Does anyone have a micro camper (basically a converted Berlingo or similar)? I've just bought one and am excited about my first trip but I'm looking at the cost difference between a campervan pitch and tent pitches with electricity on a couple of sites and the tent pitch is much cheaper. I'm wondering if I can just pay for a pitch for a tent with car but then sleep in the car instead of a tent.
Any other hints or tips from micro camper owners also welcomed.
Are you a tent or a campervan. Doesn't matter if the van is Micro or Huge. Be honest and pay the bill. I pay the same pitch price as vehicles three times bigger. I am still occupying the same sized pitch.
Quote: Originally posted by salley on 29/9/2021
Does anyone have a micro camper (basically a converted Berlingo or similar)? I've just bought one and am excited about my first trip but I'm looking at the cost difference between a campervan pitch and tent pitches with electricity on a couple of sites and the tent pitch is much cheaper. I'm wondering if I can just pay for a pitch for a tent with car but then sleep in the car instead of a tent.
Any other hints or tips from micro camper owners also welcomed.
I could be wrong, however, I suspect the campervan pitch has 16A electricity supply and not 10A, and is likely to be closer to the facilities blocks, and likely to be a hardstanding pitch or a combination of gravel and grass etc...
For the sake of transparency and to reduce the risk of you being kicked out of a site for being dishonest etc., I would ask the sites in advance whether you would be able to book a grass pitch with EHU for your micro camper.
That's what I would do myself.
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On one site I was charged more for my tent than my friends were charged for their 5-berth caravan with full awning. Their awning alone was bigger than my tent.
This is an issue that has vexed us over the years, but as we are mostly camping in France it is slightly different.
When we started with a tent, it was cheapish. Then when we swapped the tent for the VW we paid for EHU as well, so it was dearer. The ACSI discount scheme charges a fixed rate for 2 persons + 1 unit + EHU, so that's ok too.
In France, many sites have a 'package' rate same as ACSI and that is what they charge if they're not in the scheme.
One of our favourite sites charged a whopping 7.50 euros extra for van instead of tent, this did include EHU, but in the smaller print we found that we were also charged for waste (toilet) disposal and water refill. As we have no toilet onboard, we are exactly the same usage as a tent, in fact we are probably lighter users than a tent as we have no groundsheet spoiling the grass, and still the same 1 vehicle.
On one visit I managed to persuade the receptionist that we were a tent, and paid accordingly, but mostly they don't allow that.
We still go there though as it is a favourite site, but just for 1 night, it still niggles me every time.
This is something I have noticed of late.
You can be charged more for having a campervan on a grass pitch with no EHU than a tent. (can't get my head round this as a van does less damage)
Then they will then charge you extra for an Awning.
I tend to avoid these sites.
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Most sites charge for a pitch with electric regardless of what you put on it. They might charge extra for dogs & awnings etc. They may also have hard standing pitches which motorhomers often use & bigger pitches which they charge extra for. You have a campervan. Just book it as that on a standard pitch with electric is best bet.
This time of yr you should be paying less than 20 quid a night for pitch with electric.
I suppose it is worth pointing out that ime there is little enforcement of rules. We are at Cromer for a few days & we have not even seen the site owners. When we arrived an envelope was just left in a box as arranged. Nobody comes around checking anything really.
Quote: Originally posted by billy on 10/10/2021
I suppose it is worth pointing out that ime there is little enforcement of rules. We are at Cromer for a few days & we have not even seen the site owners. Nobody comes around checking anything really.
Depends on the site.
About half the ones we’ve been on these last 2 years (with Covid restrictions) had a manager or warden that walked around checking everything was ok & having a distanced chat if we were sat outside.
Thanks for the replies. I'll just see how it goes. As a single camper with a tent it always surprises me how different the various pricing structures are anyway.
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Topic: Microcamper - Berlingo
via mobile 10/10/2021 at 9:46am
