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Try Brewery or Winery Camping for a Fun RV Experience

Camping at a winery offers overnight accommodations and amenities such as sunset wine tastings

4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery
Looking for a unique place to camp out? Some breweries and wineries, such as 4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery, give visitors a chance to both camp and sample the beverages.
Courtesy 4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery via Hipcamp
By

Cari Shane,

 
AARP
Published May 01, 2024

Janet Humphrey and Scott Dazey were on their way from Leavenworth, Washington, to their home in Bend, Oregon, when they decided that rather than arriving in the wee hours of the morning, the smart choice would be to stop for the night. With Dazey behind the wheel, Humphrey grabbed her phone and reserved a parking spot for their 24-foot RV at a winery 20 minutes away from where they were, in Washington’s Yakima Valley. Within minutes of pulling into Severino Cellars, Humphrey, 78, says the owner greeted her and Dazey, 75, with four varieties of wine.

The tasting room at the boutique winery was closed for the night, but co-owner Nikki Samaniego takes her hosting seriously. Even when people message her after dark asking to stay, she says yes.

“If people need off the road, they need off the road, and I would want people to be safe,” she says.

Samaniego’s winery is one among thousands of vineyards, breweries, farms and ranches that don’t have indoor accommodations but welcome those traveling in RVs, vans and “skoolies” (converted school buses) for overnight stays on their private property for a fee. With such apps as Harvest Hosts and Hipcamp, road-trippers seeking last-minute parking can opt for views vastly different from those at truck stops or big box stores that allow overnights. Instead, Humphrey, who uses Harvest Hosts, says it’s wine tastings with vineyard views at sunset. While state and national parks offer overnight accommodations, they have become so popular in recent years that reservations often need to be made months in advance.

Harvest Hosts, founded in 2010, has more than 5,000 private parking locations, more than 1,500 of which are at wineries, breweries and distilleries. Hipcamp, launched in 2013, links travelers to 100,000 campsites, including thousands on vineyards or near breweries, says founder Alyssa Ravasio. Travelers can use the apps to filter by date, price and more.

“Bringing the sharing economy to land, and specifically outdoor recreation, I think, is a core piece of a category here that we’ve really unlocked,” says Ravasio. Travelers can book themselves at a reindeer farm in Alaska, a bison ranch in Montana and even a scallop farm in Canada, says Harvest Hosts’ Wes Clark.

The two platforms operate differently. Hipcamp is similar to Airbnb or Vrbo, charging guests a nightly fee (that includes hookups for water and electricity, where available) from which it takes a percentage — ranging from $15 to $50 a night, on average. Hipcamp guests have the option to stay for more than one consecutive night. Harvest Hosts’ $99 per year (current promotion: $84.15) membership-based platform allows users to book single-night stays, with additional fees for hookups. Clark says the site has a quarter of a million members, about 80 percent of whom are 50-plus.

The popularity of these apps parallels the growth in motor home travel. The RV Industry Association reports that 44 million Americans planned to use an RV last summer, with an additional 72 million saying they’d like to take an RV trip this year. The Instagram following for the National Skoolie Association has more than tripled since 2020 to more than 56,000 today, while the #vanlife hashtag turns up in more than 16 million posts, a number that has more than doubled since just last year.

Over the past 10 years, Samaniego has provided parking spots on her 17 acres to thousands of travelers. Financially, she’s seen a 10 percent boost to her income, which “helps sustain this business,” she says. But it’s the social aspect that keeps her hosting. “I have met just some of the neatest people from all over the country,” she says. “It’s so interesting for me to hear about other places from someone who’s lived there or who’s going there.”

Blevins Family Vineyards
During a 10-week trip, Mike Bowers pulled his camper into Blevins Family Vineyards. He hung out in the vineyard while the sun set.
Courtesy Mike Bowers

For travelers, the social experience “can be a spontaneous delight too,” says Mike Bowers, 67, of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, near Colorado Springs, who uses Hipcamp. Last March he took a 10-week, 11,000-mile journey to the East Coast and back in his pickup with a teardrop camper attached. Looking for adventures along the way, including biking, hiking and rafting, he stayed with friends and family half the time and the other half at Hipcamps, sleeping in his “fancy bed on wheels,” he says. After a long day of biking on the world-famous Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus, Virginia, Bowers recalls pulling into Blevins Family Vineyards and “hanging out in the vineyard while the sun set.”

For Bowers, the “best thing about Hipcamp is that it gives you access to private property, beautiful land owned by people that you really would have no access to otherwise. And that turned out to be, really, the best part of it all.”

