Caravan or Motorhome?

We have done it with all 3 of the options described. A caravan/car is the best option, in my view, if you intend staying several days in one place. A larger MH towing a car we found to be a pain with very little advantage over the caravan option. A smaller MH as we have now (6.4m) we find to be ideal for shorter stays at each location and we can get to most places with it.

I have toured with caravan, largish motorhome with and without towing a car and now smallish motorhome.

if you intend to move about regularly say every few days then a motorhome would be my choice.

Shoping can be done when changing sites and if you choose sites carefully you can use public transport to get about off site.

If you have free bus pass all the better, though it is probably only valid in England.

The alternative to towing a car would be to hire one when needed. It is quite expensive to buy a suitable car and then have it converted for towing.

Have you considered hiring a motorhome before committing.

You have a good budget. Spend wisely.

By the way I am a widow on my seventies and have taken Motorhome to many parts of France and Switzerland when my husband was alive. Now I stay in UK.

There is no right answer to this and a lot depends on how you tour. If you stop only a night or two in one place a motorhome may be easier as it avoids the setting up a caravan needs. If you stay longer a caravan saves the motorhomes problem of having to use it to get around or having to tow a car to do this.

Cost wise there is not a lot in the difference in cost of a car and caravan or a single motorhome either new or secondhand. If you need the motorhome to tow a car you would probably looking at either a higher cost or older vehicles.

On running costs a small motorhome could be cheapest with only one vehicle to insure. A car and caravan or motorhome and car have two insurances and the latter a second road tax for some cars.

Having tried a motorhome and a car and folding camper you probably know which of these suited you best. If it was the motorhome then go with that, if it was the camper then a caravan might be better for you.

If you are planning on moving frequently in your perambulations around the UK then a MH would appear to be the better option. It may well prove more convenient for far flung Scottish islands as well and may be a bit cheaper on ferries than a car/caravan rig. Disclaimer - I speak as one who has never owned a MH.

There is no right answer to this and a lot depends on how you tour. If you stop only a night or two in one place a motorhome may be easier as it avoids the setting up a caravan needs. If you stay longer a caravan saves the motorhomes problem of having to use it to get around or having to tow a car to do this.

Cost wise there is not a lot in the difference in cost of a car and caravan or a single motorhome either new or secondhand. If you need the motorhome to tow a car you would probably looking at either a higher cost or older vehicles.

On running costs a small motorhome could be cheapest with only one vehicle to insure. A car and caravan or motorhome and car have two insurances and the latter a second road tax for some cars.

Having tried a motorhome and a car and folding camper you probably know which of these suited you best. If it was the motorhome then go with that, if it was the camper then a caravan might be better for you.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions, they are much appreciated.  I guess the answer to your question is that we are likely to be spending  a significant length of time parked in one place while in the Shetlands and Orkneys and Highlands of Scotland, but may want to travel about a bit more whilst in Ireland and England.  However, I think the distances, by and large, won't be great when touring round for the day.

OZ, I'm guessing, is a lot different to what I expect the UK to be, mainly in terms of distances between sites and the climate - "it's bloody hot in OZ mate".  Also, in OZ we did some free camping.  Is it quite easy to free camp in the British Isles? 

We have just returned from a very enjoyable 7 week tour around Scotland in a caravan.

following this trip, my thoughts are that its six of one and half a dozen of the other regarding a caravan or a small motorhome or campervan.

A large motorhome doesn't seem to suit most of our requirements of this part of the world.

Many of the roads are single lane which is fine when you are just moving from one site to another but not for every day purposes.  

With a caravan we stayed on most sites for four to seven days and used the site like a hub on a wheel - travelling out every day.  The advantage was that we could go wherever we liked and could return back to the site at the end of the day with nothing to set up.  The disadvantage was the increased mileage in that we had to return to the same place each night.

Personally, we like the space in a caravan - fixed bed, large lounge etc but after this trip I could really see the benefits of a smallish motorhome, if you are the sort of person who is good at planning ahead - one site we stayed at was 29 miles away from the nearest shops.

Looking at the areas you are intending to visit, I would suggest you look closely at both the distances you have to travel each day if you intend to stay a while in each place and also do not underestimate how long it takes to get to your destination.  Single track roads can be very slow although we really enjoyed getting about at a more leisurely pace; also everything seems to be a long way from everything else!

None of the options are perfect - as another poster suggested perhaps you could hire a campervan or motorhome first and see how you get on.  Whatever you choose, I hope you have a great time

Wild camping is not allowed anywhere in the UK except Scotland but even there it is now very restricted. The cheapest option is CLs but in Scotland they can be very limited.

I have tried caravans, campervans and motorhomes and personally found motohomes the most restrictive. Despite the apparent freedom of the road their size especially height made many roads impractical. I also see a lot of motorhomes parked up for days on sites with their owners standing at bus stops which restricts you to sites in more urban areas. Campervans were fine for travel but have limited space and generally not brilliant in very cold weather due to the non-coachbuilt insulation and lack of 'double glazing'. They are best for on the go touring in the warmer months. We have settled on caravans because it suits us to site it for a few days and use the car to explore an area before moving on. The concept of towing a car behind a motohome seems to undermine the very reason for having one in my opinion. However it is great that we have a choice and what works for one may not for another. 

A small (ish) motorcaravan that you can use as a day van or a couple of nights away towing a caravan has always been my ideal but the costs are prohibitive. For me anyway.

I have read a lot of the previous threads over the last couple of days regarding the caravan/ motorhome debate and the one item that seems to puzzle me and others is this -

The main benefit of using a MH is that when travelling from Site A to Site B is you can visit places such as Locations  1,2, 3, 4 etc on the way.

If however on the spur of the moment you decide to stay at Location 2,it seems to me , for some at least, that the idea of then using the MH to visit Locations 1, 3 ,4 suddenly becomes "impossible" when before it was part of the plan

Possibly someone could explain this puzzzle