Looking for the best campgrounds near Pinole, CA? Pinole is filled with the activities, sights, and experiences to make everyone in your crew a happy camper. At The Dyrt, campers like you share their favorite spots, plus tips and photos. No matter where you're headed in Pinole, you'll find the best spot for you and your camping crew.
Creekside Loop (sites 1-25)
$35 - $225 / night
Anthony Chabot Family Campground, overlooking Lake Chabot, is a year-round getaway only 35 minutes from downtown Oakland and Oakland International Airport. The campground features 53 drive-to tent campsites, 10 walk-to tent campsites, and 12 RV/trailer campsites with full hookups (sewer, water, and 30 amp electrical). All sites have a picnic table and fire ring with grill. Restrooms include hot showers. Firewood and charcoal are available for purchase. The campground provides access to miles of hiking and mountain biking trails, along with fishing at nearby Lake Chabot.
Anthony Chabot Regional Park features seven group camps ranging in capacity from 35 to 300 campers, reservations required (a minimum of 9 people to use the group campsites). All group camps include picnic tables, BBQ, fire ring, water, and chemical/vault toilets. Equestrian camping is available by reservation at Bort Meadow Group Camp. For reservations, call 1-888-EBPARKS (1-888-327-2757), option 2. Group campsites cannot be reserved online.
Kirby Cove is located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at historic Battery Kirby. Visitors are awarded breathtaking views of San Francisco, its famous Golden Gate Bridge, and the rugged Pacific Coast of northern California. Please note: The parking area for the campground is a short walk from the campsites, so RV or car camping is not allowed at Kirby Cove Campground.
Hiking, picnicking and taking in the beautiful views from Kirby Cove are among the park's most popular activities. Visitors also enjoy exploring Battery Kirby, a historic army battery in use from 1898-1934. The Point Bonita Lighthouse and Nike Missile Site SF-88 are also close to the campsite.
Kirby Cove offers a coarse-sand beach with spectacular views - when it's not foggy - of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and northern San Francisco, including the historic Presidio. The cove is nestled at the foot of the craggy Marin Headlands and has beach access. A steep, mile-long trail to the cove begins at the parking area above Battery Spencer on Conzelman Road. The path descends through a stately grove of Monterey, cypress, pine and Blue Gum eucalyptus. Coastal sage and colorful Lupine dot the hillsides. Temperatures are mild year-round. Expect lows from 50-55 degrees and highs from 60-65. Fog is prevalent in the summer months from May-Sept. It is best to bring clothing that can be layered. Lightweight summer clothes are rarely comfortable to wear at Kirby Cove.
For facility specific information, please call (415) 331-1540.
The San Francisco Bay Area has no shortage of fun and interesting things to do and see. Awe-inspiring Muir Woods National Monument, with its old-growth coastal redwood forest and numerous hiking trails, is just a 20-minute drive from Kirby Cove. Mount Tamalpais State Park, with hiking and sweeping views of the Bay Area, is another 10 minutes past Muir Woods. Downtown San Francisco offers a myriad of restaurants, shops, museums and tourist attractions. Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz Island and Chinatown are popular destinations. Visitors love riding San Francisco's world famous cable cars up and down the city's hilly streets.
The Kirby Cove Day Use Site must be cancelled or modified more than 14 days before your check-in date otherwise it will be considered a late cancellation. You may also refer to Recreation.gov's Rules & Reservation Policies.__To initiate a refund request more than 7 days after your reservation, call the recreation.gov call center at 877-444-6777.
$40 - $75 / night
S Rav Camp Area (sites E1-E7)
$25 - $100 / night
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is nestled in the heart of Sonoma County. We offer camping for Tents and Rv’s, two luxurious glamping sites, and tent rental if you need a tent or an extra one for the kids. Visit our website for reservations - and our reservable instantly available - no more requirement to make reservations 48 hours before arrival day.
We release first-come, first-serve sites over the phone at 10 am. We typically have room Sunday-Thursday, but fill up on good weathered weekends from April through October.
