Rio Grande Village Campground

We camped at Rio Grande Vilage in a 26' travel trailer. When we arrived, our site (79) looked like a nightmare - sloping in all directions and with an overhanging tree. We had no idea how we were going to get into it, never mind level! We did get in, albeit at a crazy angle and with some tree brushing a lot of our paintwork, ( our camper is old so that wasn't too much of an issue for us) and we even got level eventually by aiming the wheels at the flattest bit! Having said all this, we LOVED our stay here. Though you can use generators in this site, it was still for the most part very peaceful, with lots of birds and a nice, relaxed feel. The sites are pretty well spaced and have picnic tables and bear boxes. We joined a birding walk one day and had a great time walking through the campground and over to one of the nearby hiking trails. There are loads of lovely birds here. There are flush toilets in the campground, very basic with no hot water, but there are very good pay showers ($1.50 for 5 minutes) at the campstore, which is walkable down the road. There is also gas available there, a shop, a laundry, and wifi, which worked very well. It does get very hot in the campground during the day - we were there on 1st March and it was getting to the mid 90s in the day, so bear this in mind and bring lots of water. A handy tip is that there are drinking bottle fill stations at both the nearest ranger station and at Pantry Junction (the HQ), so that's great for refilling your hiking bottle. There is a potable water tap at the campground itself for your fresh tank. NB at the time we were there, limit was 5 gallons per person per day, so we brought in a full tank from Marathon. This campground is well located for exploring the east side of the park, as well as getting up to the Chisos Basin fairly quickly, where there is a nice lodge for dinner and drinks, as well as loads of hiking. It's also well placed for the hot springs (go early in the morning). If you'd rather be exploring the west side of the park, you might try Cottonwood campground. It's more basic - no generators and only long-drop toilets, no showers. We took a drive over there to see the great horned owls that were nesting there, and it's a very pretty, tranquil place. We've rated Rio Grande Village a 4, primarily because our site was very tricky. Some of the ones on the outer loop looked really nice, and we did after all get sorted in the end, so it wouldn't stop us staying again. Big Bend is well worth it and this puts you in the park rather than wasting time driving in and out (it's a big place!). We wish we'd had longer!