Cost of RV Vacations
Lately I have seen a few posts on social media about how people are “done with RVing” because of how expensive it is. I think people honestly thought that just because they were not flying in an airplane and staying in a hotel they were not going to have to spend any money on vacation. Just because you are not flying and staying in a hotel (which are both very expensive) it doesn’t mean that your vacation as a whole is going to be that much cheaper. It all depends on how you like to travel and how much time you have. In this article I am going to put together a couple of vacations to compare the cost of a traditional “destination vacation” (flying and hotel) vs an RV vacation.
10 Day Vacation – Minnesota to Orlando – For a Family of Four
For the purpose of this comparison we are going to pretend that we are a family of four people. Two adults and two children. We are also going pretend that we are going to go on this vacation in the middle of summer (peak camping and travel season).
Travel by Air and Stay in a Hotel
Please keep in mind that these prices are estimates that were made at the time of the writing of this article. Who knows what the actual prices will be in a year or two (or even a day or two) from now.
Flight from MSP to Orlando – for a non-stop flight to Orlando this summer it would cost you around $330 per person (as of the date of this article). That means this vacation would cost you $1320 in airfare. Honestly, this seems a little high for me I would probably wait and keep watching for a deal. You may be able to save a little here (I’m thinking around $150 ish per person).
9 Nights in Hotel – Ahh hotels. The sky is the limit here. You could spend around $100 per night or much, MUCH more. For the sake of this article, lets say you are thrifty but still need a pool for the kiddos so you are going to spend $150 per night (totally reasonable). Hotel for 9 nights = $1350
Rental Car – Again, you could spend as much as you want on a rental car. For our purpose though we are going to get a standard/midsize car. We can squeeze together for a week right? 10 day car rental = $250.
Gas – We still need to figure in gas for this vacation. Lets figure a total of 1000 miles. That will get you out an about plenty and even a trip or two to the ocean. 1000 miles / say 25 miles per gallon = 40 gallons of gas. GasBuddy.com says the average cost per gallon of gas nationally in 2019 will be $2.70. We will use that number. 40 gallons x $2.70 per gallon = $108 in gas. Pretty cheap!
Food – Eating out for every meal, say an average of $12 per meal (probably a little cheap). I personally try to stay in a condo with a kitchen to save some money on food. Using these numbers you would spend $1440 in food alone.
Entertainment – Since both vacations would have a need for entertainment I figure this would be about the same between the two. For the purpose of this article I’m not going to figure any entertainment in and just assume both vacations are spending the same on entertainment.
Total estimate for this vacation = $4468.
RV Vacation
Trip Route and Gas. We are going to travel to Orlando via Nashville, Tennessee and Savannah, Georgia. This is approximately 1660 miles. Lets pretend we get 10 miles to the gallon (not a lot). Lets also round to 2000 miles to allow for some exploring. 2000 miles / 10 miles per gallon = 200 gallons of gas. 200 gallons x $2.70 = $540.
We are going to travel home to Minneapolis via New Orleans, Louisanna and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. This is approximately 1900 miles. Lets round up again to 2400 miles to allow for exploring. Assuming the same gas mileage and gas price. 2400 miles / 10 miles per gallon = 240 gallons of gas. 240 gallons x $2.70 = $648.
Total Cost of Gas = $1188
Lodging – Camping, much like a hotel, can vary greatly in price. You could boondock (dry camp) somewhere for FREE. Or you could stay in a resort with super cool amenities and pay $$$ too. Let’s say on average we spend $50 per night to camp. $450 in camping.
Food – Since your kitchen is traveling with you food is much cheaper. For the sake of this article lets say meals are $5 ($20 to make a breakfast in a camper is expensive! Steak anyone?). This still means your food budget is less than half of the above vacation at around $600.
Entertainment – as we said earlier, I think this would be a wash between the two vacations. You are going to pay for entertainment on either vacation. If you are movie people you are going to go to movies no matter how you travel. If you are park people you are going to do that.
Total estimate for this vacation = $2238
For this example, a traveling family of four, the RV vacation is more cost effective. Traveling by RV would be almost half of the air and hotel vacation. Some other factors to consider are: how many people would be driving? Can the children endure the travel days? Can you?
What if there are only 2 people traveling though?
Using the same numbers, the air and hotel vacation would be $3088 and the RV vacation would be $1938.
Just for fun…What if we took the EXACT same vacation only flying instead of driving?
Traveling to the same cities via airplane and hotel this vacation would cost you $5860 for a family of four (compared to $2238 in the RV).
So really, which is better?
For me it depends on my goal and how much time I have. If I only have a long weekend to travel I would probably fly so that I could spend most of my time at my destination. Otherwise for a week or more vacation I prefer to road trip. I feel like I get to see and experience more. One of my favorite parts of a road trip is stopping in the smaller cities and towns and checking them out. I love getting to see things that are not on everyone’s travel guide. This is not something that I typically get to do on a destination vacation.
No matter which style of vacationer you are I think the most important thing is just that you VACATION! Get out. Get away from the everyday at home. Have some fun!!!
Happy Camping!
