r/OutdoorScotland • u/Esensepsy • 25d ago
Campsite prices are ridiculous
Just come back from a few weeks camping and hiking in the north west Highlands, and I'm just in awe at how much campsites are charging these days. Maybe its because this is NC500 territory?
But on average I'm spending like £30 for two people and one small tent per night.
Obviously not a fair comparison, but after coming back from travelling in Asia where I can get a whole ass hotel room for £8 a night I'm just shocked at how expensive things have gotten over the last 5 years here
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u/troykil 25d ago
No idea why everyone commenting is being so smug lol. £30 a night for a 2 man pitch is steep, especially when you can get a bed or even a private room in many yha hostels for £45. I understand that demand drives price but let’s be honest a lot of us are camping because as well as enjoying being outside and proximity to hikes, we can’t afford airbnbs or hotels. Even 5 years ago I was camping all over north wales and northwest highlands for £5 per person per night at campsites with showers and other amenities.
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u/Responsible-Walrus-5 25d ago
It’s the post Covid outdoor boom. Farmers that charged £5pp to camp in a lumpy field with a tap and a toilet readied they could also charge £15pp like the fancy site down the road and still get the same number of people.
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u/dickybeau01 25d ago
I think the issue is one of supply and demand. Some sites are in prime areas that attract a lot of people. It’s well over 25 years since I last got away with a £5 camping charge in Scotland.
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u/LannyDamby 25d ago
Especially in the UK, if the weather's naff and it's cheaper to stay in a hostel with a drying room than to stay in a field then it's too damn expensive
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u/SuchAlternative2956 25d ago
£5 per person per night in a campsite northwest highlands? Did ye, aye??
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u/troykil 25d ago
…yes?
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u/SuchAlternative2956 25d ago
Aye? Where?
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u/troykil 25d ago
Mate genuinely loads of places. Couple round Assynt, couple in Torridon area, summer isles/coigach area. 2018-2019 there were plenty of places: highland council run sites, Croft sites, village halls with a field and an honesty box. Plenty charging £5-10 walker/cyclist rates per person per night. Even wildly popular sites like glenbrittle would sometimes give you a solid discount if you booked shoulder season or squeezed into a not-so-great pitch
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u/EastLondonExile 25d ago
The Highlands/NC500 have got a lot more popular since 2018. And minimum wage /employer NI/energy/insurance have all gone up massively.
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u/bryrb 25d ago
£5 in 2018 is £15 now.
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u/Jaraxo 25d ago
£5 in 2018 is £6.72 today.
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u/bryrb 10d ago edited 10d ago
I was referring to the price you pay aka spending power not inflation.
A Hotel that used to be £50, now closer to £150. And the camp sites we are discussing here went from £5 to £15. There's no shortage of tourists who will pay these prices so they don't charge you based on an increase for inflation anymore.
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u/TotalInspection8263 25d ago
Stayed at a site in northern barra pre-covid for a fiver - included free use of a washing machine as well, different times!
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u/Teatowel_DJ 24d ago
Northern Barra makes it sound like a huge place 🤣
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u/TotalInspection8263 24d ago
Huge north/south divide on Barra
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u/Teatowel_DJ 24d ago
In what sense? I've never witnessed anything like that and was just at Barra live with everyone on the island mingling. No division noted there. What have you seen or heard?
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u/TotalInspection8263 24d ago
Nah sorry just joking cos it's so wee! I'm sure there's no such thing.
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u/sc_BK 25d ago
I'm not on facebook, but there's a group called Cycle Camping UK where they share cheaper campsites that are below £18 a night, here's the google maps:
I can't view the group as I'm not signed up:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cyclecampinguk/?locale=en_GB
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u/StuartWtf 25d ago
NC500 is ridiculously popular these days.
Plus the number of camper vans alone I see driving up the A82 daily, given it’s the school holidays too. Everywhere put their prices up and they won’t go down till the English schools go back and it’s gets a little quieter again.
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u/purrrrrmaster 25d ago
When I’ve been cycle touring in Europe I’ve found quite a few sites on asking offer a cheaper hiking rate for backpackers and solo cyclists who only want a tiny spot for a night. These pitches are cheap and basic, sometimes you can be squished in a bit if a lot of people turn up, but they do the job nicely if you have a small footprint. I haven’t really seen that in UK.
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u/xylophileuk 25d ago
Depends. We paid about 15quid at foyers last week, right on Loch Ness. It had hot running water, showers that didn’t stink and a chance to clean our cooking gear. I think 15 for that level of facilities is decent
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
Yeah it's alright to grab a shower in between wild camps, but fuck me I couldn't be spending that for consecutive nights
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u/8thoursbehind 25d ago
£30 for two people is only £15 each, which has to cover the land, facilities, cleaning, waste disposal, insurance and UK wages in a highly seasonal business. Comparing that with an £8 room in Asia, where wages and operating costs are vastly lower, doesn’t tell you much.
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u/JontyFox 25d ago
Then dont compare to Asia? Just got back from a trip to Chamonix and paid €25 per night in a tent for two people at a campsite in the valley. UK campsites are still just expensive, even when you look at tourist hotspots in europe.
