Best Campgrounds near White Sands, NM

There are many sites off this road, but it was super crowded when I went in April. Additionally, the sites are quite close to another nearby main road that is primarily parallel to the road you camp off. I didn’t hear much car noise from that road, but I could easily see the cars driving by from my tent. With these things in mind, I wouldn’t necessarily say I felt isolated when camping here in my tent, and it is definitely not “out there” in nature, but the views of the Organ Mountains are wonderful!

The road in is very bumpy/rocky. I’m kind of a risk-taker with my Toyota Corolla and was able to make it the full way from one end of the road to the other (driving VERY slowly and carefully), but had to get out of my car quite a few times to move large rocks out of the way.

In all, I recommend this spot due to the beautiful views and convenient location, but be aware that it might be pretty crowded and the road doesn’t necessarily suit normal cars (shout-out to my fellow non-camper/van/jeep peeps!).

As noted in other review here: Traffic is fast on curved road, be alert. Overall, clean, showers have a step so water can stay inside shower stall, there is a handicapped shower. All shower closets have sinks and plenty of hooks on wall. The one I used has blow dryer. Only one toilet in men's room (room that is separate from showers). WiFi is available but you must create a sign-in/acct. so we did not use it. Phone reception was great and we were able to hotspot for work (used VPN). Staff is friendly and let us know water pressure is high so use a reducer (we did not need water hookup), and also cautioned us that there have been some bike thefts in area and let us know that if we wanted, we could keep bikes inside their office at no charge (open 9 to 5 so we were not able to do that). It was very hot (>100) and so we kept fan/AC on all night and wrapped our cord around bikes in such a way that if someone was up to no-good, s/he would need to turn it off and thus notify us that something was up (and they might get a shock depending on how that went! ;). No table, but had sewer and water in addition to electric. Site was level. There is a free dogwash! We watched a gray fox during day that was nearby (did not come very close to campground). I-10 is close but we did not notice any noise. A Wal Mart is across the frwy, and several restaurants nearby. We did not use spa but it was clean and there is a large patio area for activities/cookouts that is quite nice. Large area also for horseshoes, corn hole and as noted in other reviews a narrow but very long dog walk for pets to roam. 

Might be a bit nicer in cooler weather----just way too hot to do much around grounds (BBQ, cornhole, spa). Would stay here again.

Our biggest issue with this campsite was that it was extremely difficult to find. I’m not sure if the coordinates aren’t accurate or what, but it would help to have more signs along the highway showing where to turn. We passed the turn in at least twice and had to ask a cop at the inspection point before we finally found it. If you’re traveling in the dark, good luck. Best advice is to enter from the west and turn before you get to the air force base, but after the missile range. There aren’t many roads that turn off the highway so chances are you’ll pick the right one eventually haha. Once you find the turn in, there’s a cattle grate that is very rough to get over, but manageable. We camped right next to the water which was gorgeous, especially during sunrise. There was plenty of space when we went, only two other RVs staying that we could see. Not too much noise like I’ve seen other people mention, only a little aircraft noise every now and then. We saw lots of wildlife in the area. The lake is pretty stinky, as a matter of fact the cop called it “stinky lakes”, but it wasn’t terrible. We only stayed overnight and went to White Sands NP the following morning. Perfect for anyone looking to stay for a night, and drive to the park. The park is maybe 5 minutes down the road, extremely convenient! Overall for a free site, we had a great stay!