Temecula-Vail Lake KOA

We camped here over the weekend while my wife attended a blogging seminar in nearby Temecula. We stayed at site 22, which is in what they call the Upper Chardonnay Mesa. Lots of trees, and a spectacular view of the canyons from this site, with no one in front of your campsite. The site was easily accessible, I had no problem backing my 32' travel trailer into place. This site has a fire ring, but no picnic table. Lots of shade, but still has a good unobstructed view of the southern sky if you have a satellite. Lots of space to park your tow vehicle.

The park has a camp store, although not really well stocked they did have all of the essentials that you might need at the spur of the moment. There is a small miniature golf course for the kids, and lots of hiking trails.

This park is only about 15 minutes from "civilization", and yet it is quiet and quite isolated from the real world. No highway traffic noise that is noticeable, and we enjoyed it immensely. Going back for the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.

This is a HUGE park, very spread out, with several different sections to choose from (Chardonnay Mesa has the best views). When you check in, be sure to be very specific about the type of site you want. We asked for a site with good shade, since it was hot, and ended up being placed close among several other campers, while the other side of our section was completely deserted. Had we realized the place wouldn't fill up, we would certainly have asked to move to a more private space. Site was good sized, not very level but pretty close. No privacy between sites.

Many trails and fire roads nearby for dog-walking. The pool was huge and very clean. We didn't use the restrooms or laundry. For early August, the place was surprisingly empty; there were several sections that only had one or two campers. The road is VERY bumpy and not well maintained. The place is very quiet, however, being far enough away from the city, yet close enough to drive in for dinner.

This park looks like it has been on hard times for a while, but it is in the process of becoming a KOA so I imagine a lot of work will be done to bring it up to their standards. That said, it is not there yet. The road in is riddled with huge pot holes. The electric box at our site was looked suspect, but worked ok. (Note, the outlet is in the bottom of the box, you don't have to open the box.) Our site was up on a ridge and had a nice view. I have never seen such a huge, meandering campground. There are two pools, I think, a pickle ball court, a basketball court, mini golf, a store, a bar, mountain bike trails, and a lake, but we never could figure out how to get to the lake. I am sure once this place is ship shape, the prices will go into the KOA realm, but for now we thought it was ok for the price.

$60/weeknights, $70/weekends. We stayed in the Lower Chardonnay area. We had a beautiful view of the mountains from our space, and a wonderful shade tree. My AT & T phone had poor reception, but my AT & T hotspot/Blackhawk with Unlimited to Go had a great connection and I was able to teach online classes without a problem. This area has a nice grassy area in the middle. It is very family friendly - we were the only campers without children. There was a lot of "playground kid" noise, but everyone was having a great time. Some families brought water/sprinkler toys/slides and hooked them up on the grassy area for the kids. Kids can ride their bikes around the "circle." It's summer, and we expect lots of families camping, and the activity level and noise that comes with it. Saturday night the adults got a little rowdy, but it was quiet around midnight. Our only real complaint (other than cost) is that there were a number of dogs that were not leashed that were with these families. There two that we never saw on a leash once. We have two dogs, and we keep them leashed, or completely enclosed in our doggie "playpen" making it impossible for them to get out. We never saw anyone patroling the area, and this was frustrating to us. Everyone pulled out by Sunday noon, and we only had 2-3 other campers there during the week. It is very quiet in this area - no road noise. Don't expect a lot of food to be available in the office/store - but there's all kinds of junk for your kids to spend their money on. We think this is because there is a restaurant on site, so possibly the reason for lack of staples (you will find things to make S'mores, and lots of candy). You can also purchase wood. Watch out for rattlesnakes - they like to come out in the evening/night. This place is on the more expensive end, but typical for California.

Only had 30 amp service in our area. Mature trees were great because it was over 100 each day. Full by Friday, the pool was cloudy, and I think they need to check the chemicals more often with all the people and heat. You can’t get to lake anymore, easy drive to wineries.
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We’ve only ever com here for the Halloween festivities. We came this weekend and it was perfect. Gary in the bar makes the perfect Bloody Mary and he’s the nicest bartender I know. Bring cash because for some reason, management doesn’t have a place to tip on the credit card slip.

Site was big and it appears they’ve put new WiFi throughout.

Lots of families and beautiful spots. Cell service is very spotty. You have to buy internet for each of your devices and we couldn’t get our TVs to hook to the WiFi but, all in all, was great and we’d be back.

Actually feels like a campground! 5 miles from Temecula proper with all the facilities you'd require it feels like you far away in the mountains at summer camp! Lots of families and lots of kids but a real festive atmosphere and out of numerous stays never too loud and quiet by 10pm. The Oaks is the most popular with a grove of Live oak trees and lots of activity.

There's a large pool facility with maybe 3 pools and lots of hiking and biking.

Probably the closest campground to most of the Inland Empire so a lot of families and multi family gatherings. Great for that! I'm not really a fan of that when camping but the sheer number of people having fun rubs off on me and it has a real holiday type feel to it!

Last minute booking... we got a site with no electricity just water and sewer. Got a bit warm but it was manageable. The park has a pool, cafe, and other great amenities. As our site was sort of on the edge of the park, we had no cell signal (our weboost was useless ofcourse).

Was bought out by KOA and now they are putting money back into it and renovating it. Has bar and cafe and mini golf, pools are nice but really cold temperatures. Very big campground which is nice. Can tell they are redoing a lot of things but is taking awhile to renovate all the spots and amenities. Staff was friendly. Service was spotty where we were camped but could walk to get good service for sprint and Verizon . Got good service right near the main office is.