Harvest Hosts

[explainmyself]

You pay an annual fee and in return, some wineries, farms, museums, etc let you camp for a night or so - (maybe longer if you they agree to it). 

Anyone do this? Is it worth the $ ?

 

[rvwandering]

It depends on your traveling style and where you'll be traveling. It works well for the way we travel which is mostly on back roads with short travel distances and short stays. Check the map to see if the hosts are in good locations for you. https://harvesthosts.com/host-locations/

 I joined in 2014 because we were going to Vermont where reservations in public campgrounds are a must and boondocking opportunities are scarce. We stayed at a wild flower farm, a farm market, and two maple sugar operations. Our stays have averaged between 4-5 nights a year. The Harvest Host fee is $79.00 a year so when campsites average between $20- $30 a night the savings are not very large.  

 It's kind of expected that you'll buy something so since we don't like beer or wine we don't stay at breweries or wineries. This cuts down the number of locations a lot but there are still many farms and museums. We can always find something to purchase at a farm market and we enjoy going to museums so it works out even without the breweries and wineries. We've enjoyed our stays at all of the locations and have found the hosts to be very welcoming.

 

[WanderingRose]

I belonged for a couple of years, then dropped it because I wasn’t using it and because their annual fees were really going up.

There are no hookups of any kind, and the parking accommodations vary greatly.

The general expectation is that you spend a single night, and that you partake of whatever the Host is offering...be that a farm store with produce, baked and homemade goods, wine, a museum, etc.

There are a lot of wineries, and as a solo traveler I just don’t go thru many bottles of wine.

It wasn’t worth the cost for me.