Alan Rogers Guides - Since 1968
The best guides to the best campsites.
Since 1968 the Alan Rogers guides have been the impartial guide to the best inspected and selected campsites across Europe. Widely regarded as the most authoritative voice when it comes to forming an independent view of a campsite's quality, they provide real peace of mind when planning your holiday. To many thousands of readers they have become a glovebox necessity and an armchair companion.
Back in the 1960s Alan Rogers identified a need for a campsite guide that was both qualitative and descriptive, without resorting to the use of symbols. This involved visiting the sites on a regular basis to assess standards of quality and welcome, then writing a short factual and honest description of that site. Having made a selection of the best campsites for his guide, Alan continued to regularly monitor and update the copy. He became a well-known and respected figure on the quality campsite circuit, inspecting sites and conducting ‘camping tours' that were much enjoyed by earlier readers. Alan was 50 when he produced the first guide, retiring at 70 when Clive and Lois Edwards bought the company.
Over the years the range of titles has gradually expanded, as has readership in the UK – and Holland too. The unique style and honesty of the Alan Rogers guides sets them apart in this age of freely available but unqualified information. Indeed it is not uncommon for continental campsite owners themselves to use the Alan Rogers guides as an independent reference guide.
The Alan Rogers guides contain impartially written reports on over 2,000 campsites, each one individually inspected and selected. And importantly the selection of campsites still employs exactly the same philosophy and criteria as defined by Alan Rogers himself back in 1968.
"...the campsites included in this book have been chosen entirely on merit, and no payment of any sort is made by them for their inclusion."
- Alan Rogers, 1968
Selection is based entirely on a rigorously independent inspection and selection process. The guides 'tell it how it is' and campsites cannot buy their way in - indeed the extensive Site Report is provided free of charge, leaving the editors free to say what they think and to provide an honest, 'warts and all' description.
In line with Alan Rogers's original vision, this is still written in plain English and without the use of confusing icons or symbols, the bane of people's lives when it comes to using many guide books. Significantly, the Alan Rogers guides are not 'listings' or directories but are written by experts in their field, with subjective views and personal insights into a campsite's quality, all designed to provide you with reassurance and peace of mind.
So What Makes A Good Campsite?
The criteria used when inspecting and selecting sites are numerous, but the most important by far is the question of good quality. People want different things from their choice of campsite so a range of campsite ‘styles’ is included to cater for a wide variety of preferences: from those seeking a small peaceful campsite in the heart of the countryside, to visitors looking for an 'all singing, all dancing' site in a popular seaside resort. Those with more specific interests, such as sporting facilities, cultural events or historical attractions, are also catered for.
The size of the site, whether it's part of a campsite chain or privately owned, makes no difference in respect of its quality and it being ‘fit for purpose’. In other words, irrespective of the size of the site, or the number of facilities it offers, it is elements like the welcome, the pitches, the sanitary facilities, the cleanliness, the general maintenance and even the location that are important.
Whatever the ‘style’ of an individual campsite there is no right or wrong, as far as the Alan Rogers guides are concerned. What matters is that they achieve what they set out to offer and are good examples of the best of modern campsites.
Campsites selected must meet the most stringent quality criteria in the industry. Make no mistake, a campsite may have all the boxes ticked when it comes to listing all kind of facilities but if it’s not inherently a ‘good site’, then it will not appear in the Alan Rogers guide.
"With the Alan Rogers Guides, what you read is what you get."
- Cassandra Jardine, The Daily Telegraph
Buying your Alan Rogers Guide
Apart from our own website (with FREE UK P&P!), the Alan Rogers guides are sold in all major UK bookshop chains including WH Smiths, Waterstones and Borders, as well as through smaller independents, camping industry wholesalers, various retailers like Halfords and of course online retailers like Amazon, Tesco and Sainsbury.
In the Netherlands the Alan Rogers Guides sell well, being sold in over 90% of all bookshops. Sales (of the English-language editions) are increasing in Scandinavia and Belgium.
Buy an Alan Rogers Guide from our bookshop.
Looking Back On Over 40 Years of Excellence
1968 The first Alan Rogers Guide with 50 campsites in Europe (now over 900)
1976 The first British Guide with 100 sites (now 475)
1977 The first France Guide with 151 sites (now 616 sites)
1992 Ireland added to British Guide
1993 The first ‘All Year Round Guide’ (this info is now carried in all guides)
1995 Autoroute Campsite Database launched in association with Microsoft
2000 The Alan Rogers Travel Service launched, a holiday booking service for readers
2001 The Alan Rogers Guides produced in full colour
2002 Guides test-launched in the Netherlands
www.alanrogers.com – a fully searchable database launched
2003 Guides fully launched in the Netherlands
New offices in the Netherlands set up
2004 New guides to Italy and Spain & Portugal launched
2005 New guide to Central Europe & Croatia launched
2006 Digital downloadable Alan Rogers guides launched
2007 Biggest ever France guide published with nearly 1,000 campsites
2008 Bespoke Europe guide produced in association with Camping Life, a Dutch camping and
caravanning organisation with its own magazine and TV station (over 1 million viewers weekly)
2009 New sat nav product launched in UK in association with MyPoi World, a Benelux-based satnav
specialist - directions to over 2,000 European campsites in 30 countries
The 2010 Alan Rogers Guides are available to buy with FREE UK P&P from our bookshop.
