Salinas-Monterey KOA

This park was totally underwhelming. When we pulled into our site we found rubber gloves on the ground, an empty cardboard box tossed behind the site next to ours, litter on the site and a bunch of cvc pipes against the fence behind us (What a lovely view...not!!). Do you mean to tell me no one who works there can pick up trash and keep the place clean??? Basically, it''s an extremely overpriced dump. We will never go back there.

Roosters right behind us and hey 101 in front. Not a place for people who want peace and quiet.

- wifi not available
- sites were flat but on a hill otherwise
- noisy from nearby road traffic
- accessible location, but not really near much nearby
- expensive for what it was
- verizon cell coverage was no problem but only used for weekend visit
- farm behind was fun for kids to see, but roosters were an early alarm clock and would come into sites through the fence

Wedged between highway 101 and State road 156, this campground offers wide roads, sites paved at a slant on the side of a hill. Sites normally have a picnic table and a fire pit. Some come with charcoal grills. Yes there is road noise and the neighbors behind must have a zoo of animals that cry out occasionally, the staff make every effort to keep things picked up.
Considering the prices of camps closer to the coast, we find this site a value.

This RV park serves a purpose and it does that very well. No, it is not an RV resort and it is not a campground you visit to spend all your time onsite. It is a convenient homebase and jumping off point to the many things to do in the area. And it it is significantly cheaper than the other RV parks in the area.

Of all the parks we looked at in the area, most ranged from $80 to well over $100 a night... We paid $65 a night for a 30amp full-hook up site. Yes, the sites are small but not much smaller than most RV parks we have visited in California and paid much more for. And these sites were nicer than other parks we have visited, with new picnic tables, a fire pit, and well-tended plants.

This KOA must have been updated somewhat recently because the past reviews about it being dump are not accurate. In fact, I was very impressed by how clean and well kept this park was. As soon as a camper left, I saw staff come to the site to clean up any trash and even wipe down the picnic tables! During the week staff tended the plants at every site. The entire park has smooth, newer-looking pavement. I felt completely safe walking around the park both during the day and at night (trying to keep the Fitbit happy).

Yes, the park is just off of the highway, which makes it very convenient to go places, but others have complained about the noise. The road noise never bothered me. It wasn't very loud outside and I couldn't hear it at all from within our camper – and we were on the side of the park closer to the highway. I feel like the only way I would have noticed it is if someone was laying on their car horn as they drove past.

Others have complained about roosters from the long-term residents next door. I did hear them "cocka-doodle-doing" at multiple times throughout the day but I only heard this because I took walks around the park every couple hours or so. I could not hear the roosters whatsoever from within our camper, but that could be different if you were one of the sites sharing the fence with these neighbors.

My husband and I work full time remotely and never had any issues with cell service / internet during the day. We have Verizon and T-Mobile which we were able to use for video calls and work without issue. In the afternoon, we did notice the Verizon would slow down quite a bit and we would use the T-Mobile for streaming instead.

If you are looking to explore the area (Monterey, the coast, Pinnacles NP even) and just need somewhere nice to park the camper and sleep at night, this is an excellent park for you. If you are looking for a peaceful campground with large sites in the middle of nature to spend all your time at, look elsewhere. We will definitely be back to this KOA in the future.

Don’t be more than 18 feet for this park! Small narrow sites, your vehicle has to park somewhere else, unless it’s a truck, then you’re truly out of luck because the parking spaces are very short! Dogs? Dog run CLOSED! You’d better have a city dog that likes to do it’s business on the sidewalk! Or you could just be like someone in the park, and allow your dog to take a dump right outside our door on the only space available and leave it there, where we almost stepped in it because our steps land right in the teeny tiny space at our site! Have some consideration people! 🤬 this place is too expensive for the hassle! Don’t bother!

We have camped here several times. The owners seem to be addressing the issues. WiFi great and we stream tv on a laptop with no interruptions. The park is clean and yes the farm animals can be noisy but they are pretty tolerable. It is one of the cheaper options near the coast. There is a broken water pipe that we hope will be fixed by tomorrow but they worked on it this afternoon. The bathrooms, require a code, are clean and well stocked. It is not a campground in the woods setting. It’s a base camp for other adventurers. We are pleased with our space.

Although you can hear the hwy, it’s not bad at all and I haven’t heard a rooster yet! The gals checking us in were lovely and I’m really glad we stayed! I would recommend staying here to anyone passing through!