Camping cards compared: which one pays for itself

Six schemes get recommended to UK tourers heading for Europe, and they do not compete with each other. Two are discount cards, one is an identity card, one is a voucher scheme, and two are free-stopover networks. Buying the wrong one, or buying all of them, is common.

Prices below were checked in August 2026.

CampingCard ACSI

The best known and the one with the clearest maths. The 2026 card costs €21.95 direct from ACSI, €20.95 if you hold an ACSI Club ID, or £22.50 from the Caravan and Motorhome Club shop. It is valid at more than 3,000 ACSI-inspected campsites across 23 countries and works in low season only.

Participating sites commit to one of eight fixed nightly rates: €13, €15, €17, €19, €21, €23, €25 or €27 for two adults. The rate normally covers the pitch, two people and electricity, but the detail varies by site and tourist tax is almost always extra. Read the individual entry rather than assuming.

The catch is the definition of low season. Every site sets its own qualifying dates, and they are not the same dates. A site in the Dordogne might honour the card until 5 July and again from 25 August. One 40km away might close its ACSI window on 20 June. The card is checked against that site's published periods, not a universal calendar.

ACSI Club ID

A different product entirely, and frequently confused with the above. It costs €6.95 a year and carries no campsite discount at all. It does two things. It substitutes for your passport at reception, which matters because handing over a passport is prohibited by law in some countries. It also carries third-party liability insurance for up to 11 people through Acura Assuradeuren, valid at campsites and rented accommodation.

Roughly 8,000 European campsites accept it, about 90% of ACSI-affiliated sites. Italy, Portugal, Croatia and Spain may still want official ID because of registration law. It auto-renews, so diary the cancellation window.

Camping Key Europe

Owned by the Dutch motoring organisation ANWB. Recommended price around €15, though it varies by country of purchase, and it is sold through partners in 17 European countries. It covers roughly 2,800 campsites and, like the Club ID, functions as an ID substitute and carries third-party insurance for a travelling group of up to six.

The discount structure is mixed rather than fixed. Some sites give a fixed low rate off-peak, some give a percentage off pitches in peak season, some give a percentage off rental accommodation. The card is valid for one year from the expiry date printed on it.

Worth holding if you tour Scandinavia, the Netherlands or Germany, where acceptance is strongest. Less useful for a France-only tour where ACSI dominates.

Camping Cheque

Widely recommended in older articles and no longer a live option for UK tourers. Alan Rogers ceased representing Camping Cheque in 2016. Card top-ups and membership extensions ended on 1 November 2018, remaining vouchers expired on 31 December 2019, and the refund window closed on 31 December 2020. If somebody on a forum tells you to buy Camping Cheques, they are working from a decade-old memory.

The nearest current equivalent is the Caravan and Motorhome Club's Overseas Site Night Vouchers, at £19.95 each. One voucher buys one night in low season for two people, one vehicle (car with caravan, motorhome, campervan or tent) and a standard pitch with electric hook-up, at more than 260 European campsites. Two vouchers are needed per night during the Easter holidays and through July and August. Vouchers are valid for two calendar years, must be bought in batches of at least four alongside a European campsite booking or crossing, are non-transferable, and are not refundable once redeemed on site. Local taxes, pitch upgrades, pets and extra occupants sit outside the voucher.

At £39.90 a night in high season, the vouchers stop making sense unless the site's own rate is well above that.

France Passion

France Passion is a network of more than 2,000 vetted farms, vineyards and artisan producers across France who let self-contained motorhomes park overnight for nothing. No discounts are involved. The 2026 UK edition costs £27.99 from Vicarious Books and expires in March 2027. You get the guide, a windscreen sticker, a membership card and app access.

The network is reserved for fully self-contained motorhomes, campervans and vans with waste water tanks, indoor toilets and showers. Caravans are out. There are no facilities, and no obligation to buy anything, though buying the wine is the point of the exercise.

Britstops

The UK and Ireland equivalent. £35 for a first year at the time of checking, against a standard £44, giving access to more than 1,200 stopover locations at farm shops, pubs, vineyards and attractions. Stays are free and unlimited in number, and the scheme is built around motorhomes. Ring the host before arriving.

Break-even, side by side

Working out your own break-even

Take the campsites you would realistically use and look up their published low-season rate for a pitch with hook-up for two. Subtract the scheme rate. Divide the card price by the difference.

A worked example. A Loire campsite charging €26 for a pitch, two adults and electricity in June, honouring the €17 ACSI tier, saves you €9 a night. €21.95 divided by €9 is 2.4, so the card is paid off during the third night. Ten nights on that basis returns €68 against a €21.95 outlay.

Run the same sum on a site charging €19 in low season and honouring the €17 tier. You save €2 a night and need eleven nights to break even. The card is only as good as the gap between the site's own price and the scheme rate, and that gap is widest at larger sites on the coast and in the Alps.

Sensible combinations

Most UK tourers doing a spring or autumn France and Spain trip in a motorhome are well served by CampingCard ACSI plus France Passion. Total outlay about £50, and the France Passion nights bring the average down further.

Caravanners should skip France Passion and Britstops entirely. Neither takes caravans.

Anyone touring Scandinavia or the Netherlands should look at Camping Key Europe alongside ACSI rather than instead of it.

Anyone who tours only in July and August should buy none of them. ACSI does not apply, the vouchers double in cost, and the free-stopover networks fill up. Book direct and accept the high-season rate.