Full-time RVers since 2014, we live, work and travel from our motorhome while exploring North America. We're authors of the bestselling book Living the RV Life – Your Ultimate Guide to Life on the Road. We are members of Thousand Trails, Coast to Coast, Passport America and Escapees RV Club and post campground reviews of the places we've stayed. We share at RVLove.com, our YouTube channel and social media. Come and join us!
My Comments
Bend Sunriver Thousand Trails - My Rating is out of 5 -- We have stayed here a few times. The first (and longest) stay was in the summer of 2017 in our 36' Class A motorhome, just before the Total Solar Eclipse. Subsequent stays have been less than a week each, with our most recent stay (in our 40' motorhome) being September 2019. We saw plenty of large fifth wheels and motorhomes, so we could say this campground is big rig friendly, but not ALL campsites.
We really like this area and campground. Internal gravel roads with over 300 RV sites – quite large and fairly well maintained. After our most recent visit, it had been raining and there were quite a few water-filled potholes. Privacy and shading is good with trees between the sites. All sites for regular RV visitors are water and mostly 30amp electric only. There are NO sewer sites! But they do have two dump stations and a Honey Wagon service (which we didn't use) cost $50 per pump out. They also have cottages, cabins, yurts and a tent area.
There are five shower/restroom buildings and a laundry. The Old Western “Town Square” includes a Welcome Center, General Store, book exchange, propane filling station, movie rentals, and a meeting room. There is a pool complex with a baby pool, two larger pools, and a hot tub.
Nearby Sunriver is a resort/vacation community filled with amenities like grocery stores, fuel, restaurants, breweries, and many many tourist activities. We loved biking around Sunriver on their extensive bike trail system. Downtown Bend has live music, vendors and food trucks in Drake Park in the summer. There are many great restaurants and is well-known for its breweries as well as the Old Mill District with a great shopping precinct. It's a great area hiking, biking, kayaking, rafting, and paddleboarding. We drove part of the Cascade Scenic Byway and kayaked on the Deschutes River.
Cell service was good with 3 bars each on Verizon and T-Mobile.
NO mail or parcels are accepted here - you will need to have your mail forwarded to General Delivery, Bend, Oregon, 97701-9999. Note: the local Sunriver USPS will NOT accept General Delivery.
As members of Thousand Trails, we did not pay a nightly fee to stay at this campground. It is all part of our TT camping membership that we have had since 2014. You can learn more about how we are able to camp 'for free" in our many articles about TT – and get a more detailed review and photos of this campground – at our RVLove website.
Catalina Spa & RV Resort - My Rating is out of 5 -- We spent a month at Catalina Spa & RV Resort in November-December 2019 and loved our stay! It's quiet and peaceful, surrounded by mountain views and open land, and while downtown Desert Hot Springs isn't exciting, it's only a 25 minute drive to the action of Palm Springs and Palm Desert. We took full advantage of their odorless mineral hot spring fed pools and hot tubs. The lower pools have a nice spa-like bath house area, and are open 24 hours, which is great if you like a late night soak. They have plenty of activities to keep you occupied - with pickle ball, ping pong, bocce, horseshoes, wine tasting/karaoke night, and they even cater meals a few nights a week for a reasonable price. The resort is big rig friendly with easy access roads, not all sites are level, but it's a big resort with over 400 sites so plenty of options and sizes to choose from. They have cabins too. Staff were friendly and we had a great time, participating in more RV resort activities here than at any other campground we have stayed in our 5.5 years on the road as full time RVers. They have an on-site store with RV supplies, snacks, pickle ball racquets, pool noodles and other camping related items. They now even sell autographed copies of our book “Living the RV Life - Your Ultimate Guide to Life on the Road” :)
Catalina Spa is a gated RV resort with nice landscaping, rocks, cactus gardens and rock sculptures. RV site rates include FREE electricity and water year round, regardless of length of stay. And the daily curbside trash pick up from your campsite is a nice touch. By the end of our stay, the place was beginning to feel ‘like home’. All up, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and look forward to returning on a more regular basis.
TIP: Beware of GPS that tries to take you down 20th Street. Come in via Dillon Road and turn onto Corkill Road, then pay attention to the last quarter mile. Enter Catalina via the second (open) driveway where you will see the welcome sign, as the first gate is closed. If you miss the second driveway (main entrance) you will end up on a dirt road with nowhere to turn around.
In a nutshell, we really enjoyed our stay, and look forward to a return visit in the not too distant future.
