Borrego Palm Canyon Campground, near Borrego Springs, California, is a solid choice for those looking to immerse themselves in the beauty of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This campground offers a mix of tent, RV, and glamping options, making it accessible for various camping styles.

The facilities here are well-kept, featuring flush toilets and hot showers, which many visitors appreciate after a long day of hiking. Each site comes with a fire pit and picnic table, perfect for evening gatherings under the stunning desert sky. As one camper noted, “The stars at night are gorgeous! You can spend hours just staring up at the sky.”

For outdoor enthusiasts, the campground serves as a gateway to numerous hiking trails, including the popular Borrego Palm Canyon Trail that leads to a beautiful oasis. Visitors have highlighted the convenience of having trailheads right at the campground, making it easy to explore the area. Plus, the nearby town offers a few markets and dining options, so you won't be too far from civilization.

While the campground can get busy, especially during peak seasons, the spacious sites and friendly atmosphere make it a great spot for families and groups. Just remember to bring extra water and be prepared for the desert heat. Whether you're hiking, stargazing, or just relaxing, Borrego Palm Canyon Campground has plenty to offer.

Anza- Borrego Desert State Park’s rugged landscape formed largely by the forces of erosion attacking the uplifted mountains. The higher the mountains rise, the more vigorously they are attacked by rain, snow, ice, and wind, as they yield to the constant pull of gravity. Borrego Palm Canyon Campground visitors will be able to reserve campsites six months in advance from the current date. Bookings may extend from the arrival date to the desired departure date – based on availability and the park’s maximum stay rules. Reservation are available October 1st through April 30th.

Borrego Palm Canyon Campground — Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Borrego Springs, CA is a great camping destination for adventurers of all types. There are tons of hikes and other fun activities to partake in, as well as sights to see and explore. Find the best campgrounds near Borrego Springs, CA. Read helpful reviews and tips to find the perfect camping option for you and your crew.

Borrego Springs

The Best Camping Near Borrego Springs, California

We enjoyed our quick visit to Anza Borrego state park and were pleased with this campground.  The sites we average for a CA state park (smaller sites, close, not very secluded) but with such a great park to check out we were not at our site very much.  

great location

[http://www.parks.ca.gov/?pageid=638](http://www.parks.ca.gov/?pageid=638)

We went during the summer time so in with no surprise that we were able to just drive through the dozen open camp sites. It's almost like we had the deserted park all by ourselves. Easy access to hiking trails and lots of peaceful animals around the sites. Wonderful experience and amazing giant sculptures everywhere!

Desert Heat 

Unexpectedly hot, with an elevation of only 775' above sea level. Tent &amp; dry camping sites are well spaced (not so for the full hookup sites on the RV/north side). Very dark skies, with coyotes singing all night. Clean restrooms, clean sites, modern fire pits (deep and tall), and splintery creosote-treated shade covers. Beautiful views and many hiking trails. Best to make reservations.

Borrego Palm Canyon Campground at Anza-Borrego State Park

Great campsites. Large fire pits. Hiking was close also.

Awesome 

This campground has great amenities and is very well run. Each site has a large fire pit, charcoal grill and a water spout near by. Bathrooms with flushing toilets and coin operated showers. They sell firewood if you get there before they leave for the day, around 5pm. During the cooler months it seems to fill up quickly so it’s best to make reservations ahead of time. Overall a great trip.

Great amenities 

We just hit the end of the season before it got too hot. It is often windy. We had hookups and used our AC every day. The palm canyon hike is really nice. The sites aren’t huge and it’s definitely desert camping. The bathrooms are clean.

Nice Clean Campground

This is a great campground to stay in the park when you plan ahead, it fills up fast though. Great hiking walking distance from your campsite, the Palm Oasis and the hike to the visitor center are great! I love camping here, I try to get out there at least twice a year.

Nice, but huge and busy

I've camped here a couple of times. I come here mostly for the dark skies for astrophotography. It's a nice campground, clean bathrooms and showers. There's some nice hiking as well . 

Great weekend spot

palm trees in the middle of the desert with water is just a short hike away. the campsites themselves are just on flat sand with cactus so beware. it is the desert so that's to be expected. this site feels more primitave than most others and I've never seen it busy but there are some great hiking trails and the sunset views are amazing. no dogs are allowed. Just a short drive away from the many desert statues in borrego springs.

desert oasis

Beautiful in a desert way. Can get super duper windy. Great off road hikes and scenery.

