Best RV Parks & Resorts near Channel Islands National Park, CA

Faria Beach Park (also known as Pitas Point by surfers), is the perfect getaway for surfers and beach lovers alike. In the winter, large winter storms bring waves to Faria leading surfers to flock to its shore, and campgrounds. The campgrounds have RV hook ups, and offer the perfect view of the ocean. Campgrounds run $35-$39 and RV hooks up go for $50-$58. There is also a concession stand that offers food and refreshments, perfect for the picnic table. The campsite is well maintained but gets busy during the prime times of the year. Any groceries and supplies can be purchased at Ventura, a 15 minute drive away. For beach lovers, low tide at Faria offer tide pools and a stretch of sand to lay out on or run with the puppy. There are available restrooms, free outdoor showers, trash disposal area and fire pits available at select paid campsites. Faria Beach RV Park is the best camping opportunity to be on the beach, while enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Ocean!

Part of the Thousand Trails network. There is very clean bathrooms, room for RV'S, a rec center, store, pool, hot tub. There is a small creek and plenty of hiking trails.

The Ventura Beach RV Resort is very nice and a short bike ride or walk from the beach or town. Stay away from the sites in the first row closest to the freeway as those tend to flood. If you're looking for a quiet campground this is likely too loud for you. If you're looking for interaction with other friendly campers then you will likely enjoy it.

This Campground belongs to the Thousand Trails network. We use it quite often as it is only 2 hours from our house. The campground is nice. There are wild turkeys that wander thru the campground and you will see an occassional deer or 2. Good & bad is that your wifi, cell service is very limited here. If you want to get away from that hectic "connected 24/7" life this is a place you can do it. If you need that constant connection you won't like it.

This a a very nice campground nestled in the hills of Santa Barbara county. The sites for dry camping are the largest that I have every come across in 50 years. The full hookup sites are your standard size that you see at most rv parks. The lake is nice but is at an all time low water level because of the ongoing drought. The Danish town of Solvang is 12 miles away and there must be 50 places that you can go wine tasting in the area if that is your thing.

Cool little county park with some full hook up spots. Nice level concrete pads. Non hook up spots are dirt with some general use water. Nice oak trees sprawling through the park. Great creek when flowing.

If you find yourself up near Santa Barbara, this luxury RV Resort and Campground is a real splurge. The grounds are beautiful, overlooking the ocean, and connecting to the El Capitan Canyon glamping resort, which offers yurts and safari tents. We enjoyed exploring the property's hiking trails and the heated pool was really nice. 

If you don't feel like cooking, there's a really cute little deli and gift shop called Canyon Market that sells a nice selection of California wines, craft beers and BBQ kits for grill-your-own meals. Their breakfast burritos were really good, and they also serve tacos, burgers, sandwiches and salads throughout the day.

El Capitan State Beach is about a 20 minute walk away, so keep that in mind if you have a lot of beach gear. 

My video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djcr_GYf1kc

We stayed at Rancho Oso for two weeks. We chose it because it was near Santa Barbara. And it was affordable (with Thousand Trails). So near to Santa Barbara is a relative term. It’s a 35 minute drive on a lovely windey mountain road. Beautiful drive!!! The problem was the resort does not have wifi or Verizon cell service. So I had to commute daily, I work remotely. If you want remote this is good. The other problem was ants. The 2nd day we came back and we were infested. We were able to move spots but what a hassle. We used all of our available poisons (windex, bug spray, rubbing alcohol) to kill or drown them. Then vacuumed for hours. It took two weeks before they were gone. The resort knew they had a problem but didn’t really help. So we recommend you be proactive and watch for them and maybe spray your perimeter occasionally. So no wifi and cell service - on them. They need to fix this.
Ant infestations- they should spray. Hot, dry, things closed because of Coronavirus and fire risk - not on them.
If you want remote, it’s good.

Large water district camping outside Ojai Ca. Full hook ups at most sites. $50 a night plus extra for tow vehicle. 8 areas to to choose from. Water park in summer, disc golf, fishing, boating, home of the ‘84 Olympic rowing competition. Gates close at 10 pm and had to park outside when I didn’t get back in time and walk in. Dirt and grass sites depending on where you choose. Many amenities

We were there in the middle of summer in the dumpster fire year of 2020. Make sure you get the correct weather report of ‘Cachuma Village’ and not assume it is the same climate as the much cooler Santa Barbara (15 degrees difference).

There are hundreds of campsites and many have RV hookups. I found the following YouTube video helpful when reserving a space. We were glad we picked a space that was under the canopy of two mature trees. https://youtu.be/sDWHOIo66F4

Although the lake looks beautiful, it is only a boating lake. There is no swimming nor paddle boarding allowed on the lake. There were plenty of fishing boats there as well as rentable pontoon boats.

There is not much of a hiking experience at the Lake except to walk around it. As we walked around, we loved seeing how other campers set up their camps since we’re relatively new campers.

We brought our dog and she loved it despite having little balls of thorns attach to her paws like magnets. (See picture). We ended up having to just carry her.

We’d love to go back again but next time we’ll make time to rent a boat and go fishing ON the lake.

