The pros & cons of holiday in a van

Is this the right type of holiday for you?

Holiday in a van isn’t for everyone. It’s not the most luxurious way to spend a holiday, but if a few inconveniences and a bit of work and planning doesn’t daunt you, you could be in for an adventure of a life time! Below you’ll find a list of pros and cons we discovered on our first ever van trip.

👍🏼 The pros

THE COST FACTOR
One of the main reasons we opted for the van was the cost factor. With our little house on wheels, we managed to combine and save costs on accomodation (100-150 €/night for an average 2-star hotel) and rental car (60 €/day for a compact car eg. Seat Leon). As the van was equipped with a small gas stove and cooking utensils, we saved a lot of money by cooking our own meals, rather than having to dine in restaurants every day.

FLEXIBILITY
Apart from a few days where we had booked tickets with fixed dates and time slots for visiting certain landmarks, we were free to come and go as we please. We weren’t bound by location or check-in/check-out times. If we liked a certain place, we stayed longer. If a city didn’t interest us as much as we thought it would, we moved on. We took several unplanned detours and ended up in towns that weren’t in our original intinerary, but definately worth visiting.

BEING REMOTE
Dining on noodles and drinking wine in the middle of an olive grove, opening the sliding door and seeing the ocean first thing in the morning, drinking your morning coffee on the edge of a cliff is something special.

👎🏼 The cons

DON’T EXPECT LUXURY
A camper van isn’t a 4-star hotel. It’s cramped, the beds aren’t very comfortable and if, like us, you rented a van powered by leisure battery instead of gas, you don’t have hot water unless connected to a power source. Meals are simple (but that doesn’t mean it’s not tasty) and depending where you park, not always quiet at night.

IT TAKES A FAIR AMOUNT OF PLANNING AND WORK
This, in my opion, istn’t really a con, but for those who simply want to relax and not to take on any responsibility, it might be. Simple things like where to stock up on food, gas and other supplies, where the nearest fuel or service station is, and, most importantly, where to park for the night, all need to be planned. Tasks such as getting rid of waste water, cleaning the portable toilet and filling the van with fresh water, need to be done every 3 - 4 days.

MISSING OUT ON NIGHT LIFE
Also a minor problem, but one to consider if you really want to soak up the culture. Parking in the larger cities such as Granada or Seville usually was a problem. In many areas, it wasn't allowed to park overnight or the parking spots were too small or felt unsafe. Most of the time, we spent the night at picnic spots or industrial areas outside of the city, meaning we didn’t get to spent evenings in the city.

Conclusion

Would I go on a van holiday again? The answer is definately yes! The flexibility and feeling of freedom that came with travelling in a van far outweighed the cons in my list. There are a few things I would do different the next time (eg. invest in renting a van powered with gas, for warm water), but also some things I would want to miss.