Join the fun near Pauma Valley. With tons of outdoor activities and scenic camping, this is an excellent vacation spot for all kinds of travelers. There's so much to see and do, from exhilarating hikes or bike rides to exploring the local dining and shopping. Ready to plan your adventure? Check out our campgrounds near Pauma Valley and user-submitted reviews.
For many, once the sun comes out and summer rolls around, it can be hard to resist the urge to get outside and soak up some fun. If you relate, and you just need to unplug for a minute, Carlsbad camping offers some of the state’s best camping sites around. When your work has stacked up and you’re overloaded, it’s time to gather your camping gear, and head to Carlsbad State Beach camping for solitude and relaxation. This San Diego beach and campground feature camping, swimming, surfing, skin diving, fishing and picnicking. The campground is especially popular in the summer, thanks to its scenic location which overlooks the picturesque Carlsbad Beach below. Even better, the campground offers direct access to the beach via a set of well-kept stairs. As a result of the popularity, the campground is reservation only, so don’t show up without one or you’ll likely be unable to stay. When you’re done with the beach, check out the nearby California geography and some of the trails within the park. If the ocean isn’t your thing, a number of Campfire Programs, Junior Ranger Programs, and Nature Walks may be offered. That said, program availability changes with the season, so be sure to check signs posted on the restrooms and at the entrance station regarding park information during your visit. At night, campers are gently caressed to sleep by the nearby ocean tide, lapping upon its secluded shoreline. There is plenty of privacy throughout, thanks to the large selection of flora and fauna throughout the campground. The campsites themselves are also spacious, with roughly half of them featuring electric hookups. Additionally, All restrooms and shower buildings have accessible facilities. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the unit Supervising Ranger. South Carlsbad State Beach Campground is perfect for campers and individuals who love the ocean and the outdoors. Whether you’re looking surf the rolling waves, or paddle board out and take part in all that the north county coastline has to offer, you’re sure to have fun here.
$50 - $650 / night
$39 - $50 / night
$24 - $34 / night
We are San Diego County's ONLY campsite with river and tubing access!
$40 - $120 / night
There are 31 campsites in the Doane Valley Campground, three of which have accessible features. Each site has a table and fire ring, and most have a food locker. Piped drinking water is available. The campground also has restrooms with flush toilets and hot showers which are usable for campers, including those with disabilities. The beautiful forest and mountain meadows of Palomar Mountain State Park are in northern San Diego County, high atop the west side of Palomar Mountain. Large pine, fir and cedar trees make the park one of the few areas in southern California with a Sierra Nevada-like atmosphere. The park features camping, picnicking, hiking, and fishing (trout) in Doane Pond. Coniferous forests cover much of the 1,862 acres, in contrast to the dry lowlands surrounding the mountain. Elevation within the park averages 5,000 feet above sea level, making evenings cool even during the summer. A number of vista points offer spectacular panoramic views both westerly toward the ocean and inland toward the desert, particularly from Boucher Hill Summit, which has been listed in the Sierra Club's "Hundred Peaks Section" since first published in 1946. There, you'll also find the historic Boucher Hill Fire Lookout. The park is open from dawn 'til dusk daily. Reservations are highly recommended for camping during peak season. Day use fees are $10.00 per vehicle, cash or check only. Trails are open to foot traffic only, and dogs and mountain bikes are not allowed on trails. Please note that there are no gas stations on Palomar Mountain.
