Best Glamping near Taos Ski Valley, NM

Hamlet went to visit his fun cousins for the weekend -- Diego, Thelma, Louise, Frida, Ralphie, Sunnie, and others– all vintage campers available for rent at this amazingly cool space just outside of Taos, NM. 

It was Thanksgiving weekend, and while many of the campers were fully booked, there was lots of space in the dry camping area just beyond the vintage trailers. There’s lots of room here for dozens of campers, vans and RV’s. There are no trees or shade structures in the dry camping area, just a few randomly placed fire rings. But camping here means you have access to the very clean bathrooms/showers, water, and other services at the "hotel." 

Surprise!  The weather went from day-time highs in the 60’s to blizzard conditions with overnight lows in the teens.  We busted out our Airskirts Insulation to help keep our floor warmer and our heated air inside. 

It’s a great place to base your Taos adventures, hiking near the Rio Grande Gorge, or going further up into the mountains. Nearby activities include fishing, rafting, cycling, mountain biking, and skiing in winter.  Across the road from the campground is the Taos Mesa Brewery where you can get amazing craft beers and some great food. 

It was the perfect place to hang out on a cold, wintery night.

Taos also has all the restaurants and services that you might need, and some of the best southwest eateries you’ll find anywhere. The campground is ideal for solar power, as is the New Mexico weather. We also had no problem connecting with Starlink and had LTE in the campground.  If you love the combination of vintages, views, and brews...check this fun place out!

We went up here for Memorial Day weekend several years ago and stayed at site #26, without reservations. Great shaded site with water flowing behind it, which made for great sleeping. Campground was full by the afternoon with lots of families but it didn’t seem crowded. Vault toilets were incredibly clean and the whole campground was well-maintained. We hiked a little bit of the Columbine Twining hiking trail - can’t wait to go back to be able to hike more!

All sites sit on a beautifully shaded Creek (Columbine Creek) that feeds the Red River. The vault bathrooms were extremely clean and even pleasant smelling. Pads are well maintained and each site I saw had multiple tent options. Even if your pad does not have shade, each site has ample shade to the back of the site along the Creek. Each site has more than expected space and offset to adjacent sites. Camp Host are doing an excellent job.

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.

Campsite 17 was awesome. Huge, isolated, 1 minute from a very clean vault toilet with 2-PLY TP!!! Shaded. Tons of bird activity. Sound of Columbine Creek to fall asleep to. 

No bear boxes. Beautiful but heavily used trail out of the back of the campground with multiple stream crossings. Loved it enough that I'll return to the same site.

We arrived for a walkup on a Thursday afternoon and found a perfect site in #25. With the creek running through the middle of the campground, we had a great spot for the kids to play plus a wooded spot for our tent. As opposed to other campgrounds near here, we were far enough back from the road to just get some road noise at night but not too much. We would absolutely come back.

near clear running stream with 100s of small waterfalls.

This was nice well maintained rv Park. Really nice sites if you can get on the river. The owners were very nice and really seemed to care about guests and maintaining the park. Kids had a lot fun playing in creek and park very close to Red River, NM so there is a lot todo. In town at ski resort.

Great views surrounded by mountains...right on the red river. Minutes away from town and skiing.... Level spots host are amazing, super helpful and attentive. Wifi was pretty decent, showers and laundry were really good as well. Will definitely come back in spring for a different view...

This is a cute place with a small river running through it along with a trout pond. Full hooks ups, bathrooms were a little smelly. The owners were really cool and found a place for us in a pinch. I will warn you that it's really noisy , so if your looking for peace and quit look elsewhere. The town of Red River is very cool.

This is our second stay at the River RV. Our camp is right next to the river, there is a shuttle that takes you into town, the facilities are clean and close by, and the fishing is great.

We stayed here for 10 days during the “off season” at the end of April. It was beautiful and quiet. The snow was melting and the river was beautiful. George and Chris very friendly and helpful. The showers and laundry were clean and beautiful. And the town was a short walk away with great restaurants. Can’t wait to come back.

Simply amazing camp ground. The owner, George, was in the lot and guided us into our spot. #8 backed up to the river with a small grassy area right by the water. It was perfect. The scenery is beyond amazing. One of my favorite experiences so far in our RV travels. I cannot say enough about this facility. You will feel the same.

Definitely need an all terrain vehicle for the drive up to lake. Rough dirt road. Got a flat tire Beautiful mountain lake. No luck fishing.

Nice hiking trail. Can hike to Heart Lake. 9 mile round trip hike. Saw quite a few backpackers

Campgrounds undeveloped. Very crowded. Lots of traffic throughout the day. Game and fish asked us for our fishing licenses

A vehicle with off-road capabilities is recommended if you want to reach this campground. While not impossible with a regular sedan, it does take navigating up some unpaved switchbacks. The campsites here are undeveloped but there are picnic tables. Also most of the sites are on some sort of slope. The area is surprisingly busy and the parking lot often becomes pretty crowded, but not full, by morning. The lake offers a good view and there is some hiking nearby. A good spot if you want some more dispersed style camping near a lake.