Best Tent Camping near Belen, NM

This was our first time camping in the Manzanos. The campsites are well made with a picnic table and fire ring. There isn’t a tent pad but all of the spots have a nice section of relatively flat ground. There are several vault toilets spread through the site. Cost is $7 per night. There is no water source at or near the campsites so make sure to bring enough for your stay. The campground is clean and well maintained. The sites are relatively close together but the campsite wasn’t crowded. The road in is a forest road. SUV’s will be fine but starting to push it for cars. You can walk from the sites to the Fourth of July trail

We stayed here only overnight as part of our cross-country trip. Overall, nice for a quick stay but would not for an extended visit.

Pros: Everyone there was friendly and accomodating. They have personel maintaining the gate 24/7. Restrooms & showers were clean. They offer RV sites, cabin rentals (which we were told they were all booked but saw no one there- possibly closed due to pandemic though), and tent sites. We tent camp. The site had a fire ring, picnic table, a shaded area, and is covered in pea gravel. The shaded area is not waterproof or "fully" covered. But seems it would help with the heat to provide some shaded comfort. It rained the night we were there, and I was unable to get all of our tent spikes into the ground for our rainfall (think there may have been concrete a few inches below). If you are staying for an extended time, I recommend bringing a tarp that you can tie to the shaded area to help with heat / rain. Each tent site is separated by a privacy wall (see pic). The best part was the sunrise! Absolutely stunning as you are literally at the base of the mountains. You just have to ignore the giant Geico billboard on highway in your view.

Cons: EVERY review will tell you about the noise from highway, and it is no joke!! We were so tired we did not care. But it is BAD! If you are looking for peace and quiet - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE! You can see the highway wall in my pics. It appeared to be in what seemed as "not the best part of town". It is fully gated 24/7 which I appreciate, but makes you wonder where you are staying. However, we did not have any issues, and the few people we saw were all very polite. We arrived later in the evening and ran out to get a quick bite, but everything closes at 9p so be mindful.

Pandemic note: We stayed here 6/1/20-6/2/20. Everyone was wearing masks, VERY mindful of social distancing, and you could not even go in to the office - they come out to you.

I would recommend this only as a quick stop-over / last option campground.

There are vault toilets, trash bins, and bear boxes. This campground is nice with sites for RV and tent camping. We camped here one night with our scout troop. I did have spotty T-Mobile service, others had phone service as well but I’m not sure of their provider. We had a great night with a campfire and a good view of the stars and moon. All was well until someone started illegally cutting down trees at 2 in the morning. After an annoying couple of hours they were gone, most of our group were wide awake and tried to go back to sleep. We stayed at the site till afternoon with no other problems, just a group of tired scouts.

CAMPGROUND REVIEW: Turquoise Trail Campground, Cedar Crest, NM

Turquoise Trail Campground is a small privately owned campground located five miles north of I-40 off Route 14 (exit 175) just outside the east side of Albuquerque. Tucked along the base of the Sandia mountains, at 6940’ elevation. http://www.turquoisetrailcampground.com/

There is plenty of visible signage to guide you down Snowline Dr into the campground.

As you approach the office/museum on the right, the RV/Camper loop is visible on the left (which appeared full). Behind the office building are two tent loops (upper and lower). There are two very clean bathroom/showerhouses located between the office and tent loops. A laundry room and dishwashing sink is located at the back of the office building. *This is also the only water access for the tent loops.

RV sites have full hookups. Tent sites have only a leveled, gravel tent pad, picnic table and standing grill. Only stove fires were permitted at our visit due to open fire restrictions.

Tent sites are separated by scrub brush, which offered partial privacy between most sites, but you will hear your neighbors. The outer tent sites back up to a residential area, with a fence separating. Bring earplugs for undisturbed sleeping, as road noise from Route 14 can be heard, along with local dogs randomly in the distance.

At $20 a night, the campground is convenient and sufficiently met our needs as we traveled west on a tight itinerary.

Shower tokens are provided with your nightly fee. Each token gives you 7 minutes of shower time.

There is plenty to do nearby, with bike trails and hiking trails…though nothing of particular interest in the campground itself.

The bustling city of Albuquerque is the next exit west, so you are still very close to shopping, eateries, and nightlife.

We love it here! We stayed for a weekend at campsite #6. Ours and A few other sites have RV hookups (electric only). No sewer hook up but dump station on site with water. There are multiple Drinking water spigots available; one next to our campsite 6, at the group shelter, by the dump station, and another spigot at the office / visitor center (closed right now) but that had a lock on it. Some sites have a nice brick and metal shelter and a charcoal grill, but all sites seem to have a picnic table, and fire ring. This is a pretty small electrical loop campground and some sites are pretty close, separated by trees, and vary in driveway length. There’s tent sites (some have good privacy) as well as day-use only sites that look very clean and with shelter. Our site had the picnic table and charcoal grill on one side of the driveway and the fire pit on the other side which is kind of weird but that just means we can drive in or back in depending on our awning side preference. I saw in some reviews that this was a problem for people.

Behind our site there’s a horseshoe area and group site not too far after. The group site has a small parking lot across the way for it and has a large shelter area with nice cement tables and large grills. Next to the office there’s a trail for the outer loop and nature trail. There are several trails within the park and all are pretty easy (kid-friendly) and not too long. This is a pet-friendly campground with dog stations to pick up after your pet. Make sure to bring your own firewood and kindling as gathering is not allowed in the area. There is phone signal for t-mobile and Verizon as well. Vault toilets were clean but no showers.

There is no lake or stream/river in the state park. The nearest lake is Manzano Lake it’s about 10 minutes from the campground in the small town of Manzano. Fishing and picnicking, not a very large lake - more like a pond really but still beautiful and something to see and do. Currently the lake just opened and there’s a sign at the entrance that the fish have not been stocked. Not much for some decent stores around but a grocery store in Mountainair (25 mins away) Also nearby is the Quarai Ruins (15 mins) to check out which has some trails and also pet friendly so long as they’re on a leash.

Also, getting here by GPS, just takes you to where the pavement ends on HWY-131 but you’ll need to go another mile on unpaved road to get the the campground. Just follow the signs for the state park. Also, make sure to check on weather because although the unpaved road is typically well-grated and maintained; when it rains hard - it tends to wash out which makes the last mile to the state park hard for some. Also, there’s not gas stations nearby to this camp.

Overall a great and beautiful place to stay. Definitely bring some bug spray and repellent, lots of flies and mosquitoes to be had! There’s not a whole lot to do besides relax, eat, and check out some trails so bring your own entertainment as we brought a remote control all-terrain car, frisbees, lawn darts, board games, card games, etc to entertain the kids. We would definitely recommend the place and we will certainly be back!