Best For
Self-sufficient tent campers who want a first-come, first-served desert experience without the advance-booking pressure — but you must arrive early and pay within one hour of setup.
18
Sites
No
Hookups
Vault
Toilets
Belle is one of Joshua Tree's few remaining first-come, first-served campgrounds, with 18 sites, pit toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits — and absolutely no water, so pack in everything you need. There is no rating data and no reservation history in our analytics because it operates outside the Recreation.gov system: you find a site, occupy it, and pay at an entrance station within one hour. That simplicity is its biggest draw for campers who can't or won't plan 6 months out. The tradeoff is genuine uncertainty — during March and April weekends, when the rest of the park is at capacity, Belle fills by mid-morning. Arriving Thursday evening or Friday at dawn is the realistic strategy for a weekend stay.
Content from Joshua Tree National Park park guide
October through April is the core visitor season at Joshua Tree, with November representing the single most competitive booking month in the park — 17.7% of November reservations are made 6+ months in advance across 8,472 total bookings. March and April see the highest raw reservation volume (11,352 and 10,250 respectively), driven by spring wildflowers and ideal 70–90°F daytime temperatures. August is the easiest month to find a site with 40.8% of bookings made last-minute, but summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°F in the lower elevations.
Joshua Tree has two main entrances — the West Entrance near Joshua Tree town and the North Entrance near Twentynine Palms — plus the South Entrance at Cottonwood off Interstate 10, which accesses only the southern campgrounds. There is no park shuttle; a private vehicle is required to move between campgrounds, trailheads, and visitor centers. Note that Belle, Hidden Valley, and White Tank campgrounds are first-come, first-served and must be paid for at an entrance station within one hour of occupying a site.
The park entrance fee is $35 per vehicle, valid for 7 days. Nightly camping fees vary by campground and are charged separately through Recreation.gov for reservation campgrounds, or paid at entrance stations for first-come, first-served sites. The America the Beautiful Annual Pass ($80) covers the $35 entrance fee but does not reduce nightly camping fees — it is still worth the investment for anyone visiting multiple federal lands in the same year.
The maximum stay at every campground is 14 days within any 28-day period. Pets are permitted in campgrounds and on paved roads but are not allowed on trails or in the backcountry. No water is available at Belle, Hidden Valley, or White Tank campgrounds, and water is limited even at campgrounds that do have it — bring at least one gallon per person per day. Cell service is unreliable throughout most of the park; download the NPS app and offline maps before arrival. The nearest full-service town is Twentynine Palms, which has grocery stores, gas, and medical facilities.
Address
Twentynine Palms, California
Coordinates
34.0019, -116.0198
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
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