You can sleep out in the desert without leaving the county. Maricopa County rings the Valley with regional parks, and the campgrounds in them have hookups, hot showers and a dump station, so you arrive and plug in. Individual sites open six months ahead of the arrival date, and people use that. South Mountain is the big outdoor thing you can do without leaving the city, laced with trails, with a road climbing to a lookout over the whole Valley. Go early, and expect the cyclists to have that road most Sunday mornings. Then the driving starts. East of the Valley the desert stands up into the Superstitions, and everything else worth the fuel is north up I-17. The rest of the state is on our Arizona campervan page, and the fees, campsite rates and closures below are current as of August 2026.
Lost Dutchman and the Superstitions, 40 miles east
Lost Dutchman State Park sits on the desert floor under the Superstition wall, and Arizona State Parks puts it 40 miles east of Phoenix, with trails leading into the Superstition Wilderness and the Tonto National Forest behind. Javelina and mule deer walk through camp, and in spring the ground between the saguaros goes to wildflowers.
For a van it is the easy one. The campground keeps 135 sites going the whole year and sets no limit on vehicle length, 68 of them on water and 50, 30 and 20 amp electric, the rest paved and unserviced. Entry runs $20 a vehicle for two to four people as of August 2026, and the gate wants cash or a card with a readable stripe, not a phone.
Oak Creek Canyon above Sedona, 115 miles north
The red rock is what sells Sedona. The canyon above town is the better half, where Arizona 89A leaves the shops behind and runs alongside Oak Creek under ponderosa pine. The Forest Service puts the route from Phoenix at about 115 road miles, I-17 for most of it and then AZ 179 north.
Cave Springs is where the creekside pitches are, 13 miles up the canyon from Sedona at 5,402 feet, with sites right on the bank, trout in the water, coin showers and vault toilets. A single site is $30 a night as of August 2026, and nothing longer than 36 feet gets in. Reservations run through Recreation.gov, and the first-come sites belong to the on-site host, not a phone line.
The Grand Canyon's South Rim, 231 miles north
The South Rim is open all year, and far enough out that this is a trip rather than a detour. The Park Service makes it 231 miles from Phoenix, I-17 up to Flagstaff, I-40 west to Williams, then Highway 64 north. Sedona sits 119 miles short of the rim, which is why the two northern runs usually get done as one loop.
Mather Campground is inside the park and open all year, with hot showers, no hookups at any site, and family sites at $30 a night as of August 2026. From March through November it is reservations only, apart from 15 first-come sites released at 8 a.m., so plan the trip backwards from that morning. Once the van is parked the free shuttle buses do the rest of the driving.
Camping at Country Thunder and Phoenix Raceway
Country Thunder Arizona fills a field down in Florence every April, and it sells its own campsites. The tiers run from a 19 by 40 foot primitive plot with parking for one vehicle up to a 20 by 45 foot Premier site with a 50 amp hookup, one water fill and one septic service. Campsites now include two general admission tickets, and the gate wants a full event wristband. Phoenix Raceway sells on-site RV camping for its spring and fall NASCAR weekends, in tiers around 25 by 50 feet, most on dirt without hookups and one with power and water.
One-way rentals, Phoenix to Las Vegas or Salt Lake City
You can drop the van in another city instead of driving it back. Indie Campers has a depot about a mile from Sky Harbor, and two more in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, which are the places people usually finish. It costs extra and not every van is allowed to make the trip, so look at the listing before you commit. How one-way rentals work explains the fees.
Six people will not sleep in a campervan. That trip is an RV in Phoenix instead, and those pick up locally.