Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve

Would get 5 stars except for super high prices and poor internet. $55 night was based on $1650 per 30 day stay + electricity. The internet is provided through Tengointernet. When I first signed up for internet it worked ok but then went to very bad. Tech support through Tengo could not help and tried to blame it on my equipment. I was only 30 feet from the hotspot.

The sites are large and easy to get into. Nice park with lots of trees and grass. Upkeep is good. Security is great. Park is off all highways and quite. Fills up on weekends with lots of families and kids.

We stay at Santee Lakes a few times a year because it’s close to home and a good place to open up the RV, connect to hookups and get organized for our next adventure. The lakefront spots are our favorite and the fishing is also nice. The campground has a lot of amenities and several spots for long-term campers, which is great! But over the years, it seems like more and more spots are being used as living quarters. There are dilapidated canopies, dusty furniture and so much clutter, you’d think it was a homeless encampment. Given the site cost seems to average $90 a night, I would expect better. One of the sites is a few spots down from us and they appear to have at least three cats that are allowed to wander outside. My dog has to stay in the RV with curtains closed so she won’t annoy other campers, so much for the lakeview I can barely enjoy! I have talked to campground staff about this before and they don’t seem to think the issue is problematic so I guess we will save our money next time and stay at a county campground or Lake Jennings.

This park is hard to rate.
The good: lakes, fishing, great for walking, close to shops and restaurants, 25 minutes to coast, friendly employees who aren't rv park nazis.
The bad: Phone and internet are abysmal. Even paid the $10 a week for their “upgraded” internet. Even that is bad. They supposedly are in line for a new cell tower. Hard to believe it’s this bad with so many long term people here, and at a time when many parks are upgrading to 5g.

They also are not good at keeping campers in the same sites. We moved several times to stay for 3 weeks. Per other campers they call this the “Santee shuffle.”

Previous experience ok despite long list restrictive rules. This time booked 4 nights several weeks ahead for holiday weekend. Site too small for our 31 ft fifth wheel, hung out into street. Crowded, ugly, only dirt, no lake view. Very different than before. No other sites available. Although rangers tried to help and agreed site too small, office staff not kind or helpful. Despite terrible Verizon service, was able to find (very pricey!) site at another park and get a refund. Wasted an entire day. Manager called back later, too little too late but she was professional. Will not return.

This private-ish campground has great customer service, beautiful scenery and the facility is in good condition. My site, like many here, is on decomposed granite. It's worse than sand in how it gets into your camper to make a mess. That is the only thing I believe needs to be improved. Otherwise, the check in process was easy, by very friendly people. The site is very roomy, the utility pedestal is in exactly the right place. The nearby stocked lakes are very pretty, lots of wildlife. The park is quiet at night, no major roads to make noise. It's a great place to stay. My AT&T coverage was poor but the campground's wifi worked well so I could make wifi calls.

We decided to stay here to extend our stay in San Diego. Out of 5 different locations we stayed at in San Diego, this was by far the best! Very well cared for facilities and friendly staff, and there are over 300 spots available, the majority of which are well spaced. There are a number of long term staffers and RVers there, but their pride and regulations show in how clean their camp spots are. It also felt safe enough to let the kids go off on the bikes for hours at a time, like we used to be able to do as kids in our own neighborhoods. Our kids made new friends, got some scrapes and bruises, and learned to ride their bikes better than ever. Almost unheard of today…

Oh, our dog also got bit by a rattlesnake, while there, but he’s ok thanks to the Mast Blvd Pet Hospital about 7 minutes away. One of the few pet hospitals in the area with antivenin.

