Caravan Parks In Greater Manchester | MOTORHOMEingLife

You get two clear types. The private and club touring parks sit on the outskirts near the M60 and the tram network, sites like Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site at Bury and Elm Beds Caravan Park at Higher Poynton, and they give you an electric hook-up, hot showers and hardstanding pitches. The other type is the quieter Camping and Caravanning Club and country-park sites on the Peak District edge, such as Crowden in the Longdendale valley, which are cheaper and wilder with fewer facilities. Most touring visitors use a serviced park near a tram stop as a city base and take the odd night out on the moorland edge for the quiet.

Yes, the touring pitches on the parks around Greater Manchester almost all come with an electric hook-up, usually a 16 amp EHU on hardstanding or grass. Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site has electric on all 103 of its gravel hardstanding pitches, with 34 fully serviced, and Elm Beds Caravan Park offers electric and drainage for tourers. Fully serviced pitches add fresh water and a wastewater drain alongside the electric, which suits longer stays and bigger motorhomes. If you head up to a basic Peak District edge site, expect simpler hook-ups or none, so charge your leisure battery and fill up on power before you leave the serviced town parks.

In summer and around city events you should book ahead. Between late June and the end of August the hardstanding and fully serviced pitches at the popular club sites near Manchester fill first, and weekends go quickest, so reserve online or by phone a few weeks out. Burrs in particular gets busy during steam-railway and city events. Outside the school holidays, midweek in spring or autumn, you can often turn up and pitch with no booking, especially at the larger parks. The quieter Peak District edge sites feel more first-come but are still worth checking. Our habit is to book the first and last nights and stay flexible in the middle.

Not around here. Greater Manchester is a built-up conurbation, and there is no free roadside or car-park motorhome overnighting anywhere across the boroughs. City-centre and retail car parks are height-barriered and enforced, so you should stay on a licensed caravan park. The honest budget option is a Camping and Caravanning Club site or a country-park site on the fringe, which cost little and give you the services a free spot never will. Even out on the Peak District edge, wild overnighting in a vehicle is not a general right, so budget for a pitch and use the tram or train to reach the city rather than looking for a free stopover.

Late May to early September gives the warmest and driest weather and the longest daylight, which helps this far north. May and September are our favourites because the parks are quieter and cheaper while the days are still long. July and August bring the warmest temperatures, around 20°C, but also the crowds, city events and the highest rates, so you must book pitches ahead. Winter touring is feasible since several town parks stay open, though it is cool, grey and wet off the Pennines rather than deeply cold, so pick a hardstanding pitch with an electric hook-up and pack for short days and soft moorland.

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons to base here. The Peak District National Park sits just 20 to 30 km south-east of the conurbation, with Saddleworth, Longdendale and the Dark Peak moors the nearest gateways. From a park on the eastern or southern edge you can be walking on the moors or beside a reservoir within the hour. Dovestone Reservoir above Saddleworth is a favourite easy walk, and the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Crowden puts you right inside the park. Facilities up there are basic, so fill your water and empty your tanks in the towns first, then enjoy the contrast of hills after a city day.

The motorways are, but the city centre is not. The M60 orbital rings the whole conurbation and links to the M62, M61, M56, M66 and M67, and all of these carry the largest caravans and motorhomes without trouble. The problems start when you leave the motorway box: the older town-centre streets are tight, tram tracks and bus gates catch you out, and there is no motorhome parking in central Manchester. There are also low canal bridges on some fringe lanes. Our advice is to keep a big van on the motorways and the park approach road, pitch on the outskirts, and travel into the city by tram, train or bike instead.

Plenty, and the mix is the point. In the city there is the free-to-enter centre with museums, the cathedral quarter and music venues, plus MediaCityUK and Salford Quays with the Lowry gallery and Imperial War Museum North on their own tram line. Heaton Park in north Manchester is one of Europe's largest municipal parks, free to enter, with a boating lake and a tramway museum. South-east lie Saddleworth, the Pennine reservoirs and the Peak District National Park for walking and moorland drives. Because the tram network is good, you can fill a week with city days and hill days without driving the van, which is exactly what you want from an urban base.

On the caravan parks. Every licensed park around Greater Manchester has a chemical disposal point, sometimes called an Elsan point or motorhome service point, where you empty the toilet cassette, tip grey water and refill fresh water. Never empty a cassette or grey tank into a roadside drain, a river or the canal network, since that pollutes and is illegal. If you are heading up to Crowden or a basic Peak District edge site for a night, empty and refill before you go because service points are scarce out there. Burrs Country Park and Elm Beds both have proper facilities, so plan your route to pass a park when the tanks are full.

