Alamogordo/ White Sands KOA Campground Review
The Alamogordo/White Sands KOA is the perfect Alamogordo, New Mexico, home base to explore White Sands National Park and beyond!
In the review below, you’ll find everything you need to know about this campground from site photos to an overview of the property’s amenities.
While we were on our 6-week road trip through New Mexico and Arizona, we stayed at this KOA for several days, and fully got to explore every nook and cranny.
Located in the heart of Alamogordo, this campground is near local grocery stores and restaurants and within easy driving distance of White Sands National Park, White Sands Missile Range, Holloman Air Force Base, Pistachioland, the New Mexico Museum of Space History, and much more.
If you’re looking for a family friendly campground that’s perfect for relaxing, you won’t do better than this one.
The Camping Kiddos pedal around the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA
Alamogordo KOA: What to Consider
We’ve stayed in many KOA campgrounds over the years, from the sprawling Cape Hatteras/ Outer Banks KOA in Rodanthe, North Carolina, to the action-packed Alamosa KOA in Alamosa, Colorado.
But of all of the KOAs we’ve visited, the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA might be the friendliest!
Hands-On Owners
Owned by husband and wife team Kelly and Sandy, this campground feels welcoming from the moment you step through the door to check in.
While some KOA owners are hard to find (and in some cases, non-existent, as they leave the day-to-day operations to a management team), Kelly and Sandy were busy around the property throughout our stay.
These hands-on owners were happy to answer questions, show us around the campground, and offer up suggestions on where to eat and get groceries.
Sandy, in particular, was incredible with my kids, who made fast friends with her. She went out of her way to let us know about the different things that were happening around the campground so we wouldn’t miss out on a single second of fun!
Location of the Campground
We stayed here between our visits in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
We’d enjoyed staying at Lake Brantley State Park in Carlsbad previously, but my kids were itching to settle at a campground that had more kid-friendly amenities.
Plus, I wanted a campground that was convenient to everything in Alamogordo, and not just White Sands National Park since we were there to do both the national park and several other excursions.
The Alamogordo KOA is located in the heart of the city and about equidistant from Tularose, New Mexico, and the entrance to White Sands National Park. This puts the entirety of Alamogordo’s sightseeing options within a 20-25 minute drive.
The location, friendly staff, and amenities were huge factors in why this campground made my list of the best family campgrounds in New Mexico!
What to explore near the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA!
Camping Options near Alamogordo, New Mexico
If you’re in town just to visit White Sands National Park, you’ll likely want to stay outside of the park.
The park only offers backcountry, hike-in tent camping (which currently isn’t even open due to campsite rehabilitation), so if you’re in an RV or want any hook-ups or amenities, you’ll need to look elsewhere for a campground.
And that means you’re going to be camping in Alamogordo, so prepare yourself for more of a city camping experience and not a wide-open-views sort of camping.
There are 4 RV parks in Alamogordo:
575 RV Park, and
White Sands Community RV and Manufactured Homes Park (scroll to the bottom of the page for RV rentals).
All of these have city views and are in a mixture of commercial and residential districts, so that component stays the same regardless of which you choose.
PIN ME!
Zia Skies RV Park was too small for what I was looking for (only 12 sites), and it shares a property with a storage facility.
575 RV Park is a bit larger with 26 sites and full hook-ups but lacked a pool, playground or laundry. That wasn’t going to work for us since we were here for several days, and I wanted more for the kids to do.
The White Sands Community RV and Manufactured Homes Park is much larger than the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA with 371 lots—the KOA has 62 sites for comparison.
The White Sands Community also has a playground and pool, an indoor communal area, and on-site laundry.
However, I prefer to stay at campgrounds that are just campgrounds instead of ones with storage facilities, mobile homes, or a large percentage of long-term residents.
Ultimately, the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA won out for us, and it was just as great in person as it was on all of the reviews that I read.
Alamogordo/ White Sands KOA Campground Review
With its convenient location in the heart of Alamogordo, easy access from Highway 54, many amenities, friendly staff, and shaded lots, the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA was one of the highlights on our entire Arizona and New Mexico road trip.
(And, no, I am not an affiliate, nor was any part of my stay covered by the campground. We’re just happy customers!)
Because of all of the amenities, you could easy use this as your home base for an entire vacation in Alamogordo, sledding in White Sands and hiking in the Sacramento Mountains, and then relaxing by the pool at night.
We had a memorable stay in our 22’ Winnebago Micro Minnie 1800 travel trailer, but the campground also has spots for longer trailers and RVs, tents, and cabins.
Check-in Process
The Camping Kiddos were REALLY amazed at the size of this cactus near the office!
