Dodge City KOA

Super-friendly hosts who live on-site, huge, level sites: all the pull-thrus and some back-ins are concrete, most back-ins are gravel, but the gravel appears to be well-laid and tamped down. The concrete sites have full hookups, the gravel ones just water and electric.

This is a very new park (GoogleEarth shows it still under construction), and will be well-shaded in a few years, though it’s a little sparse now. If you make a reservation online, you have to choose a site, but it’s more loose when you get here: trust them and relax. The place filled up on the weekend, but once Sunday night rolled around, we were practically alone again. Walking/biking distance to old Dodge City, Boot Hill, etc.

The $35 was a discount rate for “police, fire, military, EMTs…” And they give a small discount for cash, too.

The campground is well-maintained, grassy areas where there can be, a couple of picnic shelters available, lots of convenient trash cans around besides the big dumpsters at the front. Because the place is new, the restrooms, showers, laundry are all neat and clean; Ben says “they still smell new.” His only complaint with the showers was that the same showerheads appear to be infesting all Kansas campgrounds. Now, Kansas may be in a drought, but take it from some old, drought-savvy Californians: you can make a shower head that saves water AND actually provides satisfying water pressure! To the owners’ credit, it’s probably not their idea (she was complaining about it too), it’s probably some not-well-thought-out municipal plan to “save water.” What it does is give water-saving a bad name, and that’s not right.

Warning: Don't follow your GPS here, and don't follow Google, which will take you to West Park Street -- you want just plain Park Street. There's some nearby construction that's confused our GPS, and our neighbor had the same story. It's a stone's throw from the waterpark in historic downtown Dodge.

This park is, essentially, downtown, so there's some noise, but it's mostly from the waterpark next door; there was a concert in the park bandstand one night; it's all people-having-fun noise, which is nicer than traffic noise. A train or two pass in the night, just a lovely background sound.

Dogs’ perspective: There’s a municipal dog park right next door – one of the gates is actually up against a campsite. It’s a big one, maybe an acre or more, with some shade trees at one end, and one picnic table. The town could cough up for some water bowls, maybe a few chairs for the humans. Also outside the dog park, there’s a big public park, and grassy levees that surround the campground and park, so dogs can get nice and tired. There’s a small zoo in the park, and the weird bird calls at all hours keep dogs guessing.

New RV Park close to many things. When I was there in early October 2017, there were only a few RVs so it wasn't bad. If I had come in the middle of summer, perhaps a different story. The spacing is pretty close but typical of a private RV park. I choose the gravel back in, but there are also pull thru sites. I choose the site that backs up to the dog park. It is a huge dog park that is also owned by the city so there may be a lot of dogs there. In my quick trip of 2 days, not that many dogs. Showers and restrooms are new. Overall, a nice option for a private RV park in this area. Seemed a bit pricey but not sure what other RV parks are charging in this area. I came to visit Dodge City as I hadn't been there before and wanted to see Boot Hill.

We were supposed to stay for only two nights, but ended up staying three due to horrible wind in the area. We stayed April 12-15.

The Good:
The park itself is very nice and you can tell it's new. We had site 30, which is a very long pull through with full hookups. In addition to RV sites, there are also cottages to rent. The bathrooms/showers are nice. The laundry room is also nice, but only has two washers/dryers, so when it's busy, this could pose a problem. We got quite a few channels in over our antenna and we never had any issues with AT&T or Verizon cell signals. Check in is from 4-8, which isn't the most convenient, but we called earlier in the day (in order to book the third night) and they told us what site we were in and we could pull in whenever we needed to and pay later. There's a large city dog park that backs up to the edge of the RV park and there's a gate accessible from the RV Park. There's a nice park next door that has a somewhat sad looking little zoo. There's also a water park nearby.

The Bad:
I'm forever boggled by concrete slab sites not being completely level and this one was a little off. Besides being surrounded by the dog park, park, zoo, and water park, there's also a soccer field right next door. As in, people park in the RV park's parking lot and sit at their picnic tables to watch the games -- that's how close it is. The main issue with Fort Dodge, is it's not secure and it's surrounded by attractions that bring people right to it's doorstep. It'd be nice if there was a gate, so miscellaneous people can't drive right in. This must be an issue for them, because there's a sign on the door of the main building (office, restrooms, storm shelter, laundry room) that says 'No Public Restrooms'. The only problem is, there's not somebody onsite enough in order to enforce this. Whenever we're at a place that has nice showers, I usually take advantage of them to take a long shower, but I didn't feel safe here as anyone could have walked into the bathroom. We were the only ones in the park for a day and we felt so vulnerable.

Conclusion: The park itself is very nice, it's the immediate surroundings and lack of security that makes me dock a star. The reason we wouldn't stay here again is that there's not much to do in Dodge City.

Nice newer campground close to downtown tourist attractions. Has a water park next door, as well as city park which has a free zoo. Well maintained. Clean park. Friendly staff.

This is a great KOA for an overnight. Everything is new, pull thru sites are paved and ours was perfectly level. We came in early April so the water park and small zoo that are near by were closed.

The kids playground is really brand new. Workers finished building it when we were there. It was a very nice playground for the kids.

This KOA is paved and pads are concrete. Our site was level. Did not use the laundry but office was nice and clean. It’s by a railroad but we did not hear any trains. AT&T service. Great overnight stop.

We stayed here on our way back from Colorado. We live in Kansas, but it was too far to drive to get home. I have to say, I was pretty impressed about this KOA. I'm not a fan of KOA's, but this one seemed clean and well taken care of for the most part. Most of the sites had concrete pads, but they put us on a gravel pad that was level. I think they give the concrete pads first and what is ever left over, you get the gravel one's. We had two dogs that we walked on the Levee right behind our campsite. Didn't even have to use the dog park. Most of the campsites appear to be maintained very well. I think there were some long term campers, but their rigs looked new and the place seemed safe. The grass did need cutting and on the morning we were leaving, they were doing that. Trash cans all around the place, too. I would definitely stay here again. Cable TV seemed to work well, too.

The campground was a huge field with sites well-spaced. Ours had a concrete pad and was pretty level. The grounds and the facilities were pretty new and well-kept. The bathrooms and showers were very clean. Yay! The campground is located very close to downtown and near the Boot Hill Museum.

We stayed here July 8, 2022. We just needed a place to stop for the night and this fit the bill with a nice pull-thru so we didn't have to disconnect. Looks like a nice KOA but we didn't use any of the facilities. The site was concrete, level and roomy for a KOA. It's right in town and it looks like there are lots of things to do for a day or two, but we just moved on. Folks were nice and check-in was easy.

The park could be easy to miss as signage from the street is a joke. A very small sign has been tacked to a wooden utility pole. Good signage is visible once you near the office. Check in was efficient and friendly. The rules are fairly basic. The interior roads are paved and in good condition.

Our site, 56, was a wide concrete back in that was just long enough for our Coach and Towed. Services (30/50 amp, water sewer and cable) were to the left side. Distancing is fair for an urban park. Each site has a table and a fire pit. Our site was flat and even. Overall the park was very nicely groomed.

The park included wifi works well as does the cable TV. We did not look for any OTA channels. Satellite would not be difficult. We did not use the washrooms or showers but we checked and found them clean as was the laundromat. There is a small store on site as well as a playground. There is a pool that guests can use. It is in the Hotel next door as the two are associated. There is a water park that is open during season. It is not part of the KOA though.

There are no restaurants or stores within easy walking distance but just a short drive away you can find food, shopping and convenience stores. We found this park to be a good base to use while visiting local attraction. We paid $55.00 per night and we feel we received fair value. We will be back if in the area again.