Cottonwood Campground

Arrived in Big Bend National Park during a snowstorm, luckily our first night was in Cottonwood, in lower elevations. Roads got better as we went down to Cottonwood. Nice level sites, not too close together (I forgot to take pictures). There is NO cell reception in the campground even with a booster; however, if you drive up the hill to the visitors center, they offer Wifi (I did not confirm as I did not walk in), and I was also able to get AT&T cell service from the visitor center parking lot; NO Verizon.

I paid $8 with senior pass, normally $16; vault toilets only, there is potable water tap.
Small store near visitors center.

This is a simple campsite with only vault toilets and no running water. Pluses: raised pads with lots of shade widely spaced so it was VERY quiet. Negatives: no running water and when I was there (Jan 2022) lots of standing water which made some site unusable. Also only water in one location which I did not use. I also had no cell (verizon) coverage.

Finally the campground is fenced to keep out the javelinas (wild boars). I did not see any while I was there.

We stayed first in Rio Grande Village, which was more crowded and noisy with generators audible even in the No generator zone. We had NO cell signal there at all. Reservations only, online and we made ours six months in advance. Then we moved to Cottonwood, also reservation online only, but TWO WEEKS ahead! So we made the reservations exCtly 2 weeks before. We DID have cell service at Cottonwood. Weak but serviceable on our T-Mobile hotspot. One bar on each of our phones, one Verizon and one AT&T. That was with our WeBoost booster!
Cottonwood is lovely. Quiet. Spacious. Great birding and close to all the West side sites including Santa Elena Canyon. We LOVED it here. Water available at entrance. But no hookups. Great place to get away from it all.

After spending 5 nights in Rio Grande Village Campground, we moved to the west side so we could enjoy the hikes and drives on the other side. This is a smaller campground - all dry camping. There are maybe 2 dozen spots. It was relatively empty when we arrived 10/31 and spent 4 nights. We were able to find one suitable for our 27 ft TT. We preferred the more open space of this campground. No flush toilets or dish washing station like RGV but they did have vault/pit toilets and a place to refill water bottles.
Perfect location to explore Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, Chisos (we couldn't fit there), and Santa Elena Canyon.
No cell, no internet, no TV, not even a radio station - perfect place to unplug!

We stayed here for one night in mid-February. This is beautiful campground just minutes away from Santa Elena Canyon(one of the most beautiful spots in the park). Be advised the rows in the campground are very narrow and most sites are meant for smaller rigs. We were able to shoehorn our 30' Airstream into one of the larger spots, but any larger rigs may have some trouble. This campground is a NO GENERATOR ZONE, so you must be self-sufficient to stay here. There is water available at the entrance and vault toilets if needed. Very quiet and peaceful. A great place to stay to check out the western side of the park. Many great hiking trails and if the clouds will cooperate get up early and try to catch the sunrise at Santa Elena Canyon. Although we weren't able to fit it in, there were also rafting trips on the Rio Grande that looked like an interesting way to explore.

No generator campground! Absolutely love that. Under the cottonwoods and very widely spaced spots. The spaces are not very deep, though, so long rigs might have trouble. The bathrooms are clean. The reverse osmosis drinking water is at the spigot on the building at the entrance. Other water is potable, but has a lot of minerals. We didn't find the reverse osmosis stuff very good either. Sites are gravel but roads are paved. The Vermillion Flycatcher that claimed our site as his home was so great. He hung around the whole time we were there.

Old-school NPS campground with everything you need (water, bathrooms, space) for a weekend or week-long trip to this side of the Park. The cottonwood trees that you camp under are amazing as well as the daily visits from the local Javelina family.

As others have mentioned, the place can and does flood, so if you are tent camping, plan accordingly. The RV spaces are elevated. Our 27' trailer would only really fit in a few spots, so anything longer may be at risk of not having a large enough spot on holiday weekends.

We did get a fairly good Verizon signal down there with a booster.