Carmel by the River Rv Park

We searched high and low in the entire area from San Jose south to Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister, Monterey and Santa Cruz for a clean, friendly, family run and peaceful, safe RV Park and at last found Carmel by the River! We’re so happy we did and we just booked our third stay in less than a year. Thanks for having us back again very soon with our 42.5″ Raptor 5^th wheel!

Had a very pleasant stay here the last three nights. Location is fairly secluded which makes for a peaceful vacation. It seemed like many of the guests live there. The place was almost full but we hardly saw anyone. Nice hedges and landscaping between and behind every spot. People in the office were very friendly. It’s about a 20 minute drive ($ 15 über) into downtown Carmel, and there was a shopping center right down the road.

We ended up at this park by mistake on a Friday night, they luckily had spots open after the office was closed. Spots were easy to find, clean and nice, other RV’s were SO quiet. When we went to check in in the morning, the employee was so sweet. We were supposed to stay at Saddle Ranch and accidentally ended up here (they’re both on a dark road at night, the road forks and you end up at either). The road in at night is so dark but if you take your time and go slow it’s perfectly fine.

We need some updates on past remarks. They do take credit cards but you get a discount if paying by cash. There is a spacious bathroom and handicap shower next to the office; this looks fairly new and is very clean. They park is decorated nicely and has a great place to take your dogs. No water in the river at this time but you cannot go down to it anyway. The last part of the road is VERY NARROW ONE LANE so caution to very large RVs towing a vehicle. For those of you that might have some recycles to get rid of, this is the place.
Safeway, coffee house, Shell Station and strip center just down the highway a few miles.
Yohanna, the person that was in charge was very friendly and helpful-​THANK YOU. If you desire peace and quiet, this is the place. Just a couple of negative remarks. YES-​YES; you need to spend a few dollars and put good/​decent locks on the toilet stall doors. No one (including the owners want someone entering when you are sitting on the toilet; DO IT NOW. Also I noticed a few dogs running around in the park (permanent owners I think). One of these days someone or anoher pet will be bitten and the owner (s) could find themselves involved in a lawsuit. Enforce your own rules. I was there in late October 2015. Steve from Lake Mathews, CA.

Just spent 3 nights there. Was NOT thrilled with the road INTO the park. Especially when towing a vehicle behind my 33′ rv. I wouldn’t be able to back up if I wanted to. You should advise your RV campers to unhitch their tow vehs b4 entering the park.
Spaces are private but REAL small, at least the one I had was small. My neighbor (appeared to be a permanent resid) had to keep coming into out site to fix his waste hose, which brings up the smell we had to deal with.
BUT, the staff was friendly, the park is very clean AND, the park is in a good BASE CAMP location!..
Will we go back? Can’t say… maybe if we got a larger spot like the big 5^th wheel rvs were in…
Keep smil’n!

Adorable spot! The owners put a lot of effort and love into making this space a welcoming and colorful rv park. Also, the most luxuriously clean bathrooms I’ve ever experienced at a camp site. Bravo.

Pros: Pretty foliage, nicely maintained, quiet, close to Carmel and Monterey
Cons: Very small spaces, no campfires/​fire pits.
There is a sign on the way in that says «SLOW grandparents at play»…that pretty much sums it up! Lol

The owners dog just bit my dog!!! He didn’t care what so ever! My dog was on a leash and his two small dogs run free and ran up to us and bit mine! Terrible people and place

Nice secluded RV site. The owners are very kind and helpful. Great location to go to Carmel, Monterey, and Big Sur. The restrooms could use some attention, but we enjoyed our three days. It’s a bit tight getting in and out as well as to the park. We’d surely go back again.

Solid 3 stars.
Nothing too special.
Sites have privacy bushes.
A little scary driving in and out but if you drive rigs regularly you will be fine.
Good little park for the price.

Spent a couple nights here, road to get to the park is a total nightmare!!! Wide enough for one vehicle of motor home size! Met two oncoming cars going down as we were going up, so close to dropping off the left side and falling down the mountain drop off side and an inch or two between our 40 foot Class A motor home and the on coming that were hugging the mountain side of the extremely narrow road! Had we had a clue of this, we would have stayed further out! Amenities, none really other than secluded! No laundry facilities!!! Distance to travel for grocery, gas, dining out and laundry. Spots were nothing special, tall manicured bushes between spaces that limited seeing neighbors, however hearing them was un muffled. Cool weather, had windows open and heard neighbors every word and audible farting! $ 85.00 a night is quite overpriced in general, as we have stayed at more convenient and much classier parks a lot cheaper, however this is a more affluent area of California, so guessing they hope to attract that clientele, didn’t see any affluent or classy people there. Lots of dogs! Will not go back. The three star rating is all we can do, mainly because of the road into the place!

