Best Cabin Camping near Oakland, CA

I wanted somewhere not too far to go and stay when my 5-6 year-old had 5 days off from school. This was perfect in so many ways.

Positives

- Amenities! I love how everything was themed, from the street names to the signs. Two nice playgrounds, ball courts, pool and hot tub. Watching your kids play red light/green light on the jumping pillow put a smile on every parent's face.

- Seasonal programming (weekends only). For October, we did an outdoor movie, magic pumpkins, costume contest, trick or treating, hay ride, and haunted house. My daughter loved everything except the haunted house, which she said was "too scary!"

- Clean, comfortable facilities. Lots of ways to stay. We car camped and found the hook ups really easy to use. Water, drain, 3 types of electricity, picnic table and firepit at every site. We used their bathrooms and showers and was impressed by how clean they were. Most of the time we had them completely to ourselves and they were even climate controlled.

- Restaurant. I cooked breakfast and lunch most days at the campsite, but for dinner we splashed out at the kid-friendly Waterfront Grille. Friendly staff, good food (lobster and prime rib, yum!), amazing views of the sunset.

Negatives

- Water park was closed. Call ahead to see if it is open when you want to go. I heard that it is never open because of some issue with permits or drought. If so, the promotional video is misleading and I almost deducted a star for this.

- Expensive. For camping, it is expensive, but think of it more as a theme park/resort, than true camping. We saved on the cabin and RV, and spent on the optional activities and the fancy meals.

Bottom line, I would totally go back and stay as long as I could. I hear it is super crowded in the summer, but it would be worth it if the water park is open.

How is it possible that I am the first to review this place, the number one most difficult to reserve spot in all of California (and therefore presumably all of America)?!

So the cabins are not only notoriously difficult to reserve -- you need to be ready to click "reserve" on the website at no less than 5 minutes before the window opens for your dates of interest, which was 6 months ahead of time when I reserved -- but kind of expensive for what they are, at $100/night plus reservation fee.

For that, you get your own seaside cabin with million dollar views just 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Sleeping platforms for about 6 people split among 3 semi-private rooms. Flush toilets at the parking lot and an honor system for buying firewood bundles with kindling. A full-time host lives in the house at the parking lot. There are dish washing spigots scattered among the cabins. There are wheelbarrows for schlepping your stuff to the cabins and campsites; more on that later. And charcoal grills outside each cabin. A couple general use picnic tables scattered about. So those are the basics you can read anywhere.

Various thoughts and recommendations, based on my solo weekend visit in mid-March 2018, staying in Cabin 7 at the bottom of the hill closest to the little beach:

• It's a classic, twisty ride on Highway 1 to get to the entrance, and then another steep, curvy ride down to the campground. Campers sensitive to motion sickness or vertigo be warned.
• Mice. There were several brand new mouse traps provided at the entrance to my cabin. You'll need them. You'd think staying in a cabin would elevate the camping experience a bit, but frankly, this brought things down a couple notches. In two days, I caught three and actually had to buy more traps. Removing any hint of food every night might work, but that's a pain. Experienced cabin-stayers will probably have better advice than mine.
• Views. The campground and all cabins have incredible views. Bring binoculars and your good camera. Bolinas, Stinson, The Farallon Islands, fishing boats, the night sky, raptors, seals, all manner of water fowl…that's why you're here. The views. And…
• It's about a mile into Stinson Beach if you need provisions or restaurants, and you can hike right onto the Steep Ravine / Matt Davis trails and climb all over Mt. Tam from the campground. It's also a great base camp for exploring Bolinas and the Pt. Reyes area by vehicle.
• Wind! It's typically windy in this area most afternoons from May to September. Between those months, there's always a chance of rain, so being inside the cabin with the woodburning stove does have a major advantage over the campsites.
• Seating. Bring your camp chairs. The cabins have fixed sleeping platforms, a built-in table, and two hard wooden benches. If you want to sit close to the wood stove or just lounge comfortably inside or out, it's DIY.

My advice? If you're a small party that just wants a couple days with the gorgeous oceanfront views and location, stay at the tent sites, not the cabins. You won't sleep with one eye open waiting for the mousetraps to pop, and it's a flat, easy portage from the parking lot to the campsites. Easier to keep clean, and I find cooking outside to be less of a hassle and easier to clean up than doing it inside the cabin where there isn't any water, sink, or spillage containment solution. Cheaper and (barely) easier to reserve a tent site, too.

If you're intent on having the cabin experience, or if you're staying in winter, or staying for more than a couple days, or have kids and really want to set up house, then go for a cabin, and I'd recommend choosing a cabin close to the parking lot. They're actually more private and you can use the wheelbarrows to move your stuff from car to cabin. The cabins further away from the parking lot are further down the hill; wheelbarrows are not an option, and footing is iffy when carrying large, heavy items up and down from the parking lot. Views are the same from all cabins so you're not losing any benefits. I'll try for CB04 next time.

But take whatever cabin you can get, and check "Steep Ravine Cabins" off your camping bucket list.

We stayed here with our 2 dogs last November as a nice winter getaway from L.A. We got one of the tent cabins, which are just adorable and so cozy. The sites are nice and distanced from each other, bathrooms were in great shape and it was pet friendly. We got a package with the tent cabin that came with bedding, cooking utensils and firewood, so were pretty much set once we got there. The beds are comfy and the wood burning stove (photo attached) is the only source of heat. It is neat but BE WARNED...it gets COLD on those winter nights so make sure you a) have enough wood; b) are good at keeping fires going throughout the night; and c) have lots of dry wood. The wood that was left for us as part of our package was really wet and wouldn't burn so we had a very chilly night even with loads of sleeping bags and blankets. Other than that, we had a great experience and got to take the dogs for a great walk on the paved trails in the State Park. Can't wait to go back!

Finally got lucky and got a semi weekend reservation in Cabin 5. Bring something to hang over windows if you need privacy. Wood is for sale to heat up the cabin in the wood burning stove which you need especially during the colder months. Other than that the cabin is basic. It had the main area with the stove and there is 1 single platform there for a shorter adult to sleep. A tiny room with 1 single platform for a kid to sleep (it’s short). And then a bedroom with a single platform for a shorter adult and a double platform for shorter adults. Tall people beware. You can probably get by sleeping diagonal or with your feet hanging off.

Views are epic and you can walk down past the cabins in front of you and down to the beach mostly during low tide. The windows in the main part of the cabin open up to let air in. Lots of flies too.

Make sure you get a gate code to get in and a cabin code to unlock your door.

They have wheelbarrows to haul your stuff to and from your cabin