I just read a newly posted review in which the reviewer stated that the sites were close together. We have stayed at that park, and I would not agree. That got me to thinking. How close is close? I'm sure there are lots of different opinions, and there are many factors that would influence that opinion, such as size of your RV, whether or not you want to put out your awning or sit outside, how close the next site's utilities are, do you want space for outside activities or do you stay mostly indoors, etc. Course we have all heard horror stories about awnings touching the neighboring RV and being able to hear the neighbors snoring. I think that would rank as "close" in any body's book. On the other hand not being able to even see the next campsite would go to the opposite extreme. So generally speaking just how much distance should there be between sites? I didn't want to set up a poll, but I am interested in your opinions. OOPS: The word "of" should not have been in the topic title. Blame it on old age.
I think anything less than 20 feet on each side would be close. We have been in COE and state parks that you can not see anyone from your site. COE and state parks on the other hand have large tracks of land to build parks on. This is not true at private parks. Land cost money so parks may be smaller and add in more sites to make more dollars. Older KOA are the pits with side by side hookups. You could only walk down the sides, less that 4 feet of space. Some parks will ask if you have sides and others could care less. I think we each know about how much space we need to be happy. We like COE and state parks over private ones if park is in a place we wish to be at, if not we use private parks. We never stay anyplace very long, two to four days and we move on to next place we wish to visit.
I would like to see at least 30 feet wide sites which would be about 10 feet from the slide to the edge of the site and 20 feet to the next camper. I have stayed in a whole lot less though. I thin the 30 feet would be the absolute min. Just got back from 3 nights at a Florida state park and 1 night at a national park and they were about 75 feet and 50 feet respectively.
Interesting question. For us, I think it's not so much distance for noise, but a bit of privacy that matters more. For example where we are right now, although the rig next to us is about 20' away, there's a nice hedge of evergreen shrubs, so we really don't see them. Not to change the subject, but what really gets us is the cigarette smoke from people in nearby rigs and sometimes distance doesn't matter, since the smoke travels. Happy Travels! Suzanne campingandtravels.blogspot.com
The wider the better as far as I am concerned. I was just reading about a park in NM this a.m. where each site is on a 1/4 acre parcel! Sounds great to me, even with the lack of trees in southern NM. I truly hate being stacked in like a "cord-of-wood", with no privacy, problems with extending your slide/awning, and a lot of noise. This why we hate KOA's (or former ones). I am very willing to pay more $$$ for a site w/some privacy and width.
If I can open my window and say "Pass the ketchup" or "pass the syrup," that is TOO CLOSE! I have been in one RV park in Poulsbo, WA, where it was, I am not kidding, "pass the ketchup." On the other hand, I have been at spots, that, on the surface, were far enough apart, but the picnic table for the RV spot next to me was too close to my spot. If the people in the RV were out on the picnic table, then I could open my window and say, "pass the ketchup." I don't want to make a judgment on distance, I'm just happy if it's far enough away that I can't say, "pass the tartar sauce." JJ
i have gotten spoiled. my seasonal site is about 50x100, at the backside it is 100 wide. like a pie. with mountain laurel between the sites and woods behind me. i have been in sites where i could not have a fire because of the trailer next door. it was either burn mine up or his. i really didn't want to get on the fire thing again, but i did. sorry. i would think 30x50 would be good enough to be comfortable. i understand that in some places the campgrounds have to pack them in to make the money for the season. it is just ashame. on the up side most of the places that i have been to, like that, we don't spend a lot of time there. we are either out on the boat or checking out the local area. just come back to sleep and eat.
For me it's not as much how big the sites are but what is between the sites. I like sites that have lot's of foliage and ground cover between them that offers you a sense of privacy even if you are maybe only about 30 foot from your neighbor. I like not feeling as if you're staring at your neighbors because there's nothing between you and them but air.
TX: No need to beat yourself up over a few misplaced letters (or typos, or mispellings, etc.). I caught at least 3 in my last post (Colorado): "there" instead of "the", "you" instead of "your" and southern spelled without the "r". It was such a longwinded post that I got very sloppy with my proofreading before posting. More on the subject, most private parks I have been to would be considered "inadequate" by most of this post's respondents. By their very nature, side-by-side hook-up sites with shared utilities are almost always too close together on the driver's side. You're lucky if there is more than 10-12' between rigs on that side. Additionally, if most of the sites are set up this way, the awning, picnic table, etc. sides are then next to each other. That can make for uncomfortable situations when one site is cooking, eating, watch TV, enjoying a fire, etc. while the othe site is trying to do the same or some other activity that interfers with the other rig's activity. I have been to a few parks where I did not stay more than a day or two because of this type of setup. Just too cramped a feeling. Generally, I don't mind a narrow site if I am just there overnight. As long as the utilities are functional and all the advertised amenities work, I can put up with a tight site for a night. Of course, there are other things that can ruin a overnight stay, but the topic is site width. With today's wide (8 1/2') bodies, 3' slides, and awnings (extending out maybe 8-10'), an RV can take up about 20' of the site width. Any site less than 30' wide doesn't leave much breathing room. If your lucky enough that the RVs on both sides of you are only 8' wide, have no slides, and don't use their awnings, a 30' wide site might seem spacious. I doubt that a situation like that arises often in a crowded park. Of course this whole discussion is moot if you don't have immediate neighbors on both sides. While this subject has been touched on in many reviews and posts, it never fails to amaze me how much space people want in an RV site. The majority of parks built more than, let's say, 15 (much less 40) years ago were not designed for today's big rigs. As noted earlier, this is one of the reasons many folks here despise KOAs. I find comments that all these park owners need to do is widen all their sites 20' or so, econonically niave at best. Sorry, that too is another topic. Seems that a some folks here would like 20'+ between rigs plus a 6' hedge or fence. Sounds more like a backyard with your rig parked in the middle. Wish lists are nice, but they are mostly dreams. In reality, few private RV parks that are open to the public have these kinds of roomy sites. Many of the newer parks I have been to may have the spacing but not the visual barrier. If you travel a lot and stay at numerous different parks every year, you will be lucky find this kind of dream site in more than a few RV parks (not public camprounds). After all my preceding comments, I think 30' is a bare minimum unless the site is too short to park the toad in front of or behind the RV and you need to side park the toad (eating up more of the site width). Then I'd go with 40'. Again, wishfull thinking. Unless the park is really empty, you are always going to have some privacy, noise, or other issues no matter how big the site is. See the "Walking through Campsites" topic. We are, afterall, out in a semi-public domain by choice and have limited control of what happens around us. Good grief - another diatribe.
I think enough room to park two vehicles on each side of my rv and the next rver to do the same would work great. That would give enough room to park our toad and get the doors open without hitting another rv or toad.
We tend to stay in state parks and COE's. But If a neighbor is too close for comfort we pull out the window awnings and close the night shades to give us and the neigbor some privacy.
