Best Tent Camping near Chula Vista, CA

Tent Camping Reviews near Chula Vista, CA

854 Reviews of 13 Chula Vista Campgrounds

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  Elise F.

  Guide

  Aug. 10, 2025

  Kumeyaay Lake Campground

  Perfect weekend getaway

  This campground is located in the Mission Trails Regional Park, and we absolutely loved it. There are clean bathrooms with flushable toilets and showers, and sinks to wash off things. The rangers even supplied Dr. Bronners Castile soap in each bathroom. We stayed in site number 17 and it was lovely. Each camp site has a picnic table, fire ring, and tent pad. Online says you can buy firewood but they no longer provide that service, so make sure you bring your own firewood! You can’t swim in the lake, but you can fish and it’s very pleasant to walk around and bird watch. There is so much to do in this urban park, you could spend many days here. P.S. the Mission Trails visitor center is spectacular.

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  Javier L.

  Guide

  Oct. 31, 2020

  Palomar Mountain State Park Campground

  Southern California- Quick Getaway

  This park is great for all Southern California natives to get away for the weekend. Has clean facilities and the campgrounds have ample space between them. This area has a ton of beautiful landscape, during the fall/winter wonderful foliage appears. Leave no trace & enjoy our lands!

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  janet H.

  Legend

  Jan. 12, 2023

  Dos Picos County Park

  Quiet, dark skies, scenic

  We came in January so we had the entire upper camping loop to ourselves. The rangers were very helpful. This Campground has partial hookups with electricity at sites but no water. Level well spaced sites. Firepit and picnic table. Nice clean grounds, restrooms and showers (pay).They also have tent sites and cabins. County Park with playground is adjacent . 

  Beautiful scenery, great star gazing, at least on our upper loop. There's only a small light on restrooms. We saw F16s practicing overhead. Very cool.

  Good Verizon reception.

• 

  Sita B.

  Traveler

  Aug. 8, 2018

  La Jolla Indian Campground

  3.5 Stars

  La Jolla Indian Reservation Campground is located 30 mins south of the Observatory on Palomar Mtn, and 60 mins north of San Diego. There are ~38 reservable RV sites with hook-ups. Half of them are along the river front. There are multiple group tent sites and even more first come first serve, get in where u fit in, no hookup RV and tent sites. There is a gas station/convenience store just before the entrance, where a 20lb bag of ice is $4. Load up, you’ll need it. There are very few campgrounds that are near the water AND you’re allowed to play in the water. There are only two in SoCal, that I know of, the other is Yucapai.

  We reserved RV space 10, for our tent trailer. The 30’ site was a tight fit for out 22’ trailer and two cars. But we’re able to put up out shade tent, tarp, and seating.

  The good… RV Park area had a lot of trees that provided shade in the 100 degree heat. The hookups were easy and we had no problems with neighbors. The river cooled things down once it got going, you can rent or bring your own tube/river rat to ride down the river, at your own risk! Bring water shoes. Kids loved swinging on the make shift swings along the water. Propane grills recommended, not every site has a charcoal grill and depending on weather and fire conditions will determine if fire pits will be allowed.

  The bad… the river only runs Friday to Sunday. However, Lake Henshaw turns the water on Friday at 7:30 am and it doesn’t make it down to the res until 4:30 pm. It was a long hot wait for water. Saving grace was the hose we brought to water down the dirt. Only one bathroom and multiple port-o-potties (sp?) and I don’t recommend those. Bring TP. The lines are long in the morning. There’s no grey water disposal. Keep track of your valuables. The first come first serve camp area tents to be more rowdy than the RV area, though both are loud (music & kids).

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  Steve S.

  Guide

  Feb. 21, 2022

  San Diego County Potrero Regional Park

  39 RV sites, 7 Tent Sites; Spacious sites, Great staff of Rangers

  68-year old, still tenderfoot tent camper. This was my first experience in California after three prior stays in Texas and Arizona. The San Diego County system centrally handles reservations of its campgrounds, which was fortunate for me. I mistakenly reserved one campground thinking it was another (my preferred, Potrero), but it was 30 miles away. Even though I paid for two nights in advance, their phone reservations help was superb and got me transferred without any hiccups. Big shout-out to the ranger at Potrero for suggesting. I interacted with several and they were all professional, friendly and helpful.

  There's one central plumbed restroom and shower facility. Further out along the tent sites there was a hand portapotty. When you first drive in you'll go past a very large day-use area with its own facilities before you get to the overnight camping sites. Alcohol is permitted if alcohol content < 20%.

  My site #7 was the last in the row of tent-only sites and appeared to be the largest with plenty of shade and flat pad site. Without seeing other tents it's a little hard to gauge size, but I'd guess walking by the other sites that there's probably at least 80-100 feet between tent pads, or even more. Lots of open spaces. The seven tent sites shared a couple (maybe more) of water spigots.