$40 - $130 / night
Details here: https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/647/files/SanMateo082609.pdf San Mateo Campground lies a short distance inland from the 3.5-miles of sandy beaches within San Onofre State Beach A 1.5-mile Nature Trail connects the campground to Trestles Beach, a world class surfing site. San Mateo Creek flows just east of the campground outward towards the ocean creating key riparian and wetland habitats which host some rare and even endangered species. All campsites include a fire pit and picnic table. Hookup sites are available with electricity and water. Other amenities include an RV sanitation station, hot, coin-operated indoor showers, and flush toilets. Below are listed a few park rules that will assist you in having a fun and save visit. San Onofre - San Mateo Campground is at 830 Cristianitos, San Clemente, CA, 92672 a short distance inland from the 3.5-miles of sandy beaches within San Onofre State Beach. A 1.5-mile Nature Trail connects the San Mateo camping site to “Trestles Beach,” the world class surfing site. Surfers using redwood boards have visited San Onofre since at least the 1940s; San Mateo Creek flows just east of the campground outward towards the ocean creating key riparian and wetland habitats which host some rare and even endangered species. All campsites include a fire pit and picnic table. RV Hookup sites are available with electricity and water. Other amenities includes a dump-station, hot indoor showers, and flush toilets. Camping is available year-round.
$45 - $250 / night
$45 / night
$35 - $140 / night
Traveler
We stayed here multiple times to car camp and have stayed in sites 3, 6, and 28. We really enjoyed site 28 due to the spectacular views of Escondido. The reason I gave it 4 stars is because their can be some creepy people occasionally like some old guy was following my son in his car. But other than that we had a good stay. If you are in a camper I would recommend Escondido RV resort instead due to the more inviting feel (we stayed there in our Coleman travel trailer). But if you car camp a lot like myself I would recommend staying here at Dixon lake. Great stay overall👍😊
Scout
I can’t say that it was awesome but it wasn’t jaw dropping. Nothing to write home about but not uninviting.
Scout
Staff all friendly and facilities while dated are kept very clean. Campers are respectful and quit at night but it’s a very noisy location right next to the freeway which took some getting used to the first few days.
Traveler
The place felt very tired, and lacking in any atmosphere. There is a pool, which was nice. There just wasn't anything else there to justify the steep price of $100 a night. Though I'd award 5 stars to the lovely German lady who checked us in and was very friendly.
Scout
I have never had a bad experience at a camp ground with any ranger. They have all been wonderful. Not at this park. My registration tags went to my home so I did not have current tags. I had to have a family member collect my mail and forward to me on my travels so it was delayed. I did have a receipt which I was required to provide. However, the ranger barged into my campsite in a huff, treated me as if I were vomiting a crime and demanded my receipt on the spot in front of all. It was quite over the top. Later the same man barged back into my campsite throwing accusations at me that I hadn’t paid my measly $4.00 parking fee and breaking the rules of the park. He had the nerve to argue with me after I explained that in fact I had paid. He backed down after realizing I had. He then returned to harass us for the kids using chalk. There were kids from several campsites using chalk. We apologized and made them clean it up, no big deal. But the ranger was didn’t simply ask for it to be cleaned. He was threatening and confrontational. I dealt with one other ranger here who was quite nice and helpful but this other was awful. I discovered I was not the only one to have this experience here. I would recommend Sweetwater or Lake Jennings in San Diego area or Aqua Caliente where they are quite friendly. Yikes this was horrible
Traveler
This is a very nice and quiet campground and everyone there was very respectful of quite hours. The place was very clean and very beautiful. The only con was that there are way too many insects everywhere, My base camp got bombarded with a swarm of wasps, And I was forced to leave a day early, and had to leave my cooking pot behind because of the swarm of wasps... I wish there were some kind of rangers or someone there that I could have asked for help about this, or I wish someone would do something about this issue but I guess it is what it is at this location lol 😆 Other than not being able to cook and eat without wasps in your face and In your food, it was really nice
Scout
Let's start off with the fact that this"resort" has REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS living there and TWEAKERS SELLING DRUGS. When I mentioned it to the management they could care less, didn't say a word and walked away laughing. They DO NOT perform ANY BACKGROUND CHECKS and especially with children in the park I find that very disturbing. They nickel and dime you for every little thing and the rent has gone up 3x in one year. The water supply smells like sewage when you take a shower. Because they do pump outs the resort smells like human excrement most of the time. The lakes are polluted as well and completely full of cyanobacteria AKA green algae which is a respiratory hazard. POTENTIAL BEWARE.
