Best RV Parks & Resorts near El Rito, NM

We stayed at the Buffalo Grove Site #66 for one night. If you have an RV/trailer, Buffalo Grove is the best loop as all have 30/50 Amp, city water hookup, covered table, lantern and paved sites. There are other loops in the campground that may have 50 amp and no water or 15/30 amp with water and gravel. The Juniper loop requires a 100ft hose for shared spigots.

Some sites in Buffalo Grove are drive through or back-in. Decent space between camps and some privacy but there’s not a lot of large shrubs, extremely scarce actually and no trees whatsoever making all sites at this campground super hot with full sun. We were praying for the rain to come. There are tent sites available but I can’t imagine withstanding this kind of heat in July. We hardly saw anyone hanging outside during the day.

According to their map, there should be a playground right behind our site but it is nonexistent and clearly has been for some time and they’ve never updated their maps for it. The check-in was quick and simple, they gave us a map to our site and they were very friendly! The bathroom and shower facility close to our campsite was very clean and showers are free. There’s working water fountains outside of the bathroom. There’s no sewer hookups but there are two dump stations with water near the campground host location just outside of the Buffalo grove loop. There are no stores or laundry facilities inside the campground however if you drive past this campground you’ll find a mini mart, gas station, and laundry place.

If you go down to the boat ramp there’s covered picnic tables right off the shoreline with a bathroom on the left and you can walk on the shoreline to the right and find several picnic tables with no shade. The fishing and swimming are down a different road and the swimming area is by far the most popular area. They don’t allow pets here (at swimming area, OK at campgrounds) and there was literally no one fishing (unless you’re on a boat)!

Alcohol is not permitted and currently there’s fire restrictions that are not allowing fires (wood or charcoal, but propane is fine) though there are no fire rings in the Buffalo Grove area, not sure if that’s the case for other loops.

Tent Rocks is about 5 minutes away but they are currently closed. The crest dam road is also currently closed at this time. Overall a great stay, we would come back - preferably in the spring!

Enjoyed our stay in the campground in April of 2022. The campground has 52 sites in 3 loops-Abert's Squirrel and Black Bear are the first two and they're scattered about amongst Juniper and Pinyon Pines. The Coyote loop, where we stayed, is the last loop you'll encounter and it is forested by tall Ponderosa Pines. 

While it has some sites that can accommodate them, it is generally not a campground for big rigs. The campground is a relatively short and steep drive from Frijoles Canyon where the Visitor Center and several trailheads are located. The Alcove House and the Upper Falls were some of our favorites.

The campground features potable water, flush toilets, cell service, a seasonal amphitheater, dump station, food lockers and is open year round.

We stayed here for a week and a half in the middle of June 2019. We are a 30 ft travel trailer with a Ram 2500. I’d say between all three loops, there were probably 8-10 sites where we would fit. Some of those spots were taken when we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, but we were able to snag spot#9 on the Abert’s Squirrel loop. It was one of the few pull through sites. Not the easiest site to navigate or level, but we made it work and had plenty of room to park the truck in front. The campground was a little tight for us so I’d think anything much bigger(40’ is probably pushing it) than us will have some trouble getting around. Some of sites were questionable as far as level as well. No hook-ups at any of the spots but there is a dump station near the entrance with potable water. There are also potable water spigots throughout the campground. Conveniently, there was a spigot right by us. Very easy to fill jugs. There are shower houses and toilets, but never went to see how nice they were. The campground was about half full most of the time we were there. Very quiet and everyone respected quiet hours. You pay for sites at a self-pay station with credit card only. We tried to book for 11 nights and it wouldn’t take it, so apparently the self-pay is only good for a charge less than$100. If you want to extend your stay, you can either wait until noon(some things said 11:00 so not sure which is correct) and pay at the kiosk(it must be completed after check-out) or you can write a note that you are extending and pay later. Sites are$12/night unless you have a national park senior or access pass then they are$6/night. It is$25 to enter the park(7-day pass), but we have the annual park pass. There is a camp host on Abert’s Squirrel loop, but we didn’t interact with them so can’t say how friendly they were. Our spot#9 was perfect for solar, no obstructions at all. Most of the other sites we saw at least had some potential for shade. The Coyote Loop seemed to have the most potential for shade; although, the other loops had shady spots as well. Even if you stay at the campground, Bandelier is only accessible by shuttle from 9am-3pm. However, there is a hiking trail that will take you from the campground to the ruins. We did that then hiked the trails down there. You can also hike back up to the campground, but we opted to take the shuttle instead. The last shuttle leaves the visitor center at 5pm. There are other things to do in the area as well. The towns, White Rock and Los Alamos, are nearby and both have services should you need them. The road up to the campground(Hwy 4) is bumpy! First paved road we have ever been on that was washboard. Nothing major, just annoying. The portion of the road to Los Alamos and Jemez Springs was nice. We figure the road damage is due to the shuttles. Weather is a bit unpredictable; rain clouds move in fast, but they move out fast too. We had several TV channels so were able to stay up to date with the weather. AT&T signal was not good with only 1 bar LTE without the booster and not much better with it. It was enough to WIFI call and do some light searching, but uploading photos was too slow. Verizon was good with about 2-3 4G LTE without the booster, and 4 bars with it. I was able to work remotely with the Verizon hotspot. Overall, it was a great place to stay and we would stay again.

