Camper

Firstly, I would get one that only sleeps 2 or your children will want you to take the little ones on holiday.
Ours means "us time" and that's so important.
My two pennath would be onboard loo/shower are essential.
If you can get one with a fixed bed, it makes such a difference as making up beds every night becomes a real chore.
Get the smallest you can manage with and not the biggest you can afford for ease of driving and parking.
We had an Autosleeper with a make up bed previously.
Current one is Bailey Compact 520 with fixed bed and we love it. Only 6m long means that there's not too much "living space" but it's easy to drive and park.
And the bed is always made up for when you want to get the van rocking!

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I’d compare cost-per use against another type of holiday, taking into account initial outlay, road tax, servicing and repairs, and petrol. My partner and I have 3or4 longish holidays a year, mostly by train. We stay in 4 and 5 star hotels, and eat out every night, including Michelin starred restaurants, where available. Each holiday costs around £1000 each, so we are spending around £4000-£5000 each per annum. It’s all a matter of personal taste, of course, but I’d rather stay in comfort and have fewer breaks than sleep in a campervan. Also, we enjoy city breaks more than sea or country. You need to look at your own preferences, including what holidays you have most enjoyed, and what you would really like to experience. I camped in caravans when the children were small, and it was fine, but I wouldn’t like to do it now.

Luxury camper vans are very expensive even second hand so you really need to use them to make it worth while.
When we first retired we had contemplated buying a second handed one but decided against it because we wanted to travel worldwide in retirement and decided we probably wouldn't get to use it that much.
In stead we have hired vans twice when we visited Australia which worked out great especially when we travelled the west coast where towns are miles apart. We hired cars in other countries and stayed in B&B.
If you intend just travelling in Europe and are staying away months it could work out great for you.
We did 4 month travelling around Europe in our Espace car. The seats take out just leaving the front and we slept in the back. We also had a small tent and stayed in Lodges in Scandinavia.
If you can afford it and you will get lots of use out of it buy one.
There is nothing sadder than seeing a camper van parked for months on someone's driveway though.

I've always understood that a habitation check involved safety checks on the water, gas and electrical fittings in a van plus checking for water ingress.
We've never had a problem with rodents or other wildlife in our caravan or campers thank goodness.

We've had our folding camper for some years, and have never experienced any rodent or creepy-crawly issues. As we have mattresses & cushions, I can't see it's significantly different to a camper van.
We do keep it on the drive - that may make a difference. The problem with that is that anyone can see when we're away, but we have good neighbours on a busy-ish road, so there's a good eye on the house while we're away.
We do the 'servicing' ourselves.

Gosh, I thought Australia was the world's capital for creepy crawlies, had not imagined such determined invaders in the UK. We have never had any problems with invasive creatures damaging our caravan which we 'agist' in a local field storage area between trips. I do wonder whether these so called 'habitation checks' are just a money making scam.

In outback Oz where there really can be aggressively invasive ants we use the old trick of sprinkling talcum powder around all the points in contact with the ground ie. wheels, stabilisers, jockey wheel etc. We keep a large container of the cheapest talc in the caravan. The ants can't walk through the talc.

Hi Petra, I was merely pointing out the irony of calling the check a 'habitation check'. We're regular campers (in a tent) and were shown round a couple of modern camper vans recently. One of the ladies in the older van said that every year she experienced rodent damage which cost them some effort to clean up and mend, despite thoroughly cleaning it through at the end of (their) season and storing as many soft furnishings as possible in their house. Their van was stored in a field because they didn't have a suitable driveway. Where the van should be kept was an important consideration for us and became the deciding factor against buying one (plus the thought of all the additional work to keep out unwanted inhabitants).

NanaMacGeek
Of course they will tell you that they do a 'habitation check'
as well as all the other checks which you will pay dearly for.
But unfortunately many of these 'checks' are never carried out.

Have you somewhere safe/suitable to keep the camper when you are not away in it?