We highly recommend Santee Lakes and will be back!

well, we tried to get a mini vacation....Went to Santee Lakes. Don't recommend them one bit. We got there and I noticed houses on the other side of the lake... I went hmmm. there goes the natural view with a beautiful sunset... but dealt with it. Then the next morning we were greeted with pounding and noise of hammers, nail guns, saws, etc because there were a couple of homes going up just on the other side of the lake. Then there was someone cutting the moss on the lake for a few hours with a noisy machine. I enjoyed the ducks, not the ants as there is a Sycamore tree on the plot of land we rented. But I have to say, the ants were much worse to the gentleman in his motorhome next to our little plot.. We were putting up with that because of the much needed break after 5 years of no relief due to deaths, dementia, druggies, health, surgeries, doggy issues with paraplegia, multiple tax returns, home repair and rental to help mom, etc. But the kicker was today. I received a phone call from the office while I was cooking breakfast. My dog was outside and kept whining at the door because I was not outside with her but I was talking to her. She wanted outside, so I pulled off her diaper for the last time for the day. She has a bladder infection and we are giving meds to her for it. The caller proceeded to tell me my dog was in the street and she needed to be on a 6ft leash. I told her the dog wasn't in the street because her cable was fixed so she wouldn't be. I told her it was a lie. I told her about the bladder infection and it was not a concern to her.
When I read the rules online before purchase, I assumed my dog going for a walk would be on a 6ft leash which we did. not on the 40 x35ft piece of land we rented. That is dog abuse! So I got ticked off because of being lied to and I couldn't do that to my dog. I then looked at the print out of the rules that were with my receipt. NOTHING about a 6ft leash was printed on it! I am so done with people lying....so we are home a day early with no rest.

We recently stayed at Santee Lakes and have a very mixed review. The short story is if cellular signal was a non-issue, we would absolutely stay here again. It was a beautiful location, allows for long-term stays, and the park is really well-maintained and quiet. Because we stayed for a month, we were put at the back of the park with the long-term residents. We had a very large pull-through site with easy access to the dog park and dumpsters.

The Good
- Super convenient to San Diego proper, shopping, and interstates, yet very peaceful when you're in the park. The best of both worlds, so to speak.
- Staff was friendly and responsive.
- Long-term residents were friendly and respectful, great neighbors.
- Awesome laundry facility that offers credit card payment - hallelujah!
- Gated and felt very safe and secure.
- Very nice playground areas for the kids, pool was nice, but a little boring and no kids allowed in the hot tub.

The Bad
- They gave us a great monthly stay rate, but there were lots of "nickel and dime" costs: "Kid tax" of $40/kid/extra person, $30 per dog fee, $175 deposit for electricity, which they refund the difference between what you used at the end of the month. Our electric bill was only around $40, so not a huge deal.
- This is the bad that will make us unable to visit this park again, unfortunately. The cellular signal (we have hot spots with 3 major networks, so this was across the board) is not only bad, it's totally unpredictable. I've never seen anything like it. We would have 3 strong bars with our WeBoost, be sailing along fine with about 15-16 mbps down and then BAM! everything drops out and doesn't come back for hours. Same thing with phone calls on AT&T. About 15 minutes into any call, the call would just drop and I'd have to call the person back. It was like clockwork every 15 minutes. They do offer a fee-based wi-fi connection using Tengo Internet. When it was working, it was fantastic. But it seemed like it did the same thing our cellular hot spots did...worked great and then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out of it and it was useless. Also, we noticed that around 3pm every day it became useless as well. We assume because that's when kids get home from school. Just a guess, though.

This is a beautiful, if pricey site close to San Diego. There are five or six separate lakes and lot of activities: fishing, pedal boats and carts, a nice little shop and a great dog walk. Tons of families.

I was in site 148 and there was zero cell coverage. WiFi is available and good but at a price - $10 a week for one unit.

Site had full hookups, which was convenient.

As I walked around the park, I noticed lots of rigs with Ajax or Comet laid out around tires and other access points for ants. Since I was only there for 2 nights, I thought I would be safe but no. The little buggers invaded via my water house and ate all my marshmallows!

I'd camp here again if I didn't need cell service.

PS I drop by here to dump my sumps from time to time - easy access $15.