As full-time vanlifers, a question that we ask ourselves daily is, “where are we going to sleep tonight?” When we first started our journey a year ago, this question was one that often brought stress, anxiety, and an avalanche of other questions: Will we find a campsite? Will it be safe? Will we have to pay for a campground? Is there a Walmart nearby that allows overnight camping, just in case?
A year later after we’ve settled into life on the road, I can happily say that the daily question of where we’re going to sleep doesn’t create nearly as much anxiety as it did before. We’ve found a lot of resources and tools to make sure we can always find a safe place to camp, and one of those is Harvest Hosts.
How Harvest Hosts Works
If you’re not familiar with Harvest Hosts they are a network of nearly 10,000 farms, wineries, breweries, golf courses, and community hosts that allow you to camp on their property for free. Yes, for free! There is a low annual membership to join and then you can schedule stays at their hosts throughout North America. There are just a few small caveats:
- You must have a self-contained RV, meaning you have a place to go to the bathroom and cook inside.
- Most hosts don’t offer water, electric, or sewage hookups.
- You can generally only stay for one night, although some hosts allow you to request extra nights.
- You will typically have to submit your request at least one day in advance and wait for approval from the host, although some offer same-day requests.
- They ask that you patronize the business during your stay. For example, if you are staying at a brewery, they’d like you to buy some beer or eat dinner there. If you are staying at a golf course, you’ll need to play a round of golf or eat in the club house, etc.
Pros and Cons of Harvest Hosts
Pros: For us, it’s a great option when we’re traveling through an area we don’t know. Not only have we found the hosts to be incredibly friendly and helpful, but we generally meet some pretty cool locals. We’ve also never been to a small local brewery that we didn’t love.
Cons: As for the downsides, where you park/camp is usually going to be a gravel lot next to the business (think parking lot), so don’t expect accommodations to be Instagram-worthy gorgeous campsites. We also find that with our type of travel, we often don’t know where we are going to camp until the day-of, so locations that require at least 24-hr notice can be challenging.
That being said, we have stayed at some pretty cool Harvest Hosts over the past year and think it’s a worthwhile subscription for anyone that travels. Even if you only use your membership a couple of times throughout the year, it has already paid for itself compared to what you would spend at a campground or RV park. You’ll also have some pretty cool experiences and get to meet locals in the places you’re traveling.
Discount to Sign-up for Harvest Hosts
If Harvest Hosts sounds interesting to you, we are happy to share a 20% off code for your annual subscription. Enter code: AdventureOutThere20 at check-out to claim it. Click here to learn more.
Some of Our Favorite Hosts
We’ve stayed at a handful of hosts over the past year ranging from berry farms to breweries to vineyards. Here are three of our favorite Harvest Hosts we’ve stayed with:
Cranguyma Farms – Long Beach, WA
This is a 200-acre historic blueberry and cranberry farm located in southwest Washington on the Long Beach peninsula. We rated this as one of our favorites because the orchard to park your van/RV is beautiful AND, if it’s the right season, you can harvest blueberries and cranberries.
We were here in July last year and the blueberries were just starting to ripen. We picked a carton and made the most amazing blueberry pancakes. All the farm asks is that you leave a donation in return. It was well worth the experience!
Iron Horse Brewery – Ellensburg, WA
We put this in our favorites because of the location, but the beer, pizza, and service are all top notch! Ellensburg is a really cool little town in the foothills of the Cascades. It’s a great stopping point if you are traveling around the Leavenworth area.
The brewery has a large lot that can accommodate several rigs and they take same-day requests. We also met some really great locals at this brewery and overall, loved the vibe. This is a great brewery to stop at and meet some people that live in the area.
Firehall Brewery – Oliver, BC, Canada
This was another great brewery that accepts same-day requests. They had a great menu (get the pulled pork poutine!), good beers, and a really fun outdoor seating area. The night we were there they didn’t have any live music, but looking at their calendar, they do have entertainment quite a bit.
We also loved the location of this brewery, as it was pretty close to the US/Canada border and a great place to stay for our first night in British Columbia.
Have you stayed with Harvest Hosts before? Where were you and what did you think! We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
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