Generally yes. Most touring parks around Greater Manchester are dog-friendly, and this is good walking country once you are out of the city, with country parks, canal towpaths and the Peak District moors close by. Parks usually ask you to keep dogs on a lead around the pitches and to clean up, and some limit the number per pitch, so check when you book. Burrs Country Park has the river and country-park paths right outside, and the Peak District edge above Saddleworth gives long moorland walks. Keep dogs under control near livestock and ground-nesting birds on the moors in spring, and carry water on warmer summer days.

Expect around £25 to £40 a night for a serviced touring pitch with an electric hook-up for two adults and one caravan or motorhome, with the club sites and peak summer dates near the top of that band. Fully serviced and hardstanding pitches cost a little more than grass. The quieter Peak District edge sites are cheaper, trading a tram link and facilities for the saving. Shoulder-season rates in May, September and October fall noticeably, and weekly deals can beat nightly prices, so if you are staying a while it pays to ask the park about a longer booking. Do not forget to add a Metrolink day ticket for the city rather than paying to park a van.

Absolutely, that is one of its strengths. Greater Manchester sits at the centre of the North West motorway network, so from a park here you can reach the Peak District, the Cheshire plain, the West Pennine Moors and even the Yorkshire Dales on a day trip. The M62 runs east to Leeds and west to Liverpool, the M6 opens up the whole spine of the country, and the M56 heads for Chester and North Wales. Because the tram and train links are strong, you can range widely without long towing days, mixing city days on public transport with countryside drives. Many visitors combine a few city nights with a stay further out.

Some are, which suits an urban base where the draw is the city rather than the weather. Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site and several other town parks take winter tourers, so off-season city breaks are feasible. Winter here is cool, grey and wet off the Pennines rather than deeply cold, so a hardstanding pitch with an electric hook-up is the sensible choice to stay off soft ground and keep the van warm. The higher Peak District edge sites often close for the season or turn bleak, so stay lower near a tram stop. Daylight is short from November to January, and always ring ahead in winter to confirm the park and its facilities block are open.

You get two clear types. The private and club touring parks sit on the outskirts near the M60 and the tram network, sites like Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site at Bury and Elm Beds Caravan Park at Higher Poynton, and they give you an electric hook-up, hot showers and hardstanding pitches. The other type is the quieter Camping and Caravanning Club and country-park sites on the Peak District edge, such as Crowden in the Longdendale valley, which are cheaper and wilder with fewer facilities. Most touring visitors use a serviced park near a tram stop as a city base and take the odd night out on the moorland edge for the quiet.

Yes, the touring pitches on the parks around Greater Manchester almost all come with an electric hook-up, usually a 16 amp EHU on hardstanding or grass. Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site has electric on all 103 of its gravel hardstanding pitches, with 34 fully serviced, and Elm Beds Caravan Park offers electric and drainage for tourers. Fully serviced pitches add fresh water and a wastewater drain alongside the electric, which suits longer stays and bigger motorhomes. If you head up to a basic Peak District edge site, expect simpler hook-ups or none, so charge your leisure battery and fill up on power before you leave the serviced town parks.

In summer and around city events you should book ahead. Between late June and the end of August the hardstanding and fully serviced pitches at the popular club sites near Manchester fill first, and weekends go quickest, so reserve online or by phone a few weeks out. Burrs in particular gets busy during steam-railway and city events. Outside the school holidays, midweek in spring or autumn, you can often turn up and pitch with no booking, especially at the larger parks. The quieter Peak District edge sites feel more first-come but are still worth checking. Our habit is to book the first and last nights and stay flexible in the middle.

Not around here. Greater Manchester is a built-up conurbation, and there is no free roadside or car-park motorhome overnighting anywhere across the boroughs. City-centre and retail car parks are height-barriered and enforced, so you should stay on a licensed caravan park. The honest budget option is a Camping and Caravanning Club site or a country-park site on the fringe, which cost little and give you the services a free spot never will. Even out on the Peak District edge, wild overnighting in a vehicle is not a general right, so budget for a pitch and use the tram or train to reach the city rather than looking for a free stopover.