Desert!  Windy!  Wild!

Can get super windy! Great over roading and hikes in this enormous state park. Come prepared for anything!

Classic Desert Campground

This campground is one of my favorites. My practical side enjoys the clean bathrooms with hot showers and proximity to markets for refills on ice and beer. My adventurous side enjoys the hikes, coyotes singing and clear skies to observe the night sky. This campground has been enjoyable every time I’ve gone. I’ve been to many campgrounds where neighbors keep you up late, but something about this location demands quiet enjoyment. Don’t get me wrong, my friends and I stay up laughing around the campfire well after sunset but everyone seems to respect the quiet hours. The sites are spacious, each with a shade ramada, grill and fire-ring. The visitors center is a must see and there are numerous hiking trails near the campground. As beautiful as the wildflowers are during a super bloom, the crowds are super distracting. March is the best time of year to go, if there is a super bloom you’ll enjoy that, if not, you’ll enjoy the solitude.

Stars galore!

Borrego Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park is good for those who want to be near town because it's right on the edge of the small desert town of Borrego Springs, where there are restaurants, a couple of small convenience stores and services.  (Run out of ice? No problem!)  
  
Some sites here have ramadas for shade, a couple of them dating back to the conservation corps time with built-in fire pits.  Each site has a picnic table.  There are bathrooms with flushing toilets and showers.  The Palm Canyon trailhead is at the end of the campground.  
  
Not much shade if you are tenting, but if you luck out, you could get some endangered bighorn sheep coming through the campground.  
  
Sites are paved and great for RV's.  There are also sites good for tenting.  (Again, no shade.  Summer is brutally hot.  Spring and fall are the most pleasant.)

Good for Camping Newbies

We didn’t camp in the campground, but I loved the availability to camp wherever in the state park! Very pretty place with TONS of off-roading, hiking, and exploring to do! Planning another trip soon! 

Very nice place

Campground is near town but town isnt very populated. Little to no light pollution and very quiet campground. Summertime is great as night temps stay relatively high. Close to visitor center. For more adventurous types. Look for primitive areas in the park. Far better and very secluded. 

Go when it's hot

We drove to this site at 11:00pm and even in the dark it was easy to navigate. We drove right to our spot and set up. The campgrounds are pretty close to one another so not much privacy. Coyotes were howling all night and very active around camp. Super bloom was amazing here! The restrooms were spotless!! Also a neat counter sink area provided. Most sites have a shaded structure and picnic bench with grill.

Gorgeous views, active wildlife, super bloom! 

Yes, it’s desert camping but there are so many fun things to do here.  There’s a 3 mile hike to a wonderful spring, visiting the badlands, biking into town for a weekend morning farmers market and taking a Ranger’s flower desert hike.  We also enjoyed hiking to the top of the hill in the early morning.   We lucked out and got a great campsite that had a beautiful rock wall and covering with a fireplace.  So cool.  Definitely best to camp here in the spring or fall.  Would be really hot, in the 100’s, in the summer. Best time to camp is in the spring when all the flowers are in bloom.

Desert Camping with lots of hikes 

This campground felt more like I was glamping. Everything was easily accessible and by that I mean; a toilet, running water, and showers. We slept in our tent which felt pretty amazing being that the weather was perfect. I’d highly recommend visiting this camp site in the cooler months. 

Beautiful views! 

Camped here in July. The sunset and sunrises are amazing to watch!! You can see it all right from your site. Flushing Bathrooms very clean and accesible. Site includes grill, fire pit, picnic table, and potable water. Beautiful view of the mountains that meet the desert. Highly recommend visiting for a night or two. 

Amazing site!

Big Space and big sky! We camped in February and it was cold at night but perfect day hiking weather. Hiked up to palm grove oasis. There is so much natural beauty here. We saw big horned sheep.

Quiet, Rugged and Perfect

Such a fun place to walk around and take in the views. It’s the perfect time of year to go! 

So beautiful!

Winter camping in the back loop is one of my most favorite things ever. If you especiAlly lucky, you may even see a Bighorn Sheep or two come through early in the morning. Do t miss the sunrise as well!

