Best Glamping near Cleveland, NM

My husband had the great idea of tent camping just the two of us. Up to this point our tent camping adventures were reserved for grandbaby time. But I said What the hey! Let's do it. I wanted somewhere cooler than home. The Santa Fe area had plenty to keep us busy for the week.

We did not get a tent spot but opted for a small trailer site with electric and water. Our spot was near the bathhouse but not too close. Each site has native trees and plants, so everyone has privacy. The site had a nice flat spot for the tent, picnic table, fire pit and grill. We had more than enough room to set up our awning for a dining area. We loved our little spot for the week.

The bathhouse was clean and very nice. New tile and fixtures. It was a little small for the size of the campground.

They have plenty of activities there for everyone and in the evening it is very quiet.

This is another great spot in the New Mexican high country, especially if you’re a fan of hot springs AND vintage campers. In addition to full-hook up camping/ RV spots, the resort offers vintage campers for rent. It is a great and quiet place to rest, recuperate,

and just enjoy yourself. 

We stayed in the camping loop, and even with electricity and wifi available, had plenty of sunshine for solar power as well as good access for our Starlink. Cell service was pretty skimpy though. 

The bathhouse at the camping area was well heated with wonderfully hot showers, flush toilets, and plenty of space. Water and a dump station was available in the camping area for an extra fee.

Access to the hot springs spa was NOT included in the price for camping, and not inexpensive, but the variety of pools and the beauty of the place was worth it. They offer steam rooms, a multitude of pools of varying temperature and mineral content, in addition to a mud bath, lap swimming pool and full locker/ changing room.  They also offer full spa services, massages, etc.  It was very busy on the weekend with day-use customers, but going early or mid week was a far less crowded time. 

The onsite restaurant/pub is a class act and delicious.  Nearby there are a few hiking trails right from the property, and with the national forest nearby there’s lots of outdoor adventures available. 

The nearest grocery/ convenience store is just down the road, but the selection is pretty limited. The closest town with full services is in Espanola about 30 minutes away.

It's a bit challenging to get to this campground coming from the southeast because GPS instructed to turn down a dirt road. Just continue on through town of Villanueva and at the fork in the road turn right to the park. The drive in has a steep hill and the lanes felt narrow, but doable in my rig (25' class C). There were larger rigs than mine in the park when I was there. Also, if you need cell service, Verizon was nil at the campsite. I had to walk up to the bath house to get a signal.

The park is nestled between 2 sandstone canyon walls and along side the Pecos River. It's a gem! The site I had was right on the river. The kiddos from a few sites down were wading into the river from this site. Could put in a kayak from here too.

The park has pull thru and back in sites, some with electricity and water, others just water. Also a tent area, playground, pit toilets and a bath house. The awesome park attendant, Gilbert, said that they will be upgrading all sites to electric soon. Fairly level sites. There's a dump on site, but it was closed during my stay.

Big old cottonwood trees provide shade and lots of birds visit the area. Hummingbirds galore!

Make sure to do the vista trail hike. It's moderate to challenging and the views are a treat! Also the river trail is an easy walk along the Pecos. 

Last but not least, check out the little village of Villanueva at the top of the "hill". Charming! The general store in town sells a delicious spice blend that is made with New Mexican hatch peppers. Try their nacho pie and enjoy!

My wife and I just spend two days at this RV resort. Its attached to the Ojo Caliente Spa Resort. The spaces only had eletric and water. The eletric and water outlets where placed in an odd location for the site and a dumb station is available for extra $20. One thing we both noticed about the RV park was how quite it was at night. No campfires in the RV park but the spa area had a big fire pit lit every night and where there so many of the RV community hung out there. It gave us a chance to meet our neighbors and talk traveling. We spent one whole day at the spa and was given a discount on its entrance price while staying at the RV park. There is also a great restaurant on site. We where traveling in a 34 foot 5th wheel. Cell service is spotty.

The National Forest Service campground is located on highway 64 between Angel Fire and Taos New Mexico. The site is just a few feet off the highway next to a small creek. They have about a dozen small campsites along the creek with privacy between the sites. The sites are very basic and come equipped with fire pits and picnic tables. The location had availability during the summer peak season. The site is self serve pay and does not have a camp host. The location may be a good option for those looking to visit Taos which is about 30 minutes away. I gave this a low rating due to the condition of the sites which needed basic maintenance and cleanup. The site was also far to close to the highway to enjoy a good camping experience. I think this is the type of place you use as a last resort while in transit to Taos or Eagles nest.

This will be a lengthy review but I need people to know not to book, especially site 11. 

I’ll start by saying I don’t normally stay at developed camp sites so maybe all my issues are typical and I’m just ignorant. That being said, camp site 11 is an unfortunate little piece of land. It is unusably small (maybe 25sq ft of barely usable space)  and bordered by a mountain, the road, spot 10’s driveway, and trees. The picnic table and fire pit are centered in a way that left very little room for our 2 tents on rocky uneven ground. My tent was forced to be less than 3 feet from driveway 10. Our other tent had to be so close to the fire pit that it would have caught fire if the pit was used. It also is a waterway for all the road water and mountain side so a small river formed through our space (hitting both tents) when it rained. All this on top of the fact that every other spot around us was so plentiful (4 to 5 times our size) in space it almost made our spot seem like a cruel joke. It should cost 1/4 of the price of the rest and should be for small RV or day picnics only.

Now the camp area as a whole is well maintained and the vaulted toilets smelled surprising decent the entire 4 day stay. The mountains are beautiful as mountains tend to be. The hiking is great and there is an awesome stream that rolls through the campground in certain areas. There is constant highway noise so be aware of that, though the spots further in or near the stream probably don’t deal with it. A lot of the sites are packed close and  you can easily hear many conversations at normal talking volumes. 

The camp staff guy (Bill?) was friendly at first but that changed rapidly after the first night. There was a no wood fire restriction at the time of our stay despite days of rain and rain every day so we used only our propane stove the entire time. This didn’t stop Bill from calling the fire department on us the first night because he “thought we had a wood fire”. We didn’t. 

Now this second part I’ll admit was on us but was handled poorly. I didn't know there were curfews at that campsite. The bulletin board does show quiet hour times but it’s buried in a novel of information most of which was about a bear sighting so that may have distracted my attention when I first looked at the bulletin. Quiet time is 10-6 and I know that now. So we’re hanging out around the “campfire” and I decide to walk down to the restroom, it’s about 11pm. As I’m walking back, I pass Bill and say hi. He doesn’t acknowledge me (he wouldn’t talk or look my way the rest of our stay either). When I return to the campsite the 2 women and 2 children I was with told me Bill had just ran up on them and was standing over them in a very aggressive fashion pointing his finger in their face and reprimanding them for breaking the quiet hour rules. He left after getting directly in one of the females face and saying “don’t make me come back here” in a very threatening tone. They all, just remained silent throughout the ordeal. C’mon man. We messed up and felt horrible but it was an honest mistake and had he just told us respectfully we would have shut up just the same but instead he created this uneasy tension for three days. And to put a cherry on top, other campsites broke the rule every night and morning (music, laughter, generators) and were not reprimanded. I know because everyone was so close we could see what was going on. Also, we saw Bill greet every camp site every day multiple times a day except ours. We aren’t abrasive people, we try to be generally respectful, courteous, and aware of our actions so the treatment of our camp was unjust. I will say that had he not had it out for us for one reason or another I’m sure things would have been cool. We saw Bill constantly having friendly conversations with everyone so I’m sure he’s nice to most campers.

In short, I know there are better campsites out there. Go find them.