RV Park Review – Lazy Days KOA – Tucson, AZ
I do not believe that we will ever find another KOA like this. We had our reservations about staying in this location. Reviews were mixed ranging from outstanding to concerns about its inner-city location. Rest assured from our perspective this is one of the finest KOA’s we have ever stayed at. Snowbirds take note, you could not ask for a better location to spend time away from the cold temps and snow of the north. The site quality for 85% of the 400 or so sites available can not be matched. Specialty sites abound, Grass, Grass With Hammock, Covered, Fireplace, Deluxe Pet-Friendly with Fireplace and Buddy Sites. As a heads up, we stayed at the Park during what I would call the slow season, the first week of October before the snowbirds arrived.
Even the finest KOA has some issues that I will explain in detail below, so all is not wine and roses. This location was awarded the prestigious 2019 KOA Presidents Award and 2019 KOA Founders Award. It is well deserved based on the location, staff, facility, and amenities it would be hard to find another as good.
Link To RV Park: Lazy Days KOA
Link to MAP: Directions
Daily Cost: Covered Patio Site – $70.50 (Off-Season Rate)
A) Site Quality: ⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️/5
I am going to ding these folks a point for site quality. The explanation for that will be listed below. Take this with however many grains of salt you wish as these dings may not bother you. The park does have your typical full-timers most of which are located in the back-in sites on the perimeter of the RV Park. These are not your old and tired RVs for the most part, 90% of them are in very good shape.
My big knock here is the overgrowth of the trees that are on a number of sites. They were trimming the trees in the park during our stay. It frankly was definitely needed, the fruit trees were encroaching into the sites. They were rubbing on both sides of the RV.
Insights
We arrived 30 mins. early for our check-in which was 1:00 pm. The park was relatively empty given the time of year which was somewhat of a surprise. The staff was friendly and our check-in was quick and easy. The booking looked on paper fantastic, featuring a Fireplace and Patio.
- We were assigned site #1428 on the end and near the clubhouse. This Certainly sounded like a great location and site until I tried to park the rig.
The site looked extra wide on the map, however, the wide part was taken up by a gazebo that was right on the edge of the pull-through. This meant that I would need to pull the rig past the gazebo to extend our slide. The alternative was to pull closer to the sewer hook up which was so close it would not drain properly. After numerous tries, I decided to head back to the office to see about another site.
- The staff was more than accommodating and said pick what you want of the open fireplace sites or maybe you would like a covered site.
I headed out and surveyed the sites and decided that Ginny would love a covered site rather than a fireplace that we more than likely would not use.
- Covered Sites – It turns out in the fall these sites are a bit cheaper than the fireplace and grass sites. We were now in 1458 Covered with patio and furniture. Great site, nose facing NE, tail SW with shade 80% of the day. The only drawback to this and many of the other sites were the overground Olive, lime, and orange trees.
- I particularly liked the Grass sites, which you will find pictured below. There is something about having a good size piece of grass in the desert. These also come with a fire ring and patio.
- If you are a tent camper you will find some Deluxe Tent sites near the rear of the property. These are situated next to the secondary pool and spa area.
Let’s now focus on the sites and how level they appear. Sites 1415 – 1428 were a bit crowned as were 1499 -1513. I would say most of the other sites were perfectly level. They are graveled and in very good shape. The roads leading around the park to the sites are wide and for the most part, there is ample parking on your site for at least one vehicle.
B) Facilities: ⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️/5
The facilities at this resort are many and well-positioned. Located around the main resort complex you will find restrooms, showers, and laundry facilities. Move to the mid-rear of the complex and you will find another set near the Playground and pool. The laundry rooms are clean, in good working order and average priced for RV resorts. Each location has a large bank of washers and dryers.
You will find a propane fill station conveniently located near the north entrance of the RV resort. The main gate or entrance off Country Club RD is gated and typically guarded during the busy season. They do lock the gate late in the evening, you will need to use the call button to have someone come and open the gate.
C) Amenities: ⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️/5
There are countless and the bonus is Lazydays RV Sales, Service and Parts is walking distance from the resort. Let’s start with the main resort complex. You will find a fantastic patio area complete with fire pits shade and great seating options. There will be two pickleball courts to keep you running about and in shape. The pool and spa are just around the corner from the patio complete with a seating area and some shade. We did not try the BBQ Rush restaurant but it certainly smelled great and appeared to be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The fitness room was just off the main building with a variety of equipment and weights.
The main registration building held the mailroom, store, game room, and lounge. The store was well stocked with necessities nothing fancy. Moving to the front of the property you will find the recreation area. There you will enjoy pondside seating, putting greens, and horseshoes. If you are sited in the 1500 or 1600 area you will find a nice pool, spa, and playground with showers, restrooms, and laundry.
Wifi and CableTV are available at each of the sites. If you have a satellite you might want to shy away from directly to the north of the covered sites. You may have an issue with the southern ski visibility depending on where it is mounted. The Wifi is adequate but only for email or web surfing.
D) Location: ⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️/5
You are located approximately 20 mins east of downtown off Highway 10. There are numerous RV Sales, Service, and parts at your doorstep. A short 15 min. trip up the highway and you will find all the shopping you could use. The park felt safe and we had no issues with being in a city location. The noise level, while we were there, was low and we did not hear much of the city around us.
Access to the Saguaro National East and West was relatively easy and the PIMA Air and Space Museum seemed right around the corner. There are plenty of fuel options both diesel and regular within a 10 to 15 min ride.
E) Paw – Friendliness – 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾/5
Zoey could not have been happier. There are three K9 fenced-in dog runs on the property. Two located toward the south side of the property are small but adequate. The one located at the entrance is a half-acre fenced area with plenty of room to run. Couple that with the Pet Friedly sites and great streets to walk about she could not complain.
