Best RV Parks & Resorts near Saguaro National Park

Upon arrival, this park is absolutely gorgeous. Check-in was swift and easy, and we were escorted to our site by a friendly staff member. Although the park is big rig friendly, we found the turn into the row very tight for our 37ft 5th wheel and long tow vehicle (about 55ft total rig length). Once in the proper row, the turn into the pull through sites is easy.

Full hookups were all working smoothly, and although we did not use any of the facilities, they all looked beautiful and clean. The dog park on the far end was absolutely spotless. The lighting around the campground at night was charming and appreciated. Our site had a tree with a picnic table under it.

We were only a few minutes drive away from all the best attractions Tombstone has to offer, but the location is quiet and away from all the commotion.

Most of Rincon Country West RV Resort is really for folks who are living them permanently or seasonally in their park model homes. Only in the far back corner is there really parking for JUST RVs.(Although even that"back corner" is probably home to well over 100 spaces.) So it feels like driving through a miniature suburban subdivision. It's location is in the heart of Tucson, so there's NO feeling of"getting away from it all" by staying here. In fact, your hear planes, helicopters& traffic. It's a city. But for us, spending 5 days exploring the area, it was a fairly central jumping off point for our explorations.

We had a"deluxe" pull-through site, which got us a nice patch of grass, a charcoal grill, a picnic table, good water pressure, clean electricity and a site with two different dump spots. There was cable TV available and wifi, but we just used my Verizon hotspot for streaming some Netflix and that worked great. We were close to our neighbors, but not TOO close. The more "normal" spaces near us would have put you in much closer proximity to your neighbors. For us, it was worth the extra$5 or so per day. (Having said that, the place really is pretty pricey.$70 per day is near the top of what we've paid.) 

The place has many amenities, none of which we availed ourselves of. We were really only there in the evenings and for sleeping. But pools, sports courts of all kinds, several nice dog parks, rec center, auditorium, etc. etc. I would think someone longterm would find lots to do. The security here is pretty stringent, which is nice. We'd certainly stay here again.

Looking for a nice 55+ campground near Benson, Arizona and Tombstone? This is a friendly and clean RV resort near it all. And, there are even lakes! They have pretty lakes stocked with fish for catch and release fishing. It is a true gem to find lakefront sites in the desert! The sites are back-in and pull-through with 50 amp FHU. Each site is gravel with a patio and picnic table. There are lots of desert trails to walk your dogs around the perimeter. All of this and really close to historic downtown Benson.👍🏻😊

To see videos on the campground and others, check out our YouTube channel: Jeff& Steff’s Excellent Adventure.

We stayed at Crazy Horse RV Park for about 2.5 months, November to January. The park is definitely in need of some updating. The grounds in general are extremely clean and well-maintained. Park staff was very friendly and accommodating, particularly Claire in the office, and Mark and Russ in grounds maintenance. The pool is nice and clean, and it is heated. There are nice chairs and tables in the pool area. There are doggie bag stations throughout the park with garbage cans attached to dispose of dog waste.

As for the sites, they are a tight squeeze with not much space. You are absolutely stacked in. It would be difficult in most sites to even park a second vehicle. Park staff does come and help you pull in during business hours. There did appear to be picnic tables, but only at some sites. You are not allowed to have fires. There are both back-in and pull-through sites, along with some covered spaces.

The laundry facility has 8-10 each of washers and dryers, $2-$2.25 per wash, and $2 per dry. They do sell quarters in the office. There are three shower stalls in both the men’s and women's facilities, along with toilets. Both the laundry and the bathroom buildings were very clean.

The park does have a nice recreational hall with a pool table, and they do some activities, including coffee and donuts twice weekly, a game day, bingo, and pizza and taco nights. There is a pop and snack vending machine inside as well. Aside from the pool, there isn’t anything in the park for children to do.

One major complaint we had was that people drive way too fast through the park. We were backed up to an access road with a posted speed limit of 7.5 MPH, which people regularly drove 25 down despite several speed bumps. Another issue is Craycroft Road, which the park is on, is extremely busy and very noisy. We nicknamed it the Craycroft drag strip. The neighborhood across the road is very run down, there are dogs barking over there nonstop, and there’s lots of litter everywhere. We also heard gunshots on more than one occasion.

We did have several water outages while we were there, a couple due to sewer issues, and one due to upgrading water hardware, but did not experience issues with electricity. Electricity was about $60 per month for us, in a 34 foot trailer, in the winter months where we were not running AC.

Dollar General, Circle K, Pilot, and a taco truck are all within walking distance. There is also a large community park within walking distance. The park is easily accessed off of I-10. The Pima Air and Space museum is within a couple of miles, and East Saguaro National Park is about 20 minutes away.

We would return to this park in the future. Overall, we had a very positive experience there.

I typically rate campgrounds as they fit into 1 of 5 categories. This campground will be rated as a Regional/Public Park — Grounds that are on public lands, and have a cost for entry and/or overnight stay. Ratings for this category are based on: Cost: 5 Allure of the park/lands: 5 Amenities as available (bathrooms, showers, hookups, etc): 4 Layout and privacy of sites: 5

Catalina SP is at the Northern end of metro Tucson. It’s about 30 minutes to downtown and 1 hour to either division of Saguaro National Park (East or West).

Reservations during January for a short-term (2 night) stay were surprisingly easy to obtain via their online booking tool. Longer stays should book far ahead of time, max stay is 14 days, I believe. Price of $30/night +$5 booking fee was very reasonable for RV Electric and water hookups for the stay.

Check in was easy with the attendants and there is no extra cost for park admission for campers, which is a nice bonus for AZ state parks (many states charge the fees outside of the cost of camping).

The sites were huge, very big-rig friendly, and private. Additional signage for numbered sites would have been helpful, but it’s not hard to find your spot using the power of deduction. Backing in our 25’ trailer was easy. Electric and water hookups were available at our site (30) in the B Loop. No sewer hookups and the dump stations were crowded when we left at 11:45am on checkout day. Restrooms were open, and require masks. They were spotless! Water pipes at the campground froze overnight on an evening where temps barely touched 32 degrees. They were defrosted and flowing by 8:30am. There were also dish cleaning stations outside the restroom.

Very nearby are grocery stores, gas stations and other shopping/eating spots, but the proximity to commerce doesn’t impact the natural feel of these grounds... night at the campground is very dark.

The hiking accessible from the campgrounds is fantastic with tons of desert landscape and saguaros dotting the skyline. Low mountains add to the scenic view and trees throughout the campground contribute to privacy from your (fairly distant) neighbors. Yet another fantastic reason to choose state parks for your camping/rving adventures!