Best Tent Camping near Middletown, CA

Tent Camping Reviews near Middletown, CA

695 Reviews of 36 Middletown Campgrounds

• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  Nov. 13, 2023

  Gualala Point Regional Park

  Small but beautiful county campground

  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.

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• 

  Michi P.

  Guide

  Apr. 24, 2025

  Middle Creek Campground

  Great place for dry camping

  Beautiful location, campground was easily accessible going up Elk Mountain Road. Camped in Site 11, pull through, no hook ups, nice picnic table, grill and fire pit. Vault toilets, no showers. There is potable water close to the campsites. Very quiet during the week, it did get noisier on the weekends, but everyone settled down for the evening.

• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  Nov. 1, 2023

  Doran Regional Park

  Large and popular Sonoma County Park

  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.

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• D

  D37 .

  Guide

  Dec. 8, 2021

  Westside Regional Park

  Great views, but close to the neighbors

  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.

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• 

  Maddy S.

  Traveler

  Apr. 1, 2022

  Bushay Recreation Area

  Exceeded all expectations

  Since my friend and I decided to plan a last minute camping trip, reservations were hard to find anywhere. I'm from Santa Cruz and hardly ever make it north of San Francisco so Bushay Campground sounded like a nice getaway. However I was a little hesitant since there were so many open sites here and no reviews anywhere but it really was just too perfect.

  We stayed Sat-Mon and it was pretty much empty by Sun (workweek + predicted rain). Everyone else staying the weekend was very friendly and helpful. The rain only made the campsite so much more lush and beautiful and luckily we were prepared for the rain. The sound of frogs and turkeys added a nice touch and we also saw tons of fascinating birds (including a bald eagle!!). I'm used to camping on hard dirt so the cushion of the grassy campsites was really nice, plus the dead grass served as decent tinder. 

  Also, I accidentally left my camping chairs behind :( and an employee reached out to me to let me know! I wish it wasn't a 3+ hour drive for me because I would love to already head back lol.

  Anyway, here are the takeaways:

  • Easy to access, right off the 101
  • Free firewood all around the campgrounds
  • Free showers (no need for quarters)
  • Super clean and well lit bathrooms
  • Ranger patrolling often (we are 2 young women, this helped us feel a little safer)
  • Standard campsite setup (bench + fire ring) but also included a pole with a hook - perfect for hanging lights, a tarp, drying dishware, etc.
  • Heads up! Advanced reservation is required

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• 

  Sabrina V.

  Guide

  Jul. 29, 2025

  Lawson's Landing

  So much litter

  • Price too high for dry camping
  • people litter and discard catch on and around sites
  • people don’t keep their pets on leash (nobody responsible seems to be checking in on these things?)
  • Porter potties only/no shower houses
  • potable water available
  • no check in procedure after online booking and later arrival time? (Unsure)
  • check out time also unsure
• 

  MarinMaverick

  Legend

  Aug. 12, 2020

  Bullfrog Pond Campground - TEMPORARILY CLOSED

  Hidden Gem

  Many people do not not know this gem is here. Right by Armstrong Redwoods State Park there is a steep winding road at the end of which there is literally a pond.  The campsites are aound the pond -  some actually on the pond and some in the woods around.  So depending on your sun tolerance pick your site accordingly.

  You feel you are so far from the world when you are not.

  Also there are at least two hike in campsites in this wilderness area - primitive - that we have backpacked into.  They have tables, fire rings and pit toilets in the back country sites. So we have used the campground at the pond to start and finish our backpacking. Remember you will need a permit for the backpacking sites but they are first come first served sites.

  The pond sites are again first come and first served. Well maintained facilities - nothing fancy - no showers.

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• 

  Scott R.

  Traveler

  Dec. 23, 2020

  Spring Lake Regional Park

  Nice local spot

  In the Bay Area there aren’t too many place that you be in a city and feel like you are away. Spring Lake has been that for us. We have been here for 2 weekends in the last few months. It is kid friendly, fun easy hike around the lake (no swimming but you can rent or bring your own kayaks or stand-up paddle boards), great location to way more technical hikes into and around Trione-Annabel State Park. We did a very tough hike in almost 100 degree weather up to Lake Ilsanjo and the cold plunge into that lake was exactly what was needed. On another trip we brought a new family with us, rented one of the bigger spots and helped them get their bearings on camping.

  It is very forgiving here and close to everything in case you didn’t pack enough food or propane or fire starter. The camp host is amazing. The bathrooms are clean with free cold showers or quarters for hot showers. They have fire pits at every location, firewood to buy on site, it is very kid friendly with a fun loop for the kids to bike or scooter around plus easy access to the lake. Highly recommend this and I can’t wait to try a few other sites in the Sonoma Regional area.

  Not a place if you want dispersed camping or a lot of privacy.

  Neighbors were all polite and good about quiet times.

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• 

  Johanna K.

  Guide

  Jul. 10, 2018

  Woodside Campground — Salt Point State Park

  Quiet and beautiful

  This was a quiet park with large sites. No showers, but wellaintained bathrooms, food storage, etc. it was fogged in when we arrived at 5 and still foggy when we left at 8am, but peaceful and nice neighbors. Did not get a chance to hike to the beach due to the fog. Would definitely like to go back.