Arroyo Campground — Hotel in Rancho Santa Margarita

We stayed 3 nights; Sunday - Wednesday. First night, the people at spot #13 were very loud: playing loud music well after 10 pm and talking/loudly laughing up until after midnight. Extremely rude considering everyone else was courteous of the quiet hours. The park rangers stopped and talked to them on Monday, they were quiet that night and left on Tuesday (thankfully). We didn't see any patrol on Sunday but there was a patrol that came through the next two nights.

Most of the spots have plenty of shade. We were at 53 and it had a couple great shade trees plus plenty of space. Spot 54 is a little close but the person camping there was only in their car so it never felt like we were on top of each other. Not sure how comfortable it would have been with another family there.

Included some pictures of this spot, along with some of the spots nearby after they emptied out.

Spot 53 has a path directly across from it that goes to Bathroom #2. It's nice having it there so it doesn't feel like you are walking through Spot 14 which is a pull through. Each person that stayed in the pull through spot didn't seem to use their campfire/picnic spot on the other side but hung out by their trailer near the walkway which almost made it uncomfortable walking by them.

The bathrooms are cleaned midday and even with a full campground the first night, it never got extremely bad. Mostly just toilet paper on the ground and a few items on the shelf behind the sinks because for some reason people can't pick up after themselves. The shower is free but you have to hold the button down for water; it lasts for a few seconds with each button press. The water gets hotter the longer you are in it.

Great paths for biking, hiking, and horse back riding. We did some biking and saw several horse riders. We tried to visit the Nature Center but it's only open on the weekends. It has a great playground behind it.

Firewood was $5 a bundle and the staff was very friendly. Especially the kid we talked to on Monday.

No camp store but Trabuco General Store was a short bike ride away; our teens hit it for Dipping Dots each day. And we rode over to grab some charcoal because we didn't bring enough; it was $13.44 for the tiny bag.

We had a great time and would definitely...

I guess if you want to call this a campground you can. In that it has camping spots that you pay for. As long as you don't mind a couple cars an hour going by the road and the sometimes rowdy Coke hampers which you experienced anywhere you go then I suppose you can have a good time here. Personally I like camping where there isn't a main road around for a few miles and I'm a little more secluded but not everyone has the same background as I do so for those of you that didn't grow up camping or aren't rough and tough this is a great spot to go to bring your family it's close to needed amenities but don't let any pictures for you there isn't much water in this place. If you head up Holy Jim canyon you'll come to a small Creek and in the rain season the small one that exists in this area you might manage to check out the waterfall which is pretty nice nothing giant but still for those of you who aren't what you would consider to be true Outdoorsman this is a nice in between area. I knocked off 1 * just because they don't have the security coming around telling noxiously loud drunk people to quiet down ruining it for families sometimes not all the times and the second reason is the last time I was here the bathrooms were locked not very...

During the pandemic, many families preferred camps instead of going to hotels and crowded places. They learned to camp. But they didn't learn that without making noise, other people can be sensitive to sound. The campground is very good. It's very clean and at the same time really green for southern California. It has a pet-loving management. But my last camp went badly because of the noises of the families, the shouting, the sound of the generator that is not turned off until very late in the evening, and the sounds of the children riding their bikes in the campsite very early in the morning. Will I think again? Maybe not! I think I need to learn to camp on routes that very crowded groups...