Best RV Parks & Resorts near Calexico, CA

Pilot Knob RV Resort is a solid option for RV travelers, especially those affiliated with Thousand Trails or Encore campgrounds. Overall, I’d give it 4 stars, with the only downside being its remote location. Aside from the Granite Museum and the overpriced gas station at the exit, there’s not much nearby. For most necessities, you’ll need to drive into Yuma, which also involves crossing a time zone.

On the positive side, the amenities at the campground are great and seem recently renovated. The restrooms, game room, and pool area are all clean and well-maintained, and the shuffleboard courts and bocce ball are fun additions. There always seem to be organized events on the calendar, which is nice if you’re into social activities, though we didn’t attend any ourselves.

The RV sites are spacious, especially compared to other Thousand Trails locations. This makes it a great spot for those who RV part-time or full-time and enjoy a bit more room to spread out.

The staff here is incredibly friendly and helpful, and package/mail handling is seamless, which is a bonus for longer stays. The sunsets are absolutely gorgeous, and the nearby Pilot Knob hiking trails and Sand Dunes offer excellent opportunities to explore the outdoors.

Lastly, we enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the nearby casino—it was delicious and convenient, though the casino itself wasn’t our favorite for gambling.

Yuma is about a 20 minute drive.

We stayed just one night while traveling through. It's about 1/4 mile from a Walmart with a few other RV parks around it. The Staff was friendly and helpful. We were able to make a reservation over the phone. We had full hook-ups (both 30 & 50 amps were available). It's a small RV camp with spaces, a pool, and a building with bathrooms (very clean), showers (use quarters), and several washers and dryers that cost $1.25 & $1 respectively. Wifi was on slower side but sufficient to stream TV shows. We paid $45.

We have stayed here a few times now.  The best times are during the fall and winter months as the park welcomes back its community of Snow Birds coming from Canada and the northern US.  During those times the atmosphere in the evening is always festive, often with live music and an outdoor bar.  The staff are pleasant and accommodating.   It is also a pretty good overnight spot if you are passing through in the summer, but the temperatures in this area soar during the summer and are frequently above 110 degrees.  During summer time the pool becomes too warm to be refreshing, and the restaurant and bar are closed.  The rates are much lower in the summer.  This is also one of the few parks that accepts Passport America all days of the week.  Note that Passport America discounts cannot be used with pull-through sites.  The sites are fairly spacious and generally separated by hedges so you are not looking directly at your neighbor's rig.  Scenery around the park is beautiful any time of year, and for those who enjoy the RV Resort lifestyle the only reason to go out of the park during the snow bird season is for groceries.

This used to be a good RV park for Seniors on fixed income. But the new owners, who live in Palm Springs, have gotten greedy. First they cut out cable TV, then they cut out the seasonal discount, then they raised the rent$50 in one shot, and now they have cut off the Wi-Fi and raised the rent another$45 so Seniors now can't even get on the Internet to pay bills, or check on their Banking. Now they have been lying to us about the Wi-Fi internet, telling people it is only down temporarily, It has now been down temporarily for over 3 months. It is just a dirt lot that turns into a giant mud bog when it rains, no level pads to park on, and dogs are allowed to run free and shit all over the place. They just want to bleed people on fixed income, and stuff the money in their pocket. Some senior citizens have been forced out and have become homeless because the rise in food and gas prices already had them fighting to just put food on the table. The sprinkler system that is supposed to water the plants separating the sites at night has broken down so all the plants are dying off and they have no intention of fixing it. There is only one men's public shower and rest room and one public shower and rest room for women. The door locks don't work and men have been caught using the woman's shower if there is someone already using the men's. They have cut the Manger's hours down to noon to 5 O'clock 3 days a week and the owners are never around. They stay up in their nice rich house in Palm Springs and never even visit the park. So the poor Manager has to deal with all the problems. Their ad still says they provide free cable TV, Seasonal discounts, and free Wi Fi but they have discontinued all of these plus raising the site rent$100 a month. Avoid this place it is a dump run by slum lords.

