Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Terlingua, TX

Tin Valley Retro Rentals is a diamond in the rough! Owner Ronda has transformed Airstreams, buses, retro RV’s, and even a VW Beetle (the Cuddlebug) and Land Yacht into amazing places to stay. At Tin Valley you’ll share your stay with a donkey, some pigs, chickens, dogs and cats. It’s a pet friendly atmosphere. Along with the retro rentals and tent sites there’s amazing RV parking and new to Tin Valley, Van Lifer parking spaces. This is not your standard RV park, the RV parking spaces are spread out not packed in tightly. The sites are spread out so you’re not looking directly into your neighbor’s window but instead at the immaculate unobstructed view of the surrounding mountains. Two of the tent sites have their own artistic touch complete with A-Frame style lodging so you can leave the tent home if you’d like. The Land Yacht site is the only clothing optional site here as well, where you can feel free to feel free. Each site has it’s own fire pit and charcoal grill. There’s an outdoor shower here, or nearby showers, laundry, pool and cafe at the neighboring Terlingua Ranch. Artist Jules Muck has put her own touch on Tin Valley transforming what would normally be just a renovated RV into a work of art. Stars will shine brighter here than you’ve ever seen before without the city light pollution nearby and it’s an amazing sight. You can hike up the two mountains closest or take a walk around Tin Valley. Take time to head to Big Bend national or state parks in the Terlingua area. The center of Terlingua also has a ghost town complete with walking tour. In that area you’ll find bars and restaurants, Cottonwood, the nearest grocery store, or the closest place to fill up on gas. A visit to Terlingua and Tin Valley Retro Rentals won’t disappoint. You won’t’ find another place this original, or with this much space to rent to call your own as an RV’er, camper, or retro renter. Check out tinvalleyretrorentals.com or Tin Valley Retro Rentals on Facebook.

This is the very first time we have stayed at this RV Park...well this week was EVERYONE’S first time staying at this RV park. It just had it’s soft” opening the week of Christmas. So although it is new and still working on completion of all their facilities(only sewer and electric currently available) the owners went out of their way with ensuring they did daily water deliveries to All campers. Mind blowing since when booking we knew that the water was not yet ready to go so fully expected to have to run out occasionally to fill up. That service alone makes me give it 5 stars but there is so much more that these owners do to make sure your stay is enjoyable. They answer all your questions about the local area, advise you of any weather that is concerning, provide great restaurant recommendations and encourage all the park guests to come together every evening around the community campfire to talk about their Days adventure, or your travel journeys. This was my favorite part(safe outdoor social distancing, of course). They have plans to have a bath house, dog park, and community area with games. I can not wait to return next year just to see how they progress. My gut tells me that this will be the“Oasis” destination in the desert. Thank you Chris and Allison for the wonderful memories of our first trip to Terlingua!

This place was the crème de la crème imo. Nice big sites with full hookup, picnic table and fire ring. A really nice pool area with free towels provided and very nice bathrooms with hot showers. There was a huge laundry facility as well. The dog park has water and two picnic tables with sun shades. Multiple poo bag stations around the park and very clean. There’s a trail/dirt road to walk from the campground to the Lajitas General Store (very good breakfast sandwiches). You also get access to the golf resort amenities: fitness center, 3 restaurants, and spa. I treated myself to a Deep Tissue massage and it was incredible!

Chisos Basin is surrounded by rocky cliffs and is located near some pretty awesome hiking trails. The campground is all first come, first-served. Arrive early so that you can claim a good site.

The campsite sits at an altitude of 5,500ish feet. Since Chisos Basin sits at a higher altitude I recommend bringing a heavier bag. They do not allow wood or ground fires in the park.

Pets are allowed but must be leashed. Pets are not allowed on trails in the park.

Big bend state park is the same terrain as the National except it is less landscaped. The campsites are rough ones that you have to hike to. No pets on those.

The view of the Chisos Mountain is fantastic, especially at dawn. This RV Park includes 12 large pull-through sites and 17 back-in sites with 50/30-amp, water and sewage. The Recreation building has 3 complete washrooms with showers; a community kitchen with a fridge and microwave; a variety of cookware and dinnerware; and 2 sets of washers and dryers. The pavilion is also available and includes tables, chairs, a smoker/cooker and a community fire pit. There are pot lucks and other events to participate in and the atmosphere and terrain are unmatchable. They LOVE pets and well behaved ones are even allowed to play off leash. But at night there are desert creatures so keep them inside. Terlingua is a “ghost town” that is worth spending time in. There are cantinas and restaurants, there’s an eccentric trading post store, a famous cemetery, and an annual chili cook off. The community is quirky but it feels like home. I take an annual trip to this area and BJs has my business every time. PS: all the food in town is GOOD.

