It depends if you’re visiting for the day or wanting to camp overnight. If visiting for the day, national parks will allow skoolies to park just like they would any tour bus or another RV. The park staff will direct you on where to park in the designated tour bus and RV parking area, if any. If you are trying to camp overnight in your school bus conversion at the national park, then you should review their booking requirements since national park campsites often have rig length restrictions. In our experience, the parks don’t mind the school bus conversion quality and age of the rig, but the length restriction is clearly stated as a restriction.
National Parks and skoolie length restriction
Many national parks restrict rig length to under 35 feet, some sites only go up to 25 feet. Our HildeBus skoolie is 40 foot long and we could not camp overnight at any national parks but we were invited to park during the day and visit the national park without issue.
Skoolie Camping in RV Parks
Fortunately, there are many RV parks surrounding most national parks that do accommodate school bus conversions. If you’re curious about RV park camping in your skoolie and what questions to ask before booking, then read our helpful article here.
Have you considered a membership with Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome?
In 2021, Harvest Hosts purchased the Boondockers Welcome platform and they have been integrating the platforms since then.
The camping programs are distinctly different though in that Harvest Hosts is more centered around businesses like farms, wineries, breweries, etc offering short 24-hour overnight stays and no hook-ups.
On the other hand, Boondockers Welcome is more like an individual host offering single to multi-night stays on their personal property, usually with hook-ups and sometimes with extra amenities like laundry.
In both cases, there is usually no fee paid (free camping!) to the host for an overnight, unless they otherwise state it in the listing (like for hook-ups, etc) and the apps make it really easy to contact the hosts for even a same-day booking in many cases.
Harvest Hosts has almost 4,000camping locations that are great for RVers, whether you are in a more traditional vehicle or a skoolie (“school bus conversion”) like us. During our six-month skoolie tour of the east coast of the USA, we camped at over 10 locations using Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome as a family of five.
Is Harvest Hosts free?
In short, no. Annually, you’ll pay a Harvest Hosts membership fee starting at $99/year. Snag our discount code for 15% off! Additionally, the hosts and platform request that you shop at the business that you are camping at to support them, though the overnight camping spot itself is free.
Is Harvest Hosts worth joining?
In our opinion, it was. Our family of five traveled for six months full-time in our school bus conversion. During that time, we stayed at over 5 Harvest Hosts locations. We found the platform to be very user-friendly (both on website and mobile with the app), the hosts responded quickly (many for same-day bookings) and there were many camping locations to choose from along our route.
Though Harvest Hosts recommends you frequent and shop from the place of business that is hosting you, we found that to be a win-win for all parties because we were probably going to visit the business anyway. We parked on their property after all and wanted to explore after a long day of travel.
Is Harvest Hosts safe?
As a family of five, we only desired to stay at safe camping grounds. We felt comfort when we booked overnight stays with Harvest Hosts and all hosts that we spoke with were communicative and friendly.
Every host that lists on the Harvest Hosts platform must:
Describe in detail the camping location(s), and
Provide listing photos, so you can get a good idea of the type of location you’ll be camping.
Does Harvest Hosts have hookups?
No, hosts with Harvest Hosts typically do not provide hookups for overnight stays. However, the sister platform, Boondockers Welcome, does offer hookups for campers.
Does harvest host allow skoolies or school bus conversions?
Yes! According to the Harvest Hosts website, school bus conversions are allowed! The platform allows for self-contained vehicles, like a skoolie or schoolie. We personally used Harvest Hosts when traveling in our skoolie because it was so friendly to our type of rig.
All classes of RV’s are allowed (Class A, Class B, Class C) including motorhomes, fifth wheel trailers, travel trailers, toy haulers, camper vans, truck campers, and schoolies. Vehicles towed behind RVs are also allowed at our Host locations.
Yes! According to the Harvest Hosts website, it states that the platform allows camper vans, vans designed for living quarters that is self-contained. The van must have four rigid sides, though a pop up roof for a bed is allowed. Something like a mini-van would not be allowed.
How many Harvest Hosts sites are there?
