Caravan or motorhome?

The question is not which is better, but what an ordinary day of your holiday looks like. The two solve different problems, and the wrong choice only becomes obvious on day three.

A caravan: camp stays put

A caravan unhitches. Once you are on the pitch you have an ordinary car again — for the shops, the beach, or a mountain road you would never have taken in a seven-metre vehicle.

You pay for that freedom at each end of the journey: manoeuvring, hitching, levelling, hooking up. Twenty minutes either way, and reversing with a trailer has to be learned — ideally in an empty car park, not at the campsite gate on a Saturday evening.

A motorhome: stop and you are home

A motorhome is ready the moment the handbrake is on. For a route that moves every evening — a tour of Transylvania, the Croatian coast — the difference is enormous.

The trade is that everything you own moves with the house. Getting into a town centre means finding parking that takes the length and the height, and a five-minute walk for bread means clearing the table first.

What your licence allows

This is where plans stop. A category B licence covers a vehicle up to 3,500 kg maximum authorised mass. Most four-berth motorhomes sit just under it — with full tanks and luggage, some do not.

For a car and caravan together the same 3,500 kg applies to the combination, with an allowance up to 4,250 kg where the caravan does not exceed the car's own mass. Beyond that you need BE. Check the registration document, not the advert.

Choosing, practically

• Four to seven nights in one place? Caravan. The car stays free.
• Moving almost daily? Motorhome. You will not regret the time saved.
• Travelling mostly in spring and autumn? Look at insulation and heating before anything else.
• Already own a suitable tow car? The price gap narrows considerably.

If you are torn, hire each once. Two weekends cost far less than a ten-thousand-euro mistake.