Traveler
It was overall a nice campsite. Our site seemed to be pretty large it came with a picnic table & fire pit. The walk to the beach was close seemed maybe about 10 minute till we reached the beach from our site. It is on a hill you need to walk down & back up. The only down side was the bathrooms on the same road as our site were pretty dirty did not seem to have any maintenance during our stay.
Scout
My fiancé and I were last minute camping and this campground was beautiful, quiet, and very aesthetic! There is a lot to do near by, a very convenient store about 5-10 minutes away called valley center foods! Employees were sooo sweet and friendly! DID NOT DISAPPOINT!! Ps isn’t that expensive when tent camping ⛺️ 🙌🏻
Guide
Nice little site that is right in the middle of everything.
It's crowded and you don't have much space, but if your using this instead of a hotel room it works great.
It had a game room and pool so kids had something to do. There were families all over with kids riding bikes. We had a quick stay over while we were seeing family in the area and it worked great .
Only issue we had is both entrances have a hell of a dip, we scraped the ass end real good going in and out with our 24ft class c.
Scout
Great campground for families. Lots of activities for the kids to do, like smores by the fire, art, splash pad, and play ground. Facility was clean
Traveler
Nice campground. Mostly no hookups, but has toilets and fresh water throughout. Great little restaurant serving pizza and snacks over looking the ocean. Beach access. Lots of sites.
GuideSite had tree cover which had some nice shade to provide relief from the sun. Lots of room for a couple vehicles and tents. Clean bathrooms and showers, but we stayed midweek and the place was very, very minimally occupied. Good access to walking and biking trails.
Scout
There is always a spot or 2 open. Staff are always polite.
Scout
I don't think this map pin is correct for Yaqui Wells Primitive Camp, the location according to Google Maps is a little further south just off Yaqui Pass Road off Highway 78. There are two different camps similarly named, Yaqui Wells and Yaqui Pass, fairly close to each other. Anyway, we stayed here at Yaqui Wells for one night after attempting to camp at Blair Valley but getting swarmed by bees. Only saw 2 other vehicles, and while the sites are pretty small and close to the dirt road, they are nice enough. BE AWARE THOUGH: pull your vehicle well into the sites, we had 6 lifted off road trucks come flying through around midnight at a ridiculously high speed without slowing down at all and it could have been catastrophic if we were closer to the road or if we had been walking our dog at that time.
ScoutI grew up right down the road in the early 60's. Great Campground with a lot of trails, awesome views, and some opportunities for fishing. Taught my very young nephew how to trout fish at Dohnes Pond, right below the Observatory.
Traveler
Super cute area, and much cooler since it’s a little higher altitude. Nice big sites and an entire loop with equestrian sites.
Pit toilets. One dumpster. Water.
I was there May 5, 2024 and the fee was $14.
GuidePROS:
This site offers amazing sunsets and ocean breezes. There are plenty of facilities, and the camp store is great. The live music is always good, too.
A grocery store is nearby, just over the freeway.
CONS:
It can get very crowded and packed.
Hard to get a site
Many generators are always on.
If you get a site at the far ends, it's a hike to go in and out. Try to get a site closer to the entrance and the store. But you will get a lot of traffic through your site.
Don't try to get there earlier; they usually won't let you in before check-in.
Biking and Running:
Great if you want to ride along PCH. This stretch has good bike lanes that take you into Oceanside or Encinitas.
Good running. You can lap the campsite, which is almost 1 mile, end to end. I usually run down towards Encinitas along PCH.
Traveler
My friend and I went together for one night and we loved it! It was her very first time camping and she enjoyed it very much. Here is our review:
-NO T-Mobile: There was no signal at the campground at all. We drove about 7 minutes to the Palomar State Park Parking Area (based off Apple Maps) to find spotty signal. Just good enough to make a phone call if needed.