Wanderers Overall Rating: ⛺️⛺️⛺️⛺️.5/5
Registration
Main Resort Complex
Pickelball Courts
South Pool & Spa
Sky Deck With Fire Pit
Site 1395 Deluxe Pet Frieidly
Pet Wash South Pool Area
Pool and Spa North
Laundry Room
Fitness Room
Grass Site
Deluxe Pet Friendly Sites With Fireplace
Covered Sites 1400
Covered Site 1458
1300 Covered Sites
Wanderers Take
Snowbird alert!!!! This would be one of my go-to RV resorts for the winter months. The location, amenities, activities, and general site quality would bring me back. I noticed that they are booked solid at the time of this review. You are going to have to act fast and early if you want to get a great site at this resort during the winter months. This is our second visit to the Tuscon area. We stayed at Sentinal Peak RV park during our last stay. The park is ideal for short stays and located in the heart of downtown. You can find my review of the park here:
If you are looking for a longer stay with outstanding facilities, I’m not sure you could find better than this KOA. Frankly, if you need work on your rig for any reason you have your pick of service centers.
Sight Seeing, Attractions and Restaurants
Here are a couple of the restaurants we tried during our visits to Tucson. I enjoy cooking so we do plenty on the rig, but we are both foodies and try to find gems along the way.
El Charro Cafe – 311 N Court Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705 Established in 1922, El Charro Cafe of Tucson, Arizona is The Nation’s Oldest Mexican Restaurant in continuous operation by the same family. Featuring traditional Northern Mexico-Sonoran style and innovative Tucson-style Mexican Food, El Charro Cafe is true as Gourmet Magazine wrote: “A Taste Explosion”.
We would whole heartily agree with that. Our taste test for most Mexican food is there Chili Relleno’s. I ordered the Original Anaheim version with Christmas Sauce and it was delicious. Ginny had a fried version with a light batter that she also enjoyed. I am not a drinker so Ginny generally goes for a Margarita. The pour was strong and she loved the drink. Highly recommended if your anywhere near.
Saguaro National Park East and West – In one word “Amazing”. Saguaro is home to the nation’s largest cacti. The giant saguaro is the universal symbol of the American West. These majestic plants, found only in a small portion of the United States, are protected by Saguaro National Park, to the east and west of the modern city of Tucson. Here you have a chance to see these enormous cacti, silhouetted by the beauty of a magnificent desert sunset. Make time during the cool of the morning or evening and go. Web Site: Saguaro National Park
Ginny and I being the casual hikers managed the trails around the Bajada Scenic Loop with relative ease. There are plenty more for the avid hiker to explore.
Five Points Market and Restaurant – 756 S Stone Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701 Basically everything is right about this place. The room is attractive comfortable and there’s plenty of room between tables. Service is efficient and unobtrusive and that includes the maitre d station. The food is uniformly excellent with obvious care and attention made to details. The salad has a light dressing the salmon benedict I have was perfectly poached. Ginny had the Breakfast salad and loved every bite. The bread is high quality and the desserts looked delicious. Even the ice tea I had was excellent as is the coffee both hot or cold. MAP
The Pima Air & Space Museum – 6000 E Valencia Rd, Tucson, AZ 85756, is one of the world’s largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres on a campus occupying 127 acres. It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991
This museum is well worth the visit. The staff is mostly volunteer and are typically retired military. The bottom line, they have great stories about the aircraft and rockets and know their stuff. We did pay for the guided tour around the outdoor aircraft. It was informative and shaded out of the direct sun. That is one big area of aircraft and if you need to get your steps in, have at it.
They do have a tour of the military boneyard located near the museum. You will need to contact them regarding this and clear a security check before arriving at the museum. This will take a few days so plan ahead to fill out the application. We plan to do this our next visit, the boneyard is massive and filled with all sorts of aircraft
Previous Tips & Upgrades
Tire Pressure Monitor
We have heard hundreds of stories from RVers relating to tire failure. Some of the tire failure issues an RVer may encounter can be a minor nuisance and some failures can be catastrophic.
Truck Lane Fueling
You have finally decided that the RV and Car fill up lanes are not for you when it comes to filling your RV fuel tanks. Highway driving takes you past numerous Travel Centers and you have seen your fellow RVer’s in the Truck Fuel Lanes. Why not give it a go, can’t be that much different from what we are doing now. They say it’s much faster to fuel that way and there is DEF at the pumps.
Magne Shade
The patented Magne Shade™ system uses small but very powerful Rare Earth magnets that are mounted on the outside of the window with a hi temperature 3M peel and stick tape. Our shades are designed to fit your coach glass tight, we incorporate a simple and effective fabric adjustment system in our design so your shades won’t stretch out of shape and sag over time, as a snap-type system can.
Vortex Fan
Great little fan. Sucks so much air it creates a vacumm on our bathroom door. Looks good, overall good quality, fit as easy as claimed, and took all of 40 minutes to install seamlessly. My guess is i could have cut this down with another set of hands.
Bring In The Crane
We use our truck on and off through the year to haul, yard debris, landscaping, mulch and such. The hitch is a 175 lb problem when you want a clean bed to work with. Ginny and I thought we could easily handle the hitch once we took it apart. Not so as we found out,...
Mr. Beam
Interior lighting at night on the RV has always been an issue for us. We struggled with solutions, from flashlights to battery operated led lights. Each had their draw backs, fumbling with switches in the dead of night the main one.
Propane Monitor
Propane management is certainly very important particularly durning cold weather. Yes you can spend $80.00 to install a monitoring system that you can read on your levels on a smart phone.
Microwave Safe
One of our early discoveries while we were on our maiden trip was the glass rotating tray in the microwave presented a problem. As we traveled the tray would take a beating bouncing around as we moved down the road.
