Probably one of the things we love the most about traveling in a van is staying at Harvest Hosts. If you don’t know what Harvest Hosts is all about, it is an app that congregates a large selection of places to stay overnight in a van or a big rig like a class A RV. You pay an annual membership of $80 (as of July 2021) and you get access to breweries, wineries, farms, and museums all across the US to stay at! For an extra $20 you can upgrade to include golf courses.
They do have certain rules that you have to abide because they say all the time they are not actual campsites. That means you have to be able to do everything inside your rig if need be. This includes cooking, washing dishes, and using the bathroom. These rules are set by Harvest Hosts but each host can set their own rules and will let you do what they are comfortable with. Typically these rules are more strict in busier places where you are parking in a parking lot in public. Other places like farms are usually much more relaxed about these rules. A lot of places we stay at actually have picnic tables set up and welcome the use of outdoor cooking and may even have water or electric hookups. It all depends on the place you end up staying!
We love Harvest Hosts because it is very easy to find a place and request a stay using their online reservation system. If you stay at places in urban areas then sometimes the parking is just is a parking lot but if you look for places a little of the beaten path then you can find magical sites! Although the camping if “free” after you buy then membership, Harvest Hosts asks that you buy something to support the business and recommend at least $20. This is fine by us because most campsites are at least $20 anyways and this way you get camping as well as goodies from whereever you stay. Some hosts will say that $20 is not enough and you have to spend more, we usually avoid these places. If you decide to stay at a Harvest Host then be sure to allow at LEAST 24 hours for the host to respond and accept the stay. You got to be a little ahead of yourselves to have time to request another place if one is full, we found that at least three days out is usually enough. We have stayed at several hosts while traveling and they are always easy to check in and park and the hosts are always extremely nice and accommodating to any needs! You can’t use the app offline however which is slightly inconvenient at times.
Here is our list of our favorite hosts!
- Battle Creek Golf Course – Tulalip, WA
- Beaver Creek Brewery – Wibaux, MT
- Blue Heron French Cheese – Tillamook, OR
- Copper Belt Wines – Baker City, OR
- Gold Hill Hotel – Virginia City, NV
- Lis-Bon Acres – Amboy, WA
- Mt. Hood Resort – Mount Hood Village, OR
- Nelson Family Vineyards – Ukiah, CA
- Reed’s Sweet Wines – Tacoma, WA
- Willapa Brewing Co. – South Bend, WA
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