Is Thousand Trails Worth It? Our Real RV Park Costs After One Year
In a previous blog, we broke down what Thousand Trails is and what it’s like to actually use it.
But there’s one question that matters more than anything else:
Is it worth it?
It’s one of the biggest decisions you can make when it comes to long-term RV travel—and one of the easiest to get wrong if you don’t fully understand the numbers.
Before we get into the details, there’s one important thing to clarify:
This breakdown is focused specifically on our campground (RV park) costs—not our total cost of living.
RV life includes a lot more than just where you park:
Fuel
Food
Maintenance
Insurance
Upgrades
This post is about one piece of the puzzle:
What it cost us to stay at RV parks for a full year—and how Thousand Trails impacted that.
Now that that’s clear, let’s get into it.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
When most people think about RV life, they focus on the big purchases:
The truck
The RV
The upgrades
But over time, something else quietly becomes one of the biggest ongoing expenses:
Where you stay.
$50 a night doesn’t feel like much.
$80 a night feels normal.
But stack that over weeks… then months…
And suddenly you’re staring at $15,000–$20,000+ per year just in campground costs.
And most people don’t realize it until they’re already deep into it.
It’s easy to look at one night and think, “that’s not bad.”
But RV life isn’t one night.
That’s when we started asking ourselves:
Is there a smarter way to do this?
Our Membership (Quick Recap)
We purchased the Thousand Trails Adventure Membership for:
About $14,000 total
Roughly $300/month over 7 years
At first, that number can feel like a lot—and it is.
We went back and forth on it.
Because spending that kind of money upfront only makes sense if you actually use it.
But once we got on the road and started using it consistently, something changed.
Instead of focusing on the total cost…
We started looking at cost per night.
For us, that comes out to roughly $10 per night
And that’s where things started to click.
Our First Year: The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s keep this simple.
If we paid standard campground rates:
Based on how we traveled and where we stayed, we estimate we would have spent:
Around $18,000
What we actually spent:
Including our membership payments and out-of-pocket stays:
Under $4,000 total
Take a second and really let that sink in.
That’s not a small difference.
That’s over $14,000 saved in one year
That’s the kind of number that can completely change how long you stay on the road.
Pause for a Second…
Because this is the part most people don’t stop to think about.
That $14,000 isn’t just a number.
That’s:
Months of travel
Experiences you don’t have to say no to
Flexibility in how and where you go
Or simply… money that stays in your pocket.
And once you start thinking this way, you stop looking at campground costs the same way entirely.
The Reality: You Won’t Stay Free Everywhere
This part matters—and it’s where a lot of people get the wrong idea.
Thousand Trails isn’t an “everything is covered” system.
For us, we only stayed outside of the Thousand Trails network when there simply wasn’t a location nearby that fit where we needed to be.
In other words, these weren’t preference-based decisions… they were location-based gaps in the network.
And this is something you should expect—not something to be surprised by.
Here’s what that looked like for us:
Lake Haven Retreat – Indianapolis, IN (4 weeks, full hookup)
~$850 total (~$30/night)KOA Holiday – Jasper, MN (Minneapolis) (2 weeks)
~$1,200 (~$80/night)KOA Journey – Newton, Iowa (Des Moines) (1 week)
~$500 (~$80/night)Hidden Paradise – St. Paul, IN
Normally ~$72/night — this stay was gifted to us by a family member
These stays filled in the gaps when:
There wasn’t a Thousand Trails campground nearby
We needed to be in a specific location
Or timing didn’t line up with availability
So when you combine the included stays with these occasional out-of-pocket ones…
You start to see how the full picture comes together.
Even with a membership like this, you should expect to mix in some paid stays depending on your travel route.
What These Numbers Actually Change
The biggest benefit isn’t just the savings.
It’s what those savings allow you to do.
We noticed a shift pretty quickly—and it wasn’t just financial.
It changed how we approached every decision on the road.
We stopped stressing about nightly rates
We stayed longer in places (up to 21 days)
We moved less often
We made decisions based on experience—not price
That’s a completely different mindset.
And over time, it makes RV life feel a lot more sustainable.
When Thousand Trails Is Worth It
From our experience, it makes the most sense if you:
Travel full-time or frequently
Like staying in places for longer periods
Are flexible with your route
Plan to use the system consistently
The key is simple:
The more you use it, the more valuable it becomes
And if you don’t use it consistently, that value drops just as fast.
When It’s Probably Not Worth It
It’s not for everyone—and that’s important to say.
It may not make sense if you:
Only travel a few times a year
Prefer high-end RV resorts every stay
Have strict, fixed travel plans
Don’t want to plan around campground locations
In those cases, paying nightly might be easier—and sometimes even the better option.
At a Glance
Without Membership → ~$18,000/year
With Membership → Under $4,000/year
Our Average Cost → ~$10/night
Final Verdict
For us?
Yes—it’s been absolutely worth it.
And not by a small margin.
Not because it sounded good.
Not because someone told us it would be.
But because of how we actually travel.
Our Take
Thousand Trails isn’t perfect.
And it’s important to say that clearly.
Like most campground networks, the experience can vary quite a bit from park to park. Some Thousand Trails locations feel well-kept, spacious, and close to that “resort-style” experience. Others are a bit more dated and could use some upkeep. And a lot of them fall somewhere right in the middle—simple, functional, and perfectly fine for what you need.
You’re not going to get the same experience every time.
But that hasn’t been a dealbreaker for us.
In our time using the system, we haven’t had a single stay that made us say, “we would never come back here again.” There are definitely a few locations we wouldn’t go out of our way to revisit—but nothing that’s been a hard no.
And when you step back and look at the bigger picture…
The cost savings, flexibility, and overall value have far outweighed those differences.
For us, it comes down to how we travel.
We enjoy mixing in different campgrounds along the way—not just Thousand Trails—to explore the towns and cities we visit. Trying local restaurants, checking out local spots, and experiencing each area is a big part of why we do this.
At the end of the day, we’re not chasing luxury at every stop.
We’re simply looking for a place to park our home that feels safe and works for what we need.
We’ve stayed at campgrounds that weren’t the nicest visually—things like older modular homes, RVs that have been sitting for a while, or areas that could use some upkeep. Like anyone, we’d prefer everything to be clean, well-maintained, and taken care of.
But we also understand that not every campground is the same, and sometimes there are factors outside of the owner’s control, like local regulations or long-term tenants.
So we try to keep the right perspective.
As long as a location feels safe, offers full hookups (50A), and we can get in and out of the site without any issues…
We’re going to be just fine.
And when you approach it that way, Thousand Trails continues to do exactly what we need it to do:
Help us stay longer, travel smarter, and keep our costs under control.
And when you look at it through that lens, the decision becomes a lot clearer.
