Best RV Parks & Resorts near South Lake Tahoe, CA

Besides the beautiful scenic lake spot that offers fun on the lake during the day and star gazing at night it’s a well ran campground with amentities. Has lots of camping style options between RV hook up spaces and non hookup. Also has tent spots. Great restrooms and showers. Moms with babies and toddlers would appreciate the restrooms. Showers are their own private room with space and a changing table. Camping spots are roomy and come with a fire pit. Campfires are allowed. Generators in RVs have to be off at 10 pm. Pets are allowed but need to be on a leash. Grass area for kids playing or throwing the ball or frisbee. Horse shoe game area. Big lake side beach. You can set up badminton or beach volleyball. Cell service is spotty at the campsite but oddly great on the beach and at the Lake.

Lake offers boating, fishing, paddle boarding, kayaking, jet skiing, and swimming. Boat launch and fish cleaning are a good distance from camp sites. Has a cleaning station for watercraft for invasive species.

This campground has a lot to offer. Pack the sun screen and the life jackets and have fun!

We needed an overnight stay en route to the eastern Sierra and decided this spot would work. We knew we'd taking a risk for a one night stay on a Saturday without reservations but it was October 1 so what the heck. 

When we arrived there were several sites along the stunning Topaz Lake that appeared reserved for the weekend (F-Su) but were empty and a few that were open. We travel in a Class B van so typically will dry camp unless we have chore days.There were lots of sites in the primitive camping area but it was just a dirt parking lot with no shade (our propane fridge is cranky in heat so we needed shade). 

There was no staff on site. The only way to pay is via a kiosk but ONLY for day use and primitive sites. The only way to pay for the RV Hook Up sites (most without sewer at site) was via phone call (M-F) or online reservations. I had a weak Verizon signal and was able to reserve our spot for the night after a few attempts on the very funky county website. 

• If lucky enough to get a site, along the lake, you'll be rewarded with stunning views but it can get windy 
• Decent sized, level sites along the lake with lots of open space between campsite and lake
• Upgrades since past reviews must have happened recently as the bathroom floors and stalls appeared new. The central sewer dump concrete looks new as well and was working. All were were very clean. 
• Showers were working (and free) but didn't use so not sure about water temp. They were not updated but were clean. 
• This is a boaters' paradise and VERY loud during the day (and we were there off-season) Quiet at night. 

We'd probably pass on staying here again unless we were going to use the amenities (dump, showers, water refill) because it was pricey for just dry camping (unless in the primitive spots). We can do better at some  of the Forest Service campgrounds we saw along 395 for less money.

This RV resort is situated in the middle of everything! Close to Lake Tahoe, Reno, Virginia City and more! Spaces are wide and recent upgrades will have nice vine covered privacy fences between each site. Showers were clean. Sites were level and pull through. Had a nice store onsite and large laundry rooms. The only draw back to this park is the traffic noise. It was very loud at times but did die down in the evening. Would stay here again.

So this is a long term stay place that is right next to busy 395. Costco forms the other boundary. Not my kind of place to stay or go camping.

No full hook up,fire pit,close to braxh dpot 52

Beautiful views Can only stay a week here. Does not matter the loop your staying. But worth the stay. Close to Carson city. Loop A full hook ups Loop B no hookups Bathroom toilets onsite We had a 35ft 5th wheel w/dually.

This large campground (which is run by the city) is right in the middle of South Lake Tahoe and across the highway from The Lake. It's right in the middle of town so if you're wanting to "get away from it all" you better keep looking. We stayed here over Labor Day weekend and it was PACKED. There are 179 spaces at this campground and every one of them was occupied (we made our online reservation months in advance). That being said, we loved it here! We wanted to partake in some Labor Day activities around The Lake and staying here was ideal. For the amount of people that were there, noise was minimal. We stayed in "D-loop" which is a non hook-up spot. We choose this area because it's away from the traffic of the main entrance and somewhat away from Hwy 50. The spots close to Hwy 50 are NOISY. Also, D/E/F loop spots seem to be larger. Some of the people in the A/B/C loop sites were RIGHT ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. Our spot was quite large, clean, and flat. We easily parked our 29' RV and our SUV with lots of room to spare. We were semi-close to the restrooms/showers, water faucet, and trash receptacles ( a couple of people cut through our site to get to the facilities - NOT COOL). Unlike some other public campgrounds, we were allowed to fill our RV water tank at the campground's public water faucet which was awesome!

Camping here is like staying at a "rustic KOA". They have cabins and tents to rent, a little store (we didn't go in), sites with hook-ups, free RV sewer dump, and crappy wi-fi (lol). The showers and restrooms are far from fancy and could definitely use a remodel but whatever, it's CAMPING and they were good enough! While staying here we coined the phrase "city camping". We loved "city camping" and are looking forward to going back!

