By Catherine Best,
April 15, 2025
Easter is one of the busiest times of the year to be on the road, and securing a campsite over the long weekend can be tough. This year there’s even more incentive to get away, with the ANZAC Day long weekend gifting holiday makers 10 days off in exchange for just three days of annual leave. If you haven’t yet made plans, here’s how to get a last-minute Easter campsite.
The Easter rush
If you had your heart set on a beachfront campsite at a holiday park within two hours of a capital city and you haven’t yet booked, you can forget about it this Easter. Sites likely booked out months ago. G’day Parks, a network of more than 280 holiday parks across Australia, says Easter is one of the busiest times of the year, as people take advantage of the school holidays and the last burst of warm weather before winter.
“Given it’s a shorter break than over Christmas, it also tends to lend itself to drive holidays and road trips, so our parks are usually in high demand,” says G’day Group chief marketing officer Lahnee White.
“This year is no exception and we’re expecting a bumper weekend with occupancy across our tourist parks forecast at more than 80 per cent.” White says some of the most in-demand destinations include Pambula Beach on the NSW South Coast, Lake Bonney in the SA Riverland, Nagambie in central Victoria and Byron Bay in Northern NSW.
If you had hoped for a site in one of these holiday hot spots, it’s most likely too late. Instead, think outside the box with these tips for getting a campsite this Easter long weekend.
Free camp
Ditch the holiday park bustle and instead opt for a free camp. Free camps are a great option for self-contained RVers, and some even have basic facilities. The Wikicamps app is your best resource for finding free and low-cost camps, with a database of more than 10,000 campgrounds around Australia. Each of the states and territories also provides a range of free and cheap camping options. In Victoria, for example, there are more than 1600 free camps available, including almost 1200 sites managed by Parks Victoria. In NSW, more than half of the 365 campgrounds managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service are free.
The key to nabbing a premium free camp – like a beachfront spot on Tasmania’s Bay of Fires – is to get in early. Don’t arrive on the afternoon of Good Friday expecting to get a prime spot by the water. You will need to beat the crowds and park up a day or two before the RV onslaught.
Go rural
If you can’t get away early to claim a spot at a popular free camp, or your favourite holiday park is full, broaden your destination search. It’s time to go rural, get creative and look beyond the obvious holiday hot spots. If Wilpena Pound in SA’s Ikara-Flinders Ranges is booked out, try the Gawler Ranges. If you can’t get a campsite at Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, try a site just outside the national park. Swap out NSW’s Jervis Bay for a spot on the Shoalhaven River, or substitute Queensland’s beaches for the outback.
“If you’re still wanting to get away this Easter, there is availability if you look beyond the most popular destinations,” White says. “We do have easy tools on our Discovery and G’day Parks websites and our app that will suggest alternate nearby locations if your destination of choice isn’t available, which takes some of the pain out of searching for last minute availability.”
Hipcamp hero
If holiday parks are full and you want the certainty of a booked site, try Hipcamp. The Airbnb of campsites, Hipcamp has 40,000 sites available on private properties around Australia, bookable through an online platform and starting from $27 a night for four people. The platform enables property owners with a large parcel of land to open up their space to campers, caravanners and motorhomers. Your hosts might be farmers with river frontage, apple growers with space in their orchard, or town dwellers with a large plot of land.
Often you need to be fully self-contained, but some Hipcamps have the luxury of toilets and showers, fire pits, a swimming hole and even farm stay experiences with animal encounters.
The benefit of a Hipcamp is you can book in advance, knowing exactly what facilities and conditions to expect, and with the confidence of a reserved site. There’s nothing worse than turning up to a free camp at dusk with a large rig and finding that not only is there no availability, but you don’t have room to turn around. You can also enjoy a personalised experience at a Hipcamp, getting to know your hosts and gaining local insights into the best local sights and attractions. Sometimes you may be the only campers on site, or sharing with as few as one or two other groups.
One of our favourite Hipcamps was at Green Falls Escape, just inland from Warrnambool at the end of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. We unhitched next to a purpose-built deck with outdoor furniture, power, water, a fire pit and a luxuriant clawfoot bath overlooking the paddocks. There were no other campers and it was sublime.
Pubs and public spaces
Is there anything more Australian than pulling up outside a country pub and grabbing a beer and a counter meal before settling down for the night? Many country pubs offer self-contained camping out the back for gratis. While you don’t need to pay, it’s customary to buy a meal or a couple of drinks at least, and some pubs will even let guests use their toilets and showers, sometimes for a fee.
RV-friendly towns are also great at rolling out the red carpet for motorhomes and caravanners, often opening up free or stay-by-donation spaces at showgrounds and ovals. Some towns, like Broome, have overflow camping areas during peak times, while towns like St Helens, in Tasmania, and Bunbury, in WA, have free 24-hour and 48-hour rest stops in town.
Plan ahead
To ensure you get your preferred campsite next Easter, it’s crucial to plan ahead. Many holiday parks take bookings for next Easter before the Easter Bunny has left the campground, often giving preferential reservations to return guests. G’day Parks recommends booking at least three months in advance, but six months – even a year – is a safer bet.
