The Best of the Best: Name your favorite RV place to stay

[time2play]

Here in Washington state, I have often referred to a list of the "Best RV Parks in the Northwest" when trying to get an idea of places to stay. We're ready to expand our horizons!!

It got me thinking. What better place to get ideas than from other people who own an Airstream. I'm sure all of you have a favorite. So that's the question I pose to you. What is your absolute favorite RV park or campground ever?

You can only pick one. Just one. Well I'm not going to hold fast to this rule. If you absolutely have a second place to recommend, then by all means, please share. But my goal is to get the "best", so it has to a 10 out 10 in your eyes (or close to it). So pick your favorite, then say why it's your favorite.

And please be specific. Instead of "Yellowstone Park", or "Oregon Coast", name the place, the campground, the RV park...well, you get the idea.

This will be our "go to" list once we start traveling around the country. I'm sure others will find it useful too. So thank you in advance!

[karenjude]

Maybe people should describe what they like about the campground and why it's their favorite. This would help people evaluate them to see if it's a campground they might be interested in. Ex some people like campgrounds with lots of amenities while others don't care about amenities but like a very natural setting.

[time2play]

karenjude, absolutely I agree with that. The more information, the better!

[Rich W]

Maybe campgrounds are like jobs. The worst one is the one you're leaving and the best one is the one you're going to.

We haven't camped much but we do like the Florida state campgrounds. We spent a month there between two of them. Lots of nice people, always something to see/do, fairly clean rest rooms, friendly Rangers, quiet surroundings (mostly) and warm in winter.

[dkottum]

We use our Airstream to see the country and it's natural and historical sites, visit friends, and escape northern winters. It's the destination and travel we seek, not the campgrounds.

So we decide what we want to see or do, and look for a campsite convenient to our purpose. We've camped at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. and at Yosemite National Park. They were both fantastic because they facilitated our exploration of the nation's history and it's incredible natural wonders.

Another was when we were the only people spending the night at a parking lot shrouded in nighttime fog to awake to a beautiful morning right on the northern California coast.

Travel freely, let wonderful things happen, the "best" of everything is only what everybody else is doing.

[pappy19]

West Lake in Houston is probably the very best laid out RV park that I have encountered. Cajun Palms is the most outrageous RV park ever, no comparison anywhere in the USA.

[Sjcjr]

Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, Fl---at least so far!

[n2916s]

Long Key State Park, about halfway down the Florida Keys. Back of the trailer is about 35' from the high water mark.

Mike

[Paddledipper]

One thing I've found with us is that each trip is different and the type of campground we seek changes with our needs for that specific trip. I only have experience with Florida Campgrounds.

-Best Get Away From It All: St. Joseph's Peninsula State Park in Cape San Blas, Florida. Beach and bay both within walking distance and you can even leave your boat moored at the marina. Minimal cell service and few restaurants. Swimsuit and coverup all you need for days.

-Best Urban: Tied: Topsail Destin, FL and Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter, FL. Topsail is right smack dab in the middle of shopping and restaurants but near the beach and has a pool and full hook-ups. JDSP has deer roaming your campsites and access to the Loxahatchee River but just a few miles down the road is Jupiter Island and then Palm Beach. Great kayaking, fishing and restaurants everywhere you look.

-Best Laid Back Never Have to Get Back in Your Vehicle: Spirit of the Suwannee, Live Oak, Florida. Restaurant, miles and miles of wooded trails, river, pool, well stocked camp store and a multitude of live music experiences each week right in park. Rent or take a golf cart and you are set.

[acstokes]

Pappy19,

Cajun Palms is the most outrageous RV park ever, no comparison anywhere in the USA.

Just wondering what you mean by outrageous and no comparison anywhere in the U.S.?

[graysailor]

Hart Ranch Resort, Rapid City, SD. Most everything you could want or need is at this park.

[RMichler]

Chula Vista RV Resort and Marina. Right on San Diego Bay, you can take a trolley to Mexico or to Down Town San Diego, walk on the beach and walk to two good restaurants, one that is owned by Bill Muncey's Wife (the hydro-plane racer Miss Budweiser). Plus they have a good pool and spa.

[norm37]

The Basin campground in the Big Bend Park, TX in the fall.