Also, we were surprised to be told that camper vans can have problems with rodents and insects getting in through the tiniest spaces and causing damage. In fact, the camper van sales agent we spoke to about this said that they carry out an ambiguously named annual 'habitation check'.

In the end, we decided we wouldn't be able to use a camper van often enough to warrant the cost.

I agree, go to one of the big shows and have a good look around. Are you campers already? I suspect not, as those of us who have camped all of our lives usually look at others tents and vans on sites and chat about them.

As campers (people that is!) get to middle age, we usually agree that we need a toilet and a bed off the floor. The three 'camping options' are:
Caravan
disadvantage = towing
Camper van
disadvantages = huge amount of money tied up in it
restrictions on some roads, in many towns etc.
transport when on site, usually solved with bikes (e-bikes very popular now) or only camping on bus routes
Folding camper (our choice)
disadvantages = having to 'set up' (being very used to tents mean we do this easily)
towing - but much easier to manage than a caravan

good luck!

One disadvantage of a camper is that you might find yourself confined to a camp site. Some of them are way out of towns if you wanted to explore you might need to have bikes too.

Good advice to hire first.

We have classic Hymer 700. We tow a smart car as we travel all over Europe and the majority of times we 'wild' camp.
Fortunately for us all the previous owners had looked after the woodwork. Only the upholstery needed doing.
We don't go without anything as we have solar panels on the roof. We have a holding tank for 'night soil' and a wonderful saterlite system so we still have our uk telly wherever we are.
As people have said: hire first.

There's a motorhome show this Thursday to Sunday at Lincoln showground if you're anywhere near.

Have to agree with Allegretto, I need a toilet on board! Our van has a bed that pulls down over the driver and passenger seat, OH has used it, I haven't. We both now use the bed that we make up out of the 2 settees, we use a memory foam mattress topper and we both sleep really well in it. Takes about 4 mins to make up from start to finish.

After 17 years travelling in camper vans I am really sad that I no longer do. But my son does. He has a marvellous Hymer which is quite luxurious compared to the beat-up old wrecks I used to travel in. Good ideas above, - hiring one first, and going to motorhome shows.

If you want to see a wide range of campervans why not visit the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC in Birmingham from 16th til the 21st October?
Our van has four belted seats and the front two seats swivel to face the table when we are parked up. We can only sleep two in the van but have a pump-up drive-away awning where the grandchildren sleep.
We downsized from a 5 berth caravan to a beautiful VW camper but couldn't get on with having no on-board toilet. Our present van is just under 6 metres long so costs the same as a car on ferries.
Good advice to hire one first though.

We hired a camper van for the first time recently, while travelling. We loved it, but the things I would want are toilet & shower, a bed that you don’t have to climb up to and a big window at the seating area. Also, check the comfort of driver’s & passenger seats as you could be driving long distances.

As you are new campers I would absolutely agree with previous posters to hire a few different campers and taking a few trips before making any purchases. Also do visit camping shows and talk to other campers on your travels. Too many newbies rush out and buy before really knowing if a) they really like camping and b) what they really want or need. The For Sale pages of camping equipment sites are full of ads for people trying to sell (usually at a significant loss) campers bought prematurely. As an experienced camper in Oz for many decades and a 5 week trip in UK I just love the open road and the freedom of camping.

PS. As one gets older do not underestimate the value of having an onboard toilet and shower.

I would advise you to hire one first, then if it's still for you go and view lots. Look at Practical Motorhome on YouTube and make two lists, must haves and what you would like. Happy camping!

Not an expert on luxury in camper vans as we have an old Hymer - but we do love it. Newer vans tend to be more luxurious, we tried 2 newer vans but prefer the older ones for build quality & size.
Maybe you could hire a van for a week to see how you get on with it. Layout of kitchen is important for us, we like the kitchen at the rear. We don't have a fixed bed, we find that the layout in terms of longer settees is not there if you go for a fixed bed layout.
Take your time and look at a couple of dealers if you can.
I was still teaching when we got our first van and it changed my life, we went away every half term and sometimes at weekends taking the dogs with us.
Good luck - hope you find a great van and love it as much as I do!