I’ve always been partial to a bit of luxury. In my job as a travel writer, I’m used to staying in fancy hotels – the sort where a butler brings your breakfast to your private terrace, or where the dog gets his own bathrobe.
I’ve slept in $1000-per-night safari camps and sipped Champagne at Raffles, darling! I can’t afford most of these experiences ordinarily, but through my work, I have become accustomed to some of the finer things in life.
Discovering luxury pitches
When I’m camping, however, my definition of ‘luxury’ is somewhat different, as it will be for everyone. For some, it could be having the best luxury caravan or ensuring the luxury caravan accessories are packed.
For me, however, campsite luxury was – until recently, when I acquired my new Eriba with its own loo – being pitched next to the toilet block so I only had to walk a few metres to the toilet in the middle of the night.
Luxury was ordering a takeaway to my pitch, or getting whatever they were serving from the food van on the campsite (props to the Caravan & Motorhome Club’s Moreton-in-Marsh site, which has a different food truck every night).
But then I discovered ‘luxury pitches’ – a whole new level of camping I never knew existed. They come in many guises, and sell for upwards of £150 per night, which is probably more than you’d pay for the average room in a decent chain hotel. But they promise a levelled-up style of camping that goes beyond a nice spot of grass or hardstanding.
As I write this column, I am sitting in a robe cooling off after an hour in the hot tub. I’m not in a fancy hotel or posh glamping lodge – I’m at Lady Heyes Holiday Park in Cheshire, and my touring pitch here has its own hot tub. It’s one of several hot tub pitches on the site, each of which has its own canopy and is serviced by a hot tub technician every morning to keep the water warm and clean. It set me back £160 for a two-night stay, and it feels utterly luxurious.
If rarity is a core pillar of luxury, then these hot tub pitches are very much the definition of luxurious, because there aren’t many places where you can enjoy the bubbles. According to PitchUp.com, only 181 hot tub pitches exist in the UK – but around the world their popularity is on the rise. In spring 2026, the company reported a 96% increase in bookings for hot tub pitches worldwide.
Some of the highest rated on their booking engine include Ty Ni in North Wales, where pitches have wood-fired hot tubs and private saunas, and Wallace Lane Farm near the Lake District, where the deluxe hot tub pitches have a private, fenced deck under cover with a hot tub and a private kitchen area (take a look at our guide to the best caravan parks in the Lake District if you’re thinking of visiting soon).
Pitch perfect
Hot tubs aren’t the only luxury features campsites have started offering, though. In 2024 when my car broke down and left me stranded in France, I was towed to a campsite a short tourist train ride from the white cliffs of Étretat, which had several ensuite touring pitches – ideal for my 20-something-year-old caravan, which had no running water nor an onboard loo.
Then there are what I call the ‘living room’ pitches at Love2Stay’s Shrewsbury site, a campsite that was voted into Practical Caravan’s Top 100 Sites Guide 2026, where the best caravan sites are revealed.
At the site, they have a handful of permanently pitched Isabella awnings for you to drive right onto. As someone who struggles to put up a windbreak, this is the epitome of luxury. No wrangling guide ropes, no unruly poles – just a drive-in awning ready to go and fully furnished. Each has a sofa, dining table and even a log burner for those chillier evenings.
It’s these that keep people coming back, according to the company’s marketing manager Finlay Bepp, who says that repeat bookings are frequent on these kinds of pitches. Beyond the luxury of your own pre-pitched awning, the site also offers a slew of upscale amenities, including a gym with classes and a natural Biotop swimming pool.
But all these added features and fancy offerings do lead me to question: should I have just booked a hotel instead? It’s all well and good adding more and more amenities to your touring pitches – and don’t get me wrong, this hot tub next to my caravan is a very welcome addition – but at what point does it become pointless to drag your caravan across the country for an experience that you could have had in a hotel?
Many might say that the joy of camping is in the luxury of less – it costs less money, for starters, but we also often have fewer things with us, and so there are fewer creature comforts.
While I love the call of the wild and the immersion in nature that caravanning can present, I also love a little luxury here and there (did I mention Raffles?), so I’ll happily take your en-suites, saunas and pre-built awnings – perhaps we could add a cold plunge, next time, too?
Do you agree with Lottie? Let us know by emailing us, via [email protected]. You can also follow Lottie on Instagram at @lottiegross
Lead image: Lottie Gross
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