geordie mandy

We are coming down to Melbourne around the 15th sept for a week (approx date at mo)
We are flying from Darwin and want a weekend (or a couple of days) hopefully in Melbourne before travelling up to Albury to visit family( unable to stay with family as too many of us) and visit a boarding school for my eldest. Trying to work out what is going to work out cheaper hotels and hire car or motor home. There are 5 of us

Hubby is about to deploy overseas so at present cant book anything till he gets his dates confirmed, which is making it tricky for me to plan anything

Can any one advice what would work out cheaper and how practical a motor home is for a family of 5
Mandy

KJCherokee

A motor home that is large enough for a family of 5, such as the Escape from Britz would be a pain for travelling around Melbourne - just imagine trying to park the thing in shopping centres (assuming the centre has an open air car park, as you won't get into any underground/multi-storey one. Also just imagine living in a small box for a week.

I'd pay whatever it takes for hotel/car hire before subjecting myself to that!

jad n rich

We did many campervan trips when the boys were younger.

I loved it, all the gear is with you at each stop, no packing, unpacking.

Found loads of campervan parks in victoria.

Kids found it very exciting back then, young and sweet then

For 5 you will need quite a largish van to get the seatbelts required.

My number one tip. Be wary of standby vans, the fineprint means they dont have to honour your booking, so you turn up, and if they got a better rental on that van you dont get it. Happened to us, New years eve Sydney. Also check the van carefully when you pick it up, one hire in melbourne, they were expecting us to use the last customers dirty bed linen!!!! Only gave us fresh when I threatened to report them to health dept.

I love the campervan thing, and it can be reasonable, especially if you have 3 kids and find hotels will not allow 5 in hotel rooms due to fire regs.

jad n rich

Yes not for the CBD or peak hour, we nearly got arrested in Hobart for almost knocking down a traffic light

But that was by aussie partner who wanted to drive on a 40mile stretch of black ice in USA and tried to get up The strand/Oxford street in a hire car in London on Christmas eve.

geordie mandy

Thanks KJ and Jad, just got back from the travel agents and the quotes came in very similar. However hotel accomadation could not guarentee us an interconnecting room , which is a problem we have had before when booking a hotel for the 5 of us. One time the hotel had us on 2 different areas despite reassurances from travel agent that we would have rooms next to each other.
Will see what the other half says when he gets in will do a pro's and cons for each.

Kj hadnt thought of parking and driving in city areas, so thanks for that comment.
Mandy

moneypenny20

Don't know what difference in prices there are but what about a self catering apartment? Wouldn't have the worry of two rooms separated.

Jilliebee

http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodatio...iverina/albury

We always prefer self catering to hotels. A lot cheaper than eating out all the time too x

billymacker

don't forget to add the cost of staying on a campsite with a camper.