Palm Springs / Joshua Tree KOA Holiday — Hotel in Desert Hot Springs

We arrived yesterday (March 10/23). We're here for 2 nights, maybe 3. Within 15 minutes of arrival, I was in the pool, and then the hottub. The pool was too warm for my liking, but the hottub was heavenly. The pool was 5' at its deepest, which was fine for me. I liked how that felt, very kid friendly/family oriented. It was very large. There were 3 large hottubs located behind the pool, side by side, each had a 15 min timer on the wall. The jets were powerful, at least in the hottub I used, the one on the far left if you're facing them. Bonus: I got the hottub to myself.

I was able to have my shower afterward right there as they have a large washroom with 2 showers. Everything is older feeling and could use a face-lift (eg., fresh paint, etc.), but more importantly, everything felt clean. Oh, I should mention the pool showers for both men and women. The water would oscillate between hot and cold. It's kind of annoying 🙄 but we worked around it. It's just a lot of fiddling with the taps. PS the showers are included in your camping fee.

Only 2 of the washers were working in the laundry room. We were told they've been having ongoing problems with them. Nonetheless, we were happy to get our laundry done in the functioning washers.

We were placed in a backup 30amp site against a long row of pretty tall trees. The larger RVs on either side of us felt closer than we would have liked. The dog park was located close by, which we appreciated. I think they have 2 dog parks here. Both off-leash, of course.

Checking in was very efficient. We had reservations, and we f/u with their 'express check-in' via email prior to arriving. It all felt easy and quick. The camp hostess was at the front desk when we arrived, and she was awesome in explaining everything about the facility.

So far, we're finding it VERY windy here at times, so be sure to remember to batton down the hatches. Pull in those awnings, etc., should you leave the campground to go into town. Put away your chairs, etc. The wind gusts can be seriously vicious. I had concerns that it was going to rip our tent fabric on our trailer.

We haven't had any of the meals offered here yet (for a fee), but we can smell the bacon and pancake syrup at our campsite. Delish smelling!!! 😆

Per Google Maps, we're a 22 min drive from Palm Springs. There's also a Costco about the same distance away.

Having just camped for 4 nights at Joshua Tree National Park, we found this place noisy. Mind you, the silence is deafening at Joshua Tree, and this place is more city located, so it's probably not a fair comparison. It wasn't horrible by any means.

For us, we always know if we truly like a place if we'd be willing to come back, and the answer is 'yes' we'd come back here. Overall, it's very inkeeping with the KOA vibe if you're familiar with the franchise. For us, the big draw was...

We stopped here for an overnight stay while traveling from California to Arizona at the end of September. Early fall must still be considered the off-season, as there were very few RVs in the campground and the pool facilities were not available. There is a gate house at the entrance to the campground with an exit gate on the left; turn right and head to the end of the road to check in at the office.

The campground has a variety of pull-through and back-in RV sites, tent sites, and cabins. We stayed in one of the extra long patio pull-through sites, which gave us more than enough space in the front and back. The entire site was gravel, which was true of most of the sites, and very level.

Most of the amenities are located at the front end of the park. The pool and hot tubs are enclosed in the courtyard of a building containing showers and restrooms as well as laundry, meeting, fitness, and game rooms. There is a playground for kids next to the building containing the office and the store, and across the street from the playground is a mini-golf course where balls and clubs are available next to the first hole. In the same area but a little further into the campground, there is a pair of pickleball courts and a decent-sized basketball court with opposing hoops. There is another building with a laundry room and restroom and shower facilities near the back end of the campground, and there are several dumpsters and recycling bins in various locations.

There are two separate adjacent dog parks at the front of the campground with a gravel and dirt surface. The line of tall pine trees next to the parks on the west side provide welcome shade in the afternoon. There is not a lot of shade in the park, and the near-constant winds that blow through the area are an impediment to deploying awnings, so I’m guessing RVs that stay here in the summer get quite warm. On the other hand, the lack of trees means you have fairly unobstructed views of the surrounding hills.

Given our one-night stay, I only did one speed test with my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna, which told me I was getting 46Mbps down and 21Mbps up, and we had no problem streaming video. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed only 7Mbps down and 1.5up.

We would stay here again if we were...

We needed a place for our family of five to stay while visiting family nearby, so we decided to rent a Glamping Tent for three nights. It was comparable cost to a hotel but 20 min closer to where we needed to be. We did not use any of the amenities at the KOA so I can only provide a review on the Glamping Tent experience, which we just used for sleeping. |I must say - it was a very neat experience! |On our first night in the tent it poured rain. It was the first rain in the area in months and boy did it ever let loose, with whipping winds too. We were dry and cozy in the tent which had central heat. The bunk bed room got chilly and we did ask for extra blankets for the remaining nights, but the main area of the tent with the queen sized bed was almost too hot. The noise in the night was awful that first night; flapping noises and clanging metal as the tent lashings hit the poles in the wind. However, once the storm passed the tent was super quiet to sleep in. If the forecast is calling for a storm, you might want to bring ear plugs.|The queen sized bed was very comfortable with a nice comforter. The kids were in the bunk beds and they did complain that the beds were uncomfortable. But it was so nice that the kids each had their own bed to sleep in and it didn't feel cramped at all.|The bathroom was a fully functioning half bath, with a toilet and sink, mirror and drawers. It was so nice not to have to leave the tent to go to the bathroom in the night. I recommend bringing flashlights as there are only overhead lights and no reading lamps. However, there are lots of plug ins in the main tent area for charging phones, etc. |I will also add that the tent was very clean. I didn't see a single critter in the tent, and it didn't smell musty at all. |There was a little kitchenette with a coffee maker and small fridge, plus a dining room table. Outside there is a barbecue and propane patio fireplace. We didn't make any meals in the tent. If you needed to make meals you could bring your own dishes and a camp stove. There is an outdoor community use sink for washing up dishes behind the tents. |We were glad we booked the Eco Tent and I would stay...