It is easy to find fault with Oasis Palms RV Park yet when all is said and done it is both a good value and a pleasant place to spend a week while exploring the Coachella Valley. The park is rough around the edges. Surrounding it are dirt fields being dug up for agricultural use and the grounds appear to be under renovation in many places with construction materials lying about haphazardly. While this had me concerned upon arrival, all the important amenities are in full operation, the plots are level and the hook ups working just as they should be. The park facilities are neither shiny and modern, nor run down and dirty. Although the web site calls themselves as a “resort,” it hardly fits that description since you have to leave to get any decent food or entertainment.  They exist in that zone of “good enough.” What gives it a win is its very reasonable pricing and excellent location.

Nights: 7
RV Park Cost: $120.00
Discounts Used: Passport America
GPS Location: 33.461554, -116.094904
Address: 90123 81st Ave, Thermal, CA 92274
Website: www.oasispalmsrvresort.com

Pros:

• Great price!
• 30 and 50 amp hookup, water and sewage
• Decent facilities, Pool, Tennis, Hang out Areas
• Close to lots of fun stuff

Cons:

• Under renovation and a bit unkempt
• Water is not good for drinking
• Heavy road noise

Look beyond the construction and nearby busy highway and the vista’s are pretty nice. Low lying mountains surround the valley and in the morning and evening sun they are gorgeous. There are various fruit trees and palms on the property encouraging a range of birds to twitter through the day. In the evening bats flit through the air catching bugs and as a result few pests remain to bother us while we sit outside and enjoy the fantastic weather. While the road is noisy, it affords easy access to all the amazing natural wonders in the area from the Salton Sea to Joshua Tree National Park.

Yamato with sails unfurled at Oasis Palms

We had heard the internet here was little to nothing, but were pleasantly surprised to find it at least as functional as your typical RV park, which is to say its pretty good when the load is light, but less reliable when folks at the park settle in to stream movies before bedtime. Fortunately cell reception is great so when the wireless gets spotty we just switch to using our Karma and we can surf to our hearts content.

Perhaps the biggest challenge here is the water. Oasis Palms, not to mention nearly every other park in the area is on well water which has higher levels of Arsenic and Fluoride than are deemed safe for human consumption. It’s fine for washing and the like, but if you drink it there are potential long term health risks. As a result they advise you buy your own bottled drinking water, which we are doing. You can buy filters that will clean it up and they do offer reverse osmosis stations you can use, but considering water is pretty cheap, we are just bringing our own. I can’t fault Oasis Palms for the problem, its a great location and that is simply the water that is available here.

What I found most likable about Oasis Palms was the price. With discount from Passport America a weeks stay was only $120.00 for a week and no reservations were needed. That’s less than $20 a night for a full hook up and plenty of space which is a great deal, even if you include having to buy a bit more drinking water than normal during your stay.