Kampgrounds of America, better known as KOA, is the largest campground chain in North America with more than 500 locations. It was founded in 1962 in Billings, Montana, and has been a staple for campers for decades. With its signature yellow signs and a wide range of amenities, KOAs are often a go-to choice for travelers seeking convenience, family-friendly activities, and dependable facilities.
KOA locations cater to every style of camper. Many of its properties also include perks like pools, dog parks, and planned activities for kids, making them an excellent choice for families on the road. For those looking for extra comfort, KOA Holiday and KOA Resort locations often feature enhanced amenities like upgraded cabins, deluxe RV sites, and full-service cafes. But you’ll pay the price!
When you travel, how often do you stay at KOA campgrounds? Are you drawn to their consistent quality, or do you seek out independent or state park campgrounds for a different experience?
Do you have any favorite KOA locations you can recommend to others? Some RVers rave about the KOA in Bar Harbor, Maine, for its ocean views, while others love the KOA near Mount Rushmore for its proximity to iconic landmarks.
Check out Nanci Dixon’s past experience at the very nice West Glacier KOA Resort. You might want to stay here… but you’ll pay the price (and it’s probably gone up since then)!
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KOA is too busy expanding and not maintaining. Poor value for the money.
I find that KOA rates are higher than most other RV parks …even if you are a KOA member. Yes, most KOAs are very nice parks, but there are many that are just above slum level and still getting outrageous rates.
I was a KOA member for my first 10 years of RVing, and then I realized that there were better prices ….at nicer RV parks. The last time I stayed at a KOA was approx 6 years ago, only because we were traveling cross country, it was late at night, I was very tired and it was the only park within 30 miles.
We do not like KOA and stay elsewhere if we can find a spot. KOA does a fine job if you are OK with lots of kids, loud groups, tight sites and very dog friendly. When we go camping we prefer something a little more quiet.
Koa was great when our kids were young. They had lots to do. Now that it’s just the wife and I, a pancake breakfast and puppet show doesn’t interest us.
Only once 20+ years ago. Wasn’t impressed then. Too many people and the kids seemed to enjoy the open wilds more.
My wife likes them when travelling to and from snowbirding, because she feels that she can count on a standard.
There are lots of good KOA’s. We don’t seek them out, but if they are along the way and have good ratings, we’ll stay at them just like we would any good campground with availability.
KOA’s are a thing of the past. The few we have stayed at years ago were so run down they resembled a homeless camp.
KOAs offer a certain standard based on the level of the particular park. We enjoy the VIP status and the Resort level KOAs and frequent them often.
KOA really stands for Keep On Adding ….. once you pay for your site, you pay add-on fees for everything else. We have stayed at one in TN (close to the Bourbon Trail) and will never do it again. A bad experience and no response to a rather polite letter of complaint I sent to both the campground and KOA HQs. Just a waste of my time…..
While our preferred destinations are public CGs, we often use KOAs as stops to service tanks, etc., and sometimes for destinations. Flagstaff is a routine stop for us, as we visit Grand Canyon annually. We stay at Lazydays Tucson to visit friends and the area. We have a week reserved in CO, because reservations in public ones were gone at 30 seconds after they opened. Other private CGs in the region were similar or higher priced.
People love to hate them, as they do certain big box stores, or such. In 20+ years of using them (tents onward), we have found that they vary widely, just as other private CGs do. When we have encountered a really bad one, it usually isn’t a KOA by the next year.
One night, once each way on our semi-annual N<>S migration – so twice a year. We stay because it is the only FHU game in town about half-way between other overnight stops.
This stop is our most expensive stay. This KOA Holiday has great staff and many amenities, but nearly all those amenities are closed when we stop during the ‘shoulder’ seasons each direction. Over the past several years we see regular additions to those amenities (especially glamping accommodations), but not enough money directed to maintaining core infrastructure for the RV sites – loose outlets in the power pedestal, leaking water spigots, and/or poor threading on sewer connections.
Never. Way overpriced for me.
KOAs are way over priced , especially for seniors like myself. I visit areas for the history and site seeing. We don’t sit in a campground at a pool. So we always can find a less expensive campground that is clean with full hookups in the area.
The Baycrest KOA just outside of Homer is one of our favorite campgrounds in Alaska. The views are spectacular and the staff seems to go out of their way to make their guests feel like family.
Agree! We stayed there several years ago in a site that backed up to the overlook. Probably the prettiest place we’ve ever stayed.
20+ years ago we used to stay at KOAs, and in fact stayed at the KOA near Glacier in 2002. They were never anything special, but an “OK” choice.
We would only stay at a KOA now as an absolute last resort. Grossly overpriced and still nothing special. We don’t use amenities (and some don’t even have them anyway) so why pay?
We do stay at former KOAs where the owners dropped the franchise and do just as well on their own…and don’t have the big price tag.
Comments seem to have a common thread. Overpriced and underwhelming.
I also feel that KOA’s are generally overpriced for what you get. A very nice privately owned CG that our RV club has visited in the past became a KOA & the nightly rate immediately went up about 25%.
Overpriced and too many kids!
Not what this retired guy wants, but I certainly understand its allure to younger families.
One and done. Stayed at one in Florida and just a junkyard.
Kids couldn’t go in pool green mold everywhere, actually not much water in it either. Broken toys and high price.
Loved the time we stayed at the Devil’s Tower KOA, got to see the raccoons come from under the office steps to ransack the trash can. The older my wife and I get the more we love to see and watch children play and react to their environment. Does our old hearts good to see youth and what we used to be. But the problem is, as the majority of others here have indicated, KOA is pretty expensive.
I used to camp almost exclusively at KOA. That was back in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I really enjoyed their destination campgrounds. Very reasonably priced and lots of activities for families.
I got back into RVing a couple of years ago and found that KOA’s are now ridiculously over priced. Campsites are packed in tight and way to many spots now reserved for long term campers. I found at a couple of KOA’s entire sections of the campground were set aside for long term campers. I now try and support locally owned, city or county campgrounds.
I put “rarely” because we have stayed in 3 KOAs in the last 13 years (my wife has kept a campground log since 2012). Those stays have been in KOAs only because no other RV park or dry camping/boondocking option was available near that location on that day!
So many campgrounds close their offices at five or six pm, KOA is open till eight, and always friendly.
Have stayed at many KOA Journeys, but the destination KOAs are pricey and we don’t need or use the amenities. The KOA Journeys are competitively priced.
Thank you, RV Travel! We often stay at KOA campgrounds, perhaps 1/5 of the trips that we make include a stay at a KOA. Have a great week and safe travels!