This article is about RV camping memberships. And how you can save lots of money with them.
Of course, the biggest expense for RVers, and especially RVers that like to travel a lot is camping costs.
That’s because those nightly fees are just going to add up and up. And it’s going to shock you how much you spent on camping at the end of the month.
However, if you have plenty of money you don’t have to worry about any of that.
You can just go wherever you want and you can stay wherever you want for as long as you want.
But what if you have to budget your costs of RVing? Well then, you really should get some RV campground memberships in my opinion.
Because they will be able to save you lots of money on your total costs of RV living.
And this article is about 4 campground memberships that Cheri and I have personally used.
So we have a lot of experience with them. And we can recommend them to you based on our own past experience.
Now I’m not using all of them all of the time though. And I’ll explain more about that later on in the article. So hang with me on that for a while.
Table of Contents
- RV Campground Membership #1
- Real Savings On Camping Costs With This Membership
- RV Camping Membership #2
- RV Camping Membership #3
- Nightly Costs Are Very Low In This Membership
- RV Camping Membership #4
- The Huge Advantage of Using This Campground Membership
- Why We Don’t Use This Membership Any More
- Conclusion
RV Campground Membership #1
But let’s start with number one on the list. And that is a campground membership that I keep talking about over and over again.
Honestly there’s only one reason why I do that. It’s because it has saved us more money than anything else we have purchased in our RV life.
And that RV camping membership is with Thousand Trails. Now I’ve made a couple of videos about Thousand Trails already.
And those videos go into a lot of the details about the program itself. And also what you can expect, as well as how much it saved us.
So I’m going to list those videos below here and then you can go take a look at them.
But I’ve also created a web page that pretty much has all the information on Thousand Trails that you could want to know.
And if you have a question about their program, it should be answered right there. Here is the link to that website article – https://rvinspectionandcare.com/thousand-trails-review/
But now let me tell you what I love about Thousand Trails more than anything else.
It’s the thing that never gets old to me no matter how long I’m in their program.
Real Savings On Camping Costs With This Membership
And that is paying $0/night for all of my water, sewer, and electric use at each campground. Let me say that again – $0/night!
Now to be fair, there are costs involved that has to do with buying your membership itself. And there are also annual dues to pay.
But Cheri and I have done all the numbers and run the math on what it’s cost us.
And we figure that our Thousand Trails membership has costs us less than $3/night with everything included.
Now I honestly don’t know how you’re going to do any better than that for camping costs. Especially for full hookups wherever we go!
That one RV camping membership alone has saved us thousands and thousands of dollars.
So I highly recommend that you watch the videos I listed above. And then check out the article that explains Thousand Trails memberships in detail too.
If you do, I think you really will learn a lot by doing that. And then you can decide whether it’s something that’s good for you or not.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a full-time RVer, a part-time RVer, or if you’re a snowbird.
In each case, one of the Thousand Trails RV camping memberships can work well for you.
But take a look at the information I’ve provided in the videos and that article. Then you can decide whether it’s useful for you or not.
RV Camping Membership #2
OK, let’s move along to number two on the list. And that’s Passport America.
Now Passport America is a great RV camping membership. Because it doesn’t cost a whole lot.
But it provides you a 50% discount on all of the parks and campgrounds that participate in their program.
And there’s a lot of campgrounds in their program. In fact, there’s thousands of them all across the country.
So especially when you’re traveling a lot, this can be a great membership to have.
Of course, generally it’s only for one night stays and things like that. But still, you get a 50% discount. And that’s serious!
But you might ask, what is the catch here? Well the thing to remember is, the discount is not always available at all times.
It’s mainly available during mid-week periods. And during off season times for RVing.
So the weekends and the high season is often not available at the greatly discounted rates.
However, if you’re traveling at the right time of year, this is going to be perfect for you.
I also have to say that we have used Passport America over and over again in our travels.
And we have always saved money with this RV campground membership.
Now it’s true that it costs you a little bit to get into it, but not that much.
And it has come in handy so many times for us. Plus we’ve always saved more than it cost us.
So I highly recommend Passport America as a great RV campground membership to have.
RV Camping Membership #3
Now let’s go on to number three on the list. And that’s Harvest Hosts.
