Canyon Campground — Leo Carrillo State Park Campground

Great beach camping experience with some minor drawbacks 

We just spent 4 days at Leo Carrillo in site 128 last week. The campground is tucked away in a beautiful canyon setting with lots of shade trees, which was really nice for keeping cool. Our site was spacious enough for our two tents and had a good fire pit and picnic table setup. 

The best part about this campground is definitely the beach access- it's about a 10-minute walk from most sites, and you can explore some amazing tide pools and caves once you get there. The kids loved searching for hermit crabs and sea anemones. Bring a wagon if you're hauling beach gear though, as the walk can feel long with all your stuff. 

Facilities were decent- bathrooms were kept fairly clean and showers worked well, though the token system($2 for 2 minutes) takes some getting used to. The camp store was handy for forgotten supplies and firewood. Cell service is virtually non-existent in the canyon, but you can get signal up at the beach if needed. 

Only downsides were some noisy neighbors on the weekend nights(seems pretty common here given the proximity to LA) and the sites can feel a bit close together when it's fully booked. centimeters to inches Also spotted a few rats at night, so definitely store your food properly. 

Despite the minor issues, we'd definitely come back. It's a great escape from the city with that classic California beach camping vibe. Just book well in advance for summer weekends and maybe bring earplugs if you're a light sleeper. 

Month of Visit: October

The sites are small. It is very difficult to back in to a spot when you have campers across from your campsite.

Amazing place to camp either for one day, but difficult to find availability

Beautiful campgrounds in a canyon next to the beach. Clean restrooms & showers. Spent 3 nights here & wish we could stay longer. The only negative was no wifi or data. So zero internet on site. And Verizon phone signal was spotty at best. Once you get out of the canyon at the beach, the signal is back. But ya, no using data to do social media or watch shows or anything on phone.

This was a cool spot. There are a mix of nice open campsites, and more intimate ones. Nice short walk to the beach where dogs are welcome.

We camped in site 103 and found it to be an awesome spot. We brought our infant for her first camping trip and from 103 you couldn't really see anyone else's camp site (site 102 was across the street from our spot but no one was there). It is also nearly as close as you can get to the beach and has quick access to shower/bathroom and water. 

Only downside was that while It was quiet at night, during the day you are near the entrance so there was a lot of foot traffic and cars/RVs driving through. It didn't bother us though.

It was a great trip over all. The site was clean, there wasn’t a crazy amount of bugs. I do like that the store wasn’t extremely over priced.

The one issue I had wasn’t with the site itself it was the other campers. On the first night there was a couple arguing at midnight and 4 am. The rangers eventually showed up but they didn’t care that they were disturbing the peace.

Overall it’s a great spot to camp! Will definitely be back.

We visited Leo Carillo in March of 2022 and absolutely loved it. The sites are private and roomy, and they have everything you could need - a camp store, showers, and even food trucks! It’s about a 10 minute walk to the beach, which is pretty rocky and not too swimmable, but still gorgeous. Be aware though, the gates close early and if you miss them, you get locked out!

The park and the signs outside the park say gate hours are from 8 AM to 10 PM. It’s 5 PM at night the gates are locked already they locked them at dark not at 10 PM at dark and there’s no camping here at all.

Nice big spots, close to the beach. Very quite. Needs to reserve at California State parks website. Dump station and water fill up on your way out not on the campsite, but thats no issue for us. Wifi not working but good 4G reception. Need tokens for the shower, so showered in the RV.

Had a great time at Leo Carrillo. It’s such a chill campground. Having the beach right next door is awesome. The tide pools are great, but there’s some really beautiful spots on north beach.

Large campsite, I saw many campsite with more the 8 person and lots of tents live together in one site with no problem. It's not a problem for 3 cars parking on site. Kids love tide pool. Cool camp store, they sell fire wood. Because we stay at site 42, it's quite far from beach so we have to drive to beach but not a problem for parking.

I've often come to the beach here but not the campsite. It's on the landward side of the pch and feels like you are away from everything. The beach is accessible by a short walk that goes under the pch, so no crossing this busy road. The site has a handy store for basic needs plus toys and shirts and emergency camp stuff. Not sure if all the hookups are operational, we weren't able to get one, but there were tent campers on sites that had them? Like most places, best to book early to guarantee you get what you need. This site had a nice fire pit and table up a short hill and very private

Beautiful scenery of the ocean and nice to see the sunrise and sunset.

This park has great access to a beautiful beach. A lot of surfers which was fun to watch. Not familiar enough with CA to judge but just to mention, you have to buy tokens to take a shower. We were told it was $2 for a 4 min shower. When you actually get to the shower it’s $2 for 2 mins. The sites are spread out enough you’re not right on top of your neighbor but they are still close and it was crowded! A lot of bikes and activity going on pretty late into the night.

Love this spot for it's tide pools and location off of pch.

Wonderful area with good hiking spots, beach access for both you and your dogs. Easy access to water every 4-5 bays, dumpsters close by, showers on site and a local store for some last minute amenities.

