Motorhome and Caravan Show 2026 at the NEC: tickets, halls and how to plan your day

The Motorhome and Caravan Show is back at the NEC in Birmingham from Tuesday 13 to Sunday 18 October 2026, open 10am to 6pm each day. It is the one place where most of the UK's motorhome and campervan makers put their new season under the same roof, and the organiser describes more than 1,000 new leisure vehicles from more than 80 brands. That is a lot of doors to open in a single day. The people who get the most from it arrive with a ticket already bought, a short list of stands, and a clear idea of what they can legally drive and carry.

Dates, times and tickets

The show runs for six days, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. The NEC's own event page lists it across Halls 6 to 12 and 17 to 20, which is a big footprint even by NEC standards, so give yourself the full day rather than an afternoon.

Tickets are £14.95 in advance or £19.95 on the day, and the show site says the advance ticket discount ends at midnight on 12 October 2026. Parking is included in the ticket, which takes one small worry off the list. On children, the show's own terms say those aged 15 and under go free with a paying adult or senior, up to two children per adult, and each child still needs a ticket; the NEC's event page says 16 and under, so go by the show's terms. A carer goes free with a paying registered disabled visitor, with proof. A £1.25 transaction fee applies to each booking, and tickets are non-refundable, though you can change the day. The organiser also warns that tickets may sell out.

Discount codes and club rates

Several makers have published codes on their own show pages. Bailey's show page gives the code BAILEY for £5.95 off the on-the-door price, which works out at £14.00 if the full £19.95 applies. Auto-Trail's show page gives the code ATRAIL, valid until midnight on 12 October. Swift's code SWIFT brings the advance ticket to £14.00 before 23:59 on 12 October. Club members do better still: Caravan and Motorhome Club members pay £12 on Club Day, Tuesday 13 October, and £13 on the other days if they book before the deadline, and Camping and Caravanning Club members pay £13.25 in advance. Whichever route you take, compare the final price at the mcshow.co.uk checkout rather than assuming one code beats another.

Where the motorhomes and campervans are

Caravans and motorhomes are mixed through the halls, and the show's exhibitor list has motorhome or campervan stands in every one, including Adria and Roller Team in Hall 7, Knaus and Weinsberg in Hall 17 and Morelo in Hall 18. The stand numbers below come from the exhibitor pages and the makers' own show pages, checked on 10 October. Stands can shift at the last minute, so check the show map on mcshow.co.uk or the hall signs when you arrive.

• Hall 6: Swift, stand 6.33, with 71 vehicles on the stand. If Swift is on your list, budget a good chunk of time here.
• Hall 8: Auto-Sleepers (8.25), Marquis Leisure (8.26) and Auto-Trail (8.30). A useful hall for comparing coachbuilt layouts back to back.
• Hall 9: Coachman motorhomes, stand 9.100. Coachman's caravans are elsewhere, in Hall 19 at stand 19.20.
• Hall 10: WildAx, stand 10.20.
• Hall 11: the campervan converters. Vanworx with Danbury (11.70), Jerba (11.55), Bespoke Leisure (11.90 and 11.110), Rolling Homes (11.140) and CamperKing (11.160 and 11.165).
• Hall 12: Hillside Leisure, on 12.150 and 12.86.
• Hall 19: Bailey, stand 19.25.
• Hall 20: Elddis, stand 20.19.

The simplest plan is to walk the halls in number order and skip the ones you do not need. If you only care about panel van conversions, Hall 11 is your home for the day, with a detour to Hall 9 for Coachman's new campervans and Hall 6 for Swift's. If you want a coachbuilt, Halls 6, 8, 9, 19 and 20 cover the big British names.

What is new on the stands

Every year the show doubles as the launch pad for the next model year, and the makers' own show pages list a healthy crop of firsts for the new season. Treat the list as a starting point and ask on the stand whether a particular model is there.

• Bailey: the Ford Transit-based Ascent motorhomes get their first public showing, alongside the new B68 end-lounge Endeavour campervan. Hall 19, stand 19.25.
• Auto-Trail: the Peugeot Boxer-based Adventure overcabs, with the 64, 76 and 76G listed for the stand. Hall 8, stand 8.30.
• Coachman: the new Veloce campervans, built on the Fiat Ducato, the VL65 and VR65. Hall 9, stand 9.100.
• Swift: the new Merlin campervans, the Kon-Tiki 740 and 774, and the Trekker 505. Hall 6, stand 6.33.
• Elddis: the 2027 Autoquest GT and GTS and Whirlwind GT and GTS. Hall 20, stand 20.19.
• WildAx: the new Mercury. Hall 10, stand 10.20.

New models tend to draw a queue at the door, so if one of these is the reason you are going, head there first and leave the browsing for later.

Weekday or weekend

This is a judgement call, and we will not guess at crowd levels because nobody can promise what a given day will look like. The practical difference is time with people. If you want a long, unhurried conversation with a sales team about a specific layout, a weekday gives you four days to choose from and the same 10am to 6pm hours. If you can only go at the weekend, go, and simply do your must-see stands first. Either way, the advance ticket price is the same, and the deadline is the same: midnight on 12 October.

