Best RV Parks & Resorts near Chula Vista, CA

This place is truly a hidden gem. Just 30 minutes from San Diego, with friendly staff and partial or full hookups. We were in a preferred lake view site#96 which had water and electric hookups. There was a play area that had ladder golf, tetherball, and ping pong. Have extra guess? Have them reserve a Tipi that has a max of 6 people. We had thee bars on our Version service and the campground WIFI is one of the best I have seen camping. Lake Jennings has some supplies available as well such as ice, propane, firewood, etc. at reasonable prices. Bathrooms and showers are clean. There is a dump station in the campground, and I suggest checking out the best way to get into the dump station before taking your rig. there are several roads around the dump station but only one that takes you in straight without having to make a sharp turn and possibly having to back up. The lake is drinking water for the local town and therefore no swimming allowed but they do stock the lake with fish. Just a long walk or short drive to the other side of the Lake and you can go fishing or boating. I would not suggest checking in early. The road in is very narrow and if you arrive before the noon checkout time you may find yourself falling into the lake while trying to squeeze by another on coming RV or trailer.

A nicely appointed RV resort in downtown Oceanside with an awesome staff. Pull-through and back-in, full hookup spots available. Cable, wi-fi, a clubhouse with TV and PlayStation for the kids, pool table, games to check out, and a small swimming pool and hot tub. There are also outdoor community areas with ping-pong, bean-bag toss, grills, and other activities.

The resort is only a 5- minute walk to the beach and not far from Oceanside restaurants and shops. While it’s a tad spendy, you really do get a lot for your money with a great near beach location.

We will not return here. We live in our travel trailer/camper. Good things first: bathrooms are clean. The grounds crew and store personnel are helpful and friendly. Plenty of dumpsters. Reasonably close to the things we wanted to do/see in San Diego. Good number of shaded spots, if you can get into one. Bad things: we were under the impression that the entire campground had full hook ups. Only the south side has full sewer, water, and electric hook ups. To get a spot on the south side, you have to go through a complicated first come first serve/wait for people to leave/list/lottery/nonsense. Our check in was more of a hassle than a breeze. It was not mentioned that not every RV spot on the north side had water and electric. The sites are not well marked. It looked like picnic tables were moved so other campers would not be close. We couldn't tell how far we were on or off our site. Buildings are dilapidated. Camping areas are not maintained. There was a lot of litter that could have been raked up and disposed of. The North side of the campground is neglected. There was no obvious signage that the washers and dryers did not except debit/credit cards. There was only one place in the grounds were you could get a preloaded laundry card, and it was broken. The ladies at the check in station were very clear that a serviceman was called and they were getting a new contract. But that didn't help get the laundry clean. Several of the washers and dryers were out of service. It's a 10 mile drive to Chula Vista for services. It was made clear before our stay that there was little to no cell service. However, Lake Whitney, Texas Thousand Trails provided free wifi for all in their lodge. That is not the case at Pio Pico. This is the third Thousand Trails campground we have stayed at, and we're considering leaving before our full seven days are up.

I’m new to RV’s, and the lifestyle. I’ve been planning on full time RV living for the last 10 months. Pio Pico is the 1st RV park I’ve stayed at. I was enjoying my quite solitude, when my closest neighbor told me, one of the workers has tested positive for Covid-19, so I hauled ass out of there. Luckily, I didn’t have any human contact whatsoever with anyone there during my stay. I have bronchial asthma, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
Too bad, because it felt remote, quiet, and was only a nice 7 mile drive from grocery stores, retail stores, food, gas, etc., if you needed anything. 30 amp, and water at site. Dumping area with two stations. Nice paths to hike, or walk your dog. Laundry was open, but only facility I used was the dump station. I didn’t get any TV reception, but others did. I didn’t have a powered antenna, but I do now. The internet was slow and iffy. They said they were working on it. I got to see a few shows on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube... No cell service at all, but I did get a little with my WeBoost. I wasn’t expecting much with mountains all around. I would have given another star, but keeping something like a worker testing positive for covid-19 from customers is not a good business idea. I’d probably give them another try though, since it had the seclusion I was looking for.

We stayed a little longer than a month and enjoyed how accessible everything was from this location. It's also a great home base for exploring up to Malibu all the way down to San Diego and every place in between. Carlsbad Village is just a few miles away and there is great ice cream and Handel's and cute shops and restaurants. 

ABOUT: The RV park has its own back gate to the beach. It meanders through a little city park and then you can take the roads to find little beach access or walk through the neighborhood down to the proper beach and Oceanside Pier. Laundry is a bit pricey $2.50/wash and$2.00 dry, but they work well and one cycle dries your clothes. It's tightly packed, but manageable. One of the team members will help you park when you check in which is really helpful. Concrete pads and hookups placed conveniently by your rig. Picnic tables and a palm tree divides each site. 

There is a commuter train that goes by and we were concerned before arriving due to working from home conditions, but we were pleasantly surprised. At our site it wasn't bad at all. It only came a few times a day and it was not a big deal. Didn't affect us working from the RV. 

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Very responsive team, especially over email. Facilities are nice and the staff keeps the grounds very clean and tidy. It is a pretty laid back atmosphere and a variety of guests, lots of families having fun together. You can have packages delivered but they go to the office and not your site so remember to add your name. 

WIFI/ CELL SERVICE: AT&T cell service worked full bars and wifi was great. Very little trouble working remote or streaming. There were a few times where we needed the support of our back up hotspot on our phone for video calls instead of their wifi, but other than that it was great.