Compact camper vs. larger motorhome

The hard differences

On the key points, the two categories are worlds apart:

• Length: compact ±5.30 m versus 6 – 7.5 m.
• Height: under 2 m with the pop-top folded down versus 2.6 – 3.2 m.
• Sanitary: portable toilet and outdoor shower versus a fixed wet room.
• Parking: a normal parking space and parking garage versus a storage spot.
• Driving behaviour: like a large car versus a distinct van feel.
• Fuel consumption: typically a few litres per 100 km lower for compact.

Choose large if…

You're on the road for months at a time, you travel in winter, or you really can't do without your own shower and toilet. A larger motorhome also wins with three or more children, or if you want to sit down and eat indoors with four people at the table while it's raining outside.

Then be honest about the consequences: storage costs, no parking garages, caution on narrow roads and in historic town centres, and a second car at home.

Choose compact if…

You want to go away more often for shorter trips, leave spontaneously, drive through European villages and along coastlines, and use the camper during the week too. And if you're fine walking to the sanitary building for a shower.

The underrated benefit is frequency of use. A compact camper you use fifty times a year gives more enjoyment per euro than a large one that only comes out for twenty days.

What you don't have to give up in a compact camper

The misconception is that compact automatically means spartan. In a well-designed compact camper you get a fixed bed of over 2 metres, a kitchen with a fridge with freezer compartment and two burners, seating for four, standing height, 230V and shore power, and a garage that holds more than the boot of many larger motorhomes.

What you give up is the fixed wet room. That's the core of the trade-off — the rest is largely a matter of design.