You can enjoy camping year-round at Sugarloaf Ridge State
$35 - $45 / night
Located half way up Mount Tamalpais' forested southern slopes, Pantoll Campground is one of two first-come, first-served walk-in campgrounds within Mount Tamalpais State Park (Bootjack being the other). With 16 historic campsites lying beneath a quiet Douglas fir forest, time spent next to the campfire here will quickly expunge thoughts of the big city that lies just a few miles to the south.
The campground has an assortment of sites that are distributed on the hill that extends from the Pantoll Day Use Area; sites located further uphill offer greater privacy and more room. All 16 sites are within a short, 100-yard walk from the car park. Each comes equipped with campfire pits and historic, stone-built campfire grills to accommodate all of your cooking and warming needs. Since advance reservations cannot be made for Pantoll, arriver earlier on weekend days to ensure you’ll have a site. You’ll likely have the campground to yourself if you are there mid-week.
$7 - $25 / night
Live Oak Campground
$30 / night
Scout
I remember this when I was a kid my parents would take us my two brothers and my sister and we can't go crabbing just enjoy the whole day the whole weekend awesome.
Traveler
San Ramon, CA. Ok for a night’s stay. Address takes you to main entrance to fairgrounds where a person manning a booth directed us to drive around the fairgrounds to Gate 12 which is entrance to the RV park. Thank goodness there was still a person on duty at the main entrance or we would have not known what to do. We made reservations by phone and staff did not mention that we had to find Gate 12!
Ranger
RV campsites are close together and semi-level. Bathrooms could use some TLC. But the park is nice with lots of hiking, views and close to Napa.
RangerRV Campsites are nothing fancy and close together. But the park itself is nice...hiking trails, views, nature, and close to Napa.
Ranger
I can't think of a better place to camp on or near Mt. Tamalpais than Pantoll in terns of the access to trails and the various parks in the area. From Pantoll you have very easy access to the summit of Mt. Tamalpais, easy access Stinson Beach and the coast, plus you can even skip the long lines and shuttles to get into Muir Woods. There are literally days worth of great hiking accessible from Pantoll!
That said, the campground, while nicely maintained and well-equipped is right next to a relatively busy road and during daylight hours, especially in the high-traffic times of the year, the sites themselves are very exposed to all the day visitors.
Speaking of day visitors, I don't recall if you get a dedicated parking space with a campsite or not, but parking can be a challenge here due to the popularity of the various trailheads, and the limited parking.
Guide
This campground is great. If you're looking for a coastal place to stay that has showers and bathrooms readily available. There's no hookups but there's water spigots that are potable all over the place which is great. But it still is definitely very much dry camping.
The hard part about this campground is the weather potential, there's a lot of fog, a lot of wind, but that should be expected anytime you're spending time near the coast.
Doran Beach is great, especially during the summer for kids because it's a well protected cove and the waves don't usually get very high.
One thing to mention is that this place is very not dog friendly when it comes to them being off leash. They're very aggressive about protecting the wildlife in the area and it can be difficult if you have dogs that want to be off leash and want to run.
There's a market not far away that has just about everything you could possibly need, lots of restaurants not too far away as well so there's plenty to do and see.
The campground itself is kept really clean by the staff, patrolled heavily by park service, and there's a lot of fishing opportunities and crabbing opportunities. Plenty to do with kids!
Traveler
Insanely hot in the summer, I would recommend not going in July like we did. It was 104° or something and I was just drenching my clothes in water to stay cool.
The hike is pretty nice to the summit from there.
Lots of free water and there's free showers too which is awesome, but don't use the stinky toilet at the top there's way better ones around the bottom area.
They have food lockers, not bear lockers, and ours was broken one time so have a solid backup plan, the raccoons are very intelligent and they come out at night so be prepared for that.
BRING SHOWER SHOES AND SOAP UR GOING TO WANT IT
Ranger
The atmosphere here is wonderful. It’s quiet and right on the beach. Some RV spaces with hookups back right up to the sand/vegetation. Bathrooms and showers on site. We stayed in a spot without hookups and it was $35 per night. Gate staff was friendly and helpful. No dogs allowed in the beach in the park but a short walk away there is a public beach that is dog friendly, so that was nice for our doggo.
