Staycations generally don’t come cheap. Anyone looking for a break in Ireland this month can expect to pay a premium, with some short-term lets charging €4,000 a week, as recently reported by The Irish Times.But there is an alternative. Up to 500,000 people a year stay in more than 500 caravan and camping parks dotted around the country, according to Camping Ireland, the body representing the sector. A week’s holiday accommodation for a family of four is below €300 at some sites and below €500 in many others.Among those sold on the idea are Nicola Aldeweireldt from Waterford, her husband Ed and their four children, who enjoyed their fifth year at the International Outdoor Adventure Centre (IOAC) and holiday park near Rosslare in Co Wexford, this year.“There is an energy about the place,” Nicola says. Her four children, aged between nine and 14, “make new friends within half an hour of arrival and they are off. They come back worn out, which is what you want.” Nicola and her family bring their own tents – a sleeping tent and a “family” tent – and have equipment including a small fridge and a gas cooker. There is self-catering as well as entertainment in the evenings. Parents can relax while the kids sit with them or, more likely, go exploring again. On some nights there are kids’ discos and singsong evenings. The Aldeweireldt family pay about €50 a night for their pitch, which comes with electricity and has space for tents and a car. While standard amenities including the children’s play area are included for campsite residents, some activities cost extra, such as kayaking, raft building or a high rope climbing course, each at €20 an hour. Other activities, including a tag-style archery combat game and a Viking-inspired obstacle assault course, are priced at €16 an hour.“There is a lot free too. My children went on their own zombie apocalypse hunt with their buddies,” says Nicola. The IOAC park is run by Adrian and Carmel Tennant. Carmel says the standard pitch for tents, caravans and campervans is about €32-€40 a night. That base rate covers up to four people on the pitch. Extra adults cost €6.50 a night, an extra child costs €5 and an electricity hook-up is €4 a night.Ed Aldeweireldt playing table football with three of his children - Ciara, Rian and Fiona - at the International Outdoor Adventure Centre near Rosslare in Co Wexford This year the Aldeweireldt family from Waterford enjoyed their fifth year at the IOAC Tents at the IOAC and holiday park Carmel says the IOAC also has parking for motorhomes, caravans, a dedicated scout camp and glamping cabins. The hot summer has been good for business, she says. The Dying Cow, a rural pub between the villages of Tinahely and Shillelagh in Co Wicklow, is a regular stop for walkers on the Wicklow Way. Run by Eamonn and Lil Dolan, the pub dates from the early 1700s and, in the last decade, the family has diversified into glamping pods and camping areas.“We allowed people to camp for years at the back of the pub, but it was very basic with no facilities and ground was very much on a slant as we are on the side of a hill,” Eamonn says.Today there are four level areas for tents, while glamping pods for people who want a more comfortable place to sleep and relax after walking are also offered. There are showers, toilets and a small kitchenette. “Overall it is working out well and complements our pub and gives us more customers who like to call in for well-deserved refreshments and maybe a pizza,” Eamon says. “That was another thing the walkers were craving after being on dried rations and little food, something hot and tasty.” Costs are in the region of €15 per person in a tent or €120 a night for a glamping pod, which sleeps up to two people. Over in east Wicklow, James Conolly at Knockrobin, Tinakilly, Rathnew, offers upmarket tents and cedar huts for families and couples wanting a convenient break from Dublin. “It is a romantic site. You can sit and see the sunset over the Wicklow Mountains in the evening and then watch it rise over the sea in the morning. There have been several proposals in the tents,” he says. A standard or family bell tent costs about €180 a night (based on the week of search). Each tent has its own luxury bathroom. Breakfast from the nearby Tinakilly House Hotel can be delivered.In Kilkenny, Tree Grove Caravan and Camping Park is just a 20-minute walk from the city centre. It offers unlimited hot showers, kitchen and laundry facilities and a TV room. It has space for 30 pitches and glamping pods are available. Costs are from €15 for a hiker/cyclist per night and €45 for a family of four. Camping pods cost €90-€120 a night.Cooling down at Lough Key Forest Park in Boyle, Co Roscommon: one of a number of options for more cost-effective staycations. Photograph: Brian Farrell In Co Roscommon, Lough Key Forest park near Boyle offers a pitch for a four-man tent for €30 a night rising to €35 for a six-man option. Showers cost an additional €2.Fossa Caravan and Camping Park in Killarney, Co Kerry, is set among mature trees and shrubs, with a preserved wooded area to the rear as a backdrop. The front overlooks MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and Carrantuohill. Accommodation will typically cost €20-€51 a night for standard touring and camping pitches, depending on campers’ vehicle, group size and the season. This week, the website has a special offer of seven nights for two adults and two children from €306. Beirnes of Battlebridge, Co Roscommon, has recently reopened after the previous operators retired. There is a pub, restaurant and bar on the edge of the Shannon. Leitrim lies on the other side of the river. Glamping cabins are available for €200 for two nights and sleep up to four. Back in Co Wicklow, the Rivervalley Holiday Park offers glamping, a “glampotel”, self-catering mobile homes, paddock lodges and log cabins in the village of Redcross. The site is a little more than an hour’s drive from Dublin and close to both Brittas Bay and Glendalough. Price depends on your accommodation style, varying from a base camping rate of €20–€26 per unit a night, plus per-person fees, to glamping options ranging from €105-€250 a night.[ Camping on the Continent: An Irish family’s favourite summer holidayOpens in new window ]The site offers electric or pedal go-karts and archery among its facilities, and summer kids clubs run from the end of June to the end of August. “When the kids are happy, everybody is happy,” says Lorna Williams, whose family has run the park for generations. For family holidays that are a little different, but still within a reasonable budget, Making Tracks in Co Laois and Clissmann Horse Caravans in Co Wicklow offer horse-drawn caravan holidays. Prices start in the mid €600s for a short week, low season.Con Quill, chief executive of the Irish Caravan and Camping Council (also known as Camping Ireland), says up to 500,000 individual tourists stay in registered caravan and camping parks each year. Quill, who also owns Blarney Caravan and Camping Park in Co Cork, says the tourists account for up to 2.7 million bed nights each year. The industry experienced a large boost during the pandemic, he says, and has sustained a high volume due to a surge in the number of campervans and motorhomes, as well as the good weather this summer. According to Quill, about 60 to 65 per cent of visitors are domestic Irish holidaymakers, while overseas visitors, predominantly from the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, make up the remaining 35 to 40 per cent.