Sometimes you’re at a campsite or RV park just to have a place to eat and sleep enroute to other destinations on your trip.  But other times the campsite is the destination and not just part of the journey.  In those times, you want to book the best spots at the best campsites/RV parks.  To us, that means a clean RV park that’s generally quiet or in a convenient location (and that’s not shady, in the criminal sense).   And once we choose the best RV park, sometimes we want to choose the best RV space (especially if we’re staying longer than a couple days) and to us that means a spot that’s secluded with great views if they’re available.  To help us make these decisions, we use the following resources when planning our RV or camping trips:

AllStays Camp & RV app:  This is the single most useful app that we have tried for our own extended RV trips.  Yes it’s a $10 investment but this app is available for family sharing and trust us, it’s worth it.  This app will show you every single independently owned RV resort, state park campsite, national park campsite, national forest campsite, and just general areas to park an RV.  The best thing about this is app is that it doesn’t need cellular reception to work (which is especially useful when picking a last minute RV park while on the road).  But if you do have reception, the app can take you directly to Google images of the RV park/campsite as well as to its website and/or booking site.  Though they have a couple reviews up on the app, there’s not a whole lot so if you have service, cross-reference your chosen RV park/campsite with one of the sites listed below.

RV Park Reviews: This site probably has the most user generated reviews on RV Parks and campgrounds than any other site though there’s not much in the way of pictures.  You can filter parks with their search filters but sometimes their search can be a little glitchy (just make sure when entering the location you’re interested in the search bar to include the state, otherwise it will say nothing found).  But for the most part, the reviews are detailed and provide some great tidbits of advice.

Good Sam Club:  This site is like the Michelin guide of RV parks and resorts (but not campsites).  They have a 1-10 rating system (with 10 being the best) for the categories Facility, Restroom (cleanliness), and Appeal.  I’m not sure who decides the scores, but for the most part they are reliable ( 10/10/10 RV resorts are usually really awesome, though more expensive).  They also have reviews from other Good Sam members, which really helps to paint a better picture of the RV park.  (Also a note about Good Sam, by joining their Club you can get a 10% off discount at any Good Sam RV Park and there’s a lot of them.  So if you’re going to be going to a lot of RV parks during the year, it’s worth getting the membership.  But otherwise the reviews on their website are great resources and their search function on the site is pretty easy to use).

Campendium: This is a relatively new website that is trying to become the Yelp of campgrounds and RV sites.  All reviews and most of the photos are user generated.  The site was create by the couple behind Aluminarium (one of my favorite Airstream blogs on the web).  One of the best features of the reviews is the cell coverage info for each review (this is super important when you like to work on the road like we do), but each review comes with a ton of valuable information.  They also have reviews of free campsites for dry-camping (i.e. no hook-ups), which is a great tool for those just need the best parking lot to those who want to camp in nature away from the crowds.  There aren’t a lot of reviews out there yet for each campsite/RV park, but just like any community, it takes some time to grow.

Trip Advisor: Surprisingly TripAdvisor can be a great resource for some of the bigger and more popular RV sites and campsites.  The great thing about TripAdvisor is they usually have some pictures of the campsite and sometimes tips on which sites in the RV park or campground are the best.

Yelp: Yelp is still Yelp when it comes to RV parks, and like TripAdvisor, there are a lot of good reviews and photos for the bigger and more popular RV parks and campsites.

And last but not least, one of the best way to find a good campsite is to talk to a local (if you’re trying to find some last minute RV campsites).  Of course not all locals will be the camper types and know where to go, but we’ve lucked out and found some great places just by striking up conversations.  At the very least it’s sometimes worth a try.

And finally if you’re planning ahead, once you find the park that you want to stay at, just call the RV park or campsite and you can ask them which sites are the best (most secluded or with the best view).  Most of the time, the RV parks are more than happy to tell you their recommendations.