Best Tent Camping near Goodyear, AZ

Nice park just outside of Scottsdale. Fun mountain bike trails. Clean bathrooms. Quiet in late December. Only 5 or 6 tent campers here. $22 night for tent site. We parked in our van. Can use showers at RV camp area. Great spot.

The map shows McDowell twice but there is only one. It us about 23K acres of beautiful desert surrounded by the Superstition Mountains. Clean campground and pretty quiet. Flush toilets, showers available in the RV campground. Fun MTB, hiking trails. We camped here twice in December 2020 because we liked it so much.. tent camping is $22/night. Highly recommend.

Large campground with beautiful views from every campsite. Desert camping so there are no tall trees for shade and it can get windy. Sites with good privacy, full restrooms with free showers. Tent sites are not as nice as RV sites with full hookup. Lots of trails for mountain biking or hiking.

This campground in McDowell Regional park is for tent camping and small Vans, etc. Mix of both walk in sites and back in sites. It is set back a ways from the rest of the park. No showers here. Need to go to the trail head or RV campground for showers which was a bit of a hassle. Excellent mountain biking and hiking trails right out of the campground.

This park is quite large and has many camping options: day passes, tent camping, semi-developed sites, and fully-developed sites with awnings for big rigs.

There are many hiking trails too, for every level of difficulty.

The nature is splendid, with hummingbirds, chipmunks, and plenty of chollas and prickly pear cactai.

The ambience is quite festive, much more than what I am used to (although the noise may be due to the fact I went on NASCAR weekend).

Love this Saddle Mtn Campsite! The pin location is accurate but it looks there are multiple different access routes. We really enjoyed it here because you can pull up within 50-100 yards from Saddle mountain and camp right below it. So cool.

We tent camped for about 5 days here, the crowd was minimal, felt very safe. Plenty of trails to walk, can explore the mountain and there are petroglyphs here. We only found a couple, but didn’t look too hard.

Overall loved this place, easy access, safe, fun and some cool views!

Almost an urban park just due to it's proximity to the city of Mesa, Usery park offers great tent camping, group campsites, as well as RV Sites with Electric and Water hookups. Dump station on site. 

Usery is a great jumping off point for hiking in the National Forest. There is an extensive trail network both in the park and connected to the Tonto National Forest. One of the most popular is Wind Cave Trail.

There is also a world class Archery Range here. There is a usage fee of about $2 (at time of this writing) on top of your park entry fee, but kids are free.

Camped 5 nights at the desert tortoise campground in my NoBo travel trailer. Semi developed so no hook ups. Bathrooms were clean and the area was well kept. The spot includes a ramada with picnic table. There is also a fire ring pit w/ grill which you’ll need to bring firewood for. I fished off the shoreline which was only a few hundred feet from my spot. The spots are relatively close to each other and tent camping is also allowed. Water is clear and very nice. Wild donkeys from old miners back in the day still roam around. They are very accustomed to humans so won’t hesitate to steal food. Definitely something to watch pets around as well.

This was one of my favorite free longterm camping spots of all time. Desert flowers were blooming while I was there in January/Feb. Nice enough scenery.

Lots of RVs around. I was able to find a spot by toilets for my tent and then move into a more private spot after an RV left.

Fairly busy. Serviced (BLM?), very clean. Feels safe. Next to air force base which is loud and pretty cool, and sheriffs training facility /shooting range which actually is better than a lot of other free Arizona spots because gunshots aren't going off all night and bullets whizzing by from responsible gun owners...

Was not hassled at all.

Dry toilets and garbages. But pack out. Garbage piles up. Many options for RV and tents and car campers. Seems they don't ask anyone to move or anything unless they have to.

There are several different RV/Camping options at Pleasant Harbor Marina / RV Resort. 

1. In the resort with Full Hookups

2. Out on the "flat" with just water and power (dump station on site)

3. Out on the "flat" with no hookups. (can also tent / car camp)

As compared to the Maricopa County Parks side, this has a little bit more party atmosphere, is less secluded, but you can almost always get at least a boondocking spot without a reservation. They also have large events here as well so check their calendar for the weekend you are wanting to go!