My happy place

Pros: Close to town, Clean flush toilets/ bathrooms, RV sites, family friendly, close to trails

Cons: not much privacy, books up early


Convenient campground 

Gets hot early in the year so as always bring extra water. It was walking distance from a hike that leads to a little oasis which I definitely recommend going to, to beat the heat! Sunsets and star views are incredible. Nice large camp spaces. 

Another good desert camp

I camp many places, this restroom is the most high class one, it has flush toilet, basin, mirror, light and clothes hook. If you bring your own shower bag or a bucket of water, shower room is free to use actually. 

High class restroom 

**General:** The Borrego Palm Canyon campground has three sections: one with full hookups and two without. 

  

**Site Quality:** It is often windy here, so it was recommended we pull in at an angle. The driveways are paved and on the short side, but our campervan fit with no problem (I would assume if you have a larger RV, you might be in the section with the full hookups.)

  

**Bathhouse:** Individual units with flush toilet, sink, garbage receptacle, and hooks but NO soap dispenser. Showers take tokens and while they were not the worst campground showers, they weren’t the best (but a hot shower after a hot hike was welcome nonetheless). Tokens were 50 cents each for two minutes. 

  

**Activities:** numerous hiking trails, accessible from the campground. The most popular one is the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail which leads to the oasis of California Fan Palms. Sadly, the oasis was damaged by a human-caused fire and while you can see the palms, you can no longer walk among them. Galleta Meadows with metal sculptures in the nearby town of Borrego Springs is well worth exploring. 

  

We were there at the very end of March when it was just beginning to get (too) warm. We only did an overnight here and the Borrego Palm Canyon hike, but it was beautiful and we would definitely return.

Explore California's largest state park

We visited Anza-Borrego State Park for the first time over Christmas weekend, as a group of 3. Decided to camp here due to its proximity to the park sights and ease of getting to it. We stayed at site 117 which was very spacious and fit our large tent no problem. All sites feature a fire pit and picnic table. Depending on which site you choose it can have space for multiple tents (seemed like most of them) or only have space for one. There are a handful of sites that are extra cool - they feature stone ramadas with a built in fireplace and tables (sites 116, 104, and 107). I would opt for one of those sites next time! The campground was pretty quiet at night. We didn't have any neighbors too close to us. The stars at night are gorgeous! You can spend hours just staring up at the sky. The Palm Canyon trail starts from the campground - no need to drive to the trailhead, and it is a hike worth doing. There are several open air toilets around the campground. I expected them to be pit toilets but they flush. There are regular building toilets with sinks as well. The only downsides to camping here are 1) at night you can see the lights of the town (doesn't interfere with stars at least), and 2) the cost. I would try one of the other more remote campgrounds next time or dispersed camping, now that I've been and know the area better. 

Gorgeous Stars & Spacious CG

It's a fine campground. There is a check-in kiosk that was well run and you can pay for an extra car or an open site with a credit card.\* The sites are set up in two main loops. One for big campers and one for the rest of us. There is no real separation between sites.

  

This is convenience based campground. You're at the jump-off for some challenging yet accessible hikes into the desert. Close enough to town to ride a bike for ice cream. The camp has flush toilets and token based showers.\*\* Each site has a deep fire pit, a picnic table under a shade pergola, and access to a nearby water source. Oh yeah, and it's less than two hours from San Diego.

  

The outer ring sites look out towards the desert. You'll always know you're in civilization, but they offer the illusion of solitude...if you can tune out the generators. There will be generators, and probably unattended kids riding e-bikes or kicking balls at you as your try to use the bathroom. Site 75 is a great site because in addition to looking out away from inner loop, the fire place is set further away from driveway and picnic table. Site 56 is fine. It's just fine.

  

Temper your expectations for desert solitude, appreciate the conveniences for what they are, and this becomes a four star site. The site is mostly, always, definitely full, but cancellations offer last chance drive up opportunities. The park rangers said that most sites were booked through the entire season which ends at the end of April, and we couldn't find a site when searching online for a second night (Saturday), but there were at least three open sites whose reservations had been canceled we could have stayed in.

  

Notes:

  

Anza is particularly great for star gazing and spring flowers. There are often big horn sheep along the Palm Canyon trail leaving camp. We met one we named Barnabas. 

  

Extra vehicles are an additional $10.

  

\*Pro-tip: Fire wood is cash only. It's not bad 3 bundles for $20. If you don't have cash, you can find wood in town for cheaper without the convenience of it being at camp.

