Carpinteria State Beach
South Carlsbad State Beach
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If you are looking for the beach camping experience but you are not a fan or the sand in your toes, this place is the winner! With 200 sites to choose from, this place is lively and amazing. South Carlsbad is a very well run campground with several camp hosts, a camp store, a restaurant with live music, one main paved road where locals and campers walk, ride, run along regularly, this place has all the bells and whistles you would want from a camping experience.
The beach is down an enormous amount of stairs so it is definitely not for the faint at heart but it sure is beautiful if you can make it down there. If you can’t, I assure you the views from up top are nothing but stunning.
This place is also considered the surfers dream and there are plenty of them. I love the color patterns on the sand and the beautiful sand dune walls as you take your daily or hourly beach walk.
There are some sites with hookups although they book extremely fast so we actually never been lucky enough to snag one of those but the dry camping sites are spacious and just as lovely if you are self sustained. I also love the mixture of camping styles you see here, from tent, car camping, trailers, to motorhomes; such a variety all in one place.
Let’s not forget to mention that this place is only 2.5 miles away from Legoland and about a 30 minute drive to Sea World in San Diego so this is definitely a cost effective way to stay at about $50 per night and make it an extended camping trip by adding theme park days too.
Downtown Carlsbad is a lively town with plenty to do and see so we absolutely love riding our ebikes into town for lunch and dessert every time we camp here; it is one of the cities on top of our list where we would like to live if we ever decide to retire in California.
You can book your camping spot at this lovely place here.
These two are one or the other or a two for one as they share the same beach
Rincon Parkway
Faria Beach Park
If you are looking for a place to be just steps away from the ocean, Rincon Parkways is your place to be. With 127 site, each one is 46 ft long,one in front of the other so every site has a front row beach view. My family and I, including our dogs, LOVE this place. All sites have direct access to the beach but the higher the site number, the higher you are from the sand. Our favorite sites are somewhere between the 60’s and the 90’s. After 100, you will be really high up from the beach so those sites are best if you are only going for the view.
Your site and the beach are separated by big boulders. You must climb down the rocks and back up to access the beach.
There is also a train track just on the other side of the road so you do hear the train as it passes by pretty regularly. You are also parked right off of a two lane road so you do hear cars passing by frequently but the front row view of the majestic sunsets make it bearable.
Please note there are no hookups and no camp host on duty so you must come self sustained with water and power. This also does not allow you to set up a tent, trailers or motorhomes only.
Another reason our family loves this place is because this is a beach where we can allow our dogs to run and play often. We do have them leashed but sometimes when we are the only ones around, we let them get some sprints in and they love it.
Not only is this place beautiful all day long, the night sky has its own glory too; the stars are amazingly bright and plentiful for being just miles away from town.
At roughly $50-60 a night, you can get a million dollar front row view to beautiful sunsets and sea breezes. Rincon Parkway is a “must experience” when you find yourself in Southern California, Ventura County. You can reserve your spot up to four months in advance here.
If you do not have a camper or trailer but you want to get a glimpse of the Rincon parkway experience, Faria Beach Park is your spot. This small but lively campground has 42 sites total ranging from $43-80 per night as some sites have hookups and some just for tents. This place also has nice restrooms, a camp host, and even a snack shack on site.
You do have direct beach access from here but only when it’s low tide via a walkway with steps to the beach.
Most of the sites along the water are ocean view only (no sand) with the exception of the two best sites : site 7 or 8. These two sites get booked up as soon as it becomes available so consider yourself lucky if you can snag one of these two sites. Site 7 or 8 are the best sites to book because you get a picturesque view of the entire beach for miles and miles so you feel like you are staying at a painting but it’s really in front of you.
Sites are pretty close to each other so you don’t have a lot of room or privacy but again, prices to pay to be able to sleep with the live sound of the waves. You can book your camping spot at Faria Beach here.
Last beach trip fave is a beach and a city trip place because its right in the middle of both:
Dockweiler Beach Park
Dockweiler State Beach
When you want to camp but you still want the convenience of a city in the middle of Los Angeles, Dockweiler is the spot for you. This place gives you the RV lot vibe but just steps away from the beach. Because this place is literally in the middle of the city, it is not the safest place to camp so you must be vigilant and you must lock up your things regularly.
Dockweiler is our family’s go to when we want to just ride for miles and miles along the beach on the bike path to people watch while we soak in the sun. This park is the center point where we can easily hop on the path and ride north all the way to Santa Monica Pier passing Marina del Rey, Venice boardwalk and everything in between. Or you can easily hop on the path and ride south and ride through El Segundo, Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo, all the way to Rat Beach just below Palos Verdes Estates.
Our family loves riding into town and trying different burger joints and different ice cream parlors on our ebikes rides, we even established some local favorites.
Parking at Dockweiler provides you many many opportunities for that so we get to try different places each time we go too.
Remember that this is strictly a parking spot with not a lot of room to “camp” but at roughly $75 a night, you are just steps from the beach and the bike path so this place is a great place to be if you want to stay close to the city and the beach or you are coming in to visit family or visit Los Angeles, just remember to lock up everything when you physically leave the park.
Dockweiler requires a two night minimum stay and you can book your parking spot here.
