Temecula-Vail Lake KOA, near Temecula, California, is a lively campground that caters to both tent campers and RV enthusiasts. With spacious sites and a friendly staff, it’s a great place to kick back and enjoy the outdoors while still having access to some fun amenities.

This campground boasts a cozy bar and a small eatery, perfect for grabbing a bite or a drink after a day of exploring. Visitors have highlighted the awesome mountain biking trails nearby, making it a hit for those looking to get their adrenaline pumping. As one camper put it, “The staff was awesome! Lots to do for the kids,” which speaks to the family-friendly vibe here.

You’ll find plenty of activities to keep everyone entertained, including three pools and a mini-golf course. While some campers mentioned the bathrooms could use a little TLC, the overall atmosphere is welcoming and vibrant. Plus, with wine country just a stone's throw away, you can easily venture out for some local tastings.

Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or a longer stay, Temecula-Vail Lake KOA offers a mix of relaxation and adventure that makes it a popular choice among campers.

Welcome to your ideal Vail Lake camping escape to nature with wide-open spaces to explore. Temecula/Vail Lake KOA sits on 385 acres of recreation space, featuring 467 campsites and more than 200 acres of world-class hiking and mountain bike trails. This KOA specializes in recreation from little ones up through the teenage and adult years with three sparkling swimming pools: a 25-meter lap pool, a kids' wading pool, and a full sized leisure swimming pool. We offer a variety of outdoor activity options on site including horseshoe pits, disc golf, pickleball courts, newly refinished basketball courts, and a very popular 18 hole mini golf course. Families love our summer staffed recreation and Halloween celebrations. Groups love our facilities for hosting small festivals, mountain bike races, and family reunions. Guests enjoy gathering in the campground's Vail Lake Village for meals and entertainment at the seasonal Cafe and Bar. Restock your supplies in the Village's newly remodeled store and gift shop. Relax in your campsite under our large, mature Oak trees that beautifully shade your campsites or try a new hotel-style Deluxe Cabin or Eco Tent accommodation coming late fall 2019. Just 15-minutes to Temecula Valley Wineries and local area Casinos.

Temecula-Vail Lake KOA

Cleveland National Forest is an ideal place for camping adventures of all kinds. There are tons of hikes and other fun activities to partake in, as well as sights to see and explore. Find the best campgrounds near Cleveland National Forest, plus reviews and photos from other campers like you.

Cleveland National Forest

The Best Camping Near Cleveland National Forest, California

We really like this campground. Nice big trees around all the spots. People are friendly and it's like you're in the wilderness

Great place to camp

Great all around campground. If you are new to tent camping this place is great for getting familiar with your gear before you go out and "rough it". Bathrooms, showers, swimming pools, activities for the kids, general store, etc. A little on the expensive side but you will know where your money went once you have arrived. 15 minutes East of Temecula.

AMENITIES, AMENITIES, AND AMENITIES.

Ideal for family fun. Free mini golf, horseshoes, disc golf and pool area with 3 pools, one specific for kids. Golf cart friendly. 
This park is very large and has a very good, outdoorsy feel. 
Lots of hills. 
Bar, ice cream and pizza shop! 
No access to the actual lake. So don’t plan on visiting a lake, unless they’ve resolved that issue. 
Karaoke night!

Family Fun!

This campsite is definitely kid and dog friendly! 
My kind of campsite. Pool was clean and open. My son loved the bmx bike trails. Dogs loved the grass we stayed in Chardonnay Mesa some had grass sites. Great amount of trees for shade! Most sites had fire ring and bbq pit. Everyone was extremely friendly! Will definitely come back. Saw blue jays and squirrels! Pics are from campsite #73.

Nice close getaway!

We enjoyed a 6 night stay at the Temecula/Vail Lake KOA over New Years.  It's a great, yet remote location for exploring the Temecula wine country and a good jumping off point for some fun mountain biking. 

  

The KOA was pretty crowded during the time we were there with lots of families, kids on bikes, dogs, etc.  We didn't mind but if you are looking for solitude, this may not be the place for you.  The amenities are very worn. Bathrooms looked like they'd not been updated for a long time and decaying recreational facilities like the putt putt, motocross and pool area were unusable.  There was, however,  relatively new pickle ball courts which made it look like the owners are trying to maintain an old and very large property.

  

Staff was friendly and helpful. There were a number of activities for the kids too.

Overall this was a fun place.

Aging, but still with a lot of value

Last minute booking... we got a site with no electricity just water and sewer. Got a bit warm but it was manageable. The park has a pool, cafe, and other great amenities. As our site was sort of on the edge of the park, we had no cell signal (our weboost was useless ofcourse).

Huge Park...great amenities

We spent the weekend up in the “Rincon” loop, it was nestled up away from the main group of RVs. It was a perfect spot for the kiddos to ride their bikes and goof around, there is a big loop of about 20+ sites in that area and was loaded with mostly younger families like ours. Also there is a large grass patch in the middle of the loop that is perfect for a volleyball net or a serious corn hole tournament! 
   “Up top” there are a few sites that have very little shade like the one we were in 199-201. The majority of the sites have ample shade and was still tolerable in July heat. 
   It looks like they just recently installed a WiFi tower over by site 199 and but we couldn’t steam any Netflix or any of the such. Cellphone service was also a bit dodgy. 
   Majority of the sites are capable of fitting  large RVs we plenty of room between us (30’ travel trailer w/ super slide out) and the next campsites. 

