Santa Cruz (Watsonville) KOA

If your considering Smithwoods in Felton I would check out Santa Cruz Redwoods RV park which is close by. We stayed there in march and also checked out Smithwoods. We all thought Santa Cruz redwoods was better for us.

Checked into the New Brighton grounds and as you all said, they are all booked up for the weekends. But looking at Google maps, it will be going on our list of possible spots in the future.

The KOA is expensive but still cheaper than a hotel room and we do have two small boys 6 & 1 so I think it will be worth the $80-$100/night (depending on our site).

Any other alternatives in the area?

We've stayed here, and probably won't again. It is fun if you have small children, for the fun zone...but it is SOOOOO EXPENSIVE!! Too expensive, I think!

We just live down the road in Carmel.

Smithwoods RV in Felton is much better, and prettier, and also has a pool and full hook ups and fun things to do! New Brighton SP is amazing as well as Sunset State Beach.

New Brighton is woodsy and has 10 full hookups and is very nice.
The spots near the cliff are very windy and have no hookups but the ones away from there are roomy with a lot of bushes and trees.

I stayed in spot 50, #47 and 48 are together and cramped, the others are better but small.

Seacliff has 26 full hookups but is a parking lot on the beach. It is close to town and attractions.

Both of these need some lead time to get into, they are booked up most weekends. At least the full hookups are.

Smithwoods has full hookups and in the woods but is older and a bit cramped.

clubhouse wrote:
Have you considered New Brighton SP? Haven't been to the KOA, sounds nice based of the previous posters comments, but wattsonville is still a bit far from the areas we prefer. Out family goes to the Santa Cruz area often. Our First choice would be Seacliff SP (doubt you can get reservations at this point), next New Brighton( probably spots available), third is Smithwoods in Felton.

Do either of these spots offer hookups?

Have you considered New Brighton SP? Haven't been to the KOA, sounds nice based of the previous posters comments, but wattsonville is still a bit far from the areas we prefer. Out family goes to the Santa Cruz area often. Our First choice would be Seacliff SP (doubt you can get reservations at this point), next New Brighton( probably spots available), third is Smithwoods in Felton.

I stayed there in late May. It is a neat park if you have kids, lots of things to do as you can see from their Park Map

The WiFi was excellent and easy to access and the cable TV was one of the best in all of the parks that we stayed at.

We stayed in the back part away from the Fun zone because we asked for it, we had no kids that would use the attractions.

The place was clean and the bathrooms were very nice and clean. Some sites even had a concrete pad with a BBQ and chairs a tables, very nice. Look at the photos on their Website

What I liked about it was that the staff were very friendly and accommodating, on picking your space.

I also noted that as the day went on the new arrivals were not stacked all together but were spaced out so you had some room around you.

The spaces near the pool and all the fun stuff seemed larger and nicer with trees around.

As I said the staff was very nice and I saw some campers that toured the area then went back and made their choice, very accommodating.

Santa Cruz is not far away and I see that you have a Trailer and P/U so it would be easy to drive to as day trips, Don't miss the Board Walk in Santa Cruze.

I really enjoyed it and will definitely will go back.

Have Fun..

I stayed there 2 years ago in November and it was nice. A little expensive and we picked a site away from most of the other trailers. They wanted to give us a free upgrade to a pull thru site but we declined after seeing the lack of privacy. We prefer back in sites. Park was clean and had no issues. I think it was about 45 minutes to Monterey when we weren't stuck in traffic. The evening commute was bad around there. Good luck.

Never stayed there, but have checked it out...typical KOA. Close sites, lots of kid stuff, expensive and crowded...but, if you have kids it might fit the bill for you.
Have a good trip.
Here are a bunch of independent reviews..they seem to be all over the place. Once you open the link, scroll down.

Link.

My wife and I worked at the park a few years back and can say it's a great place to bring your children.They will have a great time and so will you.