Best Tent Camping near Twentynine Palms, CA

Offers wide range of tent camp sites, RV camping, showers, toilets. Beautiful scenic hikes. Small creek runs through property. Campsite grills and picnic tables.

We tent camped here for 3 nights and loved this campground. The tent sites are spacious - can’t exaggerate that enough. the workers were friendly and helpful. The bathrooms were clean and had plenty of showers available. There is a playground centrally located, tennis court and basketball - all equipment available from the office. They also had board games for use and a pool table inside. There are a couple of pontoon boats available for rental as well! We took out kids on a couple hikes, be sure you have an interagency pass for parking at trailheads! Fantastic getaway!

Overall a nice campground with decent sites, but really not for tent camping at all. They say they have some tent sites, but pretty much every site is setup with gravel pull-in or pull throughs which you'd not really want to set your tent up on. They do have a "tent village" which you can camp on, but again, not really ideal for tents. They do have really nice facilities for washing your cloths or yourself along with a nice club house for unwinding. While each site doesn't have a fire ring, you do have a table and there is a group fire ring along with a pool and playground. You are a bit inside the city of Banning and not too far from the train tracks, so if you're not in something super insulated you'll probably hear a bit of train noise like we did.

Words truly can not do this place justice. Joshua Tree National Park is such a beautifully preserved mosaic of nature and human history. We only had two short days here but we can not wait to return and explore more. The ecosystems of the wetter Mojave Desert and the low desert of the Colorado yield differing plants, water canyons, twisted rock formations, and towering monolithic rock formations that are both beautiful and fun to climb. This is a boulderer, hiker and climbers dream. The Joshua trees in and of themselves are both dreamy and mystical. Although there are other camps in the park which seemed to be more remote, we liked the idea of securing a reservation instead of worrying about a first come first serve situation. Because of this, we found this to be an ideal camping spot for location, and proximity as well as eliminating the worry of not getting a site.

For us, the unseasonably warm weather for October affected the hikes we chose to do as we were not acclimated to the extreme and dangerous heat. Despite this, there are plenty of shorter hikes as well as an amazing 18 mile Geology self driving tour ( note you need four wheel drive) exposing you to diverse and gorgeous desert landscapes and even a hike up an extinct volcano.

We found Jumbo Rocks campground to be well kept, and clean. There are 124 tent sites and some RV sites. There are no hook ups or drinking water in the campground so all provisions must be brought in prior to entering the park. There is a small town called Twentynine Palms which is about 10 to 12 miles away where you can get water, firewood and your basic amenities. The campsites were rather close together but because of the beautiful rock formations it seemed like you were more isolated than what you were. As long as the neighboring tenters remembered that others were close by and kept voices down it was peaceful. The most amazing part of this park were the stars at night. They were unbelievably brilliant!

As an additional side note, any type of hanging lights, hammocks, clothes lines, bunting, etc. is forbidden in the park. Hefty fines are awarded to those who violate the rules and attach to vegetation, Joshua Trees, or the Junipers. Lastly, there is little to no shade here and the temps can get extreme. I’d suggest bringing an additional canopy tent for shade as until the sun sets the tent is a sauna sand does not provide relief from the heat.

Good home base for Joshua Tree is NP campgrounds are full. Pretty barebones. A few weirdos, but enough space to steer clear of them. The wind can be brutal if you’re tent camping. Have large stakes.

Awesome tent sites in Joshua Tree, tucked between some Jumbo Rocks. The sites are pretty spacious and private and have primo scenery and star gazing opportunities.

Nice place to visit in early January. With sunshine and daytime temperatures of 60s and 70s. Most sites are suitable for tent camping or small campers.

Would be a 5 star if it had water, a dump station or electric.

Super campspots among the boulders. Great hiking out of the campground. Some of the tent sites are "really" walk in sites so it makes it a bit more challenging if sleeping in van. Bring everything you need ie. Water!

Loved staying in twentynine palms to explore Joshua tree and the surrounding areas. Pioneer town was so fun. Headed in to Palm springs. Wow!

Very primitive camping, but location, views, hikes, and adventures nearby make it all worth it! We had site #6 and tent camped. It was back a little away from the road and people which was nice. Be sure to bring in your own water. We filled up our jug and got provisions in 29 Palms before heading into the park.

While I fully appreciated the location, the scenery, the quaint community of Idyllwild, the campsites were TOO close and on hills making relaxing and tent camping a bit of a downer. It felt like we were right on top of each other. We had loud campers on 2/3 sites near us. I don’t think I would camp here again.

Great open space minutes from Joshua Tree park and next to Twentynine Palms town. A lot of OHV rolling around and a few scattered groups. We got some wind that luckily died down. Great place to see the sunrise and sunset.

This listing was showing as free but when we showed up that was not the case. For simple tent camping, this cost $15/person and charge $5/per kid and pet. Must be gone by 11am. Overpriced for what we needed. Very loud and rude campers next to us until early morning hours evens though it’s against the park’s policies. Disappointed. Front lady checking in was very pleasant. No discounts for Veterans, only active duty.

very nice campground. Always clean. Small store onsite. Small lake. Some sites are full hook-ups and many tent sites. Quiet and peaceful. I’ve stayed many times - September, October & May. The Joshua Tree Music Festival takes over the campground for a week in October and a week in May. Wonderful time to stay and hear such a huge variety of music and art!

Such an amazing spot to tent camp! Definitely narrow spots for bigger vehicles, but for car-camping with tents, it was perfect! Scored this site on a busy weekend using Dyrt Alerts - the pictures say it all: secluded site, epic sunrise & sunset viewing from scaling the rocks in the campsite, beautiful star-gazing. I will say that despite the "secluded" feel, our neighbors were still really close and noisy late into the night, but the greatness of our site honestly outweighed that disruption for me personally.

We did have a coyote visitor twice in the morning, so don't forget to keep your food/trash locked up from critters!

Depending on where you camp the roads go from semi rough to very rough. Tough if it rains. Lots of established camps at the beginning with a wide spread of space. Great for RV or none tent campers all around. I'm tent camping so drove to the outskirts and decided that the softer sand at the beginning was more suitable than the cracked surface of the once was lake. Lots of space between camps but not many high trees so isolated but in sight. That and the rougher roads plus high traffic led to the 3 rating. Free is free and no one within 100 ft so 3 is what it is for me. Not bad. Not good.

Campsite was perfect, the site is for 4 people but easily could have fit 8-10! 3/4 folks in our group tent camped while I slept in my car along the road right next to the campsite. The site itself only had enough room for 2 cars so be sure to budget for that. We had two pit toilet stalls right next to our site, there were some bees around the front entrance but the bathrooms themselves were fine. We stayed at campsite 83, pictures below, on 12/5. It was COLD out as well, I am from colorado but the cold hit different out here! Bring plenty of wood and warm clothes :)

We keep coming back here. Great little campground with clean air, starry skies and big trees. Lake Fulmor is 3 miles away to take pups swimming off leash.  Idyllwild is a charming town for small town vibe. Nice trails close to PCT and rock climbing by Humber Park. Groceries are expensive on this mountain so pick up food in Hemet.  The Idyllwild campground is crowded and loud so we always stay at Stone Creek. Best electric site is #50 Best tent site is #26. Great little nature loop but watch out for the big cats and snakes!