Best RV Parks & Resorts near San Diego, CA

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 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.

Nice campground just 20’ from San Diego city. Set up our 16’ travel trailer at a lakeshore full hookup site #27 (no fire pit though). Kids loved the convenient fishing right behind our trailer and the swimming pools a short drive away. Also was able to rent paddle boats to cruise around the lakes. Only problem was the ants we encountered (first time ever) and had to run over to the local Lowe‘s to purchase some DE to spread around the anchor points and connections. Facilities were clean and well maintained though and will definitely return for our local weekend getaways.