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Beginner's guide: your first days in the Camping Resort Simulator demo
Published: · Cottondream Studios
In short: build plenty of simple pitches first, put a toilet block and a service centre close by, plant trees right next to the pitches and leave the prices alone at the start. This guide reflects demo version 0.1.7 (October 2026).
Day 1: your first campsite
You start at 9:00 with $50,000 and an empty stretch of coast.
- Reception. You will find it under “Infrastructure”. Every guest arrives here.
- Three pitches from “Lodging”. That is enough for the first guest to book.
- Speed up time. Switch to x4 in the top bar. Guests arrive between 9:00 and 19:00.
- Six more pitches in the afternoon. More pitches, more guests.
- In the evening: three trees right next to the pitches, three lamp posts between them and a toilet block near the pitches, but not right next to them.
Day 2: services
- Build a Service Centre close to your pitches. It only supplies power, water and waste collection to the pitches within its reach.
- Upgrade pitches. Tents look for a basic pitch, caravans for a serviced one ($250) and motorhomes for a fully serviced one ($500). The pitch has to be within reach of the Service Centre.
From day 3 you are on your own. You can also skip the tutorial.
What the campaign asks of you
Chapter 1, “First Summer”:
- Serve 12 bookings. This unlocks Glamping and Bungalow and gives you $2,500.
- Build your first Glamping.
- Serve 30 bookings in total.
Chapter 2, “The first big night”:
- Build the Activity plaza.
- Schedule your first night show.
- Open the Relax area. It becomes available after the first show with an audience.
The demo ends when the day on which you built the Relax area comes to a close. You can keep playing afterwards.
Quality: the spot is what counts
A pitch's quality comes from the spot, not from how much you spent on it. The game rates views, peace and quiet, nature, cleanliness, safety and convenience.
- Trees add nature, but only if they stand close to the pitch.
- Lamp posts make guests feel safe.
- Press Q for the quality view.
Glamping, bungalows and villas need a much better spot than a simple pitch.
Reputation and prices
Reputation starts at 2.50 stars. It rises when guests find a spot that suits their style, have the services they need close by, pay a price that matches what they get, and the surroundings are beautiful, calm and well kept. Noise, litter and a price that does not match hold it back.
You adjust prices from the Reception once your campsite is up and running (12 bookings). A high price fills fewer pitches, but each booking is worth more.
Common beginner mistakes
- Raising prices too early. Without services or leisure, far fewer guests come.
- Too few pitches. With only three on the first day you will turn guests away.
- No Service Centre. Pitches get dirty and lose quality.
- Trees far from the pitch. They do not help that pitch.
- Waiting at x1 overnight. Nobody arrives between 19:00 and 9:00. Switch to x4.
- Pool or Activity plaza next to quiet pitches. Guests visit leisure from all over the campsite, but the noise stays close.
- Slipping into the red. If your balance stays below −$2,000 for a full game day, the campsite becomes insolvent.
Controls
Drag with the right mouse button to pan, use the middle button to rotate and the wheel to zoom. WASD works too. Click a guest to open their card and follow their holiday.
You can see every building and its placement advice on the Buildings page. For how pitches, caravans and motorhomes differ, read A camping game for campers. The demo is free on Steam.