Ultimate Campervan Guide

Campervan vs. RV Rental Ultimate Guide: Should I Rent an RV or Campervan?

Price, feature, and convenience comparison for your vacation

Struggling to decide whether to rent a campervan or an RV, mini RV, or all-out motorhome?

The Great American Roadtrip doesn’t happen all by itself. That’s why we’re here to help.

This guide will give you a base understanding of the pros and cons of RVing and campervanning.

Then if you decide a campervan will fit your vacation best, we’ll equip you with the right tools to start your vacation.

Convenience Comparison

When it comes to convenience, campervans beat RVs and motorhomes hands-down. You’ll never need a special license to drive a campervan, it feels like you’re driving a car more than a boat, and yet you’ll still have most of the creature comforts available in an RV. Following is a partial list of reasons we’ll pick a converted van from Campervan North America any day over a motorhome.

• Stress-Free City Driving

  You know the feeling. Trapped between skyscraper walls and walls of traffic. Not knowing if you’ll be able to make that left-hand turn. Wondering if you’ll be able to merge onto the freeway. Always feeling like you take up too much space on the road. RVs and motorhomes may feel great in the open country, but in the city the nightmare begins. Rent a campervan and you’ll rarely feel too big. In fact, sometimes you’ll forget you’re even driving your living accommodations. Our custom converted vans look, drive, and feel like a normal car on the road, so rest assured you’ll always enjoy your road trip.

• Go Where RVs Can’t

  Think winding mountain roads, narrow one-ways, parking garages, and anywhere off the beaten path that requires a small footprint and a little nimbleness. Your campervan vacation opens the world up to you and lets you experience it however you want.

• Power Up

  No one loves getting passed by 30 cars every time a passing lane comes along. Our Campervans are well-powered — you’ll hum down the freeway, easily passing RVs as you surge up that steep hill. Our models are all built on top-of-the-line vans that will get you where you’re going in style, speed, and comfort.

• Great visibility

  For both driving and taking in those incredible views, you’ll see a lot more in a campervan than in an RV. And the blind spots? MUCH smaller.

• Simplicity

  Nice tight vehicles with few moving parts to creak, rattle, and fail. Our custom conversions ensure that everything fits snug and sound as you head to your destinations.

• Park It Anywhere to Save Time

  Face it: RV parking is scarce, inconvenient, and sometimes downright expensive. In towns and cities, best-case scenario is a far-flung parking spot farther than you intended to walk. With campervans, you can park in just about any standard parking space.

• Sleep Like You Own the Joint to Save Money

  When you’re already paying a nightly fee to bring your beds along for the ride, it’s nice to be able to pull over anywhere and call it a night. But with an RV, the nasty reality is you’ll almost always need an expensive RV site that charges you almost as much as a half-decent hotel. But with campervans, you can park just about anywhere without fear of repercussions. Want a primitive tent site? It’s yours. That meager pullout on the side of the road? No problem. That hard-to-access free camping area up that one dirt road with the killer mountain views? Yours for the taking.

• Blend In

  Nothing says “tourist” faster or louder than a huge motorhome taking up space and blocking views. Why not decrease your footprint and look like any other van on the road while still keeping most of the niceties of RV travel? And if you do need to pull off the road for the night in a less-than-ideal spot, you’re bound to get a lot fewer middle-of-the-night visits from police officers asking you to move along.

• Space Efficiency

  We’ve perfected the art of cramming it all in — even the kitchen sink in most models! While our basic Edelweiss model isn’t much more than a bed, table, and dinette on wheels, most other models literally throw in the kitchen sink. Our larger vans like the Two4theRoad and Clanhauler even have built-in marine showers and toilets, just like those pricier RV rentals. Our Bunkhouse sleeps four simply and the Treasure Chaser makes it easy to cook on the road in a minimal footprint.

• Great Gas Mileage

  Every campervan we rent gets between 20 and 25 miles per gallon, well over double what most RVs get. Even with smaller fuel tanks than most RVs, you’ll still be stopping and watching money flow out of your wallet a lot less often than with an RV.

Feature Comparison

When it comes to features, many of our campervans are similarly equipped to an RV. Just without the cheap wood-frame construction that makes RVs feel old and creaky in no time. Check out the following charts that show what our different models have in store for your road trip.

Cost and Convenience Comparison