Guy Foli (owner of the property and the campsites) is a true jack of all traits! Him and his wife,Pat, own and run Rancho Topanga campgrounds. Every spring break me and a group of 8 friends go down to Big Bend for the week. We always stay at Guy's campground. It's an easy 20 minute drive into Big Bend and you hit the gas station and grocery store along the way.

You are aloud campfires as long as they are controlled. Drinking is fine as long as there is no public intoxication. Pets are welcome! And there are even showers and flush toilets.

You are staying in the desert, so expect strong winds during the night and scorching sun rays during the day. There is a near my plato that you can climd, we found several shell fossils and cool rock on one of our excursions to the top. Also, the sunsets and sunrises are beautiful!!!

Reserve campsites months in advance if you can. Rancho Topanga fills up quick!

I hope you enjoy this mom n pop campsite as much as I do! :D

We travel full time and I have never had such a negative experience.  The bathrooms are disgusting.  There are only two washers for the entire area.  The staff is beyond rude.  We were exactly 13 minutes late checking out with nobody checking into our #5, because the water hookup was broken.  One of the works sarcastically told my husband she hoped the the coyotes didn’t eat our cat as he was sitting next yo the water with my husband.  Worst experience we have ever had!

Terlingua's only 3rd generation local owner and operator buisness. Located at the base of the Terlingua Ghost Town your within walking distance of everything in the historic Terlingua ghost town including 4 restaurant's 3 bar's and live music nightly plus there also directly between the Big Bend National Park and the Big Bend Ranch State Park. It's a rustic yet authentic Terlingua experience if you want an adventure this is a good place set up camp. The owner is friendly, informative, and helpful Elena is a phone call away. To top it off Jomommas RV Park has received recognition from the McDonald's observatory and eartsky.com for there dark sky and star viewing friendly lighting so be ready to definitely enjoy some of the best night sky's in North America not to mention some pretty amazing sunset's. It's not like the larger RV Parks in the area you can really get a feel for real desert living, with fewer people and rustic landscape.

We loved our stay here! Only downside was we only booked two nights instead of three.. Although we did manage to fit our buck list in three days and only two nights!! The walk to both canyons were worth the time.. the hike to the hot springs was rewarding and refreshing! We saw lots of animals in our campsite! Bob cat was a real treat! The sites were nice and flat with room to park truck next to camper! Honesty the amazing iconic capture of God’s perfect food chain, I got only a mile from camp, was icing on the cake! Beep beep!!

Perfect RV park in a remote part of Texas. WONDERFUL staff and amenities. Everything you need. It's a dark camp so if you have issues turning off your camper lights before 9 or 10 depends on the season this isnt your place. Best stars and moon viewing you'll experience! Close to Big bend and terlingua and all of that area. I will be back and cant say enough good things!!

A friend and I spent one brief night at Jomomma's in July of'24 before we climbed Emory peak in the morning. We were just plugging in a camper van because the nights were too warm to get good rest. July is"off-season" in Terlingua, and of the 5 or so RV places I called, Elena is the only one that called me back in a reasonable amount of time. The park was great, a limited number of spaces marked out by rocks and cactus. It wasn't one of those places that's just a big asphalt parking lot, or one of those places that just a dirt-scape either. Has true Terlingua character; which makes sense as Elena is 3rd generation Terlingua. The park is named after her grandmother"Jo", the original owner of the property. Clearly marked out spots, good desert landscaping, more than dark enough to see the stars, more than quiet enough to feel the presence of the desert and get a good nights sleep. All of this despite being very accessible from the main drag and not needing a 4x4 to arrive in one piece. Elena was warm, friendly, helpful, funny, and I quickly felt like I had a friend in town and knew that she was on the phone for whatever reason. 

The rest of this is going to feel like a legend, but I promise it's true... 

Two months later, my family(wife and 2 kids) and I had been in Big Bend STATE Park and were headed back through Terlingua on our way back home to the Permian basin. We came through town and then turned North to Alpine for about 3-5 miles when we had a blow out.... after business hours, on a Saturday, in Terlingua. My spare had even stopped holding air... do you see how screwed I was? I had been under the vehicle cursing myself for having neglected my"spare" situation, I'd already sweated through my clothes, and I was in denial about how much trouble I was really in when I started hearing another female voice beside my wife's. I climbed out, slumped in the shade of my van, then decided to try and at least remain a decent human being and introduced myself to the lady who'd stopped to help. I was flustered by the situation and was slow to catch on, so I asked"what do you do here in Terlingua?" she said"I run Jomomma's RV park" and I replied"Oh! i stayed there a couple months ago" she smiled a friendly grin and said emphatically"$*!*, I already know!" 