After making our way from Carlsbad, New Mexico, and through the Sacramento Mountains, my kids, my dad, and I were ready to set up at our new site and relax for a bit.
Once we were in Alamogordo, the campground was easy to find. We took one turn off of Highway 54, the main north-south route through town, and then one more turn took us into the campground entrance.
We arrived around 3 PM, about 2 hours after the daily check-in time.
There was one other family checking in ahead of us, but there was plenty of room for us to park our trailer and truck while I went in to get our site number. I liked that the driveway to the campground is long, so those RVs waiting to check in aren’t sticking out onto 24th Street that runs in front of the campground.
Sandy, who I later found out was the owner, was working the front desk, and she welcomed me to the campground and got me quickly to my site.
She included a packet of information on the campground, its amenities, and local attractions, which was helpful later as we organized our time in town.
Overall, the campground was easy to find, and check-in was a breeze.
Setting Up Camp
We stayed in site 27, which is one of the pull-through campsites with full hook-ups.
Because of the way that the campground is laid out, we were able to easily pull around to the back of our site and scoot through without any problems.
Getting to our campsite was very doable for our shorter trailer, and I think that even larger campers would be able to make the necessary turns without issue.
Individual Campsite Review
My dad works the grill next to our camper
Site 27 included both 50 and 30 amp electrical hook-ups; my travel trailer uses 30 amp. Normally, I would’ve tried to nab one of the solely 30 amp sites, which tend to be a little cheaper, but none were available when I went to book.
The 30/50 amp site was just a few dollars more, so I booked it.
It did not come with cable TV, but we rarely watch anything while we’re camping, so that wasn’t a deal breaker. There are sites on-property with cable hook-ups if that is a priority.
Our campsite was towards the end of the row near the front of the campground. Despite being fairly close to the exterior fence, we didn’t hear much road noise, if any. The road that the campground is on is a smaller side street with houses and few industrial businesses on it, so there’s not a lot of through traffic to be bothered by.
One thing that I really liked about the sites was that there were colorful privacy walls between them. These formed a right angle around the picnic table, so that each campsite didn’t have their neighbors staring directly at them while they were eating.
Our campsite was level and long enough for our trailer with space behind the trailer to park our truck.
It also had a bit of shade thanks to the trees that were scattered around our lot. We still had plenty of room to extend our awning because of the tree placement at the front and back of the lot.
Cabins and Tent Camping
If you’d like to stay here but don’t have an RV or travel trailer, there are 6 camping cabins. 2 of them are on the opposite side of the campground that where we stayed, and the remaining 4 were at the end of our row next to the exterior fence.
These cabins are typical of what you’ll find at KOA campgrounds. They are basic with a double bed along one wall, a set of bunk beds on the other and a dresser near the door.
There is a small covered porch, but no kitchenette or bathroom facilities.
NOTE: Cabin campers are near the office building, which also houses the bath houses. Unlike other, larger KOAs that we’ve stayed at, there isn’t a communal kitchen or grilling area, so you’ll need to bring a cooler of grab-and-go foods, or plan to eat out during your stay.
The 4 tent sites are located directly behind the pool and office building. These are very convenient to the bath houses, laundry, and camp office.
Campground Layout
The campground’s entrance is off of 24th street and about a block from Highway 54. The campground itself is a large rectangle, and it is surrounded on 3 sides by homes and industrial sites.
While the area surrounding the campground isn’t aesthetic at all, I never felt unsafe traveling to or from the campground, or hanging around the property. Plus, there’s a large stucco exterior fence that blocks much of the surrounding buildings from view.
As you make your way from the entrance, the camp office will be directly ahead. If you turn to the left, that’s the section of the campground that we stayed in. If you were to turn to the right, there are 2 more rows for larger campers and trailers.
The pool and playground are located behind the camp office, and the bath houses are on the left side of that same building.
On the other side of the pool and playground are the tent sites and about half a dozen additional RV/trailer sites.
Alamogordo/ White Sands KOA Amenities and Activities
While you’re in town, you’re sure to have plenty of things to see and do.
But, if you’re like my family, you also want to hang out and relax a bit, too.
Here are the amenities that you’ll find at this campground:
Pool
The pool is open seasonally (roughly from Memorial Day to Labor Day), but you’ll have to ask about exact dates when you book as they can change slightly from year to year because of maintenance schedules and weather.
During the summer months, the weather during the day warms up so that a dip in the refreshing pool is just what you’ll need at the end of the day.
The pool is fenced in, and it has both a shallow and deep end. These sections of the pool are clearly marked with a buoy line so that less confident swimmers won’t get out of their depth.