  

\*\*Pro-tip: Showers require tokens which are purchased from a machine. 2 tokens for $1. 1 token = 2m in the shower.

It's a fine campground. Just fine. Except for all the people.

This campsite gave my boyfriend and I a great first camping experience together. There was so much to do in the nearby areas. Fonts Point and The Slot are must see spots!

Amazing Experience

Very clean, well-maintained, and nice location.  Very strict check-in time.  However, you can tell they are cleaning the sites and making sure the sites are in order.  They rake around the fire ring, so you know they checked it.  Park rangers are driving around. Staff are really nice and helpful.  Flush toilets, bathrooms, well lit, and warm showers.  I recommend checking out the visitor’s center for free maps and information. There’s a lot to do in the area. Bring your bikes.  There’s also a trailhead to the oasis right in the campground. Not too difficult.  The main trail is not as difficult as the alternate trail.  Theres cool metal art throughout the area.   A tiny town with a couple markets and  places to eat. I was able to hike The Slot canyon, which was awesome.  Just take note, when you enter the canyon from the trailhead, there is a large boulder/outcrop you have crawl over/under. THAT IS YOUR POINT OF ENTRY/EXIT.  don’t pass it like I did and and nearly get lost.  All the trails start to look the same after a while.  All in all, it’s a good hike, maybe not for smaller children or larger people, because some of it I had to remove my backpack in order to fit through. Can’t go wrong with Anza-Borrego.  


Nice campground 

Large campground split into 3 sections. The one side is mainly for RVs and has hookups — would only recommend for RVs as they’re stacked up. The other 2 sides are a bit more spread out, especially the sites on the outside of the loops. It’s well taken care of and clean. Plus it has token showers with hot water, a dish washing area, flush toilets, fire pits, grills, and cell signal. Anza Borrego park has tons of awesome dispersed sites around the park that are free, but this was a good spot to take a little break from the desert and grab a hot shower. 

Borrego Palms

October 4th stay was new to me, my 3rd trailer camping trip from San Diego. It was nice and warm at arrival and cool by the moonlit night with the gnats going away until morning. No one was next to me so I had it good, most were tent camper and quiet by 10pm... great views. Shack guard was nice and helpful... I liked this site.

Open Desert Fun 

Father-son-grandson camping trip in the middle of the week in my Pop-up so we opted for a site with electricity. Best site ever! Nice Visitors center to see. We hiked the Borrego Palm trail. We did the cool slot canyon trail as well. Cruised around the state park, doing some off-road driving (all appropriate roads). Had an awesome protein smoothie from Center Market. Take lots of water..once you leave the city of Borrego Springs, water is not available generally at hike locations. 

Desert Camping-Solitude and sunshine

Stayed in 24' RV on non-hookup side down from upper canyon. Nice easy concrete pathway to visitor's center... 1 mile round trip. Also enjoyed just walking around upper and lower campgrounds. Very dark at night... take a flashlight if not back before sunset. Clean individual restrooms with flush toilets plus sinks. Showers take tokens... used 3 but water never got hot this time... unusual... Quiet after dark... Heard coyotes... saw roadrunner... Small mall in town has a few interesting shops. Library is worth a walk through... Sculptures scattered around outside town make for interesting photos. Will be back next December.

Good Desert Experience Camping

Popular hike up Palm Canyon Trail alongside creek important to Desert Bighorn Sheep. Dry-side of campground has flushing toilets and showers. Water spigots throughout. Drinking water at dump station to fill tanks. Paved trail to Visitor Center. Town with restaurants and stores 5 minutes away. 

Palm Oasis, Bighorn Sheep

Borrego Palm Canyon Campground is a great mix of desert adventure and comfort. It’s right in the heart of Anza-Borrego, with easy access to the Palm Canyon trail and tons of hiking nearby. The campground is large but well maintained, with a mix of RV hookups and tent sites, plus clean restrooms, water, and coin-operated hot showers.

The desert setting is beautiful, wide open views, amazing stargazing, and those classic quiet desert mornings. There’s not much natural shade, but many sites have ramadas which help a lot in the sun. We went mid-March and it was already starting to get pretty hot during the day, so definitely plan for warm weather and lots of sun exposure.

Overall, it’s a super solid basecamp if you want easy access to trails and a more comfortable desert camping experience without going fully primitive.

Photos of Borrego Palm Canyon Campground — Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Real photos from real campers