Santa Cruz Ranch RV Resort

Santa Cruz rv resort is by far the WORST place we have stared so far..

We were harassed from the moment we checked in. (I believe it is because we have kids). Sssoooo many rules being broken ALL over the park, it looks like a poorly run trailer park. (Tarps over trash piles, broken down junky equipment. Bathrooms weren't even open. They put us in a TINY site that SHARED common space with the rv next to us (doors faced each other). RUDE RUDE RUDE employees who constantly were getting on our kids (who were following EVERY written rule) but kept complaining that they were breaking the "spirit of the rule".

They "heat" the pool to 80 degrees (which is still to cold to use comfortably in the winter).

I will NEVER go back. Honestly - I think a walmart is a safer, cleaner place to park than this rv park.

Lovely wooded setting but very tight spots. Our small trailer fit fine in a pull through but big rigs could have issues. Lovely pool , nice bathrooms, and big laundry facility.

The house wifi is virtually non existent, but you can pay 6 bucks per day for decent speed. We opted to use our hot spot as cell signal was good.

The park is clean and well run with the staff friendly and efficient.

Santa Cruz and the Redwoods easy to reach by car. Overall, not our top choice but did the job.

Visiting family in the Bay Area for New Year’s, we were unable to get sites at our usual state park (New Brighton), which led to a lengthy search to find a decent alternative. Other public sites were all booked, and the reviews of most private RV parks near Santa Cruz were a bit… well, terrifying to be honest! So we booked here with our fingers crossed.

Overall, the experience at Santa Cruz Ranch exceeded our expectations. The laundry, pool, and bathroom facilities were obviously well tended to. We had full hookups, including sewer connection, right at our site. And the location was convenient both to local amenities in Scott’s Valley like grocery stores, and to the city and sites of Santa Cruz.

Given what real estate costs in this area, it was no surprise how densely packed the campground is. This is exacerbated by local ordinances requiring a minimum distance between RVs, as well as a 5-foot setback from hookups. We found it tough with a small travel trailer, so I can’t imagine trying to navigate this park with a larger RV.

Those quibbles aside, we recommend anyone visiting the Santa Cruz area consider this park as a good option for an overnight with hookups, or a longer stay if you will mainly just be using the campground for a place to sleep while you explore everything nearby.

Santa Cruz Ranch (Encore/Thousand Trails) – Scotts Valley, CA
We stayed here for a week in April/May 2019. This is not a very pleasant campground as the sites are very small, many long-timers have lots of junk around their sites and it’s very noisy. We had site 10, one of the 26 pull-through sites. It was very short and not good for a larger rig. We barely had room to park our little tow car. The site was paved but not level, FHU but only had 20/30 amp and had a picnic table. We had cable but the wifi is limited to 10 minutes unless you want to go into the rec room. The pool is heated and was very popular. The woman in the office was delightful.

This park was apart of our RPI membership, which is why our costs were so little a night. Lady who checked us in was super sweet and friendly. She put us in a preferred site that was next to all the amenities. Park is small and sites are snug (we’ve experienced smaller), but it doesn’t feel like your neighbors are in your slide. Bathrooms and showers are clean and the hot water is plenty. Pool and hot tub are awesome and they even have a rec room that the kids enjoy. Location is convenient: 20m from the Boardwalk, 5m from Safeway, 10m to Redwoods. Pet and kid friendly.

As a previous reviewer said, access was tight even with our 28ft trailer. I managed to scrape the block wall on the right side when I pulled in front of the office. There was no damage except to my ego. Later, it took me a couple of tries to get perfectly lined up in the space but no biggy. The RV neighbors were very friendly on both sides. There were plenty of kids having a great time so you had to go slow and keep an eye on them. We very much liked the area which we thoroughly explored. To us the Big Basin Redwoods State Park (north of Felton, near Boulder Creek) was a rare gem of a park. Closer to the campground was the covered bridge, another redwoods park and the botanical garden at UCSC. While there we promptly received a couple of Amazon orders. We stayed as an add-on to our Thousand Trails membership.
We hope to return when we are in the area.

This park is located in a residential and small office buildings. Clearance was very low at the entrance and had to go in the exit to avoid low branches. Sites are super tight and we were told that we had to have our entire Rv including slides within white lines. If not the fire marshall would ask us to move our RV. Staying within the lines is impossible and we never did see a fire marshall. Navigating into our site was challenging and we did not have enough room for our truck. We hung over into the road which makes parking for others a challenge. The pool and spa were nice. Laundry and showers were dated but very well maintained. Lots of long term families live here. Kids everywhere which was ok. Just take care when driving within the park.

Two great places to eat just right around the corner. Mallonies...great food but poor service and Aunt Mames which has excellent breakfast.

Would stay here again if no other options available.