What to bring

Your licence and the date you passed your test

This matters more than most first-time visitors expect. A category B car licence covers a motor caravan with a maximum authorised mass (MAM, also written MTPLM or plated weight) of up to 3,500 kg. If you passed your car test before 1 January 1997, your licence also carries C1 as acquired rights, so you can drive vehicles from 3,500 to 7,500 kg. If you passed on or after 1 January 1997, you have category B only, and anything plated above 3,500 kg needs C1, gained by applying for provisional entitlement, a doctor-completed D4 medical, then a theory test and a practical test in a suitably heavy vehicle.

So before you fall for a 3,850 kg coachbuilt, know which side of that date you sit on. Two footnotes: acquired-rights C1 lasts until your 70th birthday, after which keeping it needs a postal renewal with a D4 medical every three years. And since 10 June 2025, in England, Wales and Scotland, a category B holder may drive a zero-emission vehicle up to 4,250 kg MAM, which includes an electric motor caravan; petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles stay at 3,500 kg.

If a maker offers to downplate a model to 3,500 kg to fit your licence, ask what payload is left afterwards. Downplating gets round the licence rule but usually leaves very little carrying capacity.

The payload you need

Work this out at home, not on the stand. Payload is MAM minus the mass in running order (MIRO), and MIRO is the standard vehicle plus a 75 kg driver, fuel at 90 per cent and whatever water and gas the maker says it counts. Makers define that last part differently, so read the definition on the spec sheet rather than assuming. Then add up what you will carry: roughly 75 kg per extra person, your fresh water if the maker travels the tank empty, gas, bikes, awning, food, clothes and the inevitable box of things that live in the garage. Write the total down and take it with you. When you find a layout you love, ask for its MAM, its MIRO, the maker's running-order definition and the weight of every option you would tick. If the sum does not leave you comfortable headroom, it is the wrong van, however lovely the lounge.

Remember too that EU type-approval rules allow the actual running-order mass of a motor caravan to differ from the declared figure by up to plus or minus 5 per cent, so a tight payload on paper can be tighter still in the metal.

A tape measure, a notebook and a phone charger

• Tape measure: for the bed, the garage, your driveway and the gap under your garage door at home. Bed lengths on brochures are not always the usable length once the headboard and cushions are in.
• Notebook: after ten vans the details blur. Note the model, stand, price, MAM, MIRO, and the name of the person you spoke to.
• Phone charger: you will be photographing spec plates, weight stickers and layouts all day, and your tickets and your notes all live on the same battery.
• Your own measurements: your height, your partner's height, and the length of anything bulky you want to carry.

Beyond the stands

The Inspiration Theatre's special guests are Fiona Hughes on Tuesday, Martin Dorey on Wednesday, Kelvin Fletcher on Thursday and Helen Skelton on Friday, and the show says all speaker talks are free to attend. Ask The Experts runs at 1pm every day, and the new BBQ cooking demonstrations are in Hall 17. If you are nervous about driving something the size of a coachbuilt, the Caravan and Motorhome Club runs free 20-minute manoeuvring tasters and free towing sessions. Pre-booking has closed, so book on the day at the Club's stand, 7.12 in Hall 7. For the towing sessions the show asks for your driving licence, a DVLA check code and a show ticket, and it is one booking per ticket.

Getting there, parking and staying over

The NEC is a five-minute covered walk from Birmingham International railway station, and it is signposted from the M42, M40 and M6. One thing to know before you drive: the NEC says the bridge on the north side of the M42 junction 6 roundabout is closed, so check National Highways' M42 junction 6 page for the latest before you set off. Traffic arriving is not affected, but if you leave by the Southway you can only join the M42 northbound.

Standard parking is included in the ticket, there are designated bays for motorhomes, and free shuttle buses run from the car parks to the Atrium main entrance between 8am and 7pm. Overnight parking is not allowed. If you want to stay, the Caravan and Motorhome Club runs a temporary campsite in North Car Parks 10 and 10a for the nights of 12 to 18 October: £54 a night on a paved pitch, £49 on shingle and £39 without electric from Monday to Saturday, and £10 less on Sunday. There are no showers, awnings are not allowed, pets are welcome, and show entry is not included.

Inside, there are picnic areas and you can bring your own food. Wheelchairs can be hired for £10 and mobility scooters for £25, and scooters can be booked online. Disabled parking is available but cannot be pre-booked. Pets are not allowed in the show itself, though assistance dogs are always welcome.

Don't be rushed

Show offers are real, and plenty of makers and dealers price their stock to sell during the six days. But a motorhome or campervan is one of the biggest purchases most of us will ever make, and an offer that only lasts until Sunday is still an offer with terms. Read what the show price includes, what the deposit commits you to, what happens if you change your mind, and whether the delivery date and the spec on the order form match what you saw on the stand. If you have done the licence and payload sums at home, you will already know whether the van in front of you fits your life. That is the point of planning the day: so the decision is yours, made in daylight, and not made because the hall is about to close.