We camped here for New Years 2016 and loved it. It was a quiet campground even on new years and had a good amount of room between sites. The site is pretty sandy so the tents get a bit messy, but otherwise the fire ring was great. 

The beach that you can walk to is an awesome dog beach. We had a blast here. I will say be careful about tar in the sand as that ruined a good pair of hiking pants that I was wearing.

I thought this was a great campground, although I had the only campsite (#101) that didn’t have any shade. It is a huge campground with paved pads for cars and RVs. Many of the site had huge shade trees that you could fit several tents under. Sites were spaced a good distance apart. It is well maintained. There are flush toilets, hot showers, water, a dump station and a little campground store. My only complaint was the showers. Two tokens for a dollar, two minutes of hot water per token. It took most of the first two minutes waiting for the water to get hot. I ended my shower by rinsing off with cold water.

Na

The beach has sand, tide pools, caves, beauty galore!

I was lucky to roll in on a late Sunday afternoon and snag a last minute spot. Beach is a good surf spot. Sites are good sized and not too close to each other. Bathrooms have token showers.

The campground is tucked away between 2 canyons amongst sycamore trees. The parking pads or trailer pads are very small, but the sites themselves have good space w/ fire pits and tables. Cel service is very scarce in the campground, you need to go out to the beach for service. The beach is within walking distance, great waves for surfing and awesome tide pools for the kiddos. There is also a dog beach and a couple rock caves to explore. Overall, a nice getaway and not too far from home.

We spent our spring break here and had a great time. Me, my husband, and our 7 year old daughter enjoyed it so much we ended up extending our stay. The campground was busy but there was plenty of space between campsites. Everyone was pleasant including the staff that were very helpful and answered all of our questions.

The best part of this campground is the quick walk to the beach. Lots of families and trees to climb for the kids. Going from the campsite to the sand was a very nice experience. I camped on a Saturday night so the campground was full but that was expected as we were so close to L.A. I will return for a quick getaway.

Nice campground Very family oriented Great for kids to play, run and ride their bikes all day long Walking distance to the beach Convenient store located in campground Closest grocery store is about 10 minutes away

Lots of Rats at night Make sure you bring rodent repellent

We visited here last weekend. Had reservations for site 30, which was nice. However, very loud inconsiderate neighbors. They had a huge clan of screaming children and barking dogs. Plus they ran their generator during quiet hours. We walked around the park on day 2 and saw a lot of open sites, and requested to be moved if possible. While the person at the kiosk did let us move, she was not friendly about it, and in fact was quite rude. She said they have every right to be loud in a public place. What about our right to enjoy nature in peace? If I went to a movie theater, a public place, people do not have the right to be loud and ruin my experience, right? Beware of L. Albers, she is not nice. In any case, we moved to site 118, which was beautiful, and quiet. The sites are all pretty big, and are spread out. A bit of a long walk to the beach, but we didn’t have kids, so it was ok. I would go back.

Family camping weekend. There is a cute general store onsite. It’s small but carries plenty and has a coffee machine. It was so much fun riding our scooters and skates all over the grounds as all the sites are situated on a loop. Restrooms were nearby these two sites and had token showers. Lots of ants at our site but we set up camp right under the big tree and hey you are in nature. Beach is not far (walkable) but recommend a wagon or something similar to bring your beach gear. Water was very cold of course. Dog beach is located on the north beach. Porta-potties at the beach. Fishing allowed. Was so much fun discovering the tidepools and exploring the coastal cliffs and caves.

We stayed one night. Nice experience. It was super quiet after 10p.m., but it was a Monday night.

About 60% of the sites have shade. Check the ReserveCalifornia.com site pictures to see what the site looks like before you register. Open the map then click on the site to see the picture. https://www.reservecalifornia.com/CaliforniaWebHome/

It’s a short walk to the beach. Nice beach. Dogs are only allowed on the beach north of Leo Carrillo Beach. It’s a little longer walk. A couple of notes: The Dyrt info says $12 but that’s for day use only. The tent sites are $45, plus $9 registration fee;hookup sites $60, plus $9 registration. There is a flock of South American parrots that come by and feed on the flora seeds in the area.

I love camping at Leo I grew up going here, some of my best memories are riding bikes and hiking around the campground with friends. As a kid I always felt safe and my parents let me roam free. It’s crowded during the summer for obvious reasons, but I think that’s part of the charm it’s a great place to people watch and make friends with your neighbors. Highly recommend booking 6 months in advance if you want a summer weekend spot. The beach is a short walk, bike ride or drive away and the north end of the beach is dog friendly. Campers have priority at the beach parking lot. It’s only an hour drive from LA but you can see the stars and hear the waves crashing at night from your campsite. Quite time is 10 but it usually gets quite around 12. Rangers do try to enforce it but they are understanding and will give a few warnings before getting stern. Hope you get the chance to visit this cool spot...wishing I was there now!