Camping Near Big Bend national Park Texas

PawPaw_n_Gram know of what they speak^^^^

Stay in the Park; You'll lose too much time getting back and forth otherwise. Take some of the hikes - Highly recommend The Window, Lost Mine, at least part of the way to Emory Peak, RGV Nature Trail, Santa Elena. Don't miss a dip in the Hot Springs. Take your passports and visit Boquillas. Drive all of the back roads you have time for (just make sure you're prepared). Check to see if cabin #101 might have an opening during your stay.

We have not been at this campground in about four or five years and I have read that owners have changed. When we were there the park employees were very nice.

It is just a few miles North of the East entrance of Big Bend national Park is the https://stillwellstore.com/. The sites are gravel and most are full hook-ups. Lots of parking but not a RESORT.

This is about 58 miles from Study Butte but a pretty drive.

Absolutely drive the River rd, plan on spending a full day. You'll see ruins, old mines, you can go by the hot springs and will follow the river for quite a ways.

We drove most of the backroads in the western section of the park, we missed a couple of the eastern roads. Most are mildly interesting at best. With one exception, Black Gap Road is a real and serious 4WD trail so we skipped that one since our 23 ft long 4WD F-350 just isn't suited for that sort of road. If you have a Jeep you may want to consider that but be sure to research it first. There are YouTube videos on that trail and you should talk to the park rangers before trying it.

To keep it simple, if you want to spend several days roaming the park in your Jeep (no problem seeing bunches of things to keep occupied), and want full hookups, stay at the Rio Grande Village RV Campground operated by the general store there. If you'd rather use your generator and have access to flush toilets stay at the Rio Grande Village Campground operated by the NPS. There are over 125 miles of paved roads in the park and this will save you bunches of driving. The only meal service is in the Chisos Basin which is a great place to be at sunset! (I've been going there for 50 years.)

I got a lot of Big Bend one spring/summer when we were campground hosts at the Chisos Basin. My sig pic was taken there.

No way I could camp there in a regular spot with my 36’ trailer.

For a short visit I would recommend two or three days in the NPS Rio Grande Village CG, followed by two days at Cottonwood CG. Your rig will fit at most spots in Cottonwood. But is no generators allowed.

For FHU - first choice is always the FHU parking lot run by the store in Rio Grande Village.

It is 35 miles from Study Butte, 43 from Terlingua to the Chisos Basin. Close to 65 to RGV about 55 to Santa Elena Canyon/ Castelon.

The FHU commercial campgrounds are all basically a gravel parking area, some with RV pull thru spots, some backin. Maverick in LaJitas is the ‘best’ of the lot.

Cottonwood Store about a mile from the west entrance has a nice selection of food and staples.

Remember Big Bend is at least two hours drive past any near reasonable prices for fuel, propane, food, repair parts.

Heck, On-Star could not locate or unlock vehicles in the Chisos Basin

But it is an incredible place, not to be missed.

2gypsies wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Rio Grande Village RV Campground. It basically just a dirt parking lot but has FHU.

Rio Grande Village 'campground' does not have full hookups. This is the one we enjoyed with our 40' MH. No hookups but bigger sites.

The Rio Grande Village RV park nearby has full hookups and it's paved. It can take a 40' MH.

The park is huge and staying in the park saves a lot of driving and gives a better experience of being right there.

Whoops you are right the one I was thinking of is the Big Bend Resort & Adventures RV Park & Campground (Big Bend Motor Inn). Which is outside the park at Sturdy Butte

We stay a week at the Village RV park and then another week at Maverick Ranch RV Park in Lajitas Texas when we go

agesilaus wrote:
Rio Grande Village RV Campground. It basically just a dirt parking lot but has FHU.

Rio Grande Village 'campground' does not have full hookups. This is the one we enjoyed with our 40' MH. No hookups but bigger sites.

The Rio Grande Village RV park nearby has full hookups and it's paved. It can take a 40' MH.

The park is huge and staying in the park saves a lot of driving and gives a better experience of being right there.

Just outside the west entrance is Terlingua. An old mercury mining ghost town. There is a private park with fhu. The park is basic, there is shopping, also central to visit Big Bend & Rio Grande SP. to the west.
The sites to see in BB are toward the west side such as Santa Elena Canyon, Jacals ( pronounced Hacal) dwellings of early residents.
Look for, do not buy from the Mexicans who wade across the river to sell their crafts.
They are safe, its wrong to encourage what they do.

enblethen wrote:
We stayed at Rio Grande Village as we were there during winter cold spell. They have hook-ups. There is not many supplies or fuel available so come prepared.
The adjacent NPS Campground looked good. No hook-ups.
Lots of trees and wildlife through out the park.
Big Bend

We stayed one night in the non-FHU 3 years ago - in January. Saw a javelina walk past the front of the van camper in our campsite while star gazing. It's pretty much a dark sky park at night. And everyone who mentioned bring what you need for your entire stay, is correct. Even the gas station at the little c/g store looked closed for business when we were there. The PPU showers (I think there were 3 total) were not terribly clean looking. Not a problem if you're self contained/FHU ready.
It does feel middle of nowhere, but we liked that. Some of the land adjacent to the river was flooded when we went down to the river's edge for a walk before we turned in for the night. Not sure why.
The FHU c/g was almost full, and the non-FHU wasn't even close to full, which struck me as odd in January. I thought there would be more snowbirds down there escaping the cold. Some of the FHU c/g rigs were from Canada. A class A would do OK in the FHU campground, and I think there were some large pull-throughs and back-ins in the non FHU c/g.
I guess the main snowbirds group were all roosting in Yuma. It was packed.