Rent a pitch
A pitch is not a building but a piece of ground. What you rent is the surface, the roof over your head comes with you. Some pitches sit on a campsite with a sanitary block, others on a meadow behind a farmyard. What the stay turns into therefore depends less on the pitch than on what is inside your vehicle. The difference from standing wild is permission. The owner knows you are coming and says where you may stand.
What to check before booking
- How long may the vehicle be?
- Bays are cut to different sizes, and a long motorhome does not fit everywhere. The approach counts too, because a tight bend or a height barrier stops you before the pitch does.
- What is the ground like?
- Gravel and grass pavers carry weight in any weather. A meadow looks better in summer but goes soft after long rain, and then getting out again becomes the question.
- Is there electricity?
- Many pitches have a CEE socket on a distribution box, others have no connection at all. Anyone who needs power also needs the right cable, and the distance to the post differs from place to place.
- Where are fresh water and disposal?
- A service point of its own is not part of every pitch. Sometimes it stands on site, sometimes a few kilometres away, and that changes how the next leg is planned.
- Are there toilets and showers?
- On a campsite the sanitary block belongs to it, on a plain pitch not necessarily. Anyone travelling self sufficient hardly notices the difference, everyone else notices it a lot.
- May you wind out the awning?
- Campsites are laid out for living outdoors, many motorhome pitches are not. There the awning usually stays in, because the surface is meant for standing on and not as a garden.
Who it suits
Made for
Anyone who already brings their home along and only needs a legal, quiet place to put it. On a long tour the pitch is the cheapest way to stand somewhere new every evening. And anyone who wants an early start has no key to hand back.
Less so for
Without a vehicle of your own a pitch is nothing, because there is nothing to move into. Anyone expecting a bathroom and a kitchen is better off booking accommodation with walls. And anyone who needs space around them finds it on a campsite rather than in a parking bay.
Where it comes from
The pitch as a form of its own is young. In May 1983 the town of Viechtach in the Bavarian Forest became the first German municipality to allow motorhomes to stay overnight in public car parks, at first as a trial over four months. It paid off so well for the town that it stayed, and by the end of 1985 some seventy municipalities had followed. In 1991 the first purpose built motorhome harbour opened in Rotenburg an der Fulda.
Good to know
Compare the measurements first
You should know the length and the height of your vehicle before booking. The access and the standing area are fixed in advance, and nothing about that changes on site.
Water is not everywhere
Fresh water and disposal do not belong to every pitch. Arriving with a full tank keeps you independent.
Open fire is regulated
A grill or a fire bowl is allowed on some pitches and not on others, and in summer an official ban can come on top. Asking beforehand is easier than trying it on the spot.
Dogs usually welcome
On pitches dogs are often no problem as long as they stay on a lead. Whether there is a field to run in is stated in the listing.
