What it means to keep a caravan on a seasonal pitch

1What you are actually buying

On a normal stay you pay per night: you arrive, you use a pitch, you leave it free. On a season you pay for a long period — usually six months to a year — and the pitch is yours for all of it, whether you use it or not. The caravan stays put, awning and all, and you come and go on weekends and holidays.

That changes three things. The price is quoted per season, not per night. The particular pitch matters far more, because you will be looking at it for months, and the gap between 70 m² with no water and 100 m² with its own sink is priced in. And there is a contract — insurance, deposit, who may use the pitch, what happens if you sell the caravan — that a one-week stay never involves.

2Annual seasons, half seasons and single months

Every campsite names them differently, but three things are being sold:

• Annual season: the caravan stays on the pitch all year, either twelve months or from opening to closing. It is the most common one and the one to compare campsites by.
• Half season: summer and winter sold separately, roughly six months each. Some campsites only sell these, and book both back to back and they discount it — which in practice is an annual season under another name.
• Single months or short periods: July, August, spring, autumn. Dearer per month, but the way to try a campsite before committing to a year.

3"Annual" does not always mean you can go any day

This is the costliest misunderstanding. An annual season means the caravan stays on the pitch for twelve months. It does not mean the campsite is open twelve months, nor that you may sleep there whenever you like.

Some campsites with annual seasons open only at weekends, on public holidays and during school holidays, and are shut midweek. Others open daily in summer and weekends only for the rest of the year. And a few close for a few winter months and require you to take the caravan away during the closure, which means finding storage and paying for two tows.

They are three separate questions and all three are worth asking: does the caravan stay all year? which days is the campsite open? is there any period when I must remove it?

4What the price covers, and what it usually does not

The season fee normally covers the pitch and access to the facilities for the people named on the contract. Beyond that each campsite decides, and the differences run to hundreds of euros a year:

• Electricity: it may be included up to a consumption cap, metered by the kilowatt, or charged as a daily fee for every night you stay. That last one is the most underestimated: a few euros a night, times the nights you actually go, can add up to half a season.
• Water and waste: some pitches have neither, and the tariff does not always say so.
• Amperage: 5 or 6 A covers little beyond lights and a fridge; 10 A lets you live normally. Always ask.
• Deposit: a separate sum refunded at the end, typically around €200.
• Visitors, a second car, pets and tourist tax: almost always outside the price, and some campsites take no dogs at all.

5When to book and how it is paid

Next season's rates are set late: many campsites do not have them until October or November, and until then they do not know which pitches will be free either. If you are looking for next year, October to January is the window.

Payment almost always comes in three shapes, and the gap between them is real: early payment (a discount for paying before a set date), payment in full, and two to four instalments, which is the dearest. At some campsites the early-payment discount is over €300.

Two more things that surprise anyone used to booking holidays online: some campsites require you to visit the pitch before signing, and others sell seasons only to returning customers. At the best-placed ones, the usual outcome is not choosing a pitch but joining a waiting list.

6What to ask before signing

• The exact season dates, and which days I may actually use the pitch.
• Whether the caravan stays on the pitch during any closure and, if not, where it is stored and at what cost.
• How electricity is charged, at what amperage, and whether the pitch has water and waste.
• The size of the pitch, and whether I can see it before signing: they are not all worth the same.
• Deposit, compulsory insurance, and what happens if I do not renew next year.
• How much the rate has risen over the last few years. Nobody asks, and it explains more money than anything else.