There are nearly 4,000 hosts sites available across North America. The Harvest Host locations are made up of a variety of business like wineries, breweries, farms, museums and much more.
How do you get a membership discount with Harvest Hosts?
What’s the difference between Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome?
From our personal experience using both platforms frequently during our skoolie tour, I would say the primary differences between Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Wecome is as follows.
Harvest Hosts
Are usually small businesses like farms, wineries, breweries and even some golf communities
Don’t offer hook-ups
Offer a 24-hour “overnight” stay
Cannot request multi-night stays
Won’t be parking on private property (since the host is usually a business)
Business purchases are encouraged
Boondockers Welcome
Hook-ups are available at 70% of the host locations
Can stay multiple nights
Parking on private property
No business purchase is encouraged
Take a look at the infographic below that shows in-detail the differences between the two sister platforms.
What are the differences between Harvest Hosts & Boondockers Welcome?
Can I get a membership discount with Boondockers Welcome?
Yes! Get 15% when you get an annual membership with Boondockers Welcome when you
I list out below a few helpful questions to ask upon booking and our personal experiences, state by state, during our travels along the east coast of the United States between May to October 2021.
When we researched how we were going to travel in our skoolie (school bus conversion), we read a lot of forums and Facebook posts stating all the trouble that they had finding places to park, getting skoolie insurance in Florida, getting titled as a motorhome, etc.
We haven’t had difficulty in these areas so I’m creating a Skoolie series to dispel the rumors and talk about it. I hope it helps others!
Table of Contents
Common Reasons Why Skoolies Aren’t Allowed in RV Parks
Unfortunately, there will always be private RV campgrounds that run their businesses as they see fit, even if it doesn’t make sense to a skoolie owner or blatantly prejudices against the community. If you’re curious what some of those reasons may be, read the Shocking Reasons Skoolies Aren’t Allowed in RV Parks.
We stayed at the Florida RV parks at the height of summer and in a popular tourist destination, the Florida Keys. We had no problem booking a reservation (other than booking last minute!).
Questions to ask when booking
Like I mentioned, all the parks we stayed at allowed our skoolie. The only issue we ever ran into was length restrictions – specifically, Acadia National Park in Maine restricted length to under 35 feet (I believe) and we were 37 feet.
Though disappointing that we couldn’t park inside the park, there were a significant number of other private RV parks we could stay at (& with shuttle service!).
We also recommend longer booking periods, rather than paying by day, because you get a discounted rate for weekly and monthly stays.
What is the maximum size rig you allow?
Do you have water hook-ups?
Do you have electric hook-ups?
Do you have laundry services?
Do you offer a Good Sam discount?
Options to staying in RV parks
Don’t despair if you ever do get turned down. Other than the embarrassment or anxiety related to being “broken up with,” skoolies tend to be built as resilient rigs. Ours was, anyway.
Boondocking is a solid option
We built our “land yacht” with the intention of allowing us to be off-grid and redundancies in case one electrical or heating source failed.
We added 6 solar panels to our roof, which allowed us to power everything except the air conditioning. We added propane as our primary heat source. We also installed 100 gallon fresh water & 100 gallon gray water tanks, so we didn’t have to refill as frequently.
You can camp for free overnight in Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depots. Honestly, most commercial restaurants or parking lots tend to be cool with it. You can check with security ahead of time – they don’t really mind especially if you’re nice on the front end.
We frequently would get food at Buffalo Wild Wings and then park overnight. Thanks to the managers there!
Harvest Hosts & Boondockers Welcome
Harvest Hosts has now purchased Boondockers Welcome, so they are one and the same. We loved these services because they were more affordable or free with a purchase at a business (like a restaurant or bar).
We found many of our campsites like in North Florida and in a sunflower field in South Georgia using Harvest Hosts.
Harvest Hosts is website that brings together hosts that are RV & Skoolie-friendly to spend 1 night at their home or place of business.
To get 15% off your membership with Harvest Hosts, use our link to register. In return, we do get $15 for referring you. Will it be worth it? We think so.
Thanks for following along with our journey and RVing adventures. – Ingrid & the HildeFam