Guide
We stayed here for 12 days while visiting relatives in the Bay area. This campground, while in the heart of Fremont, feels remote and safe in spite of being close to town. Sites are not huge, but arranged in such a way as to feel private. It is in the Coyote hills regional Park. There are many many trails for hiking and biking, and wildlife is plentiful. Our RV is small and we used the showers and bathrooms quite a bit. They are cleaned daily and we're always in great shape. The laundry is run by an outside organization, and the change machine was always empty, but everything worked well.
Scout
Good spot to spend the night. Rocked up at around 8pm, pretty busy at least 10 other vans and rvs there for the night. Couple of food vendors, great view of Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Weren’t hassled at all, left around 9am.
Scout
Gosh - this area just doesn't seem to like dogs much!
Traveler
This is a nice mostly Rv sight haven’t seen tenting, but I’m sure you could It has some year round renters towards the backside, of the park. Slips available for needed.
ScoutNice spot close to the Golden Gate Bridge
Traveler
I’m very confused by the boojie negative reviews, what do you expect?
This is an absolutely great spot! Restrooms and showers are clean and the staff is great. Will be back often.
Not a far drive to the city either. Price is higher than other places but this close to the city with all of the amenities a pretty good deal.
ScoutThe staff was amazing. Tent site was spacious. Not too crowded. Clean bathroom and shower. Several trails to walk. Close to town in case we forgot something.
Scout
The coordinate given are Not valid. It is a residential area and not an RV nore an campsite! Reservation per phone with none refondable possibility. Be carefull! Dont book!
Traveler
This is an excellent and straightforward country park. It feels like a state park.
They have hookups and also dry camping. The better spots are near the water.
Contrary to other posts, they take walkups. It is just on the website it requires 2 weeks out.
Scout
This was some “glamping” for us. We’re in a van with no consistent onboard power or water, so we do a night or two out and a night at a site with more amenities. This was a perfect stop driving south on the 1 after the previous night remote on the coast and a planned need for StarLink with power source. Park is clean and well-organized, if tight, and the bathrooms are super clean and door-coded, with included hot showers. Right on the marina, fun if you enjoy harbor/boating scenery, and good food within walking distance. No way - that I found - to reserve online, but a phone call at 9am on a Saturday was returned within 10 minutes and got it done. Range of big rigs to camper vans, easy access and enough room to negotiate into spots. Very welcoming, safe, laid back environment.
ScoutBeautiful view we were in campsite 40. A beautiful view of vineyards and the sunset and people riding their horses. So calm and beautiful and so many activities here to do. Also there is showers, bathrooms, and hookups, we love this place. Only 8 mins from downtown Napa
Scout
We visited this park earlier this spring. Yes it was wet, but we didn't mind. Liked the spaces and layout so much...we are going back this fall. Plus we love that whole area.
However, DYRT got some info wrong. While there are plenty of full hookup spaces for RVs, there are no pull thru sites. Only back in for trailers and drive-in for coaches. Many tent camping spaces and RV spaces w/just water and power. The folks are friendly and helpful.
M.R.
Legend
Have you been over to Bodega Bay? I think you'd like it there. Our friends sure know us well! While the town doesn’t look much different than when it appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, the cafes in the village have definitely upped their game.
Bodega Dunes State Park is a great way to experience the area without the same activity and noise in the camp grounds down closer to the water. The campsite loops wind through the coastal Live Oak and Bishop Pine trees and provide some privacy in between sites in some areas, though some sites are right on top of each other.
They are generally smaller pull-in sites geared more toward tents, vans, and small travel trailers. There are just a handful of sites that can accommodate bigger RVs. Many of the sites have decent open sky resources for solar power and satellite internet, though many in the lower areas had standing water and torn up asphalt pads from the heavy rains the last couple of years.
The bathrooms were clean and comfortable with flush toilets and warm showers (coin operated). My only complaint about the bathrooms is that there weren’t quite enough for the demand, in my opinion, but a few port-o-potties might help offset that during the busy season.
Hiking among the sand dunes and along the beach provide some really stunning scenery. Reaching the beach, you’ll find as much coastal sand as you can handle with miles and miles of it to yourself. The water, which is normally pretty cold year round, can also be pretty rough for swimming.
