Where:  Catalina Spa & RV Resort (Desert Hot Springs)
Cost:  $1050/month (for full hook-ups; all utilities included)
When: February 8 - March 8, 2023

For a month during the winter of 2023, we stayed at Catalina Spa & RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs.  This was the largest (468 sites) and most expensive RV park ($1050/month) we have stayed in to date.  In my opinion, Catalina was also the first true “resort” that we called our temporary home. 

Check out video above for all of the details on the Catalina Spa & RV Park. Here are the highlights: 

How are the Sites at the Catalina Spa & RV Resort?

All of the sites at the RV park are back-in. Many come with a concrete pad (ours did not). Our site was all hard-packed sand/gravel but level.  As you can see from this aerial photo above, all of the sites are on the small side. However, we did not find ourselves spending much time at our site because there was so much to see and do in the area, including at the Catalina Spa & RV Park itself.

What Activities are Offered at the Catalina Spa & RV Resort?

Catalina offered lots of activities, which included pickle ball lessons and tournaments card bingo, dog school, a weekly jam session for resident musicians, bocce ball tournaments, art and watercolor fun, a Valentines Day dance, Superbowl Party, Mexican potluck, and a weekly happy hour for new guests.   The RV park sent out an email every few days with upcoming calendar of events. We took advantage of some of those activities, but the best part about the RV park were the two pool areas, each of which had a mineral spa.   I cannot tell you how great it was to soak in the spas and drink a beer after a long hike or other adventure in the area.  

The Catalina RV Park also boasts a couple of indoor and outdoor clubhouse spaces for gatherings, a small miniature golf course, shuffle board and bag tossing area, laundry facilities ($2.50/load), well-equipped gym/fitness center, and fenced-in dog park. 

Another bonus to the Catalina RV Park is that it had site-side trash pick-up (similar to curbside pick-up for sticks-and-bricks). Rather than have to haul trash to a centralized dumpster, we simply place our trash and recycling in front of our site, and by mid-morning, it was picked up.

Is the Catalina RV Park Pet-Friendly?

Catalina was very pet friendly.  As noted above, there’s a good-sized dog fenced-in dog park at the resort. The dog park as two adjacent sections so that the “big dogs” can play in one area and the “small dogs” can play in another area.

For about 10 days, there were three pet goats at a site right by the dog park!  Our site backed up to a line of trees that outline the perimeter of the RV park, but beyond that was a large vacant field where lots of RVers would walk their dogs (or goats!) both on-leash and off-leash.  

How is the Internet at Catalina Spa & RV Park?

Catalina has two wi-fi systems. There is a free wi-fy system that is slower, but will allow residents to do tasks like check email and do banking. There is another wi-fi system that permits streaming for an additional fee. The cost for the upgraded wi-fi was $6.99 daily, $21.95 weekly, and $69.95 monthly PER DEVICE. Needless to say, we are glad that we have Starlink as our internet provider (which worked flawlessly).

What Issues Did We Have at the Catalina Spa & RV Park?

Our Watchdog surge protector detected a voltage issue on a few occasions (we don’t know if there was actually a voltage issue or not), but beyond that, our say was delightfully uneventful.  

A power outage also caused the key card reader for the gate to the RV park to stop working. Catalina’s staff was also great about keeping residents up-to-date when the card reader would be operational again, and in the meantime, the RV Park also had someone stationed outside of the park entrance to operate the gate so that residents could come and go as needed.

Is the Catalina Spa & RV Park kid-friendly?

Several families with kids stayed at the RV park, and those kids took advantage of the amenities in at Catalina. Although one of the pool/spa areas is designated as the “family” one, we saw kids in both pool/spa areas.

The vast majority of the residents at the Catalina RV Spa & RV park were retirees, many of which were Canadians wintering in the area. We made friends our 75-year-old and 83-year-old Canadian neighbors, who had been coming to the park for 17 years.  They gave us tips on where to explore and also invited us to go on one of their many bike rides around town.  Lots of Canadians call Catalina home during the winter, and the RV Park hosted a little appreciation event for them as well.

What Attractions are Close to Catalina Spa & RV Park?

The location of the Catalina RV Spa & Resort is a mixed bag.   Because we were on the northern end of the Coachella Valley, most of our activities outside of the park (including grocery shopping at the nearest Walmart or Aldi) were at least a 20-minute drive into the valley.   Some of our excursions into the valley included:

(1) Hiking at Coachella Valley Preserve (a/k/a Thousand Palms Oasis). This was MY FAVORITE hike in the area

(2) Traveling to Mount San Jacinto in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. This was MY FAVORITE excursion overall!

(3) Hiking at Tahquitz Canyon.

(4) Exploring Modernism Week in Palm Springs.

The park’s northern location also made us closer to the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve (great for bird watching and hiking) and to Joshua Tree National Park. 

How is the Weather Near Catalina Spa & RV Resort?

In terms of Catalina’s location, it’s worth noting that it is VERY WINDY in Desert Hot Springs. Indeed, the mountain landscape is filled with churning with churning windmills. On many days, the winds at the RV park were 15-20 mph. On average, it seemed like the winds were about 5-10 mph more in Desert Hot Springs compared to Palm Springs and other parts of the valley. Likewise, Desert Hot Springs was usually about 5 degrees or more cooler than Palm Springs. Those differences may not always be the case, but that was what we experienced during our one-month stay in the area.