campground is lacking in any way. In some states, state parks charge a daily entrance plus a high fee plus out-of-state charges bringing the total to well over 30 or even 40/day sometimes for elec. as the only hook-up and with unlevel unpaved sites. Terrible value. We will pay what we have to to do the trip we want but value is important. I'm not factoring in the senior pass because many aren't old enough.

With a federal senior pass and solar system (adequate panels, batteries and controller) your costs will drop and need for plugin electricity evaporate significantly or disappear. Dumps and fresh water are not everywhere but enough are available. I dump and fill at every opportunity. So for my favorite camping areas I’m paying $12.50 per night.

As long as it is clean and quiet I expect to pay $25-$35/night with hookup for water and power. The most expensive we had was a KOA in California, 67 bucks just for a place to sleep but it was late, we didn't know the area and were too tired to care. Normally we started looking for a suitable place around 4 so as not to get in that situation.

I don't believe there is any formula, criteria or other metric that can be used to determine a price value matrix. There are just too many variables.Location, services, amenities and time of year all figure in. Location has dozens of variables within that sub-category. Is it park in an highly desirable and expensive place like Key West, the southern California coast or Jackson, Wyoming? Is it located in a large urban area? Is it conveniently located off a major highway? That's just to name a few.Same with amenities. Pools, playgrounds, fitness facilities, golf courses, activities all can have varying values. For example, pools can range from a 10x30 postage stamp to full blown waterparks. Golf courses can be a run down mini golf or full blown championship golf course. Activities can be a ten minute hay ride once a day or entire programs for different age groups that run all day. Services run from a wide spot in the road for dry camping, to the standard full hookup park, to resorts with concrete pads and roads, clubhouses, manicured lawns and outdoor kitchens on each site.Then you can expect to pay different prices at different times of the year. Shoulder seasons are expected to often be cheaper than prime time. Special events can cause prices to rise. Sometimes, in the deep off season, the only choice is the one open park for miles and you usually pay for that convenience. Personally, I have felt ripped off paying $10.00 for a night and felt like I hit the lottery paying $150. It just depends.

I'm with the last poster. I travel so I don't have to be looking for a place too late in the afternoon. I start looking for RV park signs around 3:30. I use RV Parky app on my phone as it shows prices of nearby RV parks along with services available. Very handy.What I look for mainly is Wifi. Then 50 amp, then room for the slides, than W&S. In that order. I'm pretty self contained and can go 10 days without dumping or getting water. And I can use 30 amp easily too.I also scout on the internet the night before travel and hand write short descriptions of RV parks along the way. Including bail out areas or POIs. So if my phone or GPS mapping goes haywire, I still have something.Many of the parks I stay at are Passport America parks so I pay 1/2 their usual rates but typically, while traveling, $25-$35 is the expected daily rate, and what I look for. Weekly and monthly rates are usually better but not always. If they aren't I move to another park.You should be aware that I've been seeing many inferior parks raising their rates to 'Resort' prices these days. I'm also seeing big investment companies buying smaller parks, almost doubling their rates, without making anything other than cosmetic improvements. It's getting frustrating that an old park that last year was only $25/nite is now $49/nite with no improvements, or just marginal improvements in services like Wifi. Seeing that a lot as I traveled this past year. I have to hunt for low cost parks a lot more than I use to.

To me, this is like asking what's a good value for a hotel room. There is no answer because it's dependent upon personal preferences.I have paid $45 a night for a rally. Included hookups and all. I routinely pay $20-25 for forest service campgrounds with pit toilets. Personally, I think the pricing is backwards.

Campground prices? | Good Sam Community

35 Replies

Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Sep 09, 2018
toedtoes wrote:
Ralph Cramden wrote:
PA State Parks.

$6.00 transaction fee. Nightly rate $15.00. Add $4.00 for "modern", thats flush toilets and showers, you pay that whether used or not if the campground has them, even when you rent a FHU site. Add $4.00 for Fri, Sat, or Holiday. Electric add $6.50. Water and Sewer add $13.00. Designated pet site, and at most parks the FHU sites are in the pet loops so pet or not add $2.00.