36 Comments
Lisa
I think the initial cost might be hard for some people. But it would pay off for sure if you travel a lot!
Joanne
Looks like you are an RV travel pro! Good information for those who may be interested in an RV!
Jacki
I love staying at campgrounds but never really looked at how much more affordable it really is! Nice comparison!
Malia
I so appreciate that you took the time to actually break down the costs and do a comparison! It is so nice being able to compare apples to apples. We are a campervan family, and this was lovely to read!
Charlene
I need to get our family an RV!! We could travel for nothing more than gas money. Instead of the 9 plane tickets we currently need lol
Angelina
This is a great perspective! I agree totally about flying if you have a short period of time, but RV’ing for a longer trip can definitely be more economical!
Cilla
This is one reason why we purchased an RV. We took a trip to Yellowstone and Montana and it would have been $300+ a night for hotels. RV is an investment for your family.
Katie Wolfe
Thanks for the great article. I keep trying to convince my husband that we should RV-it but he worries about the amount of extra time it takes. Maybe your article will help convince him.
Leigh Ann
This is a great comparison and really shows the difference in the types of travel. I’m with you, with enough time, road trips are great. You get to see the country more and enjoy the whole experience.
Theresa
MN! Yeah! Excellent post! We love camping but as we get older, tenting is a little more difficult. We might have to take up RV and take your advice! Keep having fun with the family!
Nikki
This is so helpful! We are looking into getting an RV at some point and I’m always doing research on the costs associated with owning it and using it for trips. Thanks
Karla
I LOVE road trips! This is good.
Heather
I love breakdowns like this. I think a lot of people assume one way to cheaper than another. I also like to throw in time. Time is money and we factor that into a decision as to how we will travel.
Barbara
We may have to look into the RV travel life. half the cost, way to go. Do you own or rent your RV?
Nicki
We own. It would be MUCH more expensive to rent.
Suzan Ferreira
Save $$$ and gain memories. Thanks so much for the breakdown!
Robin
Nice idea to break it all down like that- it’s really interesting to see! With an RV, the journey really is part of the vacation, so people certainly need to consider that part, thank you!
Katie
I really miss my parent’s camper! I loved going anywhere in that! Something about knowing that your bed and sheets are clean!
judean
The best RV related read so far for me. It is so helpful to break it all down to $$ and cents.
Stacey
We usually do road trips, but we haven’t traveled with a camper in years. We do love the flexibility of driving, so that’s what we’ve done the most. We like making little stops along the way to see interesting things. Maybe we’ll get a camper again someday!
Katie
This is such a great comparison. Very informative! My fiance and I haven’t been able to travel in our RV yet but we can’t wait!
Sharon
This is a great breakdown of the costs of each. I would love to do the RV thing but it’s just not my husband’s speed.
Carolina
I agree with you, I think if there is plenty of days to enjoy then RV will be better but if you only have a few days then flying is the way to go. We like to do both, as long as we are together as a family we are happy.
Rob
My dad and I had this same conversation….mom and dad would go on month long fly and drive trips, we RV. In general we were $2000 less than their trips. But what about all that driving….as you laid out there are great places to visit enroute. And we are always sleeping in our own bed….no concerns about when sheets are changed or what creepy stuff is on the remote. We do eat out more….but what the heck it is part of the adventure. Thanks for the article.
Lina
This is a great comparison. We love going on road trips but never with an RV.
Kim
Great comparison! For me, I just want to get to the destination so flying is my choice 🙂
Jenny
This is a pretty comprehensive breakdown. You’ve picked a pretty standard trip and I think the comparison you’ve done brings your point home. It’s certainly not free to go the camping route, but I think your money goes further especially for a family of four. As you mentioned, though, it depends on how you like to travel and how much time you have.
Amber Neil
We are the same way! We are actually packing our rig up now! We try to take our everywhere!
jen
This is timely. i’m considering renting an RV for a two week journey
Jennifer Morrison
What a great comparison! We love camping because it is so affordable. Our favorite place to camp is 30 minutes up the hill from our house! LOL. Then we just pay the 28 camp fee, and food, barely any fuel, yet we are in paradise at the lake. We have never gone RV’ing, but I have thought about looking into it.
Lynn Geiser
The comparison is great. I’ll take our RV, I do love sleeping in my own bed every night.
Cindy
Great comparison piece! Thanks for doing all the research. RVing wins.
Pauline
I think tv camping is much cheaper. Or even tent camping for that matter. We dry camp so no fees, meal plan and stay within a five hour driving radius. We stay close to home because we are lucky to have lots of camping in our area.
Amanda
I guess that would also depend on if you own your own RV or need to rent one. We don’t own one and I’m not sure how much they are to rent. It still seems like you would save quite a bit even if you had to rent one. I am curious to know your thoughts on this?
Nicki
You are absolutely right. If you had to rent an RV or motorhome it would be MUCH more expensive. I think it is actually pretty expensive to rent an RV. The numbers I have seen run anywhere from $100 – $250 per night.
T.M. Brown
This is the kind of post my husband and I need to read through together as we begin to discuss the future. This is a great breakdown with pros and cons. It really does come down to the plans and goals. Thanks for doing the hard work on this!