While you won't find a place to pitch a tent within Laughlin city limits, you can park your trailer or RV within a few steps of a casino. Most casinos have areas where you can dry camp in their parking lots, but a few spots provide camping amenities for guests. The Avi Casino KOA provides full hookups with cable TV and Wi-Fi at sites adjacent to the Mojave Resort Golf Course or the casino's sparkling white beach. Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort RV Park has 733 sites with full hookups and cable TV. Both campgrounds are suitable for rigs of any size.
If you'd rather hear the wind through canyon walls than the clang of a one-armed bandit, head 5 miles south of Laughlin to Big Bend of the Colorado, a state park. The area has 24 sites where you can pitch a tent or take advantage of pull-through parking for RVs. Each site comes with a shade ramada, picnic table, grill and fire ring. Enjoy flush toilets and hot showers, as well as miles of hiking trails and a boat launch. For the more adventurous, paddle or hike on Bureau of Land Management lands that border the Colorado River, and set up camp at a site of your own choosing. Camping is free, but you're limited to a seven-day stay during the warm months and 14 days from September through March.
If singing and telling stories by the light of a campfire is a must for your camping trip, make sure to check regulations before you go. You may build a fire only within metal fire rings and grills in developed campgrounds. The Bureau of Land Management recommends purchasing firewood locally to prevent the spread of insect pests that kill trees, increasing the likelihood of brush fire. Wood brought from out of state must be burned immediately.
Shake out your shoes and keep your tent flap zipped to avoid a visit from venomous creatures like brown recluse or black widow spiders, scorpions or snakes. Insects are common during the muggy weather that follows summer monsoon rains, when they emerge to feed and breed. Keep your camp free of garbage, crumbs and spills to avoid attracting bugs, as well as skunks and rodents, which attract rattlesnakes.
The cool waters of the Colorado River make camping near Laughlin a treat even when outside temperatures soar above 110 F in the summer months of July and August. Nighttime temperatures drop, but sometimes stay close to 100 F. Winter temperatures are mild, with nights rarely dipping to freezing and daytime temps staying in the mid-60s F during December and January.
