Campsite Arrival Times

[Chrisgr31]

Campsites usually want people departing to leave by a certain time (often 10am) and those arriving to arrive after a certain time (often noon). There are obvious reasons for this, allows the pitch to checked, grass cut etc, but in other cases its because the access road isn't necessarially suitable for caravans to pass each other.

It seems that often people arrive at campsites expecting to get access before the official commencement time, often well before that time. Certainly on the site we were on last week people were arriving 2 hours before the official arrival time.

Is it reasonable to arrive early, or should campsites hold people arriving until the official time, or charge them extra for early access?

Obviously there can be an issue if driving a long distance with accurately predicting arrival time, but then why should some people get hours extra on their stay?

[bluelightbabe]

Some campsites do charge for early check-in. They usually have a late check-out option too. I don't think we've ever taken advantage of an early check in but regularly have a late check out. Sometimes we pay for it when we book, other times we pay once we're there.

We've been touring in France a few times and all the campsites we've stayed at there are check out by 12pm, check in at 2pm. Not sure if that's the rule across the whole of France but it makes sense as there's no variation and everyone knows where they stand.

Perhaps the time period between check out and check in is so the staff have chance to do their duties like clean the toilets/showers, empty bins, general maintenance with less people there to bother them or get in the way.