The first night is at Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain Park, next door to the west side of Saguaro National Park, which allows no vehicle camping of its own. From the campground the Tucson Mountain District is a few minutes up Kinney Road, and it holds the thickest saguaro stands in the park. The short Valley View Overlook trail looks out over the Avra Valley, and the graded dirt Bajada Loop runs about six miles through the cactus.
Gilbert Ray is reservation-only and open September through April, closed May through August, as of August 2026. That makes the site the first booking and the van the second, and it sends summer dates to Catalina State Park north of town, which runs electric-and-water sites all year. The electric RV sites at Gilbert Ray have no showers, and a van pays the RV rate. Reach the campground by Ajo Way and Kinney Road rather than Gates Pass, which is not built for a longer rig.
The east side is a day, not a base. The Rincon Mountain District, on the far edge of the city, runs the paved eight-mile Cactus Forest Drive under the Rincon ridgeline, and it is easiest to take on the way out of town rather than as a there-and-back from the west campground. Closer in, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum sits on Kinney Road between Gilbert Ray and the west visitor center if you want a half-day off the trail.
Catalina State Park in the foothills
Catalina State Park sits on Oracle Road where the Santa Catalina Mountains meet the north edge of town, with nearly 5,000 saguaros on it and trails that climb into Coronado National Forest. Its 120 sites have electric and water, hot showers, no length limit, and stay open all year with a 14-night cap. The no-length-limit part matters if you rented something big.
Mt Lemmon and the Catalina Highway
When the valley sits over 100 degrees, the move is up the Catalina Highway, the only paved road into the upper Santa Catalinas and 27 miles from Sonoran desert to Canadian-zone forest. At the top, Summerhaven is a small hamlet in the pines and Rose Canyon Campground sits around 7,000 feet in ponderosa. Rose Canyon is open about April through October, capped at 22-foot rigs, and has no hookups, so it takes a small van and turns a big one away.
Between that 22-foot cap and the Saguaro loop drives, which turn back vehicles over 40 feet or wider than 102 inches, length quietly decides where a van goes around Tucson, so for a larger rig with more sleeping space the Arizona RV rentals hub is the wider view.
Kartchner Caverns, south of Benson
Kartchner is a living limestone cave off Highway 90, about an hour southeast of Tucson, and the Rotunda and Throne tour walks you back to Kubla Khan, the largest column formation in Arizona. Most people do it as a day trip and sleep back near Tucson, but book the tour ahead because it runs on timed reservations.
Tucson is one base in a state full of them, and the Arizona campervan hub lays out the others.