-Privacy: Many of these sites such great privacy, even though we were neighboring #19, there are a quite a bit of trees. Also, you walk down a few stone steps to pitch your tent, so your car parked a level about you on the street provides nice privacy.
-Convenience: The bathrooms were pretty close to us and were kept fairly clean. Also the firepit and grill were a plus.
- CRITTERS: I mean who doesn't know this but the squirrels and crows were greedy! They had no issues flying/ skittering to your food if you were 6 feet away lol.
-BEAUTIFUL!!!: You can hear the Doane Creek flowing and the stars are just an absolute sight, we took the rain-fly off our tent so we could see the stars
I'd imagine spots 21 and 26 would be great because of the privacy and creek location.
I'd avoid spots 28-30 just because of the steeper hill to walk UP to your campsite. It's already a pain to lug all your gear.
GuideWe didn't particularly care for the area, it was not far enough out to feel like in serene nature but still far to drive to anything. Well kept campground, enjoyed the mini golf (probably our favorite TT mini golf so far) but weren't too majorly impressed overall. It didn't help that it rained a lot and the streets turned into lakes - so not only did you have geese on your roof but also right outside your door. ;)
Scout
Let me first off say that the property is beautiful and that my hosts Carolyn and Bernie were very accommodating and had great energy. Plenty of room for beautiful hikes on their many acres of land packed with some great views a few decks scattered around the property. I found out they have a full size professional disc golf course here! I don’t bring my discs, but Carolyn and Bernie happily lent me some discs so I could try it out.
Now to the Glamping- now I been camping a bunch, the reason I say that this is glamping is that they have actual running water flushable toilets and outdoor hot showers! I can’t tell you how excited I was lol, it really upleveled the whole camping experience. They also have an industrial kitchen as well as an outdoor bar where they have very fairly priced beer and wine. Did I mention they have a full size professional pool table? Turns out Bernie and Carolyn are professional pool players too! This place is awesome! I will definitely be coming back again again to relax. I live in sd so it’s only about 35-40min drive from my place. Thank you so much Carolyn and Bernie for such a great experience!!
ScoutBeautiful nature getaway! Only 30 mins East of San Diego. 150 acres of beautiful pristine land. Gorgeous oaks shading our camp site. Loved the kitties & the ranch doggies. Went for a hike. Saw lots of flowers, a seasonal creek, sage, views of the valley & nearby mountain. Played some pool. The disk golf course is on the awesome hike I took. They have live music on the weekends. And 3 huge custom stone showers with natural spring water & full bathrooms with sinks & flushing toilets.
GuideUsing the marker on the map in the app, I was brought to a small dirt parking lot off the main road. Further exploration showed that a dirt road continued into the vegetation. I followed it, but it turned and went parallel with a road. I am nowhere near see the marker on the map. However, I am a 100 feet off the trail overlooking the town of Borrego Springs and the mountains behind it. I am here in this section by myself.
I did explore the Yaqui Pass and the Yaqui Wash spots, which are both further west over the mountain. The Pass was great and within a valley. The pass was a carpark as someone else noted. I wanted my back to the sunset (and the wind) so chose this location. Next time I hope to get to the spot the other reviews seem to be at.
RangerCouldn’t have better views. We watched dolphins and seals playing in the waves. No hookups, but there was water and clean bathrooms.
Scout
This was our first camping trip in our travel trailer. The amenities available are great. Very clean and friendly staff
ScoutSpectacular night lights
GuideShouldn't have a problem finding a site here.
Camping near Pauma Valley, California, offers a mix of beautiful landscapes and fun activities for everyone. Whether you're looking to pitch a tent or park your RV, there are plenty of campgrounds to choose from.
Camping near Pauma Valley, California, has something for everyone, from families to RV enthusiasts. Enjoy the great outdoors!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Pauma Valley, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Pauma Valley, CA is South Carlsbad State Beach with a 4.4-star rating from 73 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Pauma Valley, CA?
TheDyrt.com has all 58 glamping camping locations near Pauma Valley, CA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
