The best family motorhome, from a family who've owned eight
There is no single "best" family motorhome. The right one changes as your kids grow. Here is how we would choose again, after nineteen years and eight vans on the road with three boys.
The short answer
The best family motorhome is the one that matches your children's ages and gives you the right number of belted travel seats, not just beds. For young families we would point you at a five or six berth coachbuilt with a fixed bunk layout and enough belts for everyone. For families with teenagers, a larger A-class or twin-lounge layout earns its length.
The mistake almost everyone makes: buying for how many people can sleep in a van, when the number that actually limits you is how many can legally travel in it.
We are Steve and Lyndsay. We bought our first motorhome in 2007 with three young boys, zero experience and a 1989 Talbot Pilote that smelled faintly of damp. We have owned eight since, from that first bargain to the nine-metre Kon-Tiki we took to Morocco. Along the way we learned what actually matters for a family, usually the hard way, and that is what this guide is about: not spec sheets, but what it is actually like to live in these vans with kids.
The three things that actually matter
Everything else is negotiable
1. Belted travel seats, not berths
This is the one that catches families out, so we will say it plainly. A "6 berth" van means six people can sleep. It says nothing about how many can travel. Plenty of six-berth vans have only four belted seats, which means you can put six to bed but you can only legally drive four people down the road.
Our Itineo SB740 was the best van we had owned to that point. We sold it in 2018 anyway, purely to get a sixth belt so our niece could join the European tour. We lost a brilliant van over a single seatbelt. Count your belts before you count your beds.
2. A layout you can live in, not just sleep in
On a rainy afternoon in a Welsh car park, the layout is the difference between a lovely day and everyone getting on each other's nerves. What worked for us with younger boys was fixed bunks they could disappear into, which doubled as their daytime den. What works now the boys are grown and over six foot is a twin-lounge setup where the adults are not sitting on top of each other. Match the living space to how your family actually is, not how a brochure photo looks with the beds made up.
3. Storage and the boring practical stuff
A big garage sounds dull until you are trying to fit bikes, chairs, a barbecue and three boys' worth of gear. Payload matters too: it is easy to load a family van past its legal weight without realising. When we moved to the Kon-Tiki 874 we finally had a garage you could genuinely walk into, and it changed how we travelled, not least on the loaded-up week we spent driving the NC500 and Orkney in 2025. We compared it properly with our current Dethleffs in a head-to-head write-up, if you want to see both vans side by side.
How our needs changed, and yours will too
The real reason there's no single answer
Here is every van we have owned and, honestly, why we moved on from each one. This arc is the whole point: the "best" family motorhome is a moving target that tracks your kids' ages. We go through that wider story, and what raising three boys on the road actually involves, in our motorhoming with kids guide.
- 2007
Talbot Pilote R470
Our first van, bought for £5,000 with no idea what we were doing. It was old and a little damp, and it got us completely hooked. Everyone should have a cheap first one.
- 2009
Ace Jubilee Equerry (caravan)
These were the toddler years. We pitched locally for whole summers while Steve commuted, and a caravan taught us we are motorhome people at heart.
- 2012
Swift Lifestyle 630
Back to motorhomes: six berths and six belts was the brief, and this hit it. It was a short six-month layout test that moved us on to something better.
- 2012
Bessacarr E495
Four years of unfussy family motoring gave us lots of UK miles and a few European runs. We sold it because we fancied an A-class, not because it let us down.
- 2016
Itineo SB740
This was our first A-class, and the best van we had owned. It had bunks for the boys and five belts. We sold it only to add a sixth belt (see above).
- 2018
Swift Kon-Tiki 649
A big rear-lounge layout took us to Croatia and Slovenia. It was our first Kon-Tiki, and it set the template we came back to.
- 2022
Swift Kon-Tiki 874
Nine metres, tag axle and twin lounges: the one for adult-sized boys and serious European mileage, covering the NC500, Croatia, Turkey and Morocco.
- Now
Dethleffs XL Family
It gives us three proper double beds without making anything up, an over-cab for George, and a garage you can lose yourself in. This is where we are now: mostly the three of us, favouring space over separate lounges.
What we'd recommend, by family stage
If we were starting again today
Toddlers and young kids
A five or six berth coachbuilt with fixed bunks and enough belts. Do not overspend on your first one. You are learning what you like, and you will change van within a few years. A tidy used Bessacarr or Swift is a brilliant place to start.
Primary-age, family of five or six
This is the sweet spot for a fixed-bunk A-class like our Itineo. Bunks the kids own, a proper lounge, and crucially the right number of belts. Confirm the belt count in writing before you buy.
Teenagers and grown boys
Now length earns its keep. A twin-lounge or big rear-fixed-bed layout means six-foot teenagers are not sitting in each other's laps. This is Kon-Tiki 874 and Dethleffs territory: bigger, but you will use every metre.
New or used, and what to spend
We have bought both, and for a first family van we would buy used every time. Depreciation on a new motorhome is brutal in the first three years, and with kids you will want to change layout before you have finished paying it off. A well-kept used van from a family who looked after it (our Kon-Tiki 649 came from near Ipswich for a fraction of new) is the smart family money. Buy new later, once you know exactly what layout suits you and you plan to keep it a while.
Family motorhome questions we get asked
What's the difference between berths and belted travel seats?
Berths are how many people can sleep in the van. Belted travel seats are how many can legally travel while driving. They are often different numbers. A six-berth van might only have four belts, so you could sleep six but only drive four. For a family, the belt count is the number that actually limits you.
How many berths does a family of four need?
Four berths and four belts is the minimum, but a family of four is usually happier in a five or six berth. The extra space means the beds are not all in use as seating during the day, and there is somewhere to put wet coats and muddy kids. We always sized up.
What's the best motorhome layout for children?
Fixed bunks, without hesitation, while the kids are young. The children get a space that is theirs, it doubles as a daytime den, and you are not making up beds every night. As they become teenagers, a twin-lounge or larger fixed-bed layout gives everyone room to spread out.
Should I buy a new or used family motorhome?
Used, for your first one. New motorhomes lose a lot of value in the first few years, and families almost always want to change layout as the kids grow. Buy a well-kept used van to learn what you like, and consider new later once you know your ideal layout and plan to keep it.
How big a motorhome can a family actually manage?
More than you think, but be honest about driving and parking. We happily run a nine-metre tag-axle now, but we worked up to it over years and several vans. Start with something in the seven-metre range and grow into the length as your confidence and your kids do.
Written by Steve and Lyndsay Radford, who have travelled in motorhomes with their three sons since 2007. Everything here comes from vans we have genuinely owned and lived in, not spec sheets. Roaming Radfords is a trading name of Yowzer Limited.