Best Tent Camping near Santa Fe, NM

Our stay was just 3 nights but it was in the right place at the right time. Many trees and not too far from Santa Fe and Taos and Chimayo.

Super clean Polite staff Firewood available Brand new playground 20 min from Santa Fe Showers / bathrooms 30/50 amp Fenced dog parks/fire pit areas fenced for pets Lots of space between units

We were hit by a blizzard driving through the I-25 pass from Santa Fe to Denver and had to take refuge in the KOA Las Vegas, NM for 2 nights. They quickly got us a space and allowed us to wait out the snow. Clean restrooms and showers, a shop in the grounds that serves breakfast. Hikes nearby. Very welcoming and friendly hosts.

We decided to take a late fall trip to CA and drag a 34' 5er up to Hyde memorial state park.  Bad idea on many levels.  First, you have to navigate through old Santa Fe to get to the entrance to the park.  Narrow streets+a big 5th wheel+a huge F250= unfun drive which took well over an hour to get through just a few miles of roads due to the heavy traffic and numerous lights, plus the navigation required to get around very tight corners.  We got to the RV part of the park and it was not crowded, but the spaces require some skill to back into and are NOT the slightest bit level, or wide.  We managed. 

The hiking around the park and campgrounds is amazing, but a bit challenging.  We live at 8000 feet, so the altitude was not a problem for us, but if you are from sea level, be prepared to take your time and handle the altitude. 

It snowed on Oct 31 and we had to dig out from 8+ inches of snow to get on the road on November 1.  The dump station was filled with 6+ inches of mud/slush/water and we regrettably had to use it.  It was a disgusting mess to say the least.  To add insult to injury, we had to drive BACK through Old Santa Fe, in the snow. 

My advice is to go IF you have a smaller trailer or 5th wheel, or are tent camping.  The tent campground closed well before we arrived, so I can't add anything to the review on that. 

It's a beautiful campground, but the RV area is small, close together spaces, difficult to get into and the dump station is the stuff RV nightmares are made of.

Given the area described has piles of trash and little else to recommend it, it seems a shame to be close to gorgeous wilderness and stare at rubbish.

Head out just a bit further and turn onto the well maintained dirt Buckman road?  There are canyons to explore and access to the Rio grande at the road's end, offering water in an area with next to none otherwise. 

If these lowlands are too hot in the summer, drive up Artist Road to Big Tesuque or the ski-way at the end of the road, where shade, cold streams, and elevation keep nights pleasant even in July or August. 

You won't be any further from Santa Fe, although it can take awhile to drive from the river or ski-way to town if you park as far away as possible.  

All of the above sites have fire rings and vault toilets, and Big Tesuque and the ski-way have some sites with picnic tables as well.  Firewood can be scavenged, especially if one gets away from the immediate campsite area.

As nice a campground as you could want and only be 15 minutes from center of town.  The walk to tent camp sites are great, and a short walk.  It was just myself when I stayed, looking for a place to sleep and break up drive from Phoenix to Denver.  I would go back with family, but most weekends seem booked, so reserve when you can!

Loved this campground. Only 20 minutes from Santa Fe (and Trader Joes) but feels much more remote. They're not kidding when they warn about no cell service (there is a payphone if you need it, though!), but Starlink worked like a dream during the days when we needed to logon for work.

We stayed in one of the smaller campsites (site 8) but loved it. The site backed up to a creek that our dogs loved playing in and was relaxing to listen to. There are quite a few people that come up just to hike the Black Canyon trail and you'll see them walk by, but otherwise this was a quiet campground.

When we stayed, the water spigots on the campground were out of service, but we'd been warned about that and came prepared. But other than that, the campground is very well maintained and cared for. I took short videos of the campsites that were vacant the morning we left and am posting those. Would recommend site 12, if it's available. It is large, backs up to the creek, and is close to the vault toilets (which are as good as vault toilets can be!). Will definitely be back!

We were very excited on our first night to settle into our campsite after a long day of adventuring. Just a short drive to the outskirts of Santa Fe in mountain country we found our campground, Rancheros de Santa Fe.

Upon entry the staff was very friendly and welcoming and we felt like this would be a great place to call home away from home.

The campsites were laid out well with room between campers and because it was the end of a weekend, they were not entirely at capacity which made for a pleasant sense of space in the great outdoors.

Our campsite was positioned in the "high road" tent site area which is a primitive campsite without additional amenities. Each campsite has a fire ring and also a picnic table for campers to utilize and a pad site for tents slightly raises from ground level.

It made for a beautiful night sleep under the chilly New Mexico skies.

By morning we ventured up to the public showers and restrooms which were clean and had amazon water pressure and hot water to set the morning in motion perfectly.

The facility also offers a pool and theater room during summer months so while we didn't get to take advantage we were excited to know upon return we would have these features available.

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Overall we give this campground a 4 of 5 Bunniea! The only things we noticed which kept it from a 5 were the lack of wifi reach in the back sections of the campground, wouldn't have been a big deal but cell service in the off grid location was also patchy so the wifi would have been handy. And the pad site was not designed for a tent quite our size. Our tent is a 12x8 and had a little side hang on on the 12 foot end.

Ok so for a person staying in a tent, this place ins't ideal year round. They receive snow and are a known New Mexico ski area. So if you are planning a visit during the "off prime season" you might want to check into one of the other options for stay in the park.

The park has 50 camping sites designed for tent or RV campers and a few scattered sites for larger RVs as well. While only a handful of locations actually have access to electricity for those wanting of a nice stay without all the extras this place is quite nice. Water stations are scattered throughout camp along with vault toilets.

Something which does set this park apart from others in the area is the Yurt accommodations for those wanting to try something new or wanting to get outdoors but not so much that they are renting an RV and dealing with maintenance or sleeping in a tent which might be a bit overwhelming.

When I visited, it was not yet prime season so many of the amenities were limited. The regular season runs from May 1 to October 31, at this time the Lodge and private picnic shelters are available for rental and from what I have seen the accommodation there is quite spectacular. The lodge plays host to a lot of beautiful weddings and retreats.

While in partial winter shut down mode however, the access to trails is still available and I found that the trails were pretty spectacular to see as you would find native vegetation poking through snow patches, beautiful fluffy snowflakes to play in and plenty of options for enjoying your version of winter activities.

I was a bit concerned about road conditions in the ongoing snow, but even the roads were taken care of with a certain level of detail which made this park enjoyable as a 4 season park.

My only real concern would be some of the campsites did have pretty close proximity to the roadway. I could see this becoming a bit concerning for road noise as even though on my visit it was a weekday and also during a slower time for tourism, it remained quite busy on the road near the camp.

Tip:

• Book in advance online, especially if you want one of the only 7 campsites with electricity.

• Try to snag a spot away from the main road to make your stay a bit more quiet.

• Bring layers year round, despite being less than 10 miles from Santa Fe where weather is often very warm, the elevation is much different and considerably cooler.

• Try the waterfall trail it is a short hike of less than 3/4 mile round trip with great pay off at the end