[telebuck]

Have mostly just Airstreamed in Michigan. Our favorite(s):

Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City - many waterfront sites with views of the Mackinac Straits, Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island. Very family friendly, exceptionally clean restrooms, bike paths (or free shuttle) to the island ferry.

Holiday Park Campground in Traverse City - many waterfront sites (some on an island) on beautiful lake just a couple miles from downtown Traverse City. This is a former Airstream-only park, and you will still see dozens of them around the park. Great central location for day trips to Sleeping Bear Dunes, Leelaenau Peninsula, Old Mission Peninsula, Charlevoix, Petosky, Harbor Springs (all within an hour drive).

[Protagonist]

So far in my life as an Airstreamer— 3½ years— I've only been a repeat customer at a campground once, and that was because the first time I went by myself and the second time I was there for a rally. In October I'll be visiting another campground as a repeat customer, both times for rallies. But if not for rallies at a campground I've stayed at before, I might never visit the same campground twice*; there are entirely too many places I've never been to yet that are worth a visit. I never will understand people who keep going back to the same few campgrounds again and again.

*Actually, there is one campground that I plan to return to for a second solo trip— Degray Lake Resort State Park, for Thanksgiving weekend. It's the last weekend of the year that they're open, and the main reason I'll go back is that at the lodge they put on the very best all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving Day buffet, with over 300 menu items to choose from, all for about $20 per head. Lots of folks who live within easy driving distance go just for the buffet and don't even stay the night. But since it's the Thanksgiving buffet and not the campground that is the attraction, I don't count it as a favorite campground.

So you could say I don't have a favorite. Out of the seventy-odd campgrounds I've been to, there are only two that I promise never to return to for any reason, one a Passport America campground just off I-20 in Texas that was very poorly managed with an absentee camp host, and the other a campground just off I-10 in Louisiana that had a major flooding problem after every rainstorm because of woefully inadequate drainage. So I do have least favorites.

But in terms of "Would I recommend a campground to friends?" then so far my best recommendation would be Battleship Row on the grounds of the Pensacola Naval Air Station. You have to be active or retired military or DoD civil service to stay there, which is a downside for those who don't qualify, but it was definitely the very best campground for the price— $20 per night for quality superior to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.

[ShinyPete]

For us with young grandchildren it's definitely Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney World. A top notch RV resort with all that Disney World offers a bus or boat ride away from your site.

Granted we're biased as we only live 60 miles away, and go at least four times a year, but it truly is camping as only Disney can do it. It is expensive and stays full but honestly if you do Disney World in small kid bites (4 hours or so and back to camp) you amazingly enough have a lot of peace and quiet in the campground.


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[Nanette L]

Thanks all for participating, this is valuable info. 28' Flying Cloud.
Anza-Borrego Desert - CA
The Springs at Borrego RV Resort - 2255 Di Giorgio Rd, Borrego Springs, CA 92004
Nice facilities, communal Thanksgiving dinner, huge pool, two dog parks, great hiking, gym, golf and much more.
or
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - 200 Palm Canyon Dr, Borrego Springs, CA 92004
The state park is nice but has some limitations, check with park headquarters.

[FranM]

Great idea, Time2play, as I spend a lot of time copying and pasting a list of campground suggestions as they randomly come up on the Forum.
We spent a couple of weeks in Lajitas Resort, Texas, last winter. We loved it for its lovely surroundings (Big Bend State Park) and the fact that it puts you about as close as you can get to Big Bend National Park. It is a resort that also has a campground, so you can pop over for a drink, but is also 15 minutes from Terlingua Ghost town, an interesting, fairly off the grid, place to hang out and unwind. We loved camping in Big Bend, also, but there was no cell service within an hours drive.

[time2play]

Great feedback so far! Thank you for participating. Hopefully more people will respond!

Thank you!

[kswelsh]

We loved the Gettysburg KOA. Each site is it's own oasis hidden by large boulders and a great log swing at each site. We loved visiting Gettysburg - so much history and the KOA was a great place in which to relax after a day of exploring the battlefield and museum as well as the historic city. If you go to Gettysburg, there is a tavern in town that makes the "BEST" french onion soup with tons of gooey cheese and huge hunks of prime rib.