They are essentially a collection of businesses that allow you to stay on their property overnight while you’re traveling through the area.
And here’s a great advantage to that. Because they’re businesses, they’re very often close to major highways where you’re traveling.
And very often they have very easy methods to get in and get out of their property.
That’s because they need to be supplied regularly as a business. So trucks are usually coming in and out to bring their supplies to them.
And if a truck can get in to supply them, an RV can usually get in easily too.
Now another advantage to Harvest Hosts is you get exposure to different things. Different products from different businesses.
And there’s all kinds of businesses in Harvest Hosts too. Like orchards, distilleries and wineries. And even golf courses.
Nightly Costs Are Very Low In This Membership
And all these businesses ask is that you spend about twenty dollars for staying there overnight.
That way it’s a benefit for you as you get to stay overnight really cheap.
But it’s also a benefit for them as they get to expose their products and services to more people.
Now keep in mind that you’re going to be boondocking there. So there’s not a lot of hookups at Harvest Hosts providers.
But the experience is still pretty good. You get to stay overnight cheap. And you get to be able to sample new things too.
On top of all of that you also get to kind of have a little adventure while you’re there.
And even if you spend twenty dollars a night. That’s a lot less than you would be spending very often at RV parks while you’re on the road.
So I highly recommend Harvest Hosts. It’s one of our favorite RV camping memberships. And by the way, it works really good for big rigs too.
That’s because it’s usually pretty easy to access these businesses and get in and out. And for big rig owners, that’s a huge plus!
RV Camping Membership #4
Now let’s move on to number four on our list of RV camping memberships. And that’s Boondockers Welcome.
They are essentially a collection of people, not businesses, who are allowing you to stay on their property overnight while you’re traveling.
They’re usually very friendly and very hospitable. And there’s a lot of RVers involved in the program that are offering their property for overnight stays.
Of course, they know what it takes to be able to RV on the road. Because they do it themselves.
And they’re happy to offer their accommodations to fellow RV travelers. So here’s a couple of good advantages of the Boondockers Welcome program.
First, you can often stay more than one night at Boondockers Welcome spots.
Yes, many of the hosts will let you stay 3 – 5 nights. Sometimes even more. And they’ll tell you that in the description of their accomodations.
So that can be a great plus when you would like to take a few days to rest up.
The Huge Advantage of Using This Campground Membership
Another advantage is that it truly is 0$/night in most cases. They don’t really expect you to spend anything with them.
Now as the name says, it’s boondocking. But there are some situations where you may have hookups and there may be a small charge for that.
However in most cases you’ll be boondocking overnight at no cost to you. And it’s really kind of a great thing to be able to do.
In fact, I know some RVers that travel all around the country spending nights at Boondockers Welcome as they go.
And can you imagine the huge savings they experience on their camping costs? It’s a very unique way to save lots of money while RVing!
However, I have to admit that Boondockers Welcome is the one RV camping membership we don’t use anymore. Why?
Why We Don’t Use This Membership Any More
Well, we found that it was great and we enjoyed our stays with the people in the program.
But because of the size of our rig, Boondockers Welcome didn’t work out as well as we had hoped.
That’s because their locations can be almost anywhere. And they’re often far away from cities and towns.
And far away from the roads that we like to travel on most. Often the roads leading to the property were smaller and more cramped than we like.
Also, getting in and out of the locations sometimes could be a little hairy too. At least for a 40 foot diesel pusher motorhome like we have.
So we just decided to use Harvest Hosts instead. Because we felt that their program fit the size of our rig better.
But what if you have a smaller RV that’s more of a normal size or smaller?
Well then, you’re probably going to really enjoy Boondockers Welcome a lot. And it’ll be a great experience for you.
You get to meet more new friendly people that way. And enjoy your time there as well.
And I’m sure it will be one of your favorite RV camping memberships.
So it may not be the best solution for us anymore. But I highly recommend it for all of you folks that have midsize and smaller RVs.
Conclusion
Well, I hope this article on RV camping memberships will be helpful for you.
We can recommend all of these camping choices to you. And that’s because we’ve used them all.
We like them all and we think you’ll like them too!
And if you save money on your camping costs, guess what? It just leaves you more money for having fun adventures in your RV travels.
Have safe and happy RV travels my friends!