Best Glamping near Borrego Springs, CA

My girlfriend and I camped here on a Friday night, at the recommendation of a ranger in the Visitor's Center. Overall, I was happy with our stay as we could only see one other party (far away enough to where we couldn't hear them) and it was quieter than I thought it would be, considering it runs parallel to a highway. I wasn't expecting so many planes; I'm not sure what flight path runs over it, but there was an ongoing stream of planes (but not enough to be disruptive; just not as quiet as I'd like). There were vault toilets, but we just opted to do our business in nature. The campground is a mile or two from a developed campground and we navigated our 2WD minivan on the dirt road without any issues. Yaqui Well hiking trail runs through part of the grounds, which is a nice hike leading to a natural spring. It's far enough away from Borrego Springs to feel like you're "out there" but close enough to be convenient if needed without having to drive too far. I'd stay here again!

Easy access and near the main highway. Disperse camping, pack in and pack out! Very windy. Close to the town of Borrego Springs. One night is plenty, because of the windy conditions.

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.

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.

Let me first off say that the property is beautiful and that my hosts Carolyn and Bernie were very accommodating and had great energy.  Plenty of room for beautiful hikes on their many acres of land packed with some great views a few decks scattered around the property.  I found out they have a full size professional disc golf course here! I don’t bring my discs, but Carolyn and Bernie happily lent me some discs so I could try it out. 

Now to the Glamping- now I been camping a bunch, the reason I say that this is glamping is that they have actual running water flushable toilets and outdoor hot showers!  I can’t tell you how excited I was lol, it really upleveled the whole camping experience. They also have an industrial kitchen as well as an outdoor bar where they have very fairly priced beer and wine. Did I mention they have a full size professional pool table? Turns out Bernie and Carolyn are professional pool players too! This place is awesome! I will definitely be coming back again again to relax. I live in sd so it’s only about 35-40min drive from my place.  Thank you so much Carolyn and Bernie for such a great experience!!

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.)

Using the marker on the map in the app, I was brought to a small dirt parking lot off the main road. Further exploration showed that a dirt road continued into the vegetation. I followed it, but it turned and went parallel with a road. I am nowhere near see the marker on the map. However, I am a 100 feet off the trail overlooking the town of Borrego Springs and the mountains behind it. I am here in this section by myself.

I did explore the Yaqui Pass and the Yaqui Wash spots, which are both further west over the mountain. The Pass was great and within a valley. The pass was a carpark as someone else noted. I wanted my back to the sunset (and the wind) so chose this location. Next time I hope to get to the spot the other reviews seem to be at.

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.

This park is great for all Southern California natives to get away for the weekend. Has clean facilities and the campgrounds have ample space between them. This area has a ton of beautiful landscape, during the fall/winter wonderful foliage appears. Leave no trace & enjoy our lands!

Located in the San Bernardino National Forest, within the San Jacinto District, Marion Mt. Campground is one of the best camping sites in Southern California. Located in a beautiful mountain setting this site provides all the peace and tranquility a soul longs for.

This is a great family campground right around the corner from Temecula, Murrietta, and Menifee. It has tent, partial, and full hookup sites along with a camp store, fishing, biking, bathrooms, and day use areas. The lake is beautiful and boating is also an option. The fishing costs an extra fee per day on top of your California State License, so it’s a bit pricy. There are also nice hiking trails near the campground.

68-year old, still tenderfoot tent camper. This was my first experience in California after three prior stays in Texas and Arizona. The San Diego County system centrally handles reservations of its campgrounds, which was fortunate for me. I mistakenly reserved one campground thinking it was another (my preferred, Potrero), but it was 30 miles away. Even though I paid for two nights in advance, their phone reservations help was superb and got me transferred without any hiccups. Big shout-out to the ranger at Potrero for suggesting. I interacted with several and they were all professional, friendly and helpful.

There's one central plumbed restroom and shower facility. Further out along the tent sites there was a hand portapotty. When you first drive in you'll go past a very large day-use area with its own facilities before you get to the overnight camping sites. Alcohol is permitted if alcohol content < 20%.

My site #7 was the last in the row of tent-only sites and appeared to be the largest with plenty of shade and flat pad site. Without seeing other tents it's a little hard to gauge size, but I'd guess walking by the other sites that there's probably at least 80-100 feet between tent pads, or even more. Lots of open spaces. The seven tent sites shared a couple (maybe more) of water spigots.

The primary annoyance was with the park's neighbors who seemingly had a whole pound of dogs who barked loudly through the nights. Given how otherwise silent it was, it was the barking was noticeable and to be distinguished from the coyotes, birds and owls. I think I also heard roosters crowing each morning as early as 3am.

The major event of my stay was the arrival of, as Steely Dan sang, "Here come those Santa Ana winds again …" At 5 a.m. the first morning, it was still and quiet as can be (sans the neighborhood dogs). A few minutes later, the winds hit. For the next 11 hours, surviving the wind 30-40 mph sustained winds, gusts over 50 was the only concern – both for my little tent and my car and myself due to the wind effects on the large trees surrounding us. In the end, there was no noticeable damage but seldom have I spent a full day out in the weather like that.

All in all, I'm not sure you could ask for more at about $25/night. Although I would've paid double if there were a no-wind option. I also had two great tent parties my second night, a couple about my age who were returning to California after summering in Baja, and a young woman from Germany traveling by herself around the world. Interesting neighbors to say the least.

At site #7 I had zero T-Mobile signal. Outside the Ranger Station I could get at most, 2 bars LTE.

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.

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!

Unexpectedly hot, with an elevation of only 775' above sea level. Tent & 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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

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