Laguna Seca Recreation Area

AT&T speeds are very fast at 117 Mbps download and 23 Mbps upload. Verizon hit my plan cap of 50 Mbps down and 13 up. T-Mobile was 24/34. Verizon and T-Mobile were taken with a roof mounted Pepwave antenna.

The access road into the place is extremely steep with a 16% grade. You check in at an entry hut and they direct you to your site. You have to follow another steep winding road to the campground on top of the hill.

The campground was lush with lots of shade trees. Site spacing was generous depending on the place. Our site was very unlevel and needed the max of 4 inches from our Anderson blocks. There is a water hookup but it's not potable. No issues with electric hookups. There was a fee for bringing pets.

Noise levels weren't great due to landing aircraft and a shooting range on the property. Both stopped after dark.

Dump station was open at the time of writing.

We were in the "Chaparral" campground, site 3 which situated our class A for spectacular views out of the front windshield. The site was fairly level with old, well worn and soft asphalt surface. We switched from site 1 due to the very uneven and too-narrow condition. It's still a nice place to stay. We were not there during any sort of race event, so it was quiet. The hosts tell us it can get really loud on race days. The bathrooms are decent (we didn't use the free showers) but in need of updating and better cleaning, overall not bad though. The sites are all 30amp with non-potable water hookups. No sewer but there is a dump station. Though we never attached a water hose for fear of contamination, we were told the non-potable status was due to arsenic. We were told you can wash dishes and shower, but not drink it. We chose not to and relied on our own water supply. Be aware there is a 1/4 mile 16% grade up to the entrance gate after you turn off CA68 into the raceway. After the gate there's a very hard left (almost 180 degree) turn to go up into the Chaparral campground. Monterey and Cannery Row are about 15 minutes away. The staff and hosts are very friendly and helpful making us feel very welcome there. There are several hike and bike trails accessible from the campground. My T-Mobile 5G hotspot averaged 60 - 80 mbps download. I don't think the park has WiFi. For $46 a night we felt it was a good deal.

We tent camped in the infield for 10+ years while attending races here in the 80-90’s. I admit I looked up the hill at the RV campers with a little envy. Fast forward and we are now RVers, and not missing our old tent much.

I was reluctant to book a site based on the unimpressive satellite image of the place. Very happy we did. In general, the sites are clean (except for trash left in the fire pit by previous occupant. Slobs!), spacious and views in every direction. Ours had a great view of the world famous raceway. Others will have foothill views or lower views of the nearby golf course. There are oaks disbursed throughout the campground. They have sites to accommodate all sizes of RV’s and most appear to be reasonable back-in. Some would be challenging, at least for me.

Now for the part some reviews have complained about: noise. It’s next to a race track (duh), there’s a gun range nearby and the airport is in the vicinity (all things I love). There were no cars running this weekend, the gun range was barely noticeable as was the case for plane noise. If you are noise sensitive, don’t stay. If you do, don’t write a poor review because of your choice.

This is a great campground. We are already planning our return. It’s close to all things on the Monterey Peninsula. We’ve been coming to Monterey for 40 years and pretty much avoid the tourist spots, but we enjoy the Big Sur area, random drives in the hills and visiting farms/wineries.

And, the staff are great. Friendly and helpful.

We camped up on the Corkscrew in 554. While this site does not afford a direct view of the Corkscrew, we would take that side again in order to watch the racing as you can walk easily to a spot that affords one a good view of it. There was enough room to get our 23 ft camper into the spot and we did not hear the gun range other folks talked about. We were there for a race event and it rocked!
Can’t wait for next year.

We loved it here! We stayed here in April 2022 and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Big sites w/ 30 amp power and fantastic views of the valley and the ocean. The showers were hot and everything was clean. Water pressure was a little on the low side but still very do-able. Now if only we could get a permit to take the RV on the track ….