PS. We have written a much more comprehensive review with lots more photos at our website RVLove.com
Disclaimer: our stay was comped as part of some events we did at the resort. We were not paid to write these reviews, and our opinions are our own.
San Francisco RV Resort - My Rating is 3 out of 5 -- We just spent 8 nights at SF RV Resort and really enjoyed our stay. First things first - this is located right on the ocean just south of San Francisco - so you are paying for the location. This is a nice place to park your RV while you head out to explore the city or simply sit by the ocean and watch the whales. It's not your typical campground with fire rings, picnic tables and trees, so don't go in expecting that. But if you enjoy convenience and proximity to a vibrant city, a short walk to the supermarket, shops and amenities and listening to the sounds of the ocean and birds, then you'll enjoy your stay.
We had a pull thru site 3 sites from the ocean and could see the ocean from our windshield. The sites are narrow as really, like we said, it's more of an RV parking lot than a campground, but our neighbors were all nice and friendly and they turned over fairly frequently, every couple of days or so. Lots of rental RVs come and go as it's a popular spot.
We were sad to see the cliff erosion over the years in Pacifica has caused the cliff to give way to the ocean – houses and apartment buildings along the coast have fallen in or needed to be demolished for safety reasons. San Francisco RV Resort has also been affected, with about 50 of the ocean facing sites having to be closed for safety reasons, there is now a wire fence to keep people out. Despite all this, we really enjoyed our 8 days and appreciated it for what it was... a very handy and scenic location close to a popular city with lots to do.
Easy public transport access to the city (though we didn't use it) and also an easy drive up to SF or down to Santa Cruz along Highway 1. The amenities were all clean and well cared for, there is a heated pool and hot tub (we didn't use them) and a sizable laundry too. The staff were very friendly and accommodating, they have complimentary coffee in the Welcome Center as well as a lot of brochures and maps to help you decide on your activities and tourist options. We would definitely return and also recommend, just manage your expectations and remember that this isn't a CAMPGROUND, it's a convenient RV park, we felt safe, and were close to everything we wanted and needed.
It's also not inexpensive, with rates starting at $88/night but it's still cheaper than most hotels, right by the ocean and a good place to stay in your RV. Disclosure: part of our stay was comped in exchange for our honest review and part of it we paid for to extend our stay. To learn more about how we do that, visit our website RVLove.com and read our article on Thousand Trails membership upgrades.
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My Comments
Bend Sunriver Thousand Trails - My Rating is out of 5 -- We have stayed here a few times. The first (and longest) stay was in the summer of 2017 in our 36' Class A motorhome, just before the Total Solar Eclipse. Subsequent stays have been less than a week each, with our most recent stay (in our 40' motorhome) being September 2019. We saw plenty of large fifth wheels and motorhomes, so we could say this campground is big rig friendly, but not ALL campsites. We really like this area and campground. Internal gravel roads with over 300 RV sites – quite large and fairly well maintained. After our most recent visit, it had been raining and there were quite a few water-filled potholes. Privacy and shading is good with trees between the sites. All sites for regular RV visitors are water and mostly 30amp electric only. There are NO sewer sites! But they do have two dump stations and a Honey Wagon service (which we didn't use) cost $50 per pump out. They also have cottages, cabins, yurts and a tent area. There are five shower/restroom buildings and a laundry. The Old Western “Town Square” includes a Welcome Center, General Store, book exchange, propane filling station, movie rentals, and a meeting room. There is a pool complex with a baby pool, two larger pools, and a hot tub. Nearby Sunriver is a resort/vacation community filled with amenities like grocery stores, fuel, restaurants, breweries, and many many tourist activities. We loved biking around Sunriver on their extensive bike trail system. Downtown Bend has live music, vendors and food trucks in Drake Park in the summer. There are many great restaurants and is well-known for its breweries as well as the Old Mill District with a great shopping precinct. It's a great area hiking, biking, kayaking, rafting, and paddleboarding. We drove part of the Cascade Scenic Byway and kayaked on the Deschutes River. Cell service was good with 3 bars each on Verizon and T-Mobile. NO mail or parcels are accepted here - you will need to have your mail forwarded to General Delivery, Bend, Oregon, 97701-9999. Note: the local Sunriver USPS will NOT accept General Delivery. As members of Thousand Trails, we did not pay a nightly fee to stay at this campground. It is all part of our TT camping membership that we have had since 2014. You can learn more about how we are able to camp 'for free" in our many articles about TT – and get a more detailed review and photos of this campground – at our RVLove website.