She got out no less that 6 different tools from her truck trying to help us jerry-rig ourselves mobile again, she called her friends for help and ideas, she insisted that we keep a jack-part that she had but didn't need, she kept us laughing, and keeping optimistic about a way forward, and consorted with the other Terlingua residents who stopped to try and find a way for us to get out of this mess. She tried to call the only tire-guy in town and didn't get an answer. In the end, we loaded both my spare and my blown out rim into her truck and she and I headed to the home of the guy who ran the only tire business in town. 

By this time, it was every bit of 8pm. Elena knocked on his door, entered his home, persuaded him to fix us up, spent probably 20 minutes helping him get ready to go, and even looked through his used tire inventory for what we needed. We talked about life, Terlingua in the past, Terlingua in the present, the state of the world, and what we believed in. We talked about the RV park, it's future and it's challenges. When the work was through, the tire man(so many props to Diego's Tire Repair Terlingua TX!) didn't take anything but cash and I didn't have enough on me; Elena offered to pay him and let me pay her back via Venmo. wow. 

After she returned me to our family carriage, she hung around until we got the tire on and saw that it was holding enough air for the journey. All told, Elena spent 2.5 hours with my little family that Saturday night...no exaggeration, I just confirmed it with my google maps timeline. We were completely"up a creek" with two anxious young children, and I HAD to be at work the next morning. Elena saved our bacon at a time when I still don't know what"plan b" would have been. And she did it all with a smile and seemingly enjoying herself as she helped us. I had no idea I had a friend in Terlingua, but now I have no doubt...my family and I have a good friend in Terlingua, and I recommend that you make her acquaintance.

We stayed at Road Runner RV Park in February of 2021 in the middle of the snowpocalypse that hit Texas in February of 2021. Allison and Chris, the owners, are great people that went around and checked to make sure that everyone had fresh water as the temps dipped into the single digits and they had to turn off the water lines. Chris and Allison went around in their truck with a fresh water container and a pump and filled every RV up. They even made sure to catch us as we got back from dinner at dusk that evening. 

They just opened this park on Christmas Eve of 2020, and they were yet to get their wifi hookup, but you can tell they are vested in providing a great park and a great service. The RV park is ideally located in the Study Butte area with great access to Big Bend national Park, Terlingua Ghost Town, and Big Bend Ranch State Park. Entrances to each Park is within 10 minutes. They also have very convenient access to the Cottonwood Grocery, the Alon gas station, and Black Jack’s crossing. 

This is definitely a destination area, and we intend to make it back. The sites are all gravel, as it is the Chihuahuan desert. So it will be a little dusty, but that is part of the natural beauty of the area. DB’s rustic barbecue is right across the road and Starlight theatre, and Terlingua ghost town is about 5 miles to the west.

As the saying goes, When in Rome ... staying at BJs RV park was like an immersion experience to living in Terlingua. You feel the history and past of days gone by, with the ghost town of Terlingua and the junk yard behind the RV camping area. Both the town and the junk yard take on a mysterious magical quality in the light at the end of the day. Lots to learn about the history of the place and one great way to learn is to talk with the locals, both in the town and those living in the RV park (temporarily or long term-in addition to those passing through like us). Besides the history of the place, you also learn about the hopes and dreams of the locals - such as the artist cooperative gallery, the RV park manager who hopes to open a cafe / outdoor music spot, and so forth.

The RV sites are all clean and level with electricity, water etc. There’s also a shower house. One note: the wifi doesn’t reach the tent sites (but works fine in RV sites) so we let a young woman traveling alone move her car from her tent site to park overnight on our site so she could use the wifi and check in with her loved ones. We enjoyed sharing some food and conversation with her, as well as meeting other campers and residents.

Terlingua ghost town itself is fun to explore. Many visitors flock to the Starlight Theater (which used to have no roof other than the stars in the sky above). The line to get in is hours long (apparently great menu), but we relished the Frito Pie at the cafe on the side (no wait for that). The art gallery is also worth the visit, and it’s fun to just walk around the ghost town. Of course it’s also a great location for visiting Big Bend NP. We especially loved hiking into Santa Elena Canyon - spectacular.

Terlingua and BJs RV park are hopeful places, with lots of history in a beautiful remote setting that feels like a crossroads in time and place. Really enjoyed it. Would be happy to return.