We had a blast!

Nice campground for tents, rv’s and trailers. There is multiple levels to this place and it’s huge, bring your golf cart. KOA took this place over and is remodeling it for the better. Many amenities for the kids to do also. Bring your bikes, there are trails thru the hills behind campground.  

KOA amongst the trees

Really is my favorite KOA to date- can’t wait to bring the family here soon!

Great spot in Temecula!

Great spot, especially for family’s with kiddos! 

🙌🏻

We have solar so choose Arroyo Secco at first. We live/work out of the RV during the Covid pandemic, so we bought a cell booster and WiFi relay, but even they couldn’t make any use of the provided WiFi. 

We moved up to Chardonnay Bluff and were able to work with no issues. There is a huge difference in how much love KOA puts into each section. The top (Chardonnay Bluff) is beautiful with green grass and lovely well cared for trees, and full hookups. The bottom (Arroyo Secco) is dry, dusty, and many old trees with the tops loped off or otherwise poorly maintained. The sites at the bottom are slightly larger, have water and sewer, just no power. 

We arrived on a Monday, the bottom was empty—literally had the place to ourselves. After we moved up top, we had many neighbors, many kids, many kids ATV’s. It felt like a suburb 😂

We had to go back down for the weekend because the top was booked, by the weekend the bottom was just as packed as the top. It actually felt kinda like a concert parking lot. 

This was our first KOA, and did expect the population of kids, but I wasn’t expecting all the amenities—like a hoppin bar! I complimented the bar to the bartender and was told that this is the only KOA in the nation that has a bar. She told me that it had been around for decades under a different name, Buttercup I think. It has an established rotation of regular guests that come for access to wine country. She said KOA inherited the bar and it’s regular loyal following. 

Funnily, we learned that KOA raccoons have impeccable manors, and leave very little trace after delicately choosing dinner from the bin, unlike the wild raccoons we encounter on BLM land. I’ll post a video of them. 

Another thing they offer is propane, and at reasonable price. 

We will return, but we personally enjoy a bit more wild and a bit less suburbia. It is a nice place to get some laundry done after a stretch of primitive camping. And, of course, socially distanced outside bar, deli, and coffee shop, convince store which sells a nice selection of wine, beer, setters, etc. the shop also has branded items that are worth peeking at. 

They have a Bar!

Car camped here 1/15/21 for 2 nights.  It’s a few miles outside of Temecula, CA. Easy access via paved road (hwy 79). The resort contains a number of special purpose campground loops. I was in Arroyo Seco. Site #305 doesn’t have much shade but not much of a problem in January.  Most sites in this loop are open.  Sites to the right as you drive in have more tree cover.  There are no power hookups in this section.  If you’re tent camping or car camping it doesn’t matter.  By Friday night it was filled with huge fifth wheel RVs effectively boondocking with generators.  Plenty of families with kids.  By 10 pm generators are off and kids are asleep and it was very quiet. Bathroom for the loop was clean.  I saw staff cleaning several times a day. Wasn’t much used as all the RVs have their own bathroom in the rig.  This is a nice campground for all tent and RV campers.  If you’re looking for privacy this isn’t the place, but with a pool (closed for now), miniature golf, bar and restaurant ( take out only) there’s plenty to do for families who want that.  Easy hike to Vail Lake reservoir. 


Arroyo Seco loop...Clean and quiet

This place is huge.  3 pools that are freezing but the workers said they are installing heaters.  Tons of amenities.  Mini golf(free) great little restaurant and bar.  Store with everything you need.  Not far from town if they don’t have it.  Bike trails are right next to the park.  Fun trails watch out for rattle snakes.  Only downside is the kids racing around in golf carts at night.

Huge 

This is not your typical KOA campsite. Although it has a small office area with amenities such as a bar and small eatery (open on weekends only). There is not much else unless you are an avid dirt bike rider.

  

Close to wine country and to old town Temecula with its' restaurants and bars.

Not a Typical KOA

It was an okay Campground but you have to pay to get in and it was pretty full and I also had a lot of RVs but the part where I was camping out at was a tent only section of the campground so it wasn't as congested as the RV section we had a lot of trees and a dried-up lake bed it also have privacy due to their not being that many tent campers on that section of the camps but on the RV section it was pretty packed had lots of fun even though it rained but I will surely camp out there again

Birthday weekend camp out

The staff was awesome! Lots to do for the kids. They have icecream a little store and a cozy little bar for the grown ups. There was a guy there redoing the fire pits on his own time and paid for the materials himself. He has already done 15 and there's like 200 to do..  Good luck. They look great!

This place is awesome!

Large campsite

We love coming to Vail Lake KOA. It’s only a short distance from home but you feel like you’re in another world. Super nice staff. Spots are easy to get into and spacious. Very popular on weekends - usually booked. We love to come here during the week. 


Great campground 

Love it here

Friendly staff. Bathrooms a bit run down. Majority of campers have a serious case of RBF.  Must be a lot of shoulder injuries as most campers are unable to raise their hands to reciprocate a wave and smile.  

Photos of Temecula-Vail Lake KOA

Real photos from real campers