A short drive away is the gorgeous Bodega Head Trail which winds up along the headland and offers amazing scenery. It’s sort of like a small Point Reyes National Seashore, but much easier to get to.
Bodega Bay has a couple of small grocery stores, gas stations, and more than a few restaurants to meet nearly any craving. The area is known for its Dungeness Crab Harvest, so be sure to check that out when it's in season!
TravelerGreat location overlooking the city, has facilities like toilets and drinking fountains. Very busy when I was here on a Saturday night with locals, tourists and Mexican street vendors. Can’t complain because it’s free and close to the city
LegendGreat (and big) park in Bodega Bay with several separate campgrounds. We got lucky and snagged a last minute spot for 2 nights in August. Easy access to the beach, lots of day use areas all around this park, and bonus: a dog beach that was available on a trial basis when we were there- dogs got to run free on this little patch of enclosed beach- wonderful. Hope it becomes a permanent feature!
Showers were $2 for 5 minutes, there’s recycling here (a separate bin for propane cylinders too).
This campground has a lot of in and out traffic and day use visitors and overall more activity than the Westside campground across the way. We enjoyed both of them.
Legend
This is a mellow, low key, beachy Sonoma County campground in Bodega Bay. It’s got that vibe that so many beach campgrounds do, a little run down, no frills, open layout, and happy friendly campers. We stayed here for a couple of nights and had a great time.
There’s hiking all over this area, lots to explore and see. Cell service was good. Showers here are expensive at $2 for 5 min, quarters only. There’s a host on site who’s been hosting here for something like 15 (maybe 30) years. There’s a boat ramp adjacent to this campground, lots of boats in and out for fishing.
There’s a dump station for a $7 fee (though the website says $10, so maybe it's actually $10), honor box at the station to deposit your money. Water fill available here as well.
Recycling available, as well as a separate bin for green propane canisters. Camping is $35/night, plus $2 fee per dog per night (boo), plus whatever online reservation fee ($8?). Reservations must be made online. Hosts obviously do not handle that and there was nobody in the entrance shack when we arrived- though a ranger swung by later to collect the dog fee (that fee can’t be paid online when you make the reservation). Anyway, confusing process but just go with it and have a great time.
ScoutThere is upward of 90 sites, many are for just tents and are on sand with fire pit. I have our travel trailer there and are the site # in the 70's and are on a asphalt pad, which makes it cleaner and level. Down side would be close to a road and traffic during day, but at night very quiet except for fog horn which is no big deal. The beach walks and adventuring the coast and local fair makes it all worth it. Water and dump station available, not at campsites but at entry of park
Traveler
Lovely campsite with very sweet camp hosts. Always waved when they drove by.
Chose site 17 because of the beautiful tree seen in another review but was felled prior to our arrival, so no big tree. We did however get a beautiful view of the stars.
Two things to note, some of the sites (didn’t look like all of them had this issue) have an incredibly fine dusty dirt that gets on absolutely everything, it made our feet, legs and sandals completely beige from the dust and we had to wipe them with wet wipes before going into our tent and tracked a fair amount into our car upon leaving.
The other thing we were disappointed with was that we had to pay for showers on top of already paying over $50 for our site for one night, we felt that was a pretty big con and that it should be included in the fees.
Overall, you can’t get closer to the wineries and it was an otherwise lovely site.
Scout
I got there after they closed (closes at 5pm.) But there's a number to call that was posted for after hours. A camper in front of me had already called and someone arrived within minutes. They were very helpful and friendly. I got a beautiful spot secluded from everyone. I loved it! Just me and nature. I played some music dance by myself as if nobody was watching.
Camping near Pinole, California, offers a mix of beautiful landscapes and fun activities for everyone. Whether you're a family looking for a weekend getaway or an RV enthusiast seeking adventure, there are plenty of options to explore.
Camping near Pinole, CA, offers a variety of experiences, from scenic hikes to family-friendly activities. With the right preparation, you can enjoy the best camping near Pinole, CA, and make lasting memories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular campground near Pinole, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Pinole, CA is Samuel P. Taylor State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 51 reviews.
What parks are near Pinole, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 18 parks near Pinole, CA that allow camping, notably Bankhead National Forest and Chugach National Forest.
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