Bulow RV Resort - Thousand Trails

The entrance from main road is tight (curbs and columns), but we just used 2 lanes to swing wide enough to line up the entry. No problem. The drive into the park is beautiful – long treed drive, white fences, and mossy oaks. Our site was a back in 50a full hook up. The campsite was grass/sand but it was wide and deep so we had no issues getting in. The campground looks very ‘southern’ with grass and moss covered trees. The area we were in was arranged in ‘buddy sites’ which is odd – our camp side faced the neighbors camp side and our utility side backed on to our neighbors utilities, but the neighbors were great on both sides. If you had loud neighbors, it could be an issue, but everyone in our area was great. A couple of neighbors had a hard time getting setup in an adjacent site that was a ‘pull in’ (truck first but not pull through, not back in).

Amenities. Pool is very nice. Activities are offered even in summer (some FL parks discontinue all activities in summer). No cable TV. Very limited local channels.

Staff was very friendly.

I worked full time remote on internet with no issues, we visited local attractions, state park, beach, St Augustine, friends and family in the area.

We would stay here again

We use cellular router and keep multiple sim cards. We test download speeds when we arrive. We found router downloads:
TMobile 52 mbps (but frequently dropped)
Verizon 10 mbps
ATT 5 mbps

We received a complimentary 1 year Thousand Trails membership when we purchased our new RV recently so thought we’d give it a try. As many have noted, the location is great and the property itself is nice. We were assigned a site in the back section of the park among primarily old, unkempt and/or derelict trailers and manufactured homes. Many had additions and looked like they were occupied full time. The campsites at the front of the park were more what we would typically expect. It seemed like many updates are sorely overdue. The experience did not help to convince us that purchasing a membership with Thousand Trails would be worth the investment.

The beautiful grounds and lovely pool starkly contrasted to the loud, disruptive campers, overflowing garbage dumpsters, muddy sites, cold showers, and dismal, run down, permanent sites that emitted moldy smells.

Pros
-Beautiful grounds with lovely tree hammocks and trails.
-The sugar mill ruins next door.
-The perfect location-15 minutes from the wonderful town of Flagler Beach
-The pool area was pretty.
-The laundromat takes credit/debit cards.
- Some of the other campers were friendly. -One worker was friendly.

Cons
-squalid, overcrowded, miserable living conditions in the permanent sites.
-no hot water in showers
-moldy bathrooms
-staff who greeted you didn’t make eye contact or welcome you
- muddy, sandy sites and roads
-overflowing garbage in dumpsters
-big poo piles in the dog park
-very loud place with screaming kids, incessant barking dogs, someone playing the trumpet poorly, people singing loudly with their karaoke machines, and blaring outdoor televisions.

Our first site was tight and backwards from our hook ups as we would have to run 30 so feet to the front. Long term site was old and they decided to spray paint their trailer next to our new motor coach and Jeep. Plus sit at our table and smoke which went into our ac. We asked to move with no issues and the staff was very friendly and nice.
New site shaded still a little tight but ok for our Workcation as we don’t sit outside much.
Grounds and facilities very well kept. 2 dog parks and lots of tree lined areas and canals to walk. Would definitely revisit

All in all nice park. There is a very large fenced in area with big Oaks and grassy areas to walk. Nice Looking pool but did not have a chance to try. The space we had was sand and grass level. The sewer connection is uphill though, Plenty of room to get set up and park the truck. Restrooms were clean. Nice Dog Park. Check in is a touchless procedure. When you pull into the park go past the pool and start down the main road through the park right after you pass the pool you will see a small house with a bulletin board right on the road that will have your check in information.

Negatives Typical Thousand Trails probably half of the sites are taken up by Long term/yearly campers some of which are showing wear and tear. You are given a packet of rules and regs Which say your rig has to be clean and nice it also says no golf carts. Well let's say it's not enforced.

Overall it is a pretty park and we would stay here again.

We really enjoyed our stay here. We have TT and didn’t have issues, our site was back in and full hook ups. Just call ahead to make sure you are in the correct site.

Pros:
- pretty park with lots of trees and water. We enjoyed watching the gators, turtles and birds.
- nice pool
- clean overall
- friendly staff
- the area is great, Flagler beach is adorable and this park is a good hub for surrounding areas
- just down the road from a state park
- sites range from tight to spacious, ours was a good size

Cons
- the bar music Thursday- Saturday is annoying if you want to sit outside at night or are close enough to hear while trying to sleep
- there seems to be an issue with appropriate timing of garbage pick up as the dumpsters overflowed for days
- one spot in the water needs some garbage picked out.