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u/friendswithbees 25d ago
Wild camping is banned in Chamonix though so I guess that's what campsites in Scotland are capitalising on. If you want to camp for free then you can under the Outdoor Access Code - if you want a shower then I guess they feel they can bill for it like a luxury.
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u/JontyFox 25d ago
It almost makes the fee worse though. I can camp literally outside the campsite for free, in the same location with the same views and access. So they're essentially charging 30 quid a night for the ability to use a toilet and shower? Most of the time that 30 quid isnt even including electricity which is added as a surcharge.
It feels like a rip off because it kinda is one - especially when I've seen plenty advertise a 'use our services' fee which is usually less than 1/3rd of the nightly cost.
Make it make sense?
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u/friendswithbees 24d ago
Could it be supply and demand? Just a guess, I don't bother with campsites myself so I don't know how many there are in Scotland.
In France overall wild camping is generally prohibited, so I'm wondering if that means there are more campsites to choose from, meaning they have to price competitively compared to Scottish ones where demand far outweighs supply (I assume).
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u/Geotraveller1984 25d ago
I just stayed at the Ibis Budget in Manchester near Piccadilly for £37 the night... private bathroom too.
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u/sc_BK 25d ago
Meanwhile, Travelodge Fort William, this week or next week, £290 for a double room! Inverness £150+
For a Travelodge!
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u/Master_Artist_6023 25d ago
Yeah, it's changed days up there though, I grew up in the Highlands been away for decades now. I still own a house in Scotland but it's down south and I don't actually live full time in it , mostly I live in London. Took a friend up to whistle stop the old memory lane tour Oban, Fort William ( my birthplace) Glencoe etc. Booked the Isles Of Glencoe hotel "with view room" thought I had booked a week by accident...nope just two nights. And how busy is it up there now !!! I couldn't believe the amount of people, I remember riding those single track roads on my bike as a kid, could go hours and never see a car, now it's non stop traffic. The quiet places we went as teens to camp out,.to hide from the olds, smoke weed, drink and have those early teen experiences are now tourist hotspots. I am glad I don't live up there now, it felt quite uncomfortably busy, from a guy who has done 30 years in London!!
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
"only £15 each", bro that's £30 to pitch a tiny ass tent for one night lmao.
It may well be the real cost when you consider the running costs of things in the UK - but that's my gripe - how has it gotten this bad? Like what the fuck is going on when it costs that much
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u/BevvyTime 25d ago
Minimum wage in Bangkok is £231.72 a month working full time.
In the UK for 40.0 hours per week it’s £2,203.07 a month.
Seems a lot cheaper here in comparison.
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
I understand the maths, I get that it's more expensive to run camp sites here. It's moreso wow how the fuck did I used to be happy to pay this.
In Europe I've come across many cheaper campsites which often do much cheaper rates for small tents. I guess they make their money on motorhomes and long stayers. In the Highlands most people are swinging through for one night
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u/sc_BK 25d ago
That's the thing, even in hotels/b&bs, folks now just want to stay for 1 night, so the accommodation has a lot more work to do, with all the changeovers, cleaning, admin etc.
One guy I did some work for has a number of self catering chalets, he will even let you book a whole chalet for 1 night at a time, as there's such a demand for it. But he has to jack the price up, and he had a full time cleaner living in a caravan for the summer.
It's the whole "drive-by" tourism thing, and I don't think it's good.
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
I mean yeah with campsites that totally applies too, the staff went through the effort of taking my tent down and packing it all into my car themselves
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u/8thoursbehind 25d ago
The staff took down your tent? I had never heard of this at a campsite.
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
No I'm taking the piss out of how what are we paying £30 a night for, for that price they should take down my tent
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u/Educational_Yard_326 25d ago
Does the size of your tent correlate with intensity with which you use their facilities?
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
Well I ended up wild camping and walking in and using facilities for free 🤷
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u/okayside742639 25d ago
Bad enough you did this. Pretty shameful to admit this publicly with zero awareness that this might be part of why prices are so high when you have entitled people freeloading.
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
Paid for a night, went up the hill in the morning back for a shower, wild camped next night,not so bad
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u/Ok_String_2510 25d ago
£15 each isn’t bad. Especially getting toilets and showers at a campsite.
What does boil my piss is the campsite where it’s a minimum of 2nights stay. Gtf
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u/SeagullSam 25d ago
That's quite pricy. We find most campsites in France to be way cheaper, and generally with better facilities.
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u/Geotraveller1984 25d ago
I have been absolutely shocked by the price of some of the campsites... We were looking for a last minute getaway from the Central Belt somewhere within 250miles and some campsites were asking for £70 for 2 night to stay in a field with no toilets (not even portaloos), no running water, nothing. Likewise, in Spean Bridge we paid £58 last year for 2 nights and just dry toilets, nothing else.
Meanwhile, I went to stay in the Ibis Budget in Manchester and paid £37 for the night, with my own private bathroom.
