During our visit to Durango, we camped at the La Plata County Fairgrounds in downtown Durango which turned out to be an excellent choice. The fairgrounds offers six RV campsites, right in the heart of downtown Durango. You can’t get more central than this!
The La Plata County Fairgrounds in Durango welcomes visitors for RV camping from April to October. It’s closed during the winter months, so RV camping is not available then.
La Plata County Fairgrounds Campground Location
The campground is located at the fairgrounds site. Take the 25th St entrance. The check-in building will be the building on your right.
GPS may try to take you to the 27th St entrance, but you want to enter on 25th St.
The RV camping area is located in a gravel parking lot near the main event space with stands for rodeo type events.
While it was quiet when we stayed there, they hold a lot of events here, so it may be busy for your stay.
Reserving a Camping Spot at the La Plata County Fairgrounds
Campers need to reserve one of the six sites available by calling the La Plata County at 970-382-6468 during regular 8 AM to 5 PM working hours Monday through Friday. Follow the prompts on the call from there. Online reservations are not available.
In 2024, the cost is $27 per night for electrical and water hookups, but no sewer hookups.
You can still show up on a weekend, but you’ll need to have made reservations in advance.
When we stayed there, there were about three RVs total at any given point in time.
The fairgrounds staff keep the area clean and there are trash receptacles for RV’ers to use.
Electric and Water Hookups
The hookups for water are shared between sites, with one water pump serving two campsites. The water pump has a water connection splitter so that both campsites can connect at once.
Electrical is also on shared electric pedestals. Site 1 has 50 amps. The other five sites have 30 amp connections.
Bathrooms
Campers used to be able to use the bathrooms and and showers at the La Plata County Fairgrounds for free all day and night, but that has changed.
RV’ers can use the restroom in the office building when it is open.
For $7.50/day, you can use the Durango Recreation Center facilities located next door to the fairgrounds. The rec center has lots of facilities, including a pool, climbing wall, fitness classes, workout equipment, personal trainers, etc. See their website for more details.
Dumping Tanks
We dumped our tanks for free at the Giant gas station Highway 160 that is just west of Durango.
The Giant gas station also has a propane filling station where we refilled our propane tanks.
Animas River Trail
The Animas River Trail is a paved path that goes for 7 miles through Durango. This path connects lots of places like parks, the recreation center, the library, downtown, and schools. You can cross the river on bridges and go through a tunnel without ever having to cross a street.
The Animas River Trail runs right next to the campground area, and we used that to bike easily into downtown Durango (about 1 1/2 miles away).
If you bring a bicycle, this is super convenient!
The bike trail is a great way to get around Durango easily. It’s well-traveled and a scenic path alongside the Animas River and the train tracks that the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad uses, which also passes by the campground area a few times each day.
Final Thoughts on Camping at the La Plata County Fairgrounds
The La Plata County Fairgrounds campground area is not fancy, but it is in a perfect location in downtown Durango.
We really enjoyed our stay here and found it had everything we needed. We used it as a base camp to explore the Durango area.
