Vallecito County Park

This place is horrible. We went camping to get away from people and the city but the camp sites are tiny and right on top of each other. We are also night owls so «quiet hours» that start at 10 and fire out at 11 doesn’t work for us. We weren’t partying or anything but since we were right on top of another group, our talking disturbed them at night. But apparently children screaming and yelling at 6 am is ok. No hard alcohol which was annoying as we planned on making bloody marys. The place is clean and has bathrooms and showers. The rangers are also very helpful and friendly. Dogs have to be leashed at all times. There’s a small store for essentials down the road. Little to no shade in most sites. Overall too many rules and not enough space to give you the «getting away» feel.

This is a nice campground.
The reason I give it 4 stars as opposed to 5 stars is the lack of things to do around the campground. A few hiking trails would be awesome. There is a trail across the street from the park that is really well done, but it is probably only about a tenth of a mile loop. I would have loved to see a nature trail with a numbered guide that had information about the local plants, history, etc. Would be fun to have some ranger led programs or a group campfire area at night!
There are of course things to do if you’re willing to drive. Agua Caliente is only 4 miles down the road and has trails, hot spring pools, and so on. It’s also near Anza Borrego State Park which has trails (some only accessed by 4×4’s) and about 30 minutes from Julian where there’s plenty to see/​do. But once we set up our stuff, we don’t really want to get in the car and drive away. So while the proximity to all this stuff is nice, it’s not exactly ideal.
There is a small playground for kids. 3 swings, monkey bars, and a slide. It’s all made of metal, so I imagine it gets scorching hot in the desert sun.
We went on Memorial Day weekend, as it was the only park pretty much anywhere that had spots left. There were some crowds, but it was very quiet!
I HIGHLY recommend Site #7 if you’re able to snag it! While it is smaller than some like Site #8, it is very private. You’re surrounded on 3 sides by trees and have no one directly across from you. It is partially shaded. We had several walk by and tell us what a great spot we had. Plenty of flat spots for the tent and space for the car. Picnic table and fire ring of course.
There are flush toilets here — yay! However, due to water shortage, they locked the bathrooms at night and we had to use port-​a-​potties — not yay. Flush toilets were a big reason why I chose this campground. Bummer.
The Vallecito Stage Coach Station was not open when we went. There was no park official/​ranger nearby to ask to open it. Memorial Day weekend and you’d think they’d have it open, but sadly no. However, it’s still cool to walk around it.
I didn’t really like that there seemed to be very little presence by anyone in charge here. If something had happened, I’m not sure who we would have alerted. I never saw a park ranger once. There is no place to check in at, you just pull up to your site and hope no one else took it!
The star gazing was nice here. It’s a very peaceful place. Just not much to do around!

Great quiet campground. Very clean restrooms. Showers.
Don’t go to nearby Agua Caliente Campgound. Unless you love crowds while camping.

This little place was a very nice surprise. We booked here on really short notice as the popular camping spots were full, this was the best place ever! Very clean, very well kept. The camp hosts were super friendly. This is a very quiet place, we camped on the rv side and it was very private. It’s mostly for adults, there is really not much for kids to do but it was just me and my hubby so it was just perfect. The Vallecito stage station from 1800 something is there, open to see, there’s also a tiny historical cemetery on the grounds, very cute. There are hot showers, bathrooms are kept really clean. Cell phone/​internet reception. I was so glad we ended up here, can’t wait to come back.

I was always hesitant to camp here because it was always empty each time I drove though it, but glad I finally gave it a chance because I was pleasantly surprised. Our group were pretty much the only ones there except for one or two other campers, so it was very quiet. Very clean and taken care of by camp host Denny, and he even opened up the adobe for us to tour which was a nice surprise! Nice easy hiking trail to an old cabin that Denny told us about, so glad we did it! I would definitely camp here again, probably the most quiet county park I have stayed in. I give this 5 stars based on it being a county park, yes other campsites may be larger etc, but you should know what to expect for a county park, and this one was very nice. Lots of side trip options too. I would never stay in Agua Caliente, crazy busy and too loud, so this is a very nice option if you want quiet. Sites are small but that is standard for any county park, so it’s what you should expect. The water wasn’t running for us due to a problem with the chlorine, but the host was very apologetic about that and the ranger offered to give us water. It was no problem for us, these things can happen so we understood. I will definitely be back!

Hot water, not much RVs, helpful host and ranger, cellphone reception and nice hiking trails around make this place great for tent camping. On one section there is also a little play ground for the ones who want to bring their kids out.

This is a decent campground. The best part about this place is that it stays pretty empty. There is one trail on the north side that I explored a little. There’s not much else here but it’s a great starting point to explore Anza-​Borrego. It’s a short drive from The Mud Caves (Arroyo Tapiado), Oriflamme Canyon, Box Canyon, Carrizo Badlands… You could also pay to park and swim at Agua Caliente. You can check in at noon. Quiet hours start at 10pm and fires must be out by 11pm. Pretty standard for county parks.

Went back again in November with my gf, we were on tent spot #4, there was 1 other rv site at the far end and the rest of the campground was empty until the coyotes came through at 2−3am and about 15 yards from the tent…
During this time the water was not for drinking, but the park rangers brought us a couple gallons of store bought water.
The hot showers are a huge plus!
I plan to go back again soon!

We did not have the same experience as the previous and first Unilocaler for this campground. Vallecito was relatively quiet and offered more privacy than Agua Caliente campground up the road.
We camped at site #7, which was near the end of a little curve, so only one of our neighbors was truly close to us. Behind our site was a bit of marshland, so at night, you fall asleep to the sound of frogs and owls and wake up to peeping desert birds and cooing doves.
It is also a historic site, as it also has the Vallecito Stage Coach stop on its grounds, along with a small pioneer cemetary. Is the campground haunted? My boyfriend did not even tell me the rumors about that until after we left — I would have been freaked out the entire time! But I saw nothing, no ghost riders or women in white.
There is a portion of the campground that has a playground. If you don’t like kids, simply don’t choose sites near that area! Another bonus of this place: the RVs and tent-​camping are separate, so you don’t have to SEE the giant RVs or hear their engines, generators, etc.
Camping isn’t supposed to be like staying in a hotel — you DO have to share the space with others. Just look at the campsite map before you choose a space and you’ll be just fine, watching the stars come out at night in a clear desert sky.

While looking for another place to camp in the San Diego desert without going to Borrego Springs or back to Agua Caliente, I stumbled across this site on the SD County website. Located about 100 miles from San Diego, this campground is nestled between the Laguna mountains and the mountains just west of Borrego Springs, it is in a nice desert area that is near some great hikes and tends to be far less crowded than you would get in Borrego or Agua Caliente. That being said, next time, I think I’ll either drive the extra five miles and stay in Agua Caliente, or stay near Barnes Canyon about 12 miles further west. It’s not that the campsite was dirty or run down, far from it. The sites were very tidy and there is actual hot running water in the bathroom. I even had full cell reception (much to the chagrin of my fiancée). The biggest reason I’ll never stay here again is that the sites are SMALL. We were right on top of other campers, with basically no shelter between spaces. To make matters worse, this place is VERY kid friendly. I don’t have anything against kids, but if you want peace and quiet, you will not get it here. We dealt with screaming until 9 PM and it started right up again at 6 AM.
So if you’ve got kids and want to explore. some beautiful and relatively unknown parts of the San Diego desert, this is the place for you. If you want peace and quiet, go somewhere else because you won’t find it here.