Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve
Santee, CA
By Simir Shah
★★★★★4.5(1,670 Google reviews)
What parents say
AI summary of 5 Google reviews — not a first-hand visit. How we write these
Lakes with playgrounds, pedal boats, fishing and easy walking and biking trails, and reviewers consistently call it clean and well staffed. Shade is thin at some spots, so bring your own. Fishing is good when trout are stocked and slow otherwise. Day visitors pay at the gate for a pass.
Santee's crown jewel: seven stocked fishing lakes with paddle boats, a lakeside campground with floating cabins, and a summer sprayground where little kids cool off. Park on the street and walk in through one of the three gates to skip the parking fee. Come early on hot weekends since the sprayground fills up fast.
Happening near here
- Alley Cat Art FestEl Cajon · 5 mi
- Poway Days Rotary ParadePoway · 7 miFree
- San Diego Air & Space Museum — Free Second Tuesday (SD residents)San Diego · 13 mi · 10am–4:30pmFree
- Old Town San Diego Living HistorySan Diego · 13 mi · Sat 10am–5pmFree
9310 Fanita Pkwy, Santee, CA 92071, USA
Hours via Google — confirm before a special trip.
Parking $4 weekdays / $7 weekends; sprayground wristband $2–$3
Map
What visitors say
- Cassi Mcfarland★★★★★
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ **Amazing Family Camping Experience at Santee Lakes** We had a wonderful stay at Santee Lakes Campground! The campground is extremely clean, well-maintained, and has beautiful lakes throughout the property. The staff was friendly and welcoming, making check-in quick and easy. There was plenty to do for all ages, including fishing, walking and biking trails, playgrounds, and pedal boats. The campsites were spacious with full hookups, and the bathrooms and showers were kept very clean. It felt peaceful while still being close to stores and restaurants if we needed anything. If I had one small suggestion, it would be to add a little more shade at some of the campsites during the hotter months. Other than that, everything exceeded our expectations. We would definitely stay here again and highly recommend Santee Lakes to anyone looking for a clean, safe, and family-friendly campground near San Diego.
3 weeks ago
- Tony Cappelli★★★★★
My family and I have been camping here a couple of times per year since 2007. We prefer staying along the little stream. It’s generally quieter and we have a deck we sit on in the mornings for coffee. The place is beautiful and the staff has always been friendly. However, my wife and I both work remotely and rely on consistent internet. Over the years it has progressively gotten worse. We pay extra for “higher speeds” but every few minutes the signal drops and we have to jump through hoops to sign in again, if we’re lucky. So we come here but have to go to Starbucks or another restaurant nearby to work. It is absolutely ridiculous that a place this nice can’t get internet service for its guests. Maybe they don’t want to offer it so that the local neighborhood doesn’t get some free internet. Ridiculous! We know it’s challenging to get wifi here but we’ve been dealing with it, but no more. After almost 20 years, at least 40-50 visits, hundreds of dollars spent on inconsistent paid internet and way too much coffee at Starbucks, we will not be returning any more.
a month ago
Showing 2 of 5 Google reviews · Read them all on Google Maps
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