Moving from Caravan to Motorhome

We have tried both but found motor homes were too limiting. The space is much more cramped especially if you want a fixed bed as the lounge area suffers. When you stay on a site you invariable see most motorhomes never moving and their owners are limited to using buses which means many rural sites are out of the question. Some tow a small car but that seems to undermine the reason for having a motorhome. We found pitching a caravan on a site for a few days and using the tow car to cover the area and then move on works best for us.

just as there is no 'right' choice for everyone, i guess there is no 'right' way to use a MH or even a caravan....

we generally use it in two ways, often in the same break....stopping at places we might like to visit (prior to the 'sleeping' place) or to collect supplies at a supermarket along the route, but also staying on site for a few days while we explore on our bikes.

i definitely feel more confident about our 'style' of touring when 'away' as its geared up far better for MHs and easy, unplanned stopping....either just for a break or for overnighting.

setting up and moving on is just so easy compared to caravanning neighbours who seem to spend ages (certainly at two of the sites recently visited) packing up awnings, groundsheets, gazebos, cooking tents,outside fridges etc....

just look at the posts we see asking for advice on stop overs when referring to the uk or when someone is in a caravan...this is likely to mean finding a proper site (and booking it) as 'casual' parking/sleeping (or even turning up at the site on spec) isnt generally the norm over here.

when we tour in the uk, everything changes....our tour suddenly becomes planned, with sites booked, timings adhered to, no real impromptu 'touring' as i normally use the word... 

if i had to tour just here, id have a caravan.....(possibly).

re: Alans point about space, we dont feel we lack any room, theres just two of us but five seats, a proper table to dine at and our bed is nearer kingsize than double. we also have a 2 cu mtr garage to store all our gear including bikes.....so, not exactly strapped for room, all in 6.4m and 3.5t.

anyway, we're outside as often as we can be, only using the van after dark when abroad or when it rains in the uk......

Whilst I don't want to change anyones minds one way or the other I am puzzled why people claim motorhomes don't have as much room as caravans. Mine does.

David

I don't think it is a simple as that David. Not sure what motorhome you have though. 

I think that for many it is just that to get the internal space that they want the motorhome becomes unwieldy for off site use.

After 30 years Caravanning we bought a new Autosleepers motorhome last year. At 6.3m long it is compact enough to take to places we were nervous of visiting with the large Bailey fixed bed caravan that we ended up with before trading it in. We still stay for up to two weeks on some sites but conversely it is wonderful to be able to move on with the minimum of fuss. No unhitching, manoeuvring, fetching water and so on. Easier to drive and less stress when reversing or driving on narrow roads.

We never used to use the car much for local sightseeing so don't miss that but we do take a little more care in looking for sites near to towns or shops. It has reawakened our pleasure in touring Europe which we were in danger of losing with the caravan. Suddenly we are going "off-piste" again.

Our friends have the same motor caravan as yours and our c/van size for size has much more space

OP you don't seem to have had many responses from people travelling with young children and I'd suggest asking elsewhere as well. 

Our friends with youngsters started off with a MH but changed to a caravan within a year. It didn't work well for them at all. We looked at MHs initially when our kids were younger but decided it wouldn't work for us and bought a tent then a caravan. 

I'd definitely recommend hiring if you can 

Alan

That is true to an extent as once on a site we don't take the motorhome off site as we feel it is a bit on the large size to do that. However many owners of the same motorhome do take them off site. We tend to stay on sites within easy walking/transport links of places of interest. It will depend on the style of motorhoming you want to do and I take Hitchglitch's point that smaller one is more convenient if you do want to use a motorhome as a vehicle to visit places. In fact we are thinking along similar lines although no decision yet made!!!

David

I don't know what caravan you have. However our last caravan was a dealer special based on the Swift Charisma 550 with an overall length of 7.3mts. It had a very similar layout to the motorhome we now have except that it had an end bathroom where as we now have a side bathroom. As the Bailey range of motorhomes are quite wide, certainly wider than our last caravan, we feel things are as spacious as the caravan. I would be interested to know where you feel you have more space?

David

Well as JVB is not around David the size looks good. What is the overall length David