  The primary annoyance was with the park's neighbors who seemingly had a whole pound of dogs who barked loudly through the nights. Given how otherwise silent it was, it was the barking was noticeable and to be distinguished from the coyotes, birds and owls. I think I also heard roosters crowing each morning as early as 3am.

  The major event of my stay was the arrival of, as Steely Dan sang, "Here come those Santa Ana winds again …" At 5 a.m. the first morning, it was still and quiet as can be (sans the neighborhood dogs). A few minutes later, the winds hit. For the next 11 hours, surviving the wind 30-40 mph sustained winds, gusts over 50 was the only concern – both for my little tent and my car and myself due to the wind effects on the large trees surrounding us. In the end, there was no noticeable damage but seldom have I spent a full day out in the weather like that.

  All in all, I'm not sure you could ask for more at about $25/night. Although I would've paid double if there were a no-wind option. I also had two great tent parties my second night, a couple about my age who were returning to California after summering in Baja, and a young woman from Germany traveling by herself around the world. Interesting neighbors to say the least.

  At site #7 I had zero T-Mobile signal. Outside the Ranger Station I could get at most, 2 bars LTE.

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  Stephen M.

  Guide

  Aug. 3, 2022

  Sweetwater Summit Regional Park

  Very pleasant full hookup sites

  The campground is east of Chula Vista in a county park near a reservoir. Full hookup in part, water and electric in others. Well managed and clean. Allows open fires in fire rings.

  Two drawbacks to consider if you seek placidness: the park is under the final approach to SAN (Lindbergh Field) and you will hear jets coming down to land from roughly 6a to 11pm. Second concern is ants - not just ants, but strategic and determined ants (spray any points in contact with the ground and ask camp staff to treat your site with diatomaceous earth to deter the bugs. It’s a free service.

  Sites are very clean, level, have fire rings and higher numbered sites have water, power, and sewer. There are showers, restrooms, an amphitheater, water playground and sites with horse pens. It’s mostly sunny, with shrubs and smaller trees.

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• 

  Berton M.

  Legend

  Oct. 6, 2019

  Lake Morena County Park

  Hike the PCT from Lake Morena

  The campground at Lake Morena has around 80+ spots that range from hookups for RV to basic tent camping. There's a indoor entertainment room and multiple bathrooms. The campground is not located right on the lake but a 15min walk away. The cell service is roaming but was decent; around 500kb download. The PCT goes thru the campground and there's an area designated for thru hikers camping. The campground can get crowded during the weekend. The adjacent town has a small store.

• 

  Ryan W.

  Legend

  May. 2, 2017

  Fry Creek Campground

  Fry Creek Campground is second only to Palomar Observatory Camp across the road.

  Just south of Palomar Mountain Observatory (a must visit) Fry Creek is a heavily wooded (oak, fir, pine) campground in a narrow valley surrounded by steep forested banks.

  The campsite is really an extension of the Palomar Observatory Campground across the site with a shared camp host (who pretty much sucked during our visits). That site is much better for stargazing, but this one is just as pretty especially in the fall with changing oak leaves. All of the sites are heavily wooded and in a valley with steep walls. That's important because it seems to amplify sounds from the other campsites. No matter if you have good camp neighbors but if your camp neighbors starts setting up a portable chainlink fence for a cadre of dogs they are training...There are some more segregated sites near the back of the camp loop.

  There are bathrooms and showers (peak) and even though the sites are near each other they are really private. They each have fire-pits and picnic tables. The sites are decent sized with nice flat spots for at least two tents.

  There is a decent hike that loops around the camp with plenty of elevation changes and incredible forest smells. The trail is fairly easy to follow and despite being short is moderately challenging. It takes about an hour at normal pace. Head across the road and you can take the trail all the way to the Palomar Mountain Observatory. It's meandering and plenty of elevation changes. At the top the Observatory Museum has nice bathrooms open to visitors. The museum is free.

  Campsites are $15/night.

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  Gopalakrishnan S.

  Scout

  Apr. 4, 2021

  Blair Valley Primitive Campground — Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

  Go Deeper for more stars

  We stopped and setup tents a little before little Blair valley. Night sky was alright, but couldn’t see the Milky Way, so not dark enough for that. Probably a Bortle 5. Got up in the morning and went all the way until the end of the road on maps (Apple or Google) on our 2WD, was doable. 4 bars T Mobile LTE where we were.

  Campsite itself was very nice. The place we found had a man made but multiple time used fire pit. Great sunset and sunrise, you have the chance to have as much or as little company around you. Little bit of trash at our site that we picked up.

  Leave no trace!