Playground
My kids loved the playground here. It’s not huge, but there is a slide, covered play tower, and a big rope climbing area that they kept calling “the spiderweb.”
The playground has a mulch floor, which helps cushion the blow if anyone adventures a bit too hard.
The playground equipment itself isn’t shaded, but there is a bench area for parents or kids taking a break under some tree cover.
It’s a great place to take your kids to blow off some steam before doing the bath-and-bedtime routine.
Pedal Car Rentals
The Camping Kiddos zoom around the campground
Take a couple of laps around the campground for a fun experience!
You’ll see these pedal cars right next to the front door—my kids clocked them the first day at check-in.
They’re just a few dollars to rent for about 30 minutes, which is more than enough time to get very tired as you cruise around the campsites.
The seats are adjustable, so my 6 and 10 year olds could easily find the most comfortable fit, and I even was able to jump it and readjust to drive.
I appreciated that the pedal cars each had a bright orange safety flag on the back, which made them more visible to people driving in the campground.
Camp Store
This is one of the most well stocked camp stores we’ve found in a KOA.
You’ll find camp store staples like s’mores fixings, bags of chips, and candy bars, but also t-shirts, postcards, home decor, blankets, and much more.
My kids were so enthralled with this store that it became a right of passage to visit it at least once a day to make sure we looked at everything in it.
Rec Room
The rec room was a HUGE bonus for us while staying here! Our trailer is tiny, so we are always looking for fun things to do in the campgrounds we visit to get us out of there.
The rec room at the KOA has foosball, a TV, table with free coloring sheets and crayons, baby/toddler toys, and card tables.
While other KOA campground have had one or more of these items in their communal areas, we’ve never seen one that had all of this. We had a couple of overcast late afternoons during our stay, and we hung out in the rec room for hours.
Movie and Book Lending Library
There are 2 extensive lending libraries in the rec room: stacks of movies (all alphabetized) and a little free library of kid and adult books.
Both run on the honors system, and you can even keep one of the books if you leave one!
We checked out several of the movies to watch before the kids went to bed, and they thought it was such a treat to have “new” movies each night.
Sand Sled Rentals
If you’re going to White Sands National Park nearby, you need to go sledding!
While you can buy a sand saucer at the park, it’s expensive for what you get and most of us don’t want to haul around sand sleds for the rest of our vacation.
The KOA here offers up sand sled rentals and wax for those staying on property, which was so much easier than having to buy and then store our own saucers for the rest of our 6-week road trip.
Just ask at the front desk the day before you plan to visit White Sands, and you’ll get your sleds reserved. If you’re leaving for the park very early in the morning, you can take them with you overnight, or, if you don’t plan to go to White Sands until after the camp store opens, you can pick them up on your way out of the campground.
>> For more information on what to expect, check out my post on the best White Sands National Park sledding tips! <<
Morning Coffee
Each morning, the staff (usually one of the owners) sets up a free coffee, tea, and hot cocoa stand in the camp store lobby.
Campground guests are welcome to stop by for a fresh, hot cup of their favorite morning beverage.
The kids loved walking down to the office each morning to fetch cocoa and coffee for our family. While we were there in late May, the mornings were still cool, and the warm beverages were greatly appreciated.
Popcorn Afternoons
My kids have never passed up snack time, so you can imagine their excitement when they found out that Sandy, the owner, was planning on having a free popcorn stand one of the afternoons we were visiting.
We were the first in line when the popcorn stand opened up, and the fresh, hot, salty snack was delicious.
It’s small things like this that really elevated our time at this campground.
Laundry
Attached to the camp store is the laundry room, which has an entire wall of washers and dryers.
There’s also a folding table and a wheeled laundry basket to help you get your clothes to and from each of the machines.
It is a coin operated laundry, but there is a change machine inside.
Bath House
On the back of the office building is the bath house.
While these aren’t decorated with high end tile like we saw in the Goodland KOA in Kansas, these bathrooms were always clean and well attended.
The bathrooms close for about an hour mid-morning for their daily restock and cleaning, so you are assured of getting a freshly scrubbed shower.
Final Thoughts on Alamogordo KOA
Without a doubt, I would not hesitate to stay at this campground again!
It was one of the cleanest and most attended to campground that we’ve visited, and I loved how hands-on the owners were.
The Rodwick family has gone above and beyond in creating a campground that feels like an escape within the midst of a busy city, and it’s truly somewhere you’ll be excited to return to after a day of sightseeing or hiking.
The number of amenities here means that your kids won’t ever get bored, and the campground is a manageable size so that you can roam around without feeling like you’re going to get lost.
The campground is incredibly convenient to nearby restaurants, big box stores, and White Sands National Park, and it is an excellent place to call your home away from home.
