Sanborn Park Campground

They have walk-in tent campsites and about 20 rv campsites with water and power. There is a dump station on the way out. Sites are small but have a cement picnic table and grill pit. Bathroom has two showers. You can get verizon cell reception by walking over to the firewood shed but no bars at the sites. Overall nice and quiet. Awesome hiking and mt biking trails. Beautiful area close to town.

We needed to be near Cupertino for a week (July 16-22), so this seemed like the best option. Unbeknownst to us, the roads to get back there are very winding, very tight, and have pretty steep inclines in a couple parts. In our Armada and 21' TT, we felt it was a bit dicey, but we did see a few larger rigs during our time, so it is technically feasible; we just didn't like doing it.

The camp host was very helpful and friendly. The bathrooms are kept clean, had very hot water, no charge for the showers. They have the 1-minute countdown so just keep pushing the button to keep your shower going.

The internet signal there is non-existent (AT&T). We could only get the free camp WiFi occasionally. If our spot had been closer to the bathroom, it would have been better. Our site also seemed to have some bug infestation in the tree right outside our door. Skinny stink-bug looking things were in our trailer constantly, despite best attempts to keep doors closed. Not biting or anything, but incredibly annoying! It appeared that only certain campsites had the issue so maybe they were only in a certain tree variety. The campground is more or less a glorified parking lot. Lots of day hikers and tent campers come through constantly. Never felt disturbed or anything but know that there is quite a lot of traffic coming and going all day long.

The biggest difficulty is that if there's an accident on the road leading back to Saratoga, you are STUCK. We spent 2 hours sitting about in traffic as a car broke down in the middle of both lanes until someone could come help. Further, we saw two other accidents that were traffic-disasters waiting to happen.There is absolutely no other way out of the campground, so you will sit and wait.

Lastly, DO NOT MISS the entrance. We did manage to turn around at the end of the road (about 1/4 mile down from the campground), but there are houses there and cars do regularly come through so it's difficult to turn around without holding up traffic.

We stayed for 3 nights June 9-12. 27' Airstream. Low was 45 in the morning. Very near Saratoga so nice restaurants are close. Inexpensive and secure location for Bay Area visits although expect to drive some to get to most popular places. Gate code gives access after sundown. Has dump station. We visited Stanford in Palo Alto and state beaches. To avoid parking in SF, we used Uber to go to Fishermans's Wharf Area (1:12). $70 going, $100 coming back. Sites have tree cover and are up in hills. Small redwood grove on nature trail.

Only negative was lack of cell coverage (3G), but park wifi was speedy and robust. Try to stay near restrooms for wifi.

When we were there, most sites were open. Most people seem to hike in for tent camping.

I need to preface this review with a little background. We travel full time from March till October every year. This is our seventh year on the road. We don’t stay in one place for six months, rather we move on down the road every 2 to 5 days. This gives you an understanding of the level of experience we have with traveling. Sanborn Park is a stunning refuge from the busy world. You will find incredible wilderness right in the heart of the city. There are miles of trails in this 3,000 plus acre park. There are walk in tent campsites. Once you enter the redwoods, oaks and fir trees you feel wilderness immediately. This place is a haven for tent campers that need a quick break from city life. --- The RV sites can accommodate rigs up to 30 feet. It is basically a parking lot type of arrangement. Water and 30 amps on site with a dump station. In short, this place is stunningly beautiful. Everything is very clean and the friendly staff is a pleasure to talk to. ---- OK, here’s the negative. The road leading into this park is narrow and dangerous for trucks pulling bigger rigs. There are several blind curves on this extremely narrow road with a one lane bridges to cross. The campground will take rigs up to 30 feet in length, but the restrictions on Sanborn Road leading to the campground limit rigs to less than 25 feet. The bushes and trees lining the road have limbs extending out into the road, and low lying limbs are everywhere in the campground. Our rig is 12’ 8” high, and it was a maze trying to navigate the road. Frequently I had to get over in the other lane to avoid vegetation from brushing the camper. Be very careful in the campground in avoiding low lying limbs. Lastly, DO NOT MISS your turn into this park. The road dead ends about a quarter of a mile away. It is almost impossible to turn around at the end of this road and there is nothing but small narrow private driveways that couldn’t be used to turn around. In short, you are pretty much doomed if you miss your turn and continue looking for a place to turn around. The locals told us that they have seen campers stuck at the end of the road for over six hours waiting for people to move their cars so that they could turn around. In closing, this is a great campground for tent camping and small rigs. This campground should restrict campers to 25 feet or less. Driving the road to the campground is not for the faint of heart. I wish I could give this campground two different ratings. I would give it five stars for campers with tents or rigs under 25 feet. For campers over 25 feet I would give it 3 stars and not recommend traveling here.

First arrived and couldn’t figure out the water spigot situation. No cell service, so couldn’t call the ranger station. Finally a surveyor was around and he asked another guest how to. You need to pull down the alternate spigot and pump air out of that one for your hookup to flow. Then upon departure, you need to contact someone to unlock the dump station. Again, no cell service, so you have to drive to the ranger station. Beautiful park however. Lots of day hikers parked around and school or group tours walking through your ste.

Clean and safe RV Park near the historic town of Saratoga. Restrooms were open but showers and every other RV spot closed due to the pandemic. Water pressure was on the lower side. No cell reception, but partial wifi coverage and a pay phone.
There was quite a lot of weekend traffic during day time (hikers and hike-in tent campers) but it was quiet at night. We saw deer and turkeys pass by. Camp hosts were nice and very helpful.

When we lived in the South Bay we came here to hike and do YSI activities a few times so we already knew what a great place it was. After moving away we wanted to bring our trailer back to visit old friends and places, and this was the perfect home base for our adventures. The showers are AWESOME and not coin operated, bathrooms and grounds are kept very clean. We were one of two rigs when we arrived so it was super quiet! Then we saw the park completely full during Memorial Day weekend and then empty out again. Kids loved it - especially all the giant rocks and the ponds with red bellies newts among the redwoods. We are planning to return next time! Only complaint was cell coverage - only a couple intermittent spots through the park and only one bar. Access was pretty good and mostly level for our 32 ft trailer.

I'm not a huge fan of large metro areas, but it was a necessary evil for a one night stay. Sanborn Park is at least far enough out of the rat race to have trees, grass, trails, etc, with a feeling of 'away from it all' but close enough to town to make for an evening out...

... but beware the gates are padlocked at sunset (which could be at 7pm) at this park.

The road leading up to the park is extremely windy with some blind curves and one lane portions, which sounds bad enough but it is just practice for when you get into the park itself. The dump station is made for rigs no larger than 20 feet. Our 27 foot trailer and truck had to be 'convinced' into the tight dump station, only to be met by a locked cap on the dump. The sites are not very long meaning anything longer than 20 feet requires the rear of the trailer to hang into your own campsite 'yard', which means less space in an already cramped campsite.

3G VZ signal barely existed enough to browse the web. No AT&T to speak of.