MarksOnTheRoad
For Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve: Great location, facilities, and sites. The sites are sandy, mostly level (had to adjust slightly), and most will accommodate large rigs. We stayed 30 days in September 2015 in a 40' class A in site 242 and had plenty of room. Neighbors were quiet. The park is gated, but you're provided a code to exit/return at will. Wifi is provided but is heavily used and wasn't useful to us, even for basic browsing. Ants can be a problem, be prepared. Santee area has great shopping and restaurants.
Only complaint is the large number of "permanent" campers, only because they make it difficult to schedule here. After they stay 6 months, they leave for 2 weeks, then come right back. The "residents" call this the "site shuffle." This is an inexpensive way to live in sunny southern california, but it makes it difficult for others to visit the park. BTW If you want to stay 30+ day's call, don't book online. We'll be back again in the area in March 2016 (the next open slot at the Lakes) for another 30 day stay.
** Main entrance is on Fanita Parkway just north of Carlton Oaks Dr. It's easy to miss **
Posted Oct 13, 2015 by MarksOnTheRoad from Full Time RV'ing. This is the subjective opinion of a traveler and not of AllStays LLC.
Tuxedoville
For Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve: Lovely park, beautifully maintained. We were here mid-Sep & were prepared for ants, sprinkling Comet around our trailer's touchdown points as advised by the parks brochures. However, we saw none, but better safe than sorry. If you have kids, probably best to stay on the clubhouse side where the pool is, otherwise for quiet, like we prefer, choose the most eastern side, away from the "stream". It wasn't babbling when we were there, & was stagnant & a bit stinky. It is man made, using recycled water, so maybe there was a problem with it at the time.
Our only disappointment was the parks rule of no dogs south of the RV site area, so we couldn't go for a walk down around the lakes. Altho' allowed here, we never leave our dog unattended in a park, so it was a bit of a spoiler for us.
Level sites, excellent hook ups, fantastic wifi, and really nice staff. Altho approx 15 mi from San Diego, it's only a quick 15-20 min drive in on Hwy 52.
The park accommodates all size RVs. We were there in our 18' trailer, but we saw many large rigs.
Posted Sep 23, 2013 by Tuxedoville from Victoria, BC. This is the subjective opinion of a traveler and not of AllStays LLC.
cindy
For Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve: Nice, beautiful, wonderful rv camping experience. Our site was next to a babbling brook. Lakes for fishing, hubby caught a large mouth bass just goofing around (15"). Only issue, and not terrible, is the ants. They will get in unless you come up with something innovative. I love this place; too bad it is 1100 miles away!
Posted Sep 09, 2013 by cindy from sheridan, or. This is the subjective opinion of a traveler and not of AllStays LLC.
