Harvest Hosts Review
On our recent trip to Utah, we decided to sign up for Harvest Hosts to give a shot. We knew there are lots of rv campgrounds and free camping spots, but having the luxury of having a nice location like a winery or museum was enticing. Well, we ended up using it about 6 nights out of the 9 nights we camped! Having a unique overnight RV camping experience was way better than a Walmart parking lot or a rest area! Read our Harvest Hosts review to find out more about the membership and what we liked the most about it.
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What is Harvest Hosts?
Harvest Hosts is a membership for RVs, vans, campers, school buses, and any other travel vehicles. The membership is for self-contained RVers to stay at beautiful locations, like wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses and more, for free! Instead of parking your RV or van at a boring parking lot or RV park, Harvest Hosts lets you experience unique camping spots. As of now, there are over 950+ places to choose from in North America.
While you can’t expect to have bathrooms, water access, or electricity at these locations, you will have a spot to park. Sometimes you’ll find hosts that do have a bathroom or have water for you to use, but that’s just an added bonus!
Since you are not paying these businesses anything to park, it is highly recommended that you support their business in one way or another. If you’re staying at a farm, buy some goodies, if it’s a winery, do some wine tasting or buy a bottle! Show these hosts your appreciation for letting you camp for free!
How does Harvest Hosts work?
To start using Harvest Hosts for your overnight camping, you’ll need to buy a membership. You can start using Harvest Hosts on the day you buy your membership. You’ll get an email with a membership card with a number, you’ll need that when you want to park at any locations. Once you have a membership, you can view all the locations nearby or where you will be traveling to. On the app or the website, you can view the hosts information. The hosts information will include things like the address, the opening hours, different amenities the hosts offers, any reviews from previous campers, and other helpful information. It is recommended to call the hosts ahead of time to make sure they can host you. Once you get to the hosts location, you’ll meet the hosts and they’ll direct you on where to park. While there isn’t designated campsite it is expected that you support the business in one way or another (ie buy food from the farm, buy wine at a winery….).
**The membership is set up as a 24 hour stay, but at times it is possible to book additional nights by talking with the hosts first**
Harvest Hosts Membership Costs
A Harvest Hosts membership cost $79/year, which gives you access to over 950+ locations all over the United States and Canada. The overnight RV camping includes wineries, breweries, museums, and farms. This means you can use the harvest hosts locations 365 days of the year, for hardly anything! The membership lasts 365 days, so you’ll renew one year from the day when you bought the membership.
Harvest Hosts offers 100% money back guarantee!
Golf membership Add-on
For an additional $40/year (total of $119/annually), you can add on the golf courses and country clubs to your membership for a total of over 1300 locations! With basically the price of 1 night stay, you’ll have access to an additional 300 Harvest Hosts golf courses and country clubs.
Get 15% off when you sign up using our link
Pros of Harvest Hosts membership
Finding new businesses
We have loved finding new places and businesses along our route! In just one trip, we stopped at a golf course, a farm, and a lovely winery, all of which we would have never stopped at if it weren’t for Harvest Hosts.
Meeting new people
So far, we’ve been the only campers when we’ve camped overnight at various Harvest Hosts locations which has been great because it’s super quiet and private. We’re looking forward to meeting other campers at locations, so we can meet other RVers and van lifers.
Waking up in gorgeous locations
There are some BEAUTIFUL host locations on Harvest Hosts. If you’re full time RV living, you know all about the Walmart parking lots, or the rest stop. Having a gorgeous winery or hilly farm to wake up to is such a nice change of pace. It balances out all the not-so-pretty camping locations.
New hosts being added all the time
Just in the short 3 months that we’ve had our Harvest Hosts membership, there’s been over 100 locations added. So even if there aren’t many locations where you want them, they are always working hard to add more.
What to Expect
When you use Harvest Hosts for your overnight camping needs, you can expect to be self-sufficient at the properties. While some hosts have dedicated parking spots, others don’t.
Don’t expect anything from the hosts. You will be dry camping at the hosts spots. Every once in a while, you’ll find a host will supply water or a toilet, but don’t expect it.
Remember, these locations are people’s businesses, and also some of the hosts live on location, so keep that in mind when camping. Please be respectful of these locations and area of Harvest Hosts rules.
Harvest Hosts FAQ
What types of vehicles are allowed?
All classes of RV’s are allowed (Class A, Class B, Class C) including Motor Coaches, Fifth Wheel Campers, Travel Trailers, Toy Haulers, Camper Vans, Truck Campers, and Schoolies. Towed Vehicles are also acceptable. All vehicles MUST be self-contained, meaning an interior toilet and built in tanks for waste water.
Where are Harvest Hosts near me?
If you aren’t a member yet, you can still get a general idea of where to find Harvest Hosts around the United States. You cannot see the exact locations until you are a member for safety of the hosts, but you’ll be able to see if there are any in certain locations that you plan to be overnight camping. On the site, you can search by specific locations or you can search by a route.
Our favorite Harvest Hosts locations so far
We have only stayed at a few Harvest Hosts locations so far, but here are some that we recommend if you’re in the area
Cold Springs Winery – Hammett, Idaho
An adorable little winery just east of Boise, Idaho. We weren’t sure if we would get there in time before they closed, but we thought we’d try our luck. We arrived just minutes before closing, and asked if it was okay if we stayed overnight. Bill and his daughter were so friendly, they showed us where to park and then we went in for some wine tastings. They were so kind to stay after hours with us, for almost an hour! Heard some awesome stories from Bill. The wines were all amazing, and we had a nice campsite overlooking the lawn and a lovely sunset. It was nice and quiet, a lovely evening!
Rowleys Red Barn – Santaquin, Utah
A lovely farm a little south of Salt Lake City, Utah. The red barn has everything you need inside! We visited around mid October so there was lots of activities going on for Halloween. The farm has all kinds of goodies including produce, apple cider, donuts, ice cream, homemade jams, pies, and more! Although we didn’t get to meet the owners, there was plenty of room to park, and it was super quiet spot.
Overview
We have stumbled upon some of the prettiest camping spots, through Harvest Hosts. If you’re looking for some great overnight camping spots, give Harvest Hosts a try! Harvest Hosts is an affordable, easy to use app, that connects you to great hosts and other campers. Even if you only spend 4 nights a year at Harvest Hosts locations, you’ll save money and have better memories!
Be sure to save $15 off your Harvest Hosts Memberships and let us know your thoughts on your experience!
Disclaimer: We are affiliates for Harvest Hosts. You receive $15 off your membership by purchasing through our affiliate link and we receive a small commission for your membership. But we are affiliates because we truly love Harvest Hosts and recommend it for the reasons described in this post!
Hi Guys,
We have to agree with you on Harvest Hosts. It’s our favorite way to boondock and camp for free! We have stayed at farms and wineries and some even have live music on the weekends!
We have met lots of really nice people along the way too!
Thanks for the article!
Mike and Susan