My wife and I and our two dogs just had an awesome 4^th of July stay at this park! The weather was perfect, nice and sunny but not too hot. With close proximity to Carmel we went down to the beach and it was cloudy and cool, which is pretty normal weather this time of year. So if you want sunshine, the park is just far enough inland. The location is perfect with Carmel, Big Sur and Monterey near by.
The park is small and quaint and you can tell the owners take pride in keeping it pristine. They can handle all size rigs here. The road is a little narrow, but is easily manageable and you really feel like you are away from the highway. The staff and the owners Mike and Stacy were very friendly and available to answer any questions or concerns. They offered a nice BBQ area and patio to hang out near the front office, even though the sites have there own bbq pits. The grassy area along the river was also a nice place to hang out. The park is very dog friendly and the road coming in is a nice walk in the evening, you will see horses, deer and some pigs if you are lucky.
This was our first time here and we will be back for sure. We love the Carmel area and this park was perfect for our needs. Pricing was very fair for the area and a real bargain compared to hotels around here. There is a great restaurant close by called the Baja Cantina, they had really good food and an outdoor patio. It is only a couple of miles away.
If you are even thinking about staying here, do not hesitate. I am really surprised at some of the negative reviews, because we had no complaints and were really treated like family. Looking forward to coming back soon!!!
NOTE: They do take credit cards, but will offer a discount if you pay cash.

The people here are so friendly. This is a very quaint RV spot. There are free BBQ grills to use with propane. I really liked the hedges between the sites to offer more privacy and the cable TV hook up was a big plus. Check out time is 12 so you don’t have to rush but the bathrooms are less than desirable because of the salon style toilet doors and there is two showers in a shared area. For these amenities you will pay around 75 dollars a night for a hook up. The river is close by but it does not have much influence on you stay here since you can not swim in it or look at it because you can not walk on the berm.

Wayyy off the beaten path and very hard road to navigate in a 34′ RV.
Would totally get it for $ 40 but definitely not worth $ 70 to just have a cement parking space.
No river, just cement everywhere. Definitely wish we could have done Saddleranch instead.
Not a huge fan of the location — aren’t able to get a cab or über bc we’re too far off the main road.
I’m sure they are nice people, but they need to advertise their RV park correctly and for a better price to attract customers.

I was excited and reserved a «riverside» lot online… when me and my kids arrived, I observed so safe path to the river, and the river was blocked by yards and yards of poison oak and Bush… not what was promised… also way to many people who live in the rv park, not touristy at all, more like a residence.
Quiet location, but false advertising on riverside site. Will not be returning.

We stayed here for 2 nights in a 22 ft. Motor Home. The road into the park is VERY narrow. One rig at a time no place for two to pass. The sites are adequate for smaller rigs. The park is clean and nicely landscaped. Showers were not private. Office staff was nice and informative.

This is a quiet small park. It’s located at the end of a narrow road that gets «interesting» with on-​coming traffic. They have a cool game room area with a big TV and arcade games for kids. The bathrooms are clean but small only 2 stalls and two showers in the men’s side. The showers are push button and only stays on for 30 seconds a push-​kinda annoying. There’s an area for dogs that is loaded with dog poop (no one seems to clean up after their dog). Overall a nice park and we’ll be back again.

I really really liked this place! The owners love frogs, and it’s apparent with the décor. Cute little frog signs, very quaint, like staying at someone’s country cottage. I read some negative reviews, but so glad we decided to come here anyway. The staff was very friendly! More than happy to chat with you and answer any questions you have. They were very dog friendly, as we have 2 large dogs and there was a HUGE dog park area with nice grass. California is in a drought, but since it was nowhere near the rainy season, I wasn’t expecting to see the river that time of year. Still a very lush setting and large shrubs for added privacy. We weren’t planning on living here, were visiting Monterey and Carmel so we just wanted a base to cal home at the end of the day and this was perfect. There are some full timers here, they pretty much keep to themselves — but just like bears or possums, if you don’t bother them they won’t bother you! We will come back here next time we visit the area, we have paid a lot more for a lot less so the price isn’t unreasonable to us at all.

I’ve only used the camping spots here, not the RV spots. Pretty small and exposed, with TONS of poison oak all around. Poor signage and note that they only take cash! The host was very nice, and the campground has a pool and foosball table (not really what I’m into when I’m camping, but probably good for families). 3 stars.

This place would get another star if I felt they were a bit more honest. We called and asked if they could hold a space for us. They did and took our credit card to hold the reservation. The next day when we checked out they said it was cash only! No warning, it’s not in their paperwork anywhere. We were lucky and had enough cash on us. You would think they would be up front about that, and the people ahead of us thought so as well.
Pros: hedges between the spaces, good drinking water, bbq pits.
Cons: one car road to get in, and not just for a short drive! River is small, shallow, and you are not allowed to play in it (important when you have a 9 year old who needs to burn off steam). Spaces are perpendicular to the road making it hard for larger rigs to pull in. at $ 70 it is not worth the cost.
We will not be back.