We were referred to Lake Casitas by several people. We went for a four day three night camping trip in July '18. They have different camp sites depending on the needs of the campers, such as RV hookups and whatnot. We are relatively new at camping and were looking for a nice time to relax and enjoy nature. Our kids and our dogs really enjoyed it. We liked that the campsite was spacious and had lots of shade. There weren't many bug or flies, which was great. The park has a tiny water park. Cute and perfect for families with small children. My son is 11 and all he could do was the lazy river. The actual park was so big and it was filled to capacity. It was difficult to enjoy nature. There was people everywhere. Also, the weather was hot and dry, which created a lot of fine sand-like dirt lift when cars drove by. My teens loved being able to ride their bikes around. The water level in the river is so low it made me feel sad. The place has showers, but depending on your site, one might end up very far to walk. Restrooms were scarce, but in between they put potable toilets; not fun when it's nearly 100 degrees. The place is great if you enjoy meeting new people, hanging around the bonfire, and I heard it's good fishing. I did not like how packed it gets. It felt like I was in my back yard and too much noise pollution. Water park left much to be desired and wish there was swimming in the lake.

First: the bad… it was so windy and cold. Make sure you bring warm clothes!

The good: nice level site, full hookup, picnic table, trees.. (hookup sites don’t have fire pits) Biking/hiking trail was nice:) And can bike and walk around campground! It’s a very big place to explore:) Great disc golf course!! Free to play! The store has camping items, some food (overpriced but that’s expected) , souvenirs, gas… We wanted to get propane when checking out, but nobody in the store knew how to do it, so we were told to come back in 1.5 hours, but we were leaving. It was too windy and cold to fish, which is why we went there:( check the forecast and any wind advisories!! Great restaurant, lots of space to explore. No human contact with the water. Don’t expect to swim.

We selected our campsite based on the map and online photos. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the location we chose!! Our space was F -11 and after driving through all of the campgrounds, and there are many, we felt that the Fox site was best suited for us. So much so that when we return we will definitely pick another site in Fox.

There is a small market should you forget anything and need it while on your getaway. It is stocked with practically anything you can think of!

Beware! There are ground squirrels in abundance everywhere here and they live without fear of humans! We watched them approach as we sat right near the truck and they hopped up into the engine compartment. Luckily as far as we can tell, they didn’t do any damage.

Our space had basic hook ups - there are two dump stations on site. There’s a big cost differential compared to a full hook up site - if that’s any concern. ;-)

Great place for a peaceful getaway!

Cool place close to a small river. Includes a couple of large fields and playgrounds, large BBQ areas, and even an aviary. The only quam would be that though there are about ten designated rv spots with hookups they advertise the majority of their spots as rv/tents. The issue is that most rvs should definitely not attempt parking in these spots.

We recently stayed here, for the 1st time, last week. We decided to leave the travel trailer at home, and change it up! We stayed the 1st in a large teepee. It had beds for a total of six people. It was hot in the daytime, and got really cold at night, so we switched to a Glamping tent. The Glamping tent was nice! It had a very confortable queen bed, 2 lamps, a fan, a heater, a mini fridge and a microwave. It also had a futon type couch that made into a bed. Loved the Glamping tent.

Only downfall was, that the place does not enforce it quiet time rules. 10pm to 8 am. Late night loud groups, carrying on until 2 in the morning, loud obnoxious kids screaming at 6:15 in the morning...😩they have many beautiful Peafowl, and they can be loud too, but I only heard them once. The place has very nice tiled showers, with good water pressure, clean bathrooms, a big beautiful pool, but it was closed for the season.

There are fire pits throughout the 76 acre park, it was nice having a campfire, since so many places don’t allow them anymore...they have a very large jumping pillow for kiddos, my 6 year had a blast playing on it. They also have a zip line, but it was damaged in the large fire last year, and is being fixed currently. There is a stream that runs thru the property, it was fun to explore. They have a rock climbing wall, that is brought out on holiday weekends.

Lots of fun activities for kids, like crafts, making your own rocket to launch, etc. It is not the place to come, if you want a quiet, mellow place to read a book! It is busy, and loud. They do not have any laundry facilities, nor do they have a little store. The prices on everything are going up 10% on everything, next year. This means that most campsites with full hook-ups with be $ 71 a night, ( not bad ) but the large teepees will cost about $ 200 a night, and the Glamping tents, about $ 180 a night.

You can buy a KOA discount card, for just $ 30 bucks, and it gets you 10% off, each stay for a year. Valid at all KOAs in America, and some in Australia! We had a good time, and plan to go back in the summer next year. Hopefully, with our travel trailer, it will be less loud 😉

We were on the way to the KOA across the creek, and saw this place. You can reserve and pay online, but they charged $8 transaction fee. No cash/checks accepted. Quiet overnight, but the road is right there for the am traffic. Level spots, paved, full hookups avail. Quirky aviary on the park.

Just a simple RV park outside of the campgrounds! I was happy to stay here in my van while in town to work. Great hot showers and quiet. Shore power plug in. No water at my site and never found a place to dump out. Great access to highway, arroyo burro dog beach and groceries!