Perfect location
Doesn't get better than this. Perfect location. Close to the train tracks is romantic but loud
Site76
Month of VisitSeptember
Beachfront campground, pristine ocean views
I live in the area, but since we love camping, we will sometimes camp down the street because it's fun. This isn't the type of experience where you get away from it all...the campground is on coast highway, there's a taco stand within the grounds and a strip mall across the street. However, if you love the ocean and want to hang at the beach all day, you'll love it here.
Our camp site was on the street side, the beach side is better, but we took what we could get in the summer. There are rings and a table, the bathrooms and showers are nearby and well maintained. Be advised that there is a lot of concrete so you won't be tenting it on the sand. This campground is always full and crowded, but you can't beat being right on the beach.
SiteWe had site 40, it was alright...a little too close to the road and bathrooms.
Month of VisitAugust
Glorified parking lot
Don't get me wrong. I had a great time there and will be back. But it is not camping, and it is not getting back to nature. It is a great place to pitch a tent with friends and go surfing all day, then come back clean up, drink beer, and sleep. You are not beach camping, you are not in the sand. Expect a lot of noise and light since you are directly next to a high way. There is also a Starbucks directly across the street.
Cliffside campground with a SOCAL beach vibe and a taco shack!
If you wanna go on a surfside southern california adventure and keep it fun and cheap then this place is great. People do yoga on the beach, buy tacos after surfing all morning and you can walk along the beach for miles and see so much for so little of those treasured SOCAL beach scenes. You are near a little bit of beach town so you can buy anything you crave from a nearby gourmet market and meander along a beautiful garden walk behind the campground across the highway. Bums and beach hobos sneak through the fences a lot so watch yourself after hours by the restrooms or toward the far corners of the place. Bathrooms are minimal, showers need tokens and seemed to be cleaned industrial prison-style by a large butchy crew with a big hose, scrubby instruments at the end of poles and a bottle of bleach. The sites aren't private but at the beach everyone is on display so you get used to it. Bring a cruiser and your dogs and kick back at this great albeit crowded and maybe even a little too loosely run joint-- I mean, campground. The taco shack adds to the paradise resort vibe here, except unlike a resort, the tacos are actually GOOD!
Beach camping
I mean it's beach camping. Not the greatest of campsites but you're right on the 101 and right on the beach so what more could you want from that?
People aren't generally too noisy after dark.
Make sure you make a reservation and put up your rain fly unless you like being really dal in the morning (honestly you'll probably be damp either way).
Crowded, but great location
The sites here are pretty closely packed in, and we had some rowdy neighbors, but aside from that it's a great location for beach access, running, cycling, and surfing. Clean restrooms and token-operated showers. Easy access to nearby town, and not a bad drive into San Diego.
Like Sardines in Paradise.
There is one reason to camp here, and one reason only. It is overlooking the ridiculously beautiful San Elijo State Beach & out over the Pacific Ocean. That's a pretty compelling reason.
As a campground they pack you in tight. It's essentially a huge parking lot overlooking the ocean and covered in sand. There isn't much shade but if you can get a spot with a tree...do it (campsites in the 20's generally do). Otherwise it's one big family of rv's with massive generators, kids of all ages running around and drunken adults giving over to trailer park life for a bit. It's right off the Pacific Coast Highway in the town of Cardiff so expect traffic, both car and people. This isn't gettin' back to nature.
There are plenty of bathrooms with token showers. The beach showers have been turned off due to water restrictions. The bathrooms are usually stocked but pretty dirty and even gross. Definitely pack flip flops if you're going to use the showers. The Campground is the main access to the beach for the town of Cardiff so the gates are open to anyone walking through until about 7pm. That means the bathrooms see lots of action from locals and hoboes in addition to campers.
With all those sounding like negatives you might wonder why you'd want to stay here, and the answer is simple. There are moments, usually around sunset, when you can close your eyes, and when you open them the sky is orange, pink and red. The ocean turning from blue to shadow and everyone seems to shut the eff up for a moment where you swear you're alone in the universe. Then you drink a beer and breath the ocean air in deep and are able to ignore the little kid taking a dump in the bush two campsites over.
Pro-Tip: Patagonia is right across the street. Every Sunday Morning they host a "Sea Ramble" coffee & donuts bike ride. About 10 miles and a great way to see Cardiff and Encinitas. They also host weekly events...usually with beer.
Pro-Tip 2: Traffic will suck.
Pro-Tip 3: Haggo's Tacos, Haggo's Tacos, Haggo's Tacos. It's about 10 minutes north on the PCH.
California jem
Perched on Another cliff overlooking the pacific this spot is one of my 3 favorites for surfing. I use a Westy here and the facilities are great it has privacy planting a which are nice and mature btw the sites. And the beach access is phenomenal. Oh wait I forgot they have the best Mexican aside from Waitsfield VT (the Mad Taco) so if you don't want to roast some grub over an open firepit, again while overlooking the pacific, then you're in luck. But if you are not in the mood for Mexican you can walk across the street and get sick coffee from a phenomenal hipster joint that roasts their own as well as a dozen other places from Asian to Italian. And then hit Patagonia for an epic cultivated selection of surfboards as well as all their clothes. You might also get to see some folks doing a handmade wooden surfboard clinic.
