Best Cabin Camping near Manhattan Beach, CA

Cool drive to get to the campground. You drive up and down these hilly roads up the mountain to get there. Once there, there's a parking lot that fits about 20 cars. There's about 100 yd hike to the campsites. There's a road that leads to the campsite but it's been blocked off. Only the campsite managers use that road so it's not accessible by RV, just tents. A campsite manager stays in a little trailer overnight so if there's any problems there's somebody there you can go to and ask for help. There's about six campsites and their first come first serve, no reservations. I went during the week and was the only one camping. This place is heavily used for day camping and hiking. There's not a lot of privacy because there's always lots of people passing by who are hiking and biking. You can stay overnight which I did and everything was fine but there's not a lot of privacy. The next day as I was leaving there was another guy sitting up his tent. I bet on the weekends they can fill up pretty fast. It's in Bear country so they provide food storage for each campsite also trash containers too. Each side has a picnic bench and a fire pit. The fire ban has been lifted so you can have a fire. Each fire pit had wood left at it so you didn't have to go searching for campfirewood. Bathrooms included male and female toilets but no showers or water. There's a creek that runs through the campground which makes it very pretty. I saw two to three cabins along the outskirts of the campground that I assume were for rentals. There was one family at one of the cabins the night I stayed. About a 20 minute hike and you can end up at a waterfall which is very pretty. But there are several trails to take for hiking and biking and I saw lots of people doing that. Overall a good campsite four stars. Would have been five stars if they had showers and running water. I didn't see any bears although there was an animal outside my tent at one point in the night I could hear him nosing around. So it's important to keep all of your food and anything with any kind of smell in the bear boxes

Very large park for RV, cabin and tent camping. As it's listed as a "resort", we figured it would be pretty upscale. Disappointment upon our arrival. Floods have been in the area and much of the sites were closed and being cleaned?? The road closest to our site was washed away (from earlier reviews it's been months), so a long jog or drive around the perimeter to get us to the pool, laundry and hot tub…speaking of which, the pool, hot tub and laundry facilities all needed attention. You could actually see people's footprints (bottom of pool and on pool and hot tub entry steps)…that much sand, dirt, etc…I didn't venture in. When we arrived, we started driving around to find the best site for our rig. We're a 32ft class A w/20ft enclosed cargo trailer tow. So, all in all about 55ft. Well, that wasn't easy. Most of the park's electric and some sewer connections didn't exist or were "down" for repair. We have yet to actually SEE someone working on these issues. We are currently here and checked in for a two-week stay. After some boon docking prior to our arrival, we wanted all the bells and whistles the park boasted they had. Took us just over THREE HOURS to find a decent spot. Many levels to this park and most didn't have a decent WiFi (we have our own router) signal. Some sites had dumpsters blocking them from being a true "pull-thru". That left us with about two areas to choose from. It's dusty, dirty, and, really, not ready to be called a "resort"….more rustic than we'd been looking for or what website photos showed. We would not recommend this "resort" to anyone. Several folks with dogs they let simply sit outside and bark, poo, etc….strict rules against that, in most all resorts we've ever visited. Unless you plan on tenting, cabin or what have you, it's not worth it. Very disappointing! :(

[ PROS ]

• Crystal Cove State Park and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park are adjacent to each other, and a small pedestrian gate separates them.
• The best trail here stretches across the two parks -- No Name Ridge!! Amazing for EPIC SUNSETS!
• Some sites have MILLION DOLLAR BEACH VIEWS of the ocean.
• There are about 60 camp spots and a lot of them are RVs, but it’s nice because each row of 10 spots is elevated from the previous row (tiered campsites) so everyone gets a semi view
• Part of CA State Parks so showers are token operated. Clean and well maintained
• Walking distance to Crystal Cove Historic District, which has a couple places to eat right on the beach
• Crystal Cove Historic District also has some "preserved" beach cottages from the 20s, 30s, and 40s on the beach that are largely in ruins. It’s fun to explore and check out.
• Lots of fun things along the beach to look at like tide pools and rock formations beach
• Great Visitor's Center that is worth checking out. The Rangers are amazing and provided us with a super helpful information about the park, its trails, and the cottages.
• Each site comes with a picnic table, a water faucet/drain.
• The beach has less crowds/tourists/homeless compared to other beaches. It’s really quite and peaceful.

[ CONS ]

• No coal or wood fires :( Kind of a bummer since your evening ends early. You can bring propane pits yourself for fires though. Also, it can get extremely cold at night in the canyons, even if it’s in the high 80s during the day. Be prepared.
• They do not allow any alcohol at the park. No exceptions. Rangers patrol constantly and will approach you for random things if they see you breaking any campground rules.
• The hiking trails essentially have zero shade so it gets really hot. Bring a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen so you don’t roast. Also stay hydrated!
• The campgrounds is a little further from the beach than I expected from looking at photos online. There is no direct beach access so you’ll have to go to the day use area and pay for parking ($15 parking)
• You can get to the beach if you’re down to wade through 2-3 feet of still water that puddles under the highway underpass. It’s a little inconvenient if you’re with children or carrying a lot of beach equipment.
• Campsites are VERY close together so be prepared to meet your neighbors. It’s also very quiet as soon as the sun sets (since there is no campfires keeping people up) so everyone ends up going to bed around 8pm as to not disturb your VERY close neighbors.
• Be careful of rattlesnakes

Mind you, we went on a Saturday morning during Covid to escape our house but so many others had the same idea. First of all the gates for the campsites were locked but that didn't stop anyone from walking their stuff in, including us. Our spot was nice and had lots of shade. The only drawback was the one open vault toilet that was pretty dirty. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I thought, dang I shouldn't brought my poop bucket!! If I only would've known!! Who can't pop a squat in the dark though?! It was pretty rowdy at night with someone yelling at the top of their lungs and a dog barking but hey, we were under the stars and not couped up at home or with masks on. I wasn't complaining. I love nature and I'll ignore the drunks. Other than that, there is a little store that Adam and his family run. They are great!! The brownies are bomb, so get one early. They also tent cabins up there so give them a call. Great people! It's definitely convenient and worth the effort!

We came on a Saturday afternoon, and even though 4 of the sections of camping were closed off - we found an AMAZING space in section D. It wasn’t right next to the bathrooms, but the site was spaced out enough that we had plenty of privacy. It was right next to the trail head, too!

The lake isn’t back actually near the site, and they don’t allow for swimming. However, there is a recreational area 20 minutes down the mountain on the lake.

It was $17 per night, and was an easy & beautiful drive up the mountain.

Fire pit had a grill on it, too!