Best RV Parks & Resorts near Rancho Mirage, CA

This campground is part of the “Thousand Trails” RV time share co-op. We are non-members and lined up our weekend stay a few weeks in advance. If we didn’t get reservations in advance there was no chance of getting a spot. All 500+ sites were booked solid (late April - early May). We live in Orange County and tried this spot for a quick out of town trip. We didn’t hit the road till late., so We showed up at dusk. The major downside to this park is they don’t assign any of the sites. It’s based off a “First come, first serve” the problem with showing up late is we spent 45mins driving around this large RV park trying to find and open site. We ended up in the sites that were electrical only, all of the other 495 sites are full hook ups.

The sites are large and will fit most large 5th wheels and diesel pusher motor homes. Some sites have 50 amp but not all.

Two pools, club house, general store (closed b/c of covid) tons of mature trees for shade. BBQ stations at most sites, tons of water foul playing around and honking all night long.

The is a beautiful Thousand Trails RV Resort in Palm Springs, California! The park is large, very spacious and so clean! The gorgeous Palm trees are a little bit of a parking hazard, but they were here before we were! 😊 And besides, they are so beautiful to look at every day. The park feels like a day on beach with white sand to park on in most spaces, towering Palm trees, and brightly colored tropical flowers. What a treat in the winter! We are here in November and December and daytime high’s are in the low 80’s. The park is split in half with one side 30 amp FHU and the other half 50 amp FHU. For TT members, there is not an additional charge for 50 amp. Quite a deal! There is plenty of room to get out and walk in this park, along with a nice dog park, playground, billiards room, swimming pool and spa, horseshoes, 8 pickle ball courts, many laundry rooms and restrooms, and community recreation room. The surrounding mountains ranges are pretty amazing, too. This park is close to it all in the Palm Springs area and everything is within a short drive. Joshua Tree National Park and the Salton Sea is just over a half hour away. The Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort is perfect and we will definitely be visiting again!

For videos on this park and others, check out our YouTube channel: Jeff & Steff’s Excellent Adventure.

We stayed here for 4 nights while visiting our parents who live in Rancho Mirage. The resort is extremely clean, well-maintained, and quiet. We are normally boondockers, so it felt decadent having full hookups, daily trash pickup, and all the rest of Emerald Desert's amenities such as sparkling swimming pools, daily activities, free Saturday Continental Breakfast, etc. 

We upgraded to the"luxury" site which meant that the spacing between sites was a bit greater and we had a lovely patch of green grass between us and our neighbors. We have a very small trailer, so our only issue was the distance from our sewer connection and the resort's. With so many nearby stores, it just took a quick online order for curbside pickup at Wal-Mart for extra hose and we were good-to-go. Literally. 

As others have mentioned, Interstate 10 and a set of major East-West train tracks lie right behind the resort, but neither were very disruptive to us. YMMV. 

We will absolutely stay here again and again, and we highly recommend it to others. In fact, we challenge you to find a nicer RV resort anywhere else!

I spent a few nights using my Passport America discount at Pechanga RV Resort. I really liked it there. This is now one of my favorite RV resorts in California except for the showers. It is clean, well-maintained, concrete, level pads, full hookups, 168 site spaces, 20-30-50 amp power, 5 luxury spaces that The park itself is clean, well-maintained, concrete, level pads, full hookups, 168 site spaces, 20-30-50 amp power, 5 luxury spaces that is fenced in with gazebo, and picnic tables. First of all, it is part of the Casino with entertainment and restaurants. This casino reminds me of the Vegas casinos and now is under construction to make it a real Vegas Style Resort. It’s going to be finished sometimes in 2017. 

The RV resort itself has a nice heated pool, Jacuzzi, ping pong table. They also have a golf club which could be important for some. One thing I hated is the showers. The RV resort shower has a timer set to 25 seconds and the showerhead is not able to stand upright. So you basically have to hold the shower in one hand and keep pressing the timer every 25 seconds. It’s December, it’s cold in the shower, especially because the water keeps shutting off. You end up standing soaking wet putting soap on yourself in the cold. 

I wonder if the hotel rooms have timer on the showers as well. The person who came up with this idea should take showers in there each night. It pet-friendly resort, they also have an area for dogs. If you heading to the casino, they have a shuttle service 24/7 which picks ups from and drop-offs to and from your space. You have to call a number and they are there to pick you up in minutes. 

About the WiFi! It’s the best WiFi ever in any parks I’ve so far visited! I wasn’t even close to the main building and had a great reception. I am able to use my Roku to watch Netflix and can use my laptop as well for work. I didn’t even need my Sprint or Verizon, but both work fine. Across the street, there is a 2-mile bike/walk trail. Using this and riding around the nice neighborhoods it was a fun way to get some exercise.

This was my first time staying at one of these big RV resorts with all the bells and whistles you could possibly need from the place. The pool/spa is currently open, which is a little surprising considering pandemic restrictions so we chose to abstain. We had a nice back-in site. Sites are pretty close together but divided by tall hedges that make for good privacy. It was a little loud our first night from other campers and dogs, but the second night was much quieter. You don’t get many good views inside the RV park gates, but once you walk out there driveway and along the street you can actually get some good mountain views on clear days.

This spot is about an hour from both the west and the south entrances of Joshua Tree.

Don't get my wrong, the hot tub is hot! But this place is chill. Checking in was easy and my RV hookup spot was in an appealing pull-through with well-lit roads at night and natural plants and rocks ornamenting (and anchoring) the space.

My days consisted of a morning soak in the mineral hot spring pool (one small hot tub AND one large, cooler pool) next to the community center. Then I would head into Palm Springs for lunch (~20 min drive). Then of course an evening soak before my bedtime rituals.

The is mostly a long-term and/or elderly residential community so there's not a lot of new people coming in or out, though the gate sees a moderate amount of traffic.

The community is gated which is a nice feature, though you're in the middle of a desert basically so there's not much to be concerned about.

There is laundry onsite (I didn't use) but no store if you're looking for toiletries or something. The gas station is about a mile away but there's a closer convenience/liquor store at the end of the road.

Also, I will try to rectify this with the Dyrt but this profile has two phone numbers and the reservations line is actually to a different park about an hour away. If this happens to you when trying to check-in and get the gate code, just call the other number and you'll be fine.

I only docked them the one star because everything is pretty dated. It's not like a new resort with many amenities, but is appealing for it's location and mineral pools.

Happy camping!

Growing up my family went on a few camping trips; mostly to Arizona to visit the ghost towns but when we wanted to go take a weekend trip and didn't want to leave state we would stay at the Catalina Spa Rv Resort in town. I remember my brother and I having so much fun running around or riding our bikes through the many turnaround streets at this park. They have an awesome pool and jacuzzis to use and a very large pond that all year round has ducks, birds, frogs, fish and turtles to look at. They have a friendly staff and the travelers were always very sweet and kind. The only town fall was that usually there isn't very many kids there, mostly older people come here to stay. They have. Gym and a game room. Lots of shade in rv parking areas and small bbq and tables to enjoy. Definitely worth checking it out !