By: Brittany Galla, Parade
The Go RVing team is the consumer-facing voice of the RV industry with a mission to inspire potential RVers, spark curiosity, and raise awareness about the benefits and accessibility of RVing through rich, authentic, and diverse storytelling. Go RVing has worked with Parade to produce this article describing the best ways to have a successful summer RV trip.
Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, RV travel is all the rage right now. In fact, according to GoRVing.com, 56 million Americans plan on going RVing this summer. As a mom of two daughters (ages 3 1/2 and 1 years old), I didn’t think I would be joining the trend. For starters, we don’t own an RV, and to be honest, I envisioned countless sleepless nights, trying to entertain two kids on a long car drive, and cold showers. Sure, my husband and I enjoyed tent camping pre-kids, but pulling off an extended camping trip with two little ones in an RV seemed like a huge, daunting task.
But then my husband and I started to think about the possibility of renting an RV for a summer vacation. Having someone have the RV all set up at the campsite of our choice seemed like a game-changer for us: No hassle of car seats in the RV, or figuring out what hose goes where so you can flush (very important, FYI). So we started our search at GoRVing.com, looking at RV options that were right for us, and ended up finding the perfect RV for our family at Outdoorsy.com, a peer-to-peer RV rental company. We chose a travel trailer, the Alpha Wolf Bunkhouse by Forest River ($139/night) and decided to book a weeklong RV camping trip at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Williamsport, MD. We chose that one due to its proximity, but there are over 75 Jellystone Park locations in the US and Canada to choose from.
If you’re looking to book an RV family trip this summer, or wondering the best campsites in every state to try, we have you covered. Here’s the best advice for making your family RV trip a getaway to remember.
Sites like Outdoorsy.com, Cruise America, RVshare.com, RVUSA.com and RVezy.com are a great place to start since you can rent an RV of your choice and have the RV owner set it up for you at the campsite, or you can arrange to pick up the RV at your leisure. The industry website www.GoRVing.com provides a lot of great information on the different types of RV and their prices, but the best resource for finding the right RV is to head to your local RV dealer. When traveling with kids, don’t forget to check the amenities that the RV rental offers. For instance, our kids still take baths, so our travel trailer rental came with a bath and shower (yes, with hot water!), to rinse off.
As far as cost, motorized and towable options range from under $6,000 for a small pop-up trailer all the way up to million-dollar coaches. RV Rental costs vary based on the location, season, size, age of RV and type of RV. An RV similar to the one we rented is between $100-$140 per night. If you wanted to rent a motorhome that you can drive, the prices are a bit higher, with a range of $150-$250 per night.
There are more than 18,000 campgrounds across the US ranging from rustic to luxurious, so to narrow down our search, we looked for a family-friendly RV campsite that our kids would enjoy. Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Williamsport, Maryland, was exactly what we were looking for. The cost for RV sites during the week range from $52 per night for a site with full hook-ups up to $69 for a premium buddy site. Prices are higher on weekends and holidays. The resort also offers 1-and 2-bedroom cabins, as well as tent campsites to rent. (Cabins range from $108-$225/night, depending on the cabin; tent sites on average are $40/night).
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