caravan club

[trickydicky]

hi, can anyone advise me which is the best club to join," the caravan and camping club " or " the caravan club."we have a motorhome and will be mainly holidaying in europe, especcially spain.will it be to our advantage to join one of these clubs or are they more for people who stay in england.any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

[Hymer C 9.]

We are in both, but if I were to choose one it would be the CCC find there approach more motorhome friendly, but for sites abroad would always prefer my camping cheque sites find these good value and plentiful. Carol.

[Mickt]

Try the CCC as they have a motorhome section, like minded people

[Guest Tracker]

CCC does a decent site discount for over 55's - but has less sites and cl/cs than CC.

 

CC also has a 'we are never wrong' attitude, particularly towards motor homers, and also forces everyone to pay for electricity whether they want it or not because, and they state, 'the majority want electricity' which of course makes it OK then!

 

Site wardens / managers are generally good on both but there are notable exceptions in both clubs!

 

Why not try both and draw your own conclusions?

[lizken]

I agree with HYMER C9.

We are members of both, and also Motor Caravanners Club.

CCC & MCC allow you to join meet and rallie without the need to book, which is useful to motorhomers

CCC also allow age concessions

Ken

[mike 202]

For cheap sites in Europe look at ACSI sites, they cost 10/12/14 Euro per night irrespective of the published site price (not july/august) or look at Aires and Passion sites (vineyard and Farm stopovers) which are free. Vicarious Books web site will give you full details of these schemes.

Happy travelling - This post comes from Mike currently in spain. B-)

[rupert123]

We belong to CC club, for the UK their sites are without any doubt the best around, clean, well maintained, good pitches and some great situations. The sites are very well run, some call this regimented, but you turn up the wardens tell you to pick a pitch you tell them the number and they give you all the information on the site. No one in the UK or Europe, that we have seen comes close. If you do not want things like electric, showers, toilets etc go somewhere else as CC club sites will not suit you. In Europe the best site books are CC ones, although we tend to use the ACSI Camping card listed sites if possible because of price, some of their listed sites are very good others not so.

[little-jack]

We belong to both, and although CCC sites are generally cheaper (over 60 rate), we tend to use CC sites as there is generally a bigger selection of sites, and you can chose your pitch when you arrive (CCC allocate your pitch) also of course you can book without paying a deposit in advance, they do tend to be more regimented though. So- you pay your money and take your choice, on balance if you join both andstay at one site of each club a year for a week you will virtually cover the membership fees AND have 24 fairly good magazines for free (but not as good as MMM of course!)

 

little jack

[kelly58]

The CCC run a lot of temperary holiday sites throughout the UK at popular locations good for low cost touring during the summer months on a stop and stay basis..

[Mel B]

We tend to join the Caravan Club as and when we need to use their sites, which isn't that often, but more olikely to use their small 5-van sites (called Certified Locations), which are much cheaper and offer minimal facilities - such as a field, water tap, waste water disposal and rubbish disposal, right up to full facilities with shower, toilet etc. They vary in price but the cheapest we've found more recently was £3 a night for a lovely minimal site overlooking the salt marshes on the Gower Peninsula.

 

We've never been members of the Camping & Caravanning Club so can't really comment on how they run things now as it's been many years since we stayed on one of their sites.

 

However, these are really only worth joining if you intend to use them in the UK, Ireland etc as mainland Europe has few sites for either club.

 

For sites abroad, there are plenty to choose from and you really only need to worry about booking in advance during the peak holiday season (July/August). We normally use aires in France, Stellplatz in Germany (same type of thing), not sure what Spain has as we've never been but I understand that there is a similar thing there. These range from being totally free, sometimes with free facilities such as fresh water, electricity, waste emptying points, to others that charge around 7 euros, although I think there are some that are a bit more than this now, such as the one at Brugge which is very expensive (around 30 euros a night I think!). If there isn't an aire near where we are we will often find somewhere nice and 'safe' to park for the night, making sure we won't bother anyone/locals etc.

