How We Rate Campgrounds
(And Why Our Reviews Are Different)
One of the biggest frustrations we’ve had while traveling full-time is realizing that campground reviews rarely tell us what we actually want to know.
A campground can have hundreds of five-star reviews and still not be a place we’d ever stay again.
Sometimes people rate a campground based on the pool.
Sometimes because the Wi-Fi worked.
Sometimes because they had one bad interaction with the office.
None of those things tell the full story.
Since we live in our RV full-time, we experience campgrounds differently than someone staying for a weekend.
A campground isn’t just where we vacation.
It’s where we work.
It’s where we homeschool.
It’s where we train.
It’s where we cook, sleep, do laundry, and spend our everyday life.
That’s why we created our own review system.
What Makes a Great Campground?
These are the things we consistently pay attention to every time we stay somewhere.
Hospitality:
- Were the staff welcoming?
- Helpful?
- Professional?
- Did they seem happy to have guests there?
Cleanliness:
- Bathrooms
- Laundry
- Showers
- Dog areas
- Common spaces
- Roads
Site Quality:
- Level?
- Enough room?
- Easy to back into?
- Privacy?
- Trees?
- Shade?
- Grass?
- Mud?
Maintenance:
- Does management clearly care?
- Are things repaired?
- Is landscaping maintained?
- Broken amenities?
- Overflowing dumpsters?
Location:
- How close is it to:
- National parks
- Hiking
- Restaurants
- Groceries
- Gyms
- Things worth doing
Internet/ Cell Service:
- Can people realistically work remotely?
- Good Verizon?
- AT&T?
- Starlink friendly?
Family Friendliness:
- Safe to ride bikes?
- Playground?
- Open space?
- Quiet hours respected?
- Kids actually welcome?
Rules:
- We don’t mind rules.
- We actually appreciate well-run campgrounds.
- What matters is whether the rules are reasonable and consistently enforced.
Overall:
- This is the hardest thing to explain…
- Some campgrounds just feel peaceful.
- Others feel stressful.
- Sometimes you can’t point to one reason.
- It’s simply the culture the campground creates.
Every Campground Serves Someone
One of the things we’ve learned traveling America is that the “perfect campground” doesn’t exist.
Some campgrounds are incredible basecamps for exploring a national park.
Others are simply clean, quiet places to sleep for one night.
Some are resorts.
Some are state parks.
Some are county fairgrounds.
We review each campground for what it is trying to be—not what we wish it were.
Our Promise:
Our goal isn’t to criticize campgrounds.
It’s to help other families make better decisions.
When we recommend a campground, we want you to know exactly why.
When we point out negatives, we want them to be fair.
We pay for our own stays.
No paid reviews.
No inflated ratings.
Just honest experiences from one full-time RV family trying to help the next.