The experience is why Ed and Kathy Ford use Harvest Hosts during their weeklong journeys up and down the East Coast. The places they’ve stayed are “quiet. It’s safe,” says Ed Ford, 66, “plus, you’re there and you’re meeting people.” The Fords, from Hammonton, New Jersey, outside Philadelphia, have overnighted at wineries, distilleries, breweries and even a llama farm in Micanopy, Florida. Ford especially likes that the app lets him know in advance about the parking surface — grass, asphalt, gravel — as well as the layout of the spot. “I want to be able to get in there without having to back up or finagle,” he says of their pickup truck with a 30-foot camper attached, about 54 feet in total with bikes on the back. In April, the Fords stayed overnight at EagleTree Farm Vineyards in Leesburg, Virginia, where the parking area was so level they didn’t need to jack up their rig. Before retiring for the night, the couple enjoyed a wine tasting, dinner in the winery’s dining room and a stroll through the vineyard.

Some additional overnight locations to consider:

Nelson Vineyards
Nelson Family Vineyards in Mendocino County, California, boasts 2,000 acres of grape vines, pear trees, Christmas trees, strawberries and cattle.
Nelson Family Vineyards via Hipcamp

Nelson Family Vineyards, California

Nelson Family Vineyards, in Mendocino County, California, boasts 2,000 acres of grape vines, pear trees, Christmas trees, strawberries and cattle. The vineyard has been in the family since 1952, and Greg Nelson has been a Hipcamp host for three years. Guests park on a ridgetop with views of the picturesque Ukiah Valley and the coastal mountain range in the distance. His six sites, at $50 a night, are about a quarter of a mile away from one another on a graded and graveled stretch. “We’re very happy with the way it’s worked out,” says Nelson. “I have been totally impressed. I haven’t found one piece of garbage. Everybody cleans up.”

4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery
Visitors to 4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery in Texas can park overnight, camp outside in tents and hammocks, and ride bikes on a 10-mile bike path.
Courtesy 4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery via Hipcamp

4R Ranch Vineyards and Winery, Texas

At this 1,100-acre ranch in North Texas, visitors can park overnight, camp outside in tents and hammocks, and ride bikes on a 10-mile bike path. Co-owner Walt Roper’s parents bought the ranch in 1994. The tasting room opening in 2016, and four years later, they signed up with Hipcamp. Charging $40 a night for a spot with hookups or $30 for boondocking, Roper allows visitors to stay for as long as three weeks. The ranch offers $25 wine tastings as well as lunch and dinner on the weekends and brunch on Sundays. Of hosting, Roper says he has enjoyed meeting people from all over the country and learning about different people’s experiences and perspectives.

Port City Brewing Company, Virginia

Bill and Karen Butcher, who opened their brewery outside of Washington, D.C., in 2011, became Harvest Hosts in 2020. He says it’s been a “good way just to help out RVers and also to meet some new people and to help people, help new customers, enjoy our beer.” Port City, which Butcher calls the longest-running brewery in the D.C. metro area, is named for the historic port city of Alexandria. The urban parking area has room for three overnighters. Guests can enjoy daily tasting flights of six beers for $12 and D.C.’s food truck scene right on the premises for both lunch and dinner. There are also fun offerings such as “Beer Yoga” (a 45-minute class followed by a beer), “Bath and Brew” (dogs get a bath while owners get a pint) and comedy nights — the schedule is posted on Port City’s website.  

Mulln-Heim Vineyards
At Mulln-Heim Vineyards, guests who stay on the 40 acres of land can pick vegetables and herbs from the garden.
Courtesy Mulln-Heim Vineyards via Hipcamp

Mulln-Heim Vineyards, Michigan

Seven miles from Lake Michigan, John Muellen, opened up his family’s 40 acres of land to visitors in 2018. After losing his job in 2008 when he was 57, Muellen was looking to make additional money off the land that has been in his family since the 1930s. Six years after a friend suggested Hipcamp, Muellen, now 73, has about 350 guests a year booking five parking spots with views of the sun rising over the vineyard. Guests can use a grill he provides and pick vegetables and herbs in his garden. While the additional income helps ­— generating a “mind-boggling” $10,000 to $12,000 a year, he says — having guests fulfills a missing social piece, especially the repeat guests. “I’ve gotten to know some of these people personally. They bring me presents when they come. It’s gotten to be a strange life,” he says with a laugh.

Cari Shane is a Washington, D.C.–based freelance journalist who specializes in science, medicine and health. Her work can be found in a variety of publications, including Fast Company, Scientific American and Smithsonian.

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