Best RV Parks & Resorts near Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ

We spent 5-nights here (July 1-6, 2022). Ponderosa is a reasonably quiet (“home improvement” construction next door to us), adult oriented, RV park in the pines(we had apple trees) of Pinetop. I wouldn’t call Ponderosa a RV Resort as it’s more a trailer park with the vast majority of occupants being long term tenants. It is a relatively easy access CG with back-in and pull through (8?) gravel sites. It is a good base camp to visit the area. There are plenty local attractions: lakes, rivers and streams, wilderness and national forests. Activities include: fishing, biking (wish I brought my mtn bike), hiking/walking and ATV trails. We did not make use of the laundry, bathrooms or showers. The WiFi was good as was cell phone reception. We might stay here again.

The Springville RV Park is well spread out very nice pull through down the middle and equally spacious back in on both sides of the pull through spots. Full hookups 30amp 50amp and 20amp power poll. The water spickets are in an under ground, green lawn sprinklers control box with an insulation blankets. Because this place does get snow in the winters. Don't want the water pipes to freeze. Don't think there is a decated dump station. But every campsite does have its own dump station. The whole campground is graded level with fresh gravel each spring. Which makes it nice to park and to get leavel you just have to raise or lower your tongue jack as the case may be! There are young trees which will make for some shade when they get bigger. They are making improvements with each year. There are not Picnic tables in every site. But after talking to Don the camp host you could get a spot with one at checkin or one if one is available at a nearby spot move to your spot. There is laundry room with a books and DVD to borrow or exchang system. We pickout two DVD to watch tonight. Tried to do an over air scan with our TV, but no stations found. So you will need to bring your own Satellite system system are your own DVD's or movies to watch. As with most campgrounds this place has a very limited WiFi. Writing this with it. But our Fire TV can't connect enough to watch. Was able to cast from my phone to watch a Netflix show using a patch cord till phone battery was use up. Over all this is a very nice campground. There is a Safeway Grocery store about a 5 minute drive down the road in town. The what you could say is a negative point. No play grounds for kids, (there is the very big flat oval drive way around the pull through area the kids could ride their bikes around, have seen a few doing that). It is a nice flat place to walk your dogs. There is no fenced in dog run areas. No bathroom or showers. It is on the list of improvements to come. There is not a Credit cards reader for payments. You can pay with a check, but to use your card. The Camp host takes a picture of it. Then sends it to the owner to run the card. After she has the info, she has the hose deleted it. The way I would recommend is to call her at check in to give here the information directly. She does not take a reservation fee when making your reservation. Still runs on your hand shake is your word you will be here and she will have spot saved for you. So if delay or need to cancel be a person of your word to let them know.

This is really a Park Model Resort that has about 25% of their sites set aside for RVs. The RV sites are scattered throughout the park but they have tried to group them together as much as possible. The sites are pretty level, really wide, and fairly deep. There is a concrete patio with each site. Sites are covered in cinders which are a bit of a pain. They present a somewhat soft surface which is like walking in about 6 inches of soft sand. Almost all the sites have a tree planted right at the front next to the road. Some of the trees are a bit wide which really makes getting into the site difficult. Even though the sites are wide the RV parking area is between the patio and the sewer connection which is about 11ft wide. When you combine that with landscaping and patio covers on some of the park models and getting in some sites can be real challenging for a larger rig. We have a 40ft motorhome and have been to this park probably 8 times. So far we have made it in and out but with some new scratches and a bit of maneuvering. Cell service is pretty bad here. We have Verizon cell phones which usually worked for phone service but sometimes cut out. We have Verizon and AT&T hotspots. AT&T worked the best but not fast enough to stream anything most of the time. There is Wi-Fi offered for a fee but we have not tried that. They also offer cable TV which I believe is free. They have a couple of dog parks, nice common areas, laundry, and a small gym. They have some other clubs and activity rooms but all of those have been closed due to Covid.

We're frequent campers, and this is one of our favorite spots in AZ! 

The tent-only campground is small, but the sites are large and have multiple great clearings for tents. Lots of shade and easy paths for walking around the grounds, plus there's potable water at several sites. Central bathrooms with running water are kept very clean, plus there's trash service and a (very friendly) camp host if you need anything.

Directly across a small road from Big Lake and the boat ramp. There are several places to go right down to the shore, and it's only a 5-6 minute walk along the road to the general store and boat rental area, where there's also a fish cleaning station. Brookchar is just down the road from the giant Rainbow Lake, so you'll hear some RVs and ATVs on the road, but very minimal. 

We camped in site 12, which in our opinion is the best! Closest to the lake with water views, plus parking right outside your site for 2 vehicles (other sites, you park in a main lot). Bring your fishing gear and kayak/SUP (can also rent very reasonably)!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we saw highs close to 80 and lows in the high 30s/low 40s. Only sprinkled once!

It's also just an hour from Pinetop-Lakeside, so it's easy to make grocery stops or even grab a coffee (try Pinetop Coffee House + Roasters right on the highway!) on your way in/out.