A recreational vehicle park (RV park) or caravan park is a place where people with

recreational vehicle A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

s can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites". They are also referred to as

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

s, though a true campground also provides facilities for

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

; many facilities calling themselves "RV parks" also offer tent camping or cabins with limited facilities.

Services

Allocated space (pitch/site) facilities may include: * AC power connection. (Usually rated by capacity such as 15, 20, 30 or 50

ampere The ampere (, ; symbol: A), often shortened to amp,SI supports only the use of symbols and deprecates the use of abbreviations for units. is the unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI). One ampere is equal to elect ...

s.) *

Drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

connection * Sewer connection * Television connection (relevant to local area standards) * Telephone connection (rare outside North America) *

Hotspot (Wi-Fi) A hotspot is a physical location where people can obtain Internet access, typically using Wi-Fi technology, via a wireless local-area network (WLAN) using a router connected to an Internet service provider. Public hotspots may be created b ...

Park facilities may include: *

Barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

area * Bathhouses *

Convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

* Dump station *

Exercise equipment Exercise equipment is any apparatus or device used during physical activity to enhance the strength or conditioning effects of that exercise by providing either fixed or adjustable amounts of resistance, or to otherwise enhance the experience or ...

Gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collect ...

Golf Course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s * Hot tubs *

Laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with t ...

Picnic table A picnic table (or picnic bench) is a table with benches (often attached), designed for working with and for outdoor dining. The term is often specifically associated with rectangular tables having an A-frame structure. Such tables may be referr ...

s *

Restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

* Recreation Hall *

Shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers have temperature, spray pressure and adjustable showerhead nozzle. The simplest showers have a ...

s *

Swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

Occasionally,

Electric Vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

owners will use the electrical facilities at RV parks to charge their cars - especially in rural areas where other charging facilities are unavailable. In North America, "50 amp" ( NEMA 14-50) connections are especially desirable for EV charging. The "30 amp" ( TT-30), "20 amp" ( NEMA 5-20), and "15 amp" ( NEMA 5-15) connections may also be used, but offer progressively slower charging speeds.

RV parks by region

Australia

In Australia there is generally no differentiation between an RV park and a

trailer park A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and eas ...

. The term "caravan park" is used to refer to both. The term "holiday park" is becoming increasingly common, with many parks increasing their stock of on-site cabins, often accompanied by a reduction in the number of caravan sites, generally having higher quality facilities than the standard caravan park.

Europe

Caravan sites in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

range in facilities depending on their age. Most new sites will be built to high

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

standards and have facilities compatible with the newest vehicles. The

Caravan Club The Caravan and Motorhome Club is an organisation representing caravan and motorhome users in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and now represents nearly one million members (caravanners, motorhomers and campervanners). Hi ...

has 1 million members in Europe with around 200 self-owned campsites and over 2,500 third party certificated locations, more commonly known as CL sites. The Camping and Caravanning Club is a non-profit organisation which has been running for over a century and has over 400,000 members and 100 campsites in the United Kingdom. In France, Germany and Italy, to a lesser degree also in Norway and Netherlands, a large network of dedicated stopover sites for motorhomes has grown since about 1980. These sites are called ''Reisemobil-Stellplatz'' in German or ''Aire de Camping-car'' in French. While these sites can usually not be compared to North American RV sites regarding size and facilities, they still fulfill the same purpose.

New Zealand

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, motor camp, caravan park or holiday park are all terms typically used to describe overnight or long term vehicle-based camping. Along with powered sites for caravans, the parks usually offer tent sites and cabins, and a shared building with cooking facilities.

North America

SB US 19-98 at Withlacoochee River-RV Resort

RV parks range from rustic facilities with no or limited utility hookups, as often found in state/provincial parks and national parks, to luxury resorts with amenities that rival fine hotels. Some high-end resorts restrict the type of RV that can stay to motorhomes of a certain length or longer, and/or newer than a certain year. Most RV parks are open to allcomers and rent spaces on a nightly or weekly basis, much like a

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. A few parks operate on a

time-share A timeshare (sometimes called vacation ownership) is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each own ...

basis. Membership campground networks like Thousand Trails operate like clubs, with members paying an initial membership fee and annual dues. There are over 13,000 privately owned RV parks and over 1,600 state parks that cater to RVers in the USA. Many of these RV parks offer WiFi hotspot access on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; occasionally, WiFi is included in the campsite fee. Most RV parks are independent or operated by a government entity. In the United States,

Kampgrounds of America KOA (short for Kampgrounds of America) is an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds. Having more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, it is the world's largest system of privately owned campgrounds. It was founded i ...

(KOA), is the largest and best-known chain of RV parks, with Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts a distant second. Good Sam Parks are mostly independently owned RV campgrounds endorsed by the

Good Sam Club The Good Sam Club is an international organization of recreational vehicle (RV) owners and the largest organization of RV owners in the world. It is focused upon making RVing safer and more enjoyable, also, saving money for members through club- ...

, a large association of US RVers that is operated for profit by the Affinity Group, Inc. Listings of RV parks can be found in printed directories; the best known are the annual ones by ''Woodall's'' and ''

Trailer Life ''Trailer Life'' is a magazine that reviews recreational vehicles, provides articles on travel trailers and towing as well a focus on the outdoors, recent trends and popular destinations. History ''Trailer Life'' was founded in July 1941 as ''We ...

Magazine''. Online and mobile app RV directories are provided by AmericaOnWheels.com, CampRate, Campendium, eCampGuide, MobileRVing.com, Reserve RV, RoverPass, RV Parks & Campgrounds, RVParkReviews, RVThereYet, The Dyrt and others. Overnight rates for most USA RV parks are US$15 to US$50, although some in cities and country parks may be US$10 or less; even free. There is a

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

of "

fulltiming __NOTOC__ Fulltiming is a term used among motorhome individuals and families who live "full-time" in their motorhome or RV. Such mobile individuals are often called fulltimers. Fulltiming is a worldwide activity, and there are many bloggers who r ...

" RV owners who live in their recreational vehicles on a permanent basis. They typically move from one RV park to another. The length of time that someone is allowed to stay in an RV park varies from park to park.

References

Recreational vehicles Campsites