Best Tent Camping near Bodega Bay, CA

General: 19 general and six walk-in campsites among giant redwood and Bay Laurel trees on the Gualala River. Sites 17 & 18 are a double site. 

Site Quality: Level sites with bear box, picnic table, and fire ring. Site One’s camper pad fit our 18-foot camper van, but it would not accommodate anything much larger. Several other camper pads looked short as well. No hookups. 

Bath/Shower house: Three individual units with toilet, sink, soap, and paper towels. One shower that takes quarters – three minutes for $2.00. 

Activities: There is a trail that leads through the walk-in sites, under Highway One, and to the beach, approximately 1.5 miles. You can also drive to the day-use area for a shorter walk. We were there on a weekday but there were many activities scheduled for the upcoming weekend including kayaking on Bodega Bay, outside yoga, and healthy hustle circuit training – I was sad to miss all of these options. 

This campground is beautiful and peaceful. But note that although we did not encounter any, several other campers experienced over-eager raccoons while eating dinner. There was also a sign warning of mountain lions but we did not encounter any. Shout-out to the ranger who shared a lot of good information about the area.

Pantoll is a pretty campground located adjacent to the entrance to Mount Tamalpais.  You can hike to, bike to, take the bus to, or even drive to this campground.  If you choose to drive, just know that it can be impossible to find a place to park on busy weekends (you'll need to drop your stuff off, find a place to park along the road, then come back to park in the evening when the parking lot clears).  We hiked in.  On a weekend night in March, only four of the 16 sites were taken so we had no problem nabbing a spot.  The campground is situated across a steep-ish hillside.  Water spigots are spread out among the sites, but all the bathrooms are located down the hill near the parking lot.  Each site has a fire pit, picnic table, and a flat spot to pitch a tent.  Sites are fairly close together in bunches (for example, 2, 3, and 5 were close, 6 and 7 were close, but there was a bit of space between the groups). Firewood is sold at the ranger kiosk but they have limited hours. Some spots are larger than others, and very few can accommodate a house-size tent (you know what I mean - and no judging, I have a house-size tent for car camping).  We had our 3 person backpacking tent with us and it would have fit in all the sites.  Sites up the hill require a bit of a hike-in but are farther from the road noise and busy parking lot.  There is one dishwashing station near the bottom.  

Pros: 

- Location.  You can hike anywhere from this campground.  Down to Muir Woods in less than 3 miles.  Up to Rock Springs, Bolinas Ridge, and Mount Tam.  Down to Stinson Beach.  I could spend a week here exploring all the trails.

- Amenties.  Dishwashing sink, many water spigots, food storage lockers, fire pits, toilets that flush.  And Wifi from the ranger kiosk (squee!!!) which we appreciated to check the weather and bus schedule (very poor Verizon signal).

Cons: 

- Noise from Panoramic Highway.

- Busy parking lot with lots of people potentially moving around the campground (especially the lower sites). 

- No reservations: FCFS only.

Overall I'm really happy I finally got to chance to camp here and would recommend.

General: Located between Bodega Bay and Bodega Harbor, this county park has over 140 sites in four campgrounds: Shell, Gull, Cove, and Jetty. There is also tent camping, a group campsite, and a hiker/biker camping area. No hookups in any site. 

Site Quality: Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Sites all appeared to be level. Depending on your site, you may have more privacy/separation than in others. Site 21 (in Shell) was nicely positioned, however, the sites on either side of us were not occupied during our stay so we had more privacy. 

Bath/Shower: Self-contained units with a toilet and sink with soap, HOT water, and air dryer. One coin-operated shower house for Shell, Gull, and Cove campgrounds, located between Gull and Cove. Additional showers in the tent-only section and the Jetty campground. Generally clean. 

Activities: Hiking, fishing, birding, beachcombing, wading, and water sports. There was a very short boardwalk and sandy walking paths, although some of these were very overgrown. 

One thing I appreciated was propane cylinder recycling. We learned there is a program where select vendors will refill the small cylinders and we hope this becomes more readily available. This is a much larger county park campground than we have been in before and it was very busy when we were there on a weekday in late October. Nice but I prefer the smaller and quieter campgrounds.

Bodega Bay's Westside Regional Park is a great place to stay as a base camp for exploring the Sonoma Coast. Situated by the Bodega Bay yacht harbor, this is a dry camp facility managed by Sonoma County Regional Parks, and is a great alternative to the more popular and always crowded Doran State Beach campground. There are well situated and spacious tent and RV sites, both back-in and pull-thru. The campground has very easy access to the bay's water edge to explore. Each site has a large fire ring and picnic table. Bathrooms and showers are at each end of the campground, and a dump station is onsite too. Generator curfew is 8PM - 8AM which is great! Just a few minutes off Hwy 1, this is a fantastic launch pad for exploring the southern part of the very beautiful Sonoma Coast by car, motorcycle and bicycle (worthy road and touring bicycles recommended). Hiking, kayaking and beach exploration are all around. The mouth of the Russian River is close by and is another beautiful area to check out. Just know the weather, even in the summer, is generally cool and foggy mornings are the norm.

This site is all about location.  You are right on Bodega Bay.  But that also means the wind is fierce.  So while I have tent camped here it not something I would do again unless there were no other choices.  The sites have tables and fire rings but they are really meant for trailers & RVS.  We were there in the fall and when it started raining our tent was soon in a puddle!

But the location is great for fishing or kayaking  in the Bay or access to hiking at Bodega Head.  Also remember to see if the Bodega Marine Lab is open for a tour.  Very few days and times open but if you hit it right it is worth a visit.  The other great thing about location is that you can walk down to where the fishing boats come in and get a fresh catch for dinner.

Nothing fancy here but it can work.

First, you stay here for the views. Great views from the first two rows closest to the water. There are very few plantings between spaces. No hook ups at all, but water is available if you fill before you park. Seven dollar dump station. Each campsite has a fire ring and a wooden picnic table and grass. Since there’s no hook ups between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM, you will always be listening to somebody’s generator running. Always. No privacy at this campground. I did not check out the bathrooms for the campground, but I did look at the bathrooms for the large boat launch area next-door. No showers in that bathroom, but it was clean. A bit spendy for no hookups. Safe. Zero long term campers when I was here. There are no first come first served campsites at this location. All camping spaces had a reserve sign on them, even though the place was about 40% full. Completely dark at night, which was great.