The Best Family Friendly KOA campground in New Mexico
Updated: Mar 12
Hello beauties! Welcome back to my blog or if you are new here, thank you for stopping by.
My family and I travel the U.S. in our RV exploring campgrounds, nature and fun filled activities. While on my journey I review campgrounds that we personally stay at, to help others gain more information before they go on their own campground adventure. I am not affiliated with the campground at all, just here to share some good information. I know it is a little unnerving picking out a campground when you don’t know the area or the campground very well.
I do a lot of research before I reserve a spot. I hope to share information about its location, amenities, safety, cleanliness, cost, length of stay, ease of access and services this campground provides. As Always read Google reviews and look up their websites too. I hope you enjoy, as always travel long, travel happy!
New Mexico is a beautiful state, but one of the least traveled states in the U.S. We quickly passed through NM from Arizona to Texas around April 2021. Mask mandates were still required at the time during the Covid Pandemic, as we followed those rules in the campgrounds and around the places we visited.
We booked a few nights at the Carlsbad KOA Holiday in Carlsbad NM; it is southeast part of New Mexico close to the Texas border. As a family with two kids, this is the number one place to go with kids. It has everything you can think of to make camping so much fun. We felt like we didn’t even need to go out and explore the city because there was so much to do at the campground. This is one of the reasons I love KOA’s. We had a spot right across from the playground, so the kids played out there a lot. They have swings, a slide, tunnel, monkey bars, etc. It is perfect for little kids. While behind the office there is a giant chess and checkers game boards that is really fun to play with older kids and even us adults.
Other fun amenities they offer is a small pond with fish, pool (might be closed due to Covid), KampK9 dog park with two separate fenced in areas for large and small dogs. They provide cable TV, snack bar, grocery store, BBQ catering on site, laundry facilities and so much more.
The location is right off the highway, there are big signs to show where to go, which is always nice to have when you don’t know exactly where you are going for the first time. Safety is a huge factor in picking a campground, Carlsbad felt extremely safe for us, since it is off the highway and down the road, I felt like no one who is not supposed to be there would not try to come by. It is away from town and pretty secluded. It is also a huge campground with many staff and hosts around so it would be hard for someone not to see something suspicious if it would occur. Every time I went outside, I would see staff on their golf carts vrooming around.
I love going to campgrounds where the staff and campers work hard to keep the campground beautiful and clean. We as campers need to make an effort to throw our trash away always. The bathrooms and showers were clean, the sites were clean, there were a dozen trash cans around for ease of access and overall, it was pleasant to be in.
With this campground being a KOA Holiday, the pricing is a little more expensive than at a local campground in town or state park. A standard pull through site is around $45/night. It all depends on what site you want, how long the camper is, and if you want extras like premium patio, or tent site, etc. Check out their website to reserve a spot here. The amount of times you can stay at this KOA is unlimited, the longer the stay the more cost effective it could be, like monthly or extended stays.
Internet can be a big factor in choosing a campground, especially if you are full time traveler or just someone who needs to stay connected in case of emergencies. This KOA had great service, we use Verizon and had full bars during the day. At night, when a lot of other campers are online, it can be a little slower. Keep that in mind in case you have any business meetings in the evening times or needing to work later at night. There are possibilities in increasing your service bars, I would suggest searching Chris and Cherie with the Mobile internet resource center on YouTube. (I am not affiliated with them; I just know they are whizzes when it comes to traveling and internet.)
I like to share all my experiences with where we have visited, because I want to give you all the information you need to make your decision easier. That being said, Carlsbad KOA Holiday is a wonderful fun filled campground that will keep all the family busy during your stay. I want to give this campground a 9/10 for the amenities, safety and an awesome experience in New Mexico. If you would like to learn more about what we did while on our stay in Carlsbad, NM outside the campground, check out my kid friendly activities blog post here.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment down below if you have any questions. Have a wonderful day and travel long, travel Happy!
Written by Shelby Long
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