Best Campgrounds near Big Bend, CA

Cheap and convenient. The area is kind of sketchy, but it worked for one night and we didn't have any trouble. Looks like there's a lot of people there who are overstaying the allowed number of days.

A safe, beautiful, affordable property to spend outdoors time on. Convenient sites with complete hookup and also restroom/showers handy. The 800+ acres of hills, woods and fields offers archery, disc golf, hiking, horseback riding and more. Very friendly, helpful staff. Bonus: short drive to Downtown Napa. Wish we had more time to spend there. Highly recommend!

I payed another of money to be able to take my dog and stay in a doggie friendly cottage the only one they have. It seems like it's always booked i can't seem to get ahold of a person WHO ACUALLY WORKS THERE THINKING ABOUT SELLING MY MEMBERSHIP

Great place to explore the California coast. Good level campground with reasonable amount of privacy. Showers cost $1 and you need a token. The token machine was broken and the camphost was kind and gave me a free token.

This was a lovely place to relax with a friend. We explored the area, including eating at the famous "Birds" restaurant. 

the sites are nice with picnic tables. Some more level than others. Nice big trees. Great hosts.

This place is amazing in busy San Francisco where camping is so expensive! 

Parked here and had friends from the city come pick me up to spend the day together and then dropped me back off at night to sleep. Felt very safe with all the other campers around. And the view! 

There was some noise around midnight, but it quieted down again.

I can't think of a better place to camp on or near Mt. Tamalpais than Pantoll in terns of the access to trails and the various parks in the area. From Pantoll you have very easy access to the summit of Mt. Tamalpais, easy access Stinson Beach and the coast, plus you can even skip the long lines and shuttles to get into Muir Woods. There are literally days worth of great hiking accessible from Pantoll!

That said, the campground, while nicely maintained and well-equipped is right next to a relatively busy road and during daylight hours, especially in the high-traffic times of the year, the sites themselves are very exposed to all the day visitors.

Speaking of day visitors, I don't recall if you get a dedicated parking space with a campsite or not, but parking can be a challenge here due to the popularity of the various trailheads, and the limited parking.

Insanely hot in the summer, I would recommend not going in July like we did. It was 104° or something and I was just drenching my clothes in water to stay cool.

The hike is pretty nice to the summit from there.

Lots of free water and there's free showers too which is awesome, but don't use the stinky toilet at the top there's way better ones around the bottom area.

They have food lockers, not bear lockers, and ours was broken one time so have a solid backup plan, the raccoons are very intelligent and they come out at night so be prepared for that.

BRING SHOWER SHOES AND SOAP UR GOING TO WANT IT

Good spot to spend the night. Rocked up at around 8pm, pretty busy at least 10 other vans and rvs there for the night. Couple of food vendors, great view of Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Weren’t hassled at all, left around 9am.

Nice spot close to the Golden Gate Bridge

This was some “glamping” for us. We’re in a van with no consistent onboard power or water, so we do a night or two out and a night at a site with more amenities. This was a perfect stop driving south on the 1 after the previous night remote on the coast and a planned need for StarLink with power source. Park is clean and well-organized, if tight, and the bathrooms are super clean and door-coded, with included hot showers. Right on the marina, fun if you enjoy harbor/boating scenery, and good food within walking distance. No way - that I found - to reserve online, but a phone call at 9am on a Saturday was returned within 10 minutes and got it done. Range of big rigs to camper vans, easy access and enough room to negotiate into spots. Very welcoming, safe, laid back environment.

Have you been over to Bodega Bay?  I think you'd like it there.  Our friends sure know us well!  While the town doesn’t look much different than when it appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, the cafes in the village have definitely upped their game. 

Bodega Dunes State Park is a great way to experience the area without the same activity and noise in the camp grounds down closer to the water. The campsite loops wind through the coastal Live Oak and Bishop Pine trees and provide some privacy in between sites in some areas, though some sites are right on top of each other.

They are generally smaller pull-in sites geared more toward tents, vans, and small travel trailers. There are just a handful of sites that can accommodate bigger RVs.  Many of the sites have decent open sky resources for solar power and satellite internet, though many in the lower areas had standing water and torn up asphalt pads from the heavy rains the last couple of years.

The bathrooms were clean and comfortable with flush toilets and warm showers (coin operated). My only complaint about the bathrooms is that there weren’t quite enough for the demand, in my opinion, but a few port-o-potties might help offset that during the busy season. 

Hiking among the sand dunes and along the beach provide some really stunning scenery. Reaching the beach, you’ll find as much coastal sand as you can handle with miles and miles of it to yourself. The water, which is normally pretty cold year round, can also be pretty rough for swimming.

A short drive away is the gorgeous Bodega Head Trail which winds up along the headland and offers amazing scenery. It’s sort of like a small Point Reyes National Seashore, but much easier to get to.

Bodega Bay has a couple of small grocery stores, gas stations, and more than a few restaurants to meet nearly any craving.  The area is known for its Dungeness Crab Harvest, so be sure to check that out when it's in season!

Great location overlooking the city, has facilities like toilets and drinking fountains. Very busy when I was here on a Saturday night with locals, tourists and Mexican street vendors. Can’t complain because it’s free and close to the city