If you have a big rig and need a place to stay while exploring Santa Fe and the many national monuments in the area, this is a great location! It's not much more than a gravel parking lot, but it can accommodate your large RV and extra vehicle. Try to get a spot as far from the highway as possible.

Owned by the pueblo, it provides large pull-through sites with 20/30/50A hookups, sewer and water, plus free wifi. There are shops and restaurants across the way. 

Bandelier, Kasha-Katuwe, Pecos National Monuments are all nearby as is downtown Santa Fe.

Nice park nestled at the foot of the mountains and on the banks of the Red River. Nicely landscaped with two ponds and a river walk. Location is great for visiting Rio Grande del Norte NM and the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. Just north of Taos too. Nicely shaded, level sites with full hookups. Nice picnic table and grill. Might be a little tight for big rigs, but my little Casita was quite happy. Very friendly folks in the office. Clean laundry and restroom. My site backed up to the river and the sound of the rushing water was the perfect lullaby.

First things to know: there are no sites with any hookups. And phone connectivity is VERY limited. We had one bar, so we could send some text messages, but forget about surfing or streaming. It's a beautiful campground, and large. The sites, for the most part, are spread apart nicely, affording a lot of space and reasonable privacy. There are not, however, any sites that will accommodate truly big rigs. We are 29' 3" Class A, and were the ONLY Class A on site(and it was 100% booked). We had a small tow vehicle. We just fit in our space, a pull through of sorts. There are, it seems, a lot of back in spots, but again, not for the largest rigs. There are TWO Campground hosts...so many spaces here. Our interaction with both was quite limited, but very friendly. The best things about this site are 1) being here in summer, it's SO much cooler than areas like Albuquerque, where we live,& 2) there is GREAT accessibility to two of the truly most popular trails in NM. Behind campsite 28 is a short(0.4 mile) trail that leads to Trail 137. When you hit that intersection, go left to visit Jemez Falls(beautiful) or right to climb to McCauley Springs(warm springs). Each of those spots has other, much more trafficked trails, so in both cases, you feel like you're sneaking up on the hot spot. Also, we were a short drive to perhaps the mostly LOVELY of all NM trails, the Las Conchas Trailhead, a 3 mile round trip hike through the most lovely pastures around. Wildflowers and chipmunks abounded, and the trail parallels the Jemez River. VERY popular spot; go early or forget about finding parking. Only drawbacks to the campsite(which is really 4.5 stars): trash bins filled quickly and were overflowing. The vault toilet areas smelled; you could smell them as you walked by. The wonderful trailhead I mentioned by Space 28 is only accessible by walking THROUGH the campsite. The folks staying there were nice, but I felt bad about breaking Rule#1 of camping. The campground is about.3 miles off the main highway. The road between highway and campsite is pretty narrow. Two RVs passing each other would be a FRIGHTFULLY tight fit. BUT, we highly recommend, and look forward to many return visits.