RV Park Fees

[phoenixbound]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and I apologize if this topic has been covered before, but still need to ask. My wife are in the planning stages of becoming ful time RV'ers. How much should be realistically budgeted for monthly RV Park fees for camping mostly in the Southwest? I see a lot of variance in price per month at the parks and we are just trying to estimate what we should allow. Thanks

[vtchris]

I know of a place that charges $600/yr in AZ. A lot that are $150-$350/mo and $1500/yr in NM.

[catkins]

Rates vary wildly by location - Florida and CA seems to have the highest and AZ/NM some of the cheapest. Monthly rates give the best "daily" rate, weekly is discounted and of course daily will be the highest. AZ monthly rates for a nice park seem to average $5-600 per month plus electric in Yuma/Lake Havasu hich can add up.

Thousand Trails works well for some fulltimers BUT the parks are not close to major cities generally, annual rates keep rising and they keep adding more cabins/park models reducing the usable RV spaces. We have been members for a long time and dislike the direction and lack of upkeep at some parks. (Maybe try a TTrails Zone Pass for a year and see how you like the parks.) Also - you can stay for a max of three weeks in OFF season and two during high season at popular parks with your membership. When we make an effort, we do OK on use/cost for a year but we have to go where the parks are not necessarily the routes we wish to travel as a first choice. When we go and stay for a longer visit is quite nice!

You really need to decide where you want to go and stay and I'd recommend budgeting $6-800 per month including electric
and MORE if in a resort area. If it is less, great..................Happy Trails!!

[phoenixbound]

Which park in NM? Sounds interesting.

doxiemom11 wrote:
I would say minimum of $500 and average electric cost above is reasonable. We are heading back to MI after spending the last 2 yrs in AZ, NM and TX. TX being the most reasonable as far as cost. If you go to the popular winter areas and the further west in AZ, the electric cost gets higher. When traveling, we occasionally use a Walmart parking lot, rest area, small city parks etc and manage to keep our average cost around $8 per night. If you go to NM - check out the NM annual pass for their state parks. It makes camping in them inexpensive. AZ may have something similar for their state parks. We paid from $150 mo plus elect( NM) to $400 mo plus elect in okay parks (Yuma) but most are more expensive.

[doxiemom11]

I would say minimum of $500 and average electric cost above is reasonable. We are heading back to MI after spending the last 2 yrs in AZ, NM and TX. TX being the most reasonable as far as cost. If you go to the popular winter areas and the further west in AZ, the electric cost gets higher. When traveling, we occasionally use a Walmart parking lot, rest area, small city parks etc and manage to keep our average cost around $8 per night. If you go to NM - check out the NM annual pass for their state parks. It makes camping in them inexpensive. AZ may have something similar for their state parks. We paid from $150 mo plus elect( NM) to $400 mo plus elect in okay parks (Yuma) but most are more expensive.

[BarbaraOK]

Yes, there is often a 'sack cloth and ashes' approach taken by people.

Do notice that there is never a 'race to the top' where people will talk about spending $1K or more a month for sites - - but that is the case in a lot of snowbird parks for those that want the 'upgraded ' pull throughs. And the ones in our park are full from November to April!

[TechWriter]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

TechWriter wrote:


BTW, many times on forums you'll get a "race to the bottom" on cost questions like yours -- posters attempting to impress by how little they supposedly spent/spend.

Really?

Really

[Ralph_Cramden]

TechWriter wrote:


BTW, many times on forums you'll get a "race to the bottom" on cost questions like yours -- posters attempting to impress by how little they supposedly spent/spend.

Really?

[Edd505]

I live in the SW and fees vary by day,week, month, month being cheapest per day. Many will have a monthly rate + electric,the monthly for a decent park is 500-600. Electric is per kilo watt hours about .18 in most parks. I'm not full time only about 3/4 time.

[the_bear_II]

Go to www.rv-dream.com they post their monthly expenses while fulltiming for the past 14 years. This will give a great idea of what all expenses will be while fulltiming.

[TechWriter]

phoenixbound wrote:
My wife are in the planning stages of becoming ful time RV'ers. How much should be realistically budgeted for monthly RV Park fees for camping mostly in the Southwest?

Great question. Before we started full time RVing, one Winter myself and an Excel spreadsheet did some Virtual RVing . . . that is, planning a trip or season start to finish using the prices of campgrounds where we might stay. This should give you a realistic picture of what to expect.

Longer campground stays are typically less costly than paying day by day, but some parks, especially in peak season, just use daily rates.

BTW, many times on forums you'll get a "race to the bottom" on cost questions like yours -- posters attempting to impress by how little they supposedly spent/spend.

[downtheroad]

Info from Oregon Coast.

Ft. Stevens State Park...full hook ups $38 per night during peek season
Directly across the street is a KOA. $70+ per night.

[allen8106]

Join Thousand Trails, purchase the membership and and pay $585 a year and stay every night in an RV park at no additional cost.

I'm not a Thousand Trails member but I've read a ton about it. When we go full time I'll be a Thousand Trails member.

Depending on how often you stay in the TT parks your daily costs will be in the $3-$5 range.

[Charlie_D_]

Think about the location of the campground. If you are a ways out of town and like to see the sights and day trips you may be using extra fuel to do so. On a few occasions my fuel costs on a daily basis exceeded the cost of the campground.

[2chiefsRus]

I would budget at least $400 per month with the understanding that some months may be much higher. Some months we have spent as much as $900 for the month (not a monthly rate), but other months we have spent as little as $100. The great thing about full timing is if you start going over budget all you have to do is stop moving for a while. Campground fees and Fuel budgets go hand and hand as a full timer. Campground fees and fuel budgets can both be brought back in line by sitting for a little while.