Late May to early September gives the warmest and driest weather and the longest daylight, which helps this far north. May and September are our favourites because the parks are quieter and cheaper while the days are still long. July and August bring the warmest temperatures, around 20°C, but also the crowds, city events and the highest rates, so you must book pitches ahead. Winter touring is feasible since several town parks stay open, though it is cool, grey and wet off the Pennines rather than deeply cold, so pick a hardstanding pitch with an electric hook-up and pack for short days and soft moorland.

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons to base here. The Peak District National Park sits just 20 to 30 km south-east of the conurbation, with Saddleworth, Longdendale and the Dark Peak moors the nearest gateways. From a park on the eastern or southern edge you can be walking on the moors or beside a reservoir within the hour. Dovestone Reservoir above Saddleworth is a favourite easy walk, and the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Crowden puts you right inside the park. Facilities up there are basic, so fill your water and empty your tanks in the towns first, then enjoy the contrast of hills after a city day.

The motorways are, but the city centre is not. The M60 orbital rings the whole conurbation and links to the M62, M61, M56, M66 and M67, and all of these carry the largest caravans and motorhomes without trouble. The problems start when you leave the motorway box: the older town-centre streets are tight, tram tracks and bus gates catch you out, and there is no motorhome parking in central Manchester. There are also low canal bridges on some fringe lanes. Our advice is to keep a big van on the motorways and the park approach road, pitch on the outskirts, and travel into the city by tram, train or bike instead.

Plenty, and the mix is the point. In the city there is the free-to-enter centre with museums, the cathedral quarter and music venues, plus MediaCityUK and Salford Quays with the Lowry gallery and Imperial War Museum North on their own tram line. Heaton Park in north Manchester is one of Europe's largest municipal parks, free to enter, with a boating lake and a tramway museum. South-east lie Saddleworth, the Pennine reservoirs and the Peak District National Park for walking and moorland drives. Because the tram network is good, you can fill a week with city days and hill days without driving the van, which is exactly what you want from an urban base.

On the caravan parks. Every licensed park around Greater Manchester has a chemical disposal point, sometimes called an Elsan point or motorhome service point, where you empty the toilet cassette, tip grey water and refill fresh water. Never empty a cassette or grey tank into a roadside drain, a river or the canal network, since that pollutes and is illegal. If you are heading up to Crowden or a basic Peak District edge site for a night, empty and refill before you go because service points are scarce out there. Burrs Country Park and Elm Beds both have proper facilities, so plan your route to pass a park when the tanks are full.

Generally yes. Most touring parks around Greater Manchester are dog-friendly, and this is good walking country once you are out of the city, with country parks, canal towpaths and the Peak District moors close by. Parks usually ask you to keep dogs on a lead around the pitches and to clean up, and some limit the number per pitch, so check when you book. Burrs Country Park has the river and country-park paths right outside, and the Peak District edge above Saddleworth gives long moorland walks. Keep dogs under control near livestock and ground-nesting birds on the moors in spring, and carry water on warmer summer days.

Expect around £25 to £40 a night for a serviced touring pitch with an electric hook-up for two adults and one caravan or motorhome, with the club sites and peak summer dates near the top of that band. Fully serviced and hardstanding pitches cost a little more than grass. The quieter Peak District edge sites are cheaper, trading a tram link and facilities for the saving. Shoulder-season rates in May, September and October fall noticeably, and weekly deals can beat nightly prices, so if you are staying a while it pays to ask the park about a longer booking. Do not forget to add a Metrolink day ticket for the city rather than paying to park a van.

Absolutely, that is one of its strengths. Greater Manchester sits at the centre of the North West motorway network, so from a park here you can reach the Peak District, the Cheshire plain, the West Pennine Moors and even the Yorkshire Dales on a day trip. The M62 runs east to Leeds and west to Liverpool, the M6 opens up the whole spine of the country, and the M56 heads for Chester and North Wales. Because the tram and train links are strong, you can range widely without long towing days, mixing city days on public transport with countryside drives. Many visitors combine a few city nights with a stay further out.

Some are, which suits an urban base where the draw is the city rather than the weather. Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site and several other town parks take winter tourers, so off-season city breaks are feasible. Winter here is cool, grey and wet off the Pennines rather than deeply cold, so a hardstanding pitch with an electric hook-up is the sensible choice to stay off soft ground and keep the van warm. The higher Peak District edge sites often close for the season or turn bleak, so stay lower near a tram stop. Daylight is short from November to January, and always ring ahead in winter to confirm the park and its facilities block are open.