 

If we need a campsite abroad we use the ACSI sites, as already mentioned above, and find these to be very good value giving anywhere up to 50% discount at some sites including electricity. The other sites to look out for ar the municipal sites, run by the local council, these tend to be cheaper than your standard commercial sites and, whilst some are a bit basic, they are generally good value.

 

One advantage of joining a club though is the discounted ferry etc tickets that you can sometimes get by booking through them, however, whether this makes the initial cost of joining worth the expense really depends on the deal you manage to get and whether is makes up for this outlay, so it's not necessarily the best way to go. There are other 'perks' such as the vehicle recovery which you can get through them but again, you need to be sure that this is going to benefit you, especially if you don't intend to use the club for any other purpose.

 

You'll probably be best off not bothering with either of the main UK clubs if you don't intend to use their sites in this country - just see how you get on abroad first, but certainly get the ACSI book, you'll soon recoup the cost (I think it's around £7 or so now and worth every penny, you can easily cover this by the discount you get on just one site!

 

Whatever you decide enjoy your trip.

[locovan]

Hey!! :-D

Dont forget the MCC

Motor Caravanning Club They are great nd have lots of entertainment.

http://www.motorcaravanners.eu/ *-)

I also belong to the CCC as I love their holiday rallies around the country for approx £6.00 per night it is great moving from one rally to the next as I did this year for 2 months I didnt want to come home.

 

[BrianR]

I am a member of the Caravan Club, but only to use their 5 van sites (Certified Locations). If I only planned to use sites abroad, I would not be a member.

[duffers]

Even if you only plan to travel in mainland Europe there are advantages to joining one of the clubs:

discount insurance, possibly discount ferry deals and Camping Card International - a useful document but only available to members of clubs affiliated to FICC. see here for stuff on the Card.

can also get it if you're a 'proper' member of RAC.

 

ray

[rupert123]

Not sure about CC club CL's. We used one at a place called Beal, near Holy Island and it was £10 with electric, no other facilities. The next day we went to CC Breamish River site with full facilities, electric hookup and it was £11.40. This was in low season but for £1.40 differance wil not be using CL sites again.

[Mel B]

Hi Rupert

 

Yes there are some more expensive CLs, they vary in price depending on location, facilities ... and sometimes what the owner thinks they can get away with charging!

 

We never spend more than £7 on a CL (usually a lot less) and only do that if we really need to be at that particular one, rather than, say another 10 miles away.

 

Do give them a try again, the one we stayed at on the Gower Peninsula was terrific, this was the view from our camper window.

 

[trickydicky]

thank you all very much for the info. not sure what to do now.it's difficult when it's all new to you. no doubt, this time next year, we'll be wondering why we were worrying so much. i'm going to start off with looking into this ASCI, someone mentioned.it might be for us as we do intend to spend quite a lot of time abroad, starting in january for a couple of months. anymore advice will be greatly appreciated.

[duffers]

Suggest you contact vicarious books for the ACSI card, I think the 2009 version is now £10.50 and sites are 11, 13 and 15 euros.

The card runs from 1st January, so make sure you get your timing right.

 

 

ray

[BrianR]

You also need to decide what facilities you are going to be looking for from a "campsite". If you are just looking for somewhere to stop at the end of the day which will be safe and legal, and you are mainly going to be visiting France, Germany and Italy, then you need not pay for campsite facilities as you can use the large network of aires/stelplatz/sostas in these countries. These are places which, as a minimum, provide somewhere to stop overnight, a supply of fresh water and somewhere to dump your waste. Prices vary from nothing (for a good proportion) to perhaps 10€ for a few in very desirable locations. To get an idea of what is available, visit www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm and www.camperonline.it/. In my opinion, campsites are only useful in these countries when you want to spend more than just the one night in one place. Unfortunately, such places are few and far between in Spain.