This new koa is under new management and they are really trying to make it a memorable experience for you and your kids. It’s a bit off the beaten path, but it’s a beautiful part of San Diego county.

Amenities include a mini petting Zoo and things like a hayride in warmer weather. The facility is gated which felt like a great thing I didn’t know I needed. Facility is at 4000 feet.

This is a quiet well ran facility. It has the best drinking water pumped from the mountain aquifers. Every building is relatively new and the showers, laundry and common building facilities are in top notch condition. The staff and the owner are genuinely friendly and have the best of attitudes about the grounds and one’s stay. I can’t say enough about how pleasant our 4 day stay was. It’s unique in that there is not the usual highway road noise we experience at most KOAs.

My wife and I have been full-time RVing here for a little over a month. This is not your typical KOA. It’s off the beaten path of I-8. To get here you take some very windy roads, bigger rigs will take up most the road. Almost all sites are back-in with little site definition.

The view of the night sky is to die for!!! Lots of walking trails and a meditation labyrinth to collect your thoughts. All to the sound of ranch animals meandering through their day.

Definitely worth checking out!

Located in the Imperial Dunes, we didn’t even realize this was a “campground” as we drove the short uphill to the lookout to see the dunes. There is a 14-day limit but unless you are really into cruising around the dunes on an OHV, I’m not sure why you would stay that long. It is basically a paved parking lot and there are no markers indicating a separation between “spaces” so you park/camp wherever you find room (there were some sections with no parking signs). Although the road and lot are paved, the wind will blow sand all over and it was VERY windy when we were there! There were two vault toilets, a covered picnic table and several fire rings but no other amenities. As far as I can tell, it is free to camp here. I did notice some RVs displaying rather strident political flags which would have made us uncomfortable staying here overnight so we enjoyed the dunes for a short while and drove on. A plus is the cell coverage is great (you are higher up) and the dunes are beautiful!

We stayed here two nights and really liked it. There are a lot of travelers and some locals who come to the beach for the day, to look at the art of just to hang out, but overnight it gets pretty quiet. The first night there was only us and a bikepacker in a tent, and the second night there was a car camper that left early in the morning. Some ATV people riding around the sand also but they weren't too bad. There's also a guy in a nice small trailer down on the beach who looks like he's been there a while, but his site is nice and clean.

It's easy not to get stuck in the sand if you stay in the upper area. We had no problems in our 26ft class c. If you drive down to the beach just watch for the soft sand and stay on the hard packed parts.

The town and the beach are just so... interesting. The artists are taking over the nearly abandoned town and it's really neat to see. Curious to see what happens to the town of Bombay Beach in the long run. Very interesting history, both the sea itself and the towns around it. Lots of documentaries about it on YouTube if you're interested.

There's BLM land here but I think the part you can stay on is owned by IID (Imperial Irrigation District). Not sure about this, but anyway I don't think camping here is a problem.

Good cell reception and weather in mid November. We would have left if it was windy to avoid breathing in the particulates.

We only stayed one night in a pull through but enjoyed the facilities. Park is very clean and has a good restaurant. They do have a lot of mobile homes but most are newer and well kept. Some RV’s look abandoned which is a shame. Nice dog park area with grass, could use water for the pups. Laundry and bathrooms were very clean. Pool area and restaurant, bar area is nice. We had dinner, wing’s were great burger was good but not great. Service was very good. Pull through site was narrow but had all we needed for one night. Looks like the workout facility is nice.

The Salton Sea is a required taste, you either love it or you hate it and I absolutely love it here! It's solitude and the glow of the sky at sunset over the water is just magical. $20 per night, $7 day use fee, $5 boat launch, RV $30 per night. So many wild birds to photograph and the sunsets are a must see. Also go to Salvation Mountain which is close by, another bucket list spot to scratch off the list.