Best RV Parks & Resorts near Winters, CA

We (party of 4) were there primarily because we rented a boat from their Marina. That went well! This is an RV campground & full-complement resort on Bethel Island, San Joaquin River Delta. Many RVers appear to be long-term or full-time residents.

The tent-area was a clearing, fully backed up to the levee, with some shade and a water spigot. Appears to be only 4 “sites,” which are defined by picnic tables, GENEROUSLY spaced, no fire rings AND the Delta is h.o.t.! It’s also on the far edge of the property, so car traffic was MINIMUM — and NO generators were heard, even though the RV section is huge!!!

The rest rooms were in the Marina building, a short walk. We would DEFINITELY return for boating and tenting!!!

We are full-timers in a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow. We were in site 61, a“Premium” Pull-through site, for 3 days in early October, while visiting family in the area. This is probably the most critical review of a CG that we have posted in the 2 years we’ve be full-timing and for$76/night(with discount), I would expect much, much more from a CG. The staff at checkin were very friendly, but we didn’t see anyone patrolling the CG while we were there. It was fairly quiet when we arrived during the week, but got a little raucous on the weekend and I-505 road noise is fairly noticeable at night. The CG is“clean” and otherwise quiet, but showing its age a bit. The two pools looked pretty decent, but we didn’t use them. All of the sites are fairly short and very close. Bigger rig tow vehicles either extend into or are parked partially on the roads through the CG, although the roads are fairly wide throughout. The CG consists mostly permanent/semi-permanent residences. Most of those sites are are all gravel. There appeared to only be a few transient spaces, maybe 12-15, which were also short, but with grass, tables and foliage between sites. There are no green spaces to walk your dog. Everything that isn’t paved or graveled is basically bare dirt or tall, dead weeds, except the playground and one other area, and neither of those areas allow dogs. You are pretty much relegated to walking the CG roads or using the“off-leash” area, which is a fenced in treed area but is also just bare dirt and clearly not everyone cleans up after their dogs. They have signs for a Pet Walk, but this is just a very short walk on more dirt. The ponds on the map are fenced off and are either muddy brown or algae green pits with fountains- not very aesthetically appealing. AT&T coverage was just ok, with 2 bars of LTE and speeds up to 0.8 MB/s. The CG WiFi through TengoInternet.com is bit wanky, only allowing 3 connected devices and requiring a Browser to connect, so devices without one(Apple TV, WiFi router, etc.) are out of luck. Their website had a link to a page that was supposed to tell you how to connect them, but resulted in a 404 page not found error. We saw speeds up to 1 MB/s., but much less when everyone is online. Disconnecting WiFi and reconnecting seemed to help some. We were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. There were 35 OTA channels to be had with our fixed omni antenna. We would not stay here again.

The campground at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park offers a range of decent sites. There are certainly some that are better situated than others regarding size, shade, and other amenities--but the entire campground is nice. Well maintained, and located in a State Park that is run by a non-profit "Team Sugarloaf". Sonoma Creek runs along the campground and there is a waterfall a short hike away. There are showers for a quarter per minute, if you want to freshen up after a big hike like to the peak of Bald Mt. Visitor's Center has educational displays, maps, and a variety of items for sale. Ice and fire wood available. Each site has a table and fire pit. Great little get away spot that feels farther in the wilderness than it is at all. Close to Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Year-round camping--beautiful in all seasons.

There is also an observatory in the park, one Saturday night per month the hold "Star Parties" and for just $2 you can spend the evening looking through great telescopes and learning about space from experts. Kids are free! It is walking distance from the campground. If you have flashlights that have a red night-vision setting, those are recommended to use there--otherwise they'll give you red cellophane to cover your light so that it doesn't interfere with star viewing.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Thousand Trails Lake Minden is very rundown. Immediately upon arrival at this so-called "resort," you can see the neglect from the outset. Their main sign is faded and sunburned, looking like it’s from 1970. The roads are riddled with potholes, none of which are paved. It’s clear the maintenance of this property has been ignored for years.

The "resort" advertises full hookups, but the reality is they have about 20 full hookup sites that can’t accommodate RVs over 35 feet. My 40-foot RV doesn’t fit, so I’m forced to drive around the lake to the non-hookup section, which only has water and power. To dump your tanks, you have to make trips to the dump station—hardly convenient for a place claiming to be a resort.

I paid $10,000 for a lifetime membership that allows me to stay at Thousand Trails properties for 21 days at a time. My mistake was not visiting any of their locations before making this purchase. I strongly urge anyone considering a Thousand Trails membership to visit several of their properties first—it will likely change your mind. Lake Minden is no better than other Thousand Trails locations, and in fact, I’d rank it among the worst.

As a full-time RVer, I’m stuck here for the 21-day maximum, and once that’s up, I’m forced to relocate two hours away to their next nearest property, Ponderosa. I’ll review that location when I arrive, but I don’t have high expectations.

What’s most frustrating is the blatant contradiction between their claims and reality. They require age-appropriate RVs for members, yet I’m parked next to a 20-year-old RV with a blue tarp on the roof. The facility is so poorly maintained it’s a stretch to even call it a campground, let alone a resort.

My regret for buying a Thousand Trails lifetime membership is astronomical. If I knew then what I know now, I would never have spent a dime. Thousand Trails should be ashamed to call themselves a resort. Lake Minden, like many of their properties, is nothing more than a run-down trailer park.

Camped 4 nights at site 32 during the week.  A nice shaded site with river view, but not very level.  All sites are pull throughs with electric, water, a stationary picnic table and fire ring.  Online reservations are required and must be made a minimum of 2-weeks in advance.  Campground was nearly empty and had big grassy areas between sites.  Senior rate of $20.  Flush toilets and showers were spartan but cleaned daily.  Campground is adjacent to public beach, boat ramp/dock, and picnic area.  As expected it was very windy most of the time so you need to stake everything down.  Wind was strong enough to knock over our wine glass, twice!  We could hear humming from wind turbines that were just over the hill from the campground, but otherwise quiet.

Perfect for what it is which is a basic parking lot RV park. The amenities are pretty great, lovely pool, petting zoo and my favorite the fenced dog park. Oh and they have a dog wash with leash clip!!! So many parks miss the opportunity for dog friendly features. They have the cleanest bathrooms i have ever experienced at an RV park.

My only disappointment was the wifi connection specifically in communal spaces close to the office where it makes sense to have strong connection. Their rec room would be a perfect place to hey some work done if only the wifi was powerful enough. Since i was working on the road I was specifically in need of this amenity. I heard certain RV spots had great reception but unfortunately not ours.

We stayed here in January 2024 and got a Passport America discount. Traveling south on US-101, then US-12 east, our RV GPS took us right to this campground(CG). Check-in was quick and easy, and we proceeded unescorted to pull through site 32 with FHUs. The cement pad was plenty long enough for our 40’ fifth wheel and unhooked F450. The utilities are on the back quarter of the pad. We needed 15’ of sewer hose. The water pressure was okay at about 40 psi. We got 4 bars on Verizon. They have Wifi and you can upgrade for a price to streaming quality. The CG has a small convenience store that sells ice and propane plus wine. This CG is mainly a short-term stay place but there are what seem to be permanent parties plus transient workers with site areas clean and organized. There are a lot of feral cats in this CG. They have a huge fenced dog area in the drainage bowl behind the office that also has solar panels on the outskirts. We did not use the area due to the recent rain. We wished we’d spent a few more days to explore the area, especially the wineries.