Catalina Spa & RV Resort - My Rating is out of 5 -- We spent a month at Catalina Spa & RV Resort in November-December 2019 and loved our stay! It's quiet and peaceful, surrounded by mountain views and open land, and while downtown Desert Hot Springs isn't exciting, it's only a 25 minute drive to the action of Palm Springs and Palm Desert. We took full advantage of their odorless mineral hot spring fed pools and hot tubs. The lower pools have a nice spa-like bath house area, and are open 24 hours, which is great if you like a late night soak. They have plenty of activities to keep you occupied - with pickle ball, ping pong, bocce, horseshoes, wine tasting/karaoke night, and they even cater meals a few nights a week for a reasonable price. The resort is big rig friendly with easy access roads, not all sites are level, but it's a big resort with over 400 sites so plenty of options and sizes to choose from. They have cabins too. Staff were friendly and we had a great time, participating in more RV resort activities here than at any other campground we have stayed in our 5.5 years on the road as full time RVers. They have an on-site store with RV supplies, snacks, pickle ball racquets, pool noodles and other camping related items. They now even sell autographed copies of our book “Living the RV Life - Your Ultimate Guide to Life on the Road” :) Catalina Spa is a gated RV resort with nice landscaping, rocks, cactus gardens and rock sculptures. RV site rates include FREE electricity and water year round, regardless of length of stay. And the daily curbside trash pick up from your campsite is a nice touch. By the end of our stay, the place was beginning to feel ‘like home’. All up, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and look forward to returning on a more regular basis. TIP: Beware of GPS that tries to take you down 20th Street. Come in via Dillon Road and turn onto Corkill Road, then pay attention to the last quarter mile. Enter Catalina via the second (open) driveway where you will see the welcome sign, as the first gate is closed. If you miss the second driveway (main entrance) you will end up on a dirt road with nowhere to turn around. In a nutshell, we really enjoyed our stay, and look forward to a return visit in the not too distant future. PS. We have written a much more comprehensive review with lots more photos at our website RVLove.com Disclaimer: our stay was comped as part of some events we did at the resort. We were not paid to write these reviews, and our opinions are our own.
San Francisco RV Resort - My Rating is 3 out of 5 -- We just spent 8 nights at SF RV Resort and really enjoyed our stay. First things first - this is located right on the ocean just south of San Francisco - so you are paying for the location. This is a nice place to park your RV while you head out to explore the city or simply sit by the ocean and watch the whales. It's not your typical campground with fire rings, picnic tables and trees, so don't go in expecting that. But if you enjoy convenience and proximity to a vibrant city, a short walk to the supermarket, shops and amenities and listening to the sounds of the ocean and birds, then you'll enjoy your stay. We had a pull thru site 3 sites from the ocean and could see the ocean from our windshield. The sites are narrow as really, like we said, it's more of an RV parking lot than a campground, but our neighbors were all nice and friendly and they turned over fairly frequently, every couple of days or so. Lots of rental RVs come and go as it's a popular spot. We were sad to see the cliff erosion over the years in Pacifica has caused the cliff to give way to the ocean – houses and apartment buildings along the coast have fallen in or needed to be demolished for safety reasons. San Francisco RV Resort has also been affected, with about 50 of the ocean facing sites having to be closed for safety reasons, there is now a wire fence to keep people out. Despite all this, we really enjoyed our 8 days and appreciated it for what it was... a very handy and scenic location close to a popular city with lots to do. Easy public transport access to the city (though we didn't use it) and also an easy drive up to SF or down to Santa Cruz along Highway 1. The amenities were all clean and well cared for, there is a heated pool and hot tub (we didn't use them) and a sizable laundry too. The staff were very friendly and accommodating, they have complimentary coffee in the Welcome Center as well as a lot of brochures and maps to help you decide on your activities and tourist options. We would definitely return and also recommend, just manage your expectations and remember that this isn't a CAMPGROUND, it's a convenient RV park, we felt safe, and were close to everything we wanted and needed. It's also not inexpensive, with rates starting at $88/night but it's still cheaper than most hotels, right by the ocean and a good place to stay in your RV. Disclosure: part of our stay was comped in exchange for our honest review and part of it we paid for to extend our stay. To learn more about how we do that, visit our website RVLove.com and read our article on Thousand Trails membership upgrades.