We spent the last week in July at the KOA in Estes Park, CO. This was a family vacation for us, meaning Caleb did not work, and it was so rejuvenating. We spent the bulk of our time romping around Rocky Mountain National Park. We loved this park for its proximity to town and all of its family-friendly amenities. Here are the pros and cons of our stay at the Estes Park KOA.   

 

Pros:

– Great location. The KOA is right across from Lake Estes, with access to the 4 mile walking trail that runs around the lake and connects to downtown. The city also provides a free shuttle which stops right out front of the KOA every half hour and takes you into downtown, where you can pick up other shuttles that can take you to other local attractions, including Rocky Mountain National Park! We loved walking and taking the shuttle and were so glad to have these two convenient options. 

– Family friendly. This park goes out of their way to be family friendly. They provided fun community activities every day like marshmallow roasts, bingo, ice cream socials and our favorite, the pancake breakfast. Every evening around 7pm the staff hook up a train to their golf cart and take the kids for a ride. It was THE highlight of Abby’s day – something she still talks about. 

  

– Estes Park is awesome. The city is beautiful. There is not a single place you can look and not see mountains. The weather is amazing, cool and crisp even in July. The town has lots of amazing local shops. Some of our favorites are: Kind Coffee, Macdonald Bookshop, Inkwell & Brew and Nepal’s Cafe. 

– Helpful staff. Three retired couples live on-site in their RVs. They run the place and are super friendly and helpful. My kids loved seeing them each morning at the pancake breakfast and each evening at the train ride. 

– Clean facilities. The staff works hard to keep the campground looking great. The bathrooms were always clean. There are three private showers that would be great for families wrangling little ones, and several showers in the bath house. 

  

Cons:

– Tight spaces. Boy, they really pack you in! They have the big rigs (like ours) parked close together, back-in style along one side of the road, then they put smaller pop-ups and class C motor homes parked parallel on the other side of the street. Here was no room to park our truck by our camper, so we had to use overflow parking, which was full of big trucks like ours with the same problem, I suppose. 

– No grass. The entire campground is gravel, with the exception of a dog walking area and a few decorative patches here and there. It wasn’t a big deal but I like it when campgrounds have a little grass for my kids to play in. 

– WiFi stinks. But really, who needs it when you are staring into the heart of the Rockies? Seriously. 

All in all, we loved this campground and we hope to be back next summer!