First I booked a standard site apparently that is with no sewer ok that’s on me I guess. Just water and electric and no honey wagon to offer for dumps, seriously?! I understand your full it’s peak season, we ended up with buddy sites ( I had never heard of) basically we were supposed to pull in instead of back in and stare at our neighbors across from us…. Nope! There is a site in front of us so we asked to move over one to give the guy behind us more room and so my digs don’t bark every time they come out of their rv. Nope can’t move site is booked, the person is still not here for this site and when we tried talking to Alicia in the office still no , asked for park managers number was told he would call, never called us. So then after calling up there for an hour and her REFUSING to answer the phone we get Justin’s number call and leave a message. Someone named holly calls us and threatens to kick us out and ban us because we want to move sites, what in the world! Honestly the park is just ok it’s pretty and the pups like it but I have never been made to feel so unimportant and that I wasn’t a paying customer because I was thousand trails. I wrote all the because I see the owner responds hoping to get some kind of response because the treatment we received was just horrible

So it’s included in my membership at no cost.
It is a pretty campground with lots of green grass and large trees and a creek running thru it. Full hookups Included my site #237 had a medium sized concrete pad. It was a pull thru, even though the directions on the map left for me with my site assignment pinned to the board on entrance said to circle around and back in which I did. This park has a nice swimming pool area, laundry, and several other activities. My Verizon works, good strong signal. Plenty of open space to setup my dish for satellite TV. I’m a happy camper. Good water pressure. And no problem with power. I would say this is one of the nicer parks I’ve stayed at. And it’s a great location to Daytona, the beaches and racetrack.

Campground Name: Bulow RV Resort
Location: Flagler Beach, FL
Overall Campground Rating (1-5): 3
Maneuverability*: It’s a little tricky getting into the campground and doesn’t seem wide enough turning in but it’s fine. Other than that, it’s easy to get around. I don’t think big rigs would have any issues.
Campground Notes: Beautiful campground with lakes and trees with Spanish moss hanging down.

Site #: 305
Site Rating (1-5): 2
Site Notes: Bulow has weird pull-in spots. They are not pull-through but you’re supposed to pull head in. Probably not a big deal if you have a Class A/B/C, but with our Travel Trailer or a 5th Wheel its hard to drive in and then try to back your truck around your trailer and the trees, etc. Site was full hookups with 50 amp electric. Water had a yellow tint our two water filters couldn’t get rid of but no funny taste or smell. Site is tight, only a couple feet from your neighbor on the utility side, but the door side had plenty of space. Our site had a picnic table but no fire ring.

Amenity Rating (1-5): 4
Amenity Notes: Pool was open but we didn’t use it. Also had mini-golf and horseshoes but we didn’t use those either. We did use the laundry room which was large and cheap ($1.25 each and took credit cards) but 3 dryers were out-of-order. Every Tuesday they had a featured food they sold there, Taco Salad when we were there, but we didn’t go. They also had crafts and activities.

Reason for camping here: Northern most campground in Florida on our way South.
Miscellaneous Notes: Closest Thousand Trails to Clay County if you use St. Brendan’s Isle as your mail service. About an hour from Jacksonville and also close to the beaches.

Dates Stayed: 11/30/2020 – 12/6/2020
Price Paid: $0, with Thousand Trails membership
Weather: It was nice when we got there, in the 70s, but then had a cold snap and nights were down in the 30s. Sunny every day.
Verizon Cell Quality**: Excellent Signal, averaged 79.6 Mb/s down and 8.3 Mb/s up
T-Mobile Cell Quality**: Excellent Signal, averaged 11.1 Mb/s down and 3.2Mb/s up
Mail: We did not have any mail delivered to this campground.

* For reference we are pulling a 33’ long Jayco travel trailer with a 2016 F350 Crew Cab Short Bed 4x4 which is 22’ with hitch giving us a total length of 55’.
**For reference we have two Google Pixel 2 XL on Verizon ‘Play More” unlimited data plans. For data we have an Inseego 8800L on Verizon’s expired prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. In areas of low signal we use a Netgear 6000450 MIMO antenna. For T-Mobile we have an Alcatel Linkzone 2 and our plan is through Calyx Institute. Measurements are taken using the “Multi” test on Speedtest by Ookla.

A review by sdplusztravels, a fulltime family of three living on the road in a RV. This review is our opinion and we have not been sponsored or compensated by anyone. Follow us on Instagram (@sdplusztravels) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SDplusZ/).