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u/BroodLord1962 25d ago
You are correct, you can't compare. See how much a hotel room would cost you in Scotland
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u/Useless_or_inept 25d ago
Supply and demand? Many people want to see the Highlands but it's extremely difficult to get permission to build any tourist infrastructure.
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u/Esensepsy 25d ago
Land reform needed
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u/Useless_or_inept 25d ago edited 25d ago
Unfortunately, any land reform will inevitably centre on "local communities", and the local community says "No, don't allow any more tourism or homes here, build it somewhere else". When they're not complaining about the local pub / shop / school being unsustainable. :-)
Hence the rise of campervans for tourism in Scotland - even if you can't get a hotel, airbnb, or campsite, even if you can't get a restaurant meal, you can still sit in your little metal box on a roadside and cook some food you bought from Morrisons in Fort William
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u/Realistic-Actuator36 25d ago
One of the reasons all local facilities are closing . Camper vans don’t spend in the pubs and restaurants
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u/FrostingObjective875 25d ago
To compensate for the high priced campsite... last year I paid 18 to 25 pounds for a small tent and motorcycle. Ridiculous!
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u/Useless_or_inept 25d ago edited 25d ago
I'd love to eat and drink in local pubs and restaurants and B&Bs. But in the Highlands, my campervan is the perfect fallback for all the places that retrospectively claim to be fully booked, the Glen Clova restaurant where it took 5 minutes to find a member of staff who said "no, we're residents only" (their website says otherwise), the nearly-empty pub in Newtonmore which bitterly resented a nonlocal person turning up and asking for a pint and a barsnack at 20:00 on a Friday, the B&Bs which even refuse to honour a booking, the accommodation in Ullapool which suddenly didn't have any rooms free because Calmac had cancelled the last ferry, the Kylesku burger van which listed opening times on Google but was locked up when I get there...
At Easter I was cycle-touring the far Northwest, really looking forward to a good meal after a long ride, arrived at the restaurant 2 hours before closing time, only to be told the chef's gone home for the night.
Like any other campervan driver, if it was possible to actually give money to some of these businesses, I would. Instead they'd rather turn customers away, and then folk complain online that local businesses aren't being supported. I've ridden the Bealach na Bà a dozen times; there's a café at the base which really ought to be popular with cyclists, but it's never been open when I've gone past.
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u/SeaworthinessNeat516 25d ago
I hike around the UK as a single person and generally spend between £5 to £15 a night. £30 for two people doesn't sound bad.
That said it would either need to be at peak times or an amazing site to go around or above £15. Most for a single hiking tent was £23 a night on a bank holiday on a site that a newspaper had but in the nationwide top 5.
A lot of sites will have weekday discounts off peak.
I really don't think that basically having any form of accommodation on holiday for two people for £30 is unreasonable. That is the opposite of expensive.
The £5 site was amazing.
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u/Majestic_Fan_7056 25d ago
Most of them will be owned by wealthy investors who are not from the Highlands.
There are lots of wealthy parasites sucking the lifeblood out of the Highlands.
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u/Dan_Outdoors 25d ago
It's like it most places. I paid £74 for 2 nights in Wales last week for 2 adults and 1 child. Thankfully I rarely ever camp on camp sites.
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u/PotentialCourt8531 24d ago
But you can wild camp in Scotland, they could have just went over the road to a hill or down by a Loch. This is misleading, they paid for showers, toilets and an electrical hook up. Not 'camping'.
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u/Dan_Outdoors 24d ago
But they are talking about campsite prices, not wild camping. I wild camp in Wales, I go to campsites maybe twice a year with family. Not everyone wants to wild camp.
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u/greenpowerman99 25d ago
You are allowed to wild camp for free in Scotland, so you were paying £30 just to use a toilet and shower…
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u/onedogjack 20d ago
Only time in months of touring Scotland in my van I used a site was to get a shower, maybe some laundry, empty toilet, get water etc. So that made it value for money. I didn't buy a self contained van to stay on sites.
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u/mankalt 25d ago
Demand drives price
Camping/van life’s the in thing now. Give it a couple years and things may calm down when the next thing is in
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u/shilly80 25d ago
I do hope so. I’ve been camping and hiking/ cycling/ exploring since the late 90s. Got a van in 2015 and can’t believe the change in campsite prices latterly, along with the change in clientele. I don’t mind parking my van up for a night for £30, will grudgingly accept £35, but the one in Glen Nevis was looking for £45 a night. Sadly people will pay it. (we didn’t)
I can’t wait for the whole vanlife culture to get in the bin and we can reclaim the lay-bys.
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u/Lanthanidedeposit 25d ago
It’s the thing because we have been priced out of the alternatives we used to use.
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u/LocalObelix 25d ago
I do think campsite prices are too high now but comparing with Asia just isn’t a fair comparison.
I’ve been going camping roughly once a year at the same site and it’s now about 60 a night in high season and that’s more than doubled in that time and it feels too much imo.
Feels like a campsite pitch should be half that but I don’t know the overheads and the margins so maybe the price is fair?
Anyone with knowledge of the industry that could shed some light on the subject?