If you're traveling east along 395, turn immediately after the gas station (west side of the casino/resort building).  You'll proceed straight ahead to the RV park kiosk to check in.  Spaces are *very* close together and their idea of a 60 foot space is about 5-6 feet shorter in reality.  Our RV+truck tip to tail (unhooked) is about 54 feet long and we had to park the truck sideways to stay within the lines.  The space was wide enough for our slides to come out, but not the awning.  The space is marked 30/50 amp but only had 30 and 20 amp outlets.  

Despite being pretty crowded, it was quiet at night.  The casino is nice and about what you'd expect to find in South Lake Tahoe, but located in Minden.  The steakhouse was great and we enjoyed some $5 black jack.  This was our last stop on our way home and if it came up again, we'd come back.

A couple people were a bit liberal with parking over their allocated space, but we were able to maneuver by.  Some spaces apparently don't have dumps and it can back up getting out of the park if an RV wants to dump on the way out -- it will block the exit.

If you need gas, best to get fuel at the station prior to hooking back up if you're towing -- just easier to maneuver.  But you can still maneuver into the gas station on the way out or on the way in if you want.  If you're doing it on the way in, be sure to turn into the gas station on the west side so you can turn into the RV park entrance without having to turn around.

We've used other campgrounds since, but we always wind up coming back to Ice House. It's far enough away without being a all day drive, and it's right on the water.

The boat ramp is right in the middle and you can get anything from walk in tent sites to family sites big enough for an RV and a large group. There's a resort a few miles down the road so you can get ice and supplies.

Most of of camp sites have pretty good shade, and with a little strategic placement you can make sure your tent isn't baking in the evening.

They've been installing bear boxes, so if you're a motorcycle camper you don't have to worry about where you're going to store your food overnight. Water spigots are rarely more than a short walk from any camp site.

Really, all that's missing is RV hookups, so people tend to run their generators. The 10:00 noise cut off is usually well enforced, so the nights are very peaceful. I've even seen a few black bears roaming through my camp sites over the years.

All in all, Ice House is a great, well maintained and peaceful campground that keeps me coming back.

I was surprised when I heard of this campground. A city run campground across the street from the lake in the middle of town? Sure! We had a site in one of the two loops that had full hook-ups, and our site backed up to US 50. I was prepared for a lot of road noise and even strangers wandering through our camp but neither was a nuisance. Sites were spacious. We loved seeing the lake from our campsite and hitting the bike trail right outside the campground. There was also a nice city pool, library, and playground in walking distance.

Top to bottom, it was a wonderful stay at Camp Richardson! My family stayed on the RV side and we biked to the beach each day. The kids loved the ice cream shop of course and we liked the little general store. The woman taking breakfast orders in the store Saturday morning (maybe in her 50s) was a bundle of sunshine. A huge genuine welcoming smile for each patron. Fun, dynamic personality.

The only suggestions I would make surround camping check-in. The line at 2pm was horrible! I got there at 2:01 and there were already 20 people in front of me. The process is painfully slow. People were getting out of their vehicles and standing in the line on the right essentially cutting the cars in front of them. I was in the walk up side on the left of the check in booth and there was a woman checking into a group site at the front of the line. It took 14 minutes for the paperwork to be completed! It put a damper on our trip from the beginning and I wasted the first 20-30 minutes standing in a line when I should have been enjoying a rum runner at the beacon. We have stayed in RV resorts all over the country and I’ve never had this experience. It would affect my decision to return. Why not have people pay in full before arrival, have all paperwork completed online, receive an email with your site number ahead of time and at 2pm, we could have driven straight to our site, displayed our printed tag on our windshield and gotten straight to enjoying the resort.

We were grateful to get a last minute spot here. The young man in the office who helped us was super nice! Some of the sights on the “valley” side have amazing views!! Ours was not one of these as we got a spot last minute. The lower rating is because the whole park is tight with it looks like 50% long term residents who don’t keep their sites very tidy. Also, 2 of the 4 combo toilet/shower rooms were out of toilet paper and a third one had a clogged toilet. The showers had hot water but look like they could have used a scrub with some vinegar to get rid of all the calcium deposits that made them look not so clean. Also, we couldn’t get the Wi-Fi to work at all. The park was very quiet at night and all the people there seemed nice and respectful of their neighbors. Just not our scene as it was too crowded. I think if you can get one of the sites when a view it may be worth an overnight stop. Virginia City, in spite of the history there, is a tourist trap.