We keep a boat at Lake Pleasant and are part of the Arizona Yacht Club so we are up here all the time.

Awesome in spring or fall in a tent! Moonless night.

Very short drive from civilization. Semi developed sites are a good way to break someone in to tent/car camping. Full restrooms and showers nearby. Usually clean.

You can even hit one of the restaurants at the lake.

Primitive camping on the shoreline is cool and still not too far from facilities.

We arrived late at night to a site full of off roading vehicles and other ATVs. Obviously a meet.

The ground is very compact and straight dirt, multiple rvs had generators running so the night was loud. We ended up leaving.

I'm sure its a sweet spot for off roading and to rv camp but not so much for tents.

Outstanding layout, great hosts, spectacular location.  Good hiking and sites nearby whether you are looking for lakes, wild mustangs in the Salt River, a scenic drive to Tortilla Flats or just enjoying the Arizona weather.  

Hiking in the park to accommodate all levels.

Campsites are well maintained.  Quiet in the evenings.  Could not ask for more.

Stayed here during a 200 mile bikepacking trip around this area in late December. There are mountain bike trails connected to this campground that were very fun! Definitely a great basecamp for mtb and hiking.

We were the only tent campers but it was nice to use the electric outlets to charge our devices. Overall a quiet campground but there is a shooting range nearby, so just a heads up!

We stayed in Road Runner 41. While the rest of the campground was nice, this site was horrible! We expected rain but their is only one spot to put a tent on this campsite and the water from the road all drains into this spot. Basically our campsite turned into a mini river and was washed away. Other campsites didn't seem to have this issue. The campground wouldn't issue us a refund.

The views from the campsite were very pretty and it would have been a nice place if it wasn't for the bad river and worst campsite ever.

Been going here over 6 years and I always look forward to my visits there in the Summer.  They have 2 pools (one is heated), volleyball, darts, horseshoe, pool tables, hot tub, sauna, nature trails, a cafe open in the weekend, events and tons of other things going on. Most of the people there are permanent or semipermanent residents. It is a comfortable, family friendly community, although you it is rare you see children there. I highly recommend and will continue to bring guests to enjoy some Arizona sunbathing!

Excellent... Lots of room, flat, and just off a paved road. This is better than the wild camping we found up in Wickenburg. Yes, there are signs here that you need to have an Arizona Trust Land Permit, but you get it online for$16. If you need to dump and/or get fresh water Wickenburg is just miles up the road and the Fast Mart Chevron station has two stations for this, plus propane. We paid$15 to dump and the potable water fill up was included. Wickenburg is surprising and has all the services, grocery, etc... you would need.

Being from New Mexico, the few petroglyphs are a big yawn, especially given the amount of defacement and graffiti. But if you're looking for large, fairly separated, easy-in, easy-out RVing or tenting – cheap – this is the place. I arrived about 4:30am and waited in the entrance parking area until the hosts got up and around. They were very friendly and helpful. The fees seem to be inconsistently documented ... the sign on the entrance map says $8 to overnight, then there's another sign that adds $2 for a day fee. But the host only asked me for $4, which included a 50% discount for a senior America the Beautiful pass. Some of the sites can be reserved, but most are first come, and there's no real difference in desirability.

The sites are HUGE compared to the few other campgrounds I've stayed at. They vary in size and usable space, but they do have concrete benches/seats and a fire pit. There are two restrooms at the entrance (one M, one W), plus at the far end there's a one-hole  vault.

The reviews that comment on the lack of shade have obviously been there on a day like I was there ... this is early February. The day I arrived and the morning I left there was a combined total of ZERO clouds ever in the sky. How brutal is the sun? The air temp during the afternoon was in the mid-upper 60s; a temp gauge I brought recorded 91 in my tent sitting on a table near the corner with the two-sides both getting direct sunlight all day. I put it in the middle of the floor and it dropped to 83. When the sun set it was probably low 60s, but dropped to 37 when I got up at 6:30a to check it. This is the place for an awning or anything that makes shade.