Price for one night on a Weekend $50.50. Have another car or toad, add $5.00.....$55.50. Senior citizen discount, ($5.00). Out of state resident, add $5.00.

So, If I have a pet, I'd have to pay an additional $21.50 per night? Because the pet sites are all FHU? Wow! Talk about forcing a person's hand...

At the park I am at now they converted 12 sites to full hook up two years ago. These 12 sites are in the dedicated pet section that totals about 84 sites. Now 12 are FHU, about 40 are 30 amp electric only, and the remainder are no hook ups but all get charged the $2.00 additional per night for a pet, and the FHU sites gets charged the $4.00 additional per night for Showerhouses.
colliehauler
Explorer III
Sep 09, 2018
Blue water key is going to be a lot more then a campground in Kansas $200. might be a decent price in Bluewater where 20. might be more appropriate for Kansas.

Just to many variables to have a set price anywhere. I tend to frequent campgrounds by lakes most state or federal. They tend to be lower price and less crowded (except high demand times). I use PPA for campgrounds while traveling or boondock which saves money as well.

Jplante4 had a good point on property taxes. Where I have a seasonal their property tax doubled in one year, they had no choice except to pass the cost on to the customer.
jplante4
Explorer II
Sep 09, 2018
Location and part of the country figure into my max. In the east, $50 a night for a decent place with FHU isn't uncommon. Let's face it, the demographics are against you - tons of people, few wide open spaces to make a park, high real estate taxes and utility bills. The only bargains are state and federal lands which rarely have FHU.

As we've progressed west on the current trip, things started to ease up. The highest I've paid on this trip has been $47 at a KOA and we're averaging around $20 a night.

On our retirement trip we stopped heeding south in Florida when we hit the $100 a night line (around Naples). Apparently, all of the reasonably priced places had been sucked up by snowbirds the year before. At $100 a night, someone better comes change the sheets in the morning.
Trekkar
Explorer II
Sep 09, 2018
It would be hard to generalize costs. Bigger rigs require more space and give you fewer site options. Why you're travelling, along with other needs/wants affects what you are willing to pay.
23 million RV's on the roads this summer was the latest estimate I've seen. Need to camp somewhere.
westernrvparkow
Explorer
Sep 09, 2018
old guy wrote:
there is a CG on the oregon coast that was $28 a night then they sold out to some calif guy and they raised the price to $75 a night. too much for this retirement pay guy
I'll wager the California guy paid way more than triple what the previous owner had invested in the property. Coastal commercial property is extremely expensive and I suspect the purchaser bought it with making a profit being one of the motivations.
ncrowley
Explorer II
Sep 09, 2018
Cost is not the first thing we look at, although it is a consideration. If we had a hotel room with the dog, we would easily be paying more than twice as much as we pay for the RV site. We look for clean, safe, easy in and out, pull thru if possible, no issue with trees. Wifi. The size of your RV may dictate the place you go to. We typically pay between $35 and $55 per night for full hook ups.
old_guy
Explorer
Sep 09, 2018
there is a CG on the oregon coast that was $28 a night then they sold out to some calif guy and they raised the price to $75 a night. too much for this retirement pay guy
rk911
Explorer
Sep 08, 2018
for us cost is generally not a factor. we choose based on location, open sky (for our rooftop dish) and some other factors.
Lantley
Nomad
Sep 08, 2018
JimK-NY wrote:
Pay whatever you want. I have been traveling for over 1 month. The most I have paid is $10 with National Park senior pass, $20 without the pass. I have solar and avoid hooking up even when available.

That's it our requirements and locations are vastly different.
Some are looking for no amenities, some want lots of amenities.
Some want to be in a locations with some excitement/attractions close by, some want to be isolated with no attractions.
Trying to compare CG prices with the varying criteria is a waste of time.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Sep 08, 2018
westernrvparkowner always posts informative comments such as the above.

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Campground prices?

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