Our Sun Outdoors Experience.
One thing that always worried us when looking for an RV park online is if the pictures we see are really what the resort looks like. Too often, we have booked a site only to show up and have the RV park look nothing like it does in the picture.
Sometimes the sites are much closer than they appeared in the photos. The luscious green grass turns out to be nothing but weeds, and the picnic tables are so worn out or rotted they look like they would fall apart if you tried to use them.
With our favorite RV Resort chain, this is not the case.
Allow us to tell you about a great RV resort company known as Sun Outdoors. Sun Outdoors is currently rebranding, so if the name Sun RV Resorts seems a little more familiar to you, know they are the same company.
Sun Outdoors San Diego
Sun Outdoors maintains a consistent appearance at all of its resorts. They offer easy check-in, free wi-fi, a market just in case you forgot to pack something, well-manicured landscapes, and friendly staff. Their sites are spacious, easy to get into and offer a cement pad with a picnic table. There are plenty of kid activities every day, swimming pools, hot tubs, dog parks, yoga classes, a fitness center, an arcade, and a restaurant with delicious food. Not to mention the full bar that offers draft beer, wine and, mixed drinks.
Some resorts we have stayed at had water parks, bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, indoor and outdoor pools, splash pads, live bands, karaoke night, corn hole, basketball, and pickleball courts.
If you want to stay at a Sun Outdoors Resort but don’t have an RV, they have cottages you can rent for the whole family. They feature full kitchens, a patio with a BBQ grill, and some even come with a rooftop deck.
Airstream Village - Granby, Colorado
River Run RV Resort in Granby, Colorado, not only has a cottage you can rent, but they have Covered Wagons and an Airstream Village.
They provide a parking area and wagons to cart your belongings to your wagon or trailer. These options offer everyone a great way to experience the resort if you don’t already own an RV.
Covered Wagons - Granby, Colorado
We have stayed at over a dozen Sun Outdoor resorts in the last 15 months of our travel, and we will continue using them as our first choice as we travel around the United States.
Our favorite Sun Outdoors Resorts we have stayed at are Carolina Pines in Conway, South Carolina, River Run RV Resort in Granby, Colorado, and one of their newest resorts, Sun Outdoors Sand Diego Bay in Chula Vista, California.
What about KOA?
We stay at KOA Kampgounds, but they are not our first choice.
KOA offers its own experience across its resort platform but is a more "campy" experience, hence their name, Kampgrounds of America. The dirt campsites do not blend well with two kids and a dog, and we prefer the dirt to stay outside, which is not always the case at the KOA.
Five reasons we shy away from using KOA Kampgrounds?
We usually find the sites smaller and sometimes hard to get in and out on moving days.
The campsites are rarely very level and can create issues if your RV has a hard time with automatic stabilizers or has difficulty getting level in other situations.
Up charging for kids is also a reason we avoid the KOA. Although they provide playgrounds, they are more suited for small children, so our children never use them. $5 per kid per day for amenities we won't use significantly increases our weekly stays.
Wi-fi signals usually are not the best. I would blame this not only on the trees and other obstructions also because most of their wi-fi systems are older and cannot handle the bandwidth demands of current devices.
Price. You often end up paying far more for a KOA site than you would just by driving a little further down the road to another campground. We are sure this is because of the fees campground owners pay to be part of the KOA Kampground network.
We are not in any way saying KOA isn't an excellent place to stay during your travels.
These are just our personal preferences of what we avoid when planning our stays and budgeting our experiences.