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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
The Moro campground, which is located on a bluff top with unparalleled ocean views, features 27 hookup sites, 30 non-hookup tent sites, both of which include 3 ADA-accessible sites each. We also feature primitive hike-in camping in our backcountry, which has 32 sites spread out across 3 areas. Although it does require a strenuous hike, it provides a peaceful refuge from the urban surroundings.
$25 - $75 / night
North Loop (sites 1-59, 120, 122)
$50 - $350 / night
The Arroyo campground offers 79 campsites varying in size to accommodate RVs or tent camping for up to eight people per site. Reservations for individual sites can be made online, by phone or in person. The park offers eight large group campsites for parties of 17 or more and five equestrian campsites, each equipped with horse corrals, barbeques and fire pits. Reservations for groups of 17 or more can be made by calling the park office at (949) 923-2260.
$20 / night
Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina is located in the heart of Newport Beach CA, along the scenic Back Bay. Our laid-back lux resort offers RV campers access to the same amenities as any hotel guest plus more, including beach access, hydrotherapy pools, beachfront dining, hiking & biking trails, water sports, and one of SoCal’s largest inflatable water park (summer season). We offer planned activities for families to take part in. Allow us to be your basecamp for everything Newport Beach and Orange County has to offer.
$75 - $550 / night
Cal Trans continues to perform highway-widening work on SR-74 Ortega Highway with periodic nightly closures.
Located approximately 4 miles off Hwy 74 (Ortega) on the North Main Divide Road, this campsite has 50 available sites with a varying distance apart for a true "wilderness" feel. Amenities include trash cans, fire pits, grills, vaulted toilets, and plenty of local trails for hiking, biking and equestrian. For information regarding local and connecting trails, please see our Trail Guide under the Trabuco District.
$20 / night
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
Located at the north end of Camp Pendleton, the San Onofre Beach Campgrounds are one of three areas aboard the base that patrons can utilize year round.
$45 / night
San Onofre Campground and day-use parking along Old Highway 101 adjacent to the beautiful sandstone bluffs. This beach below is popular with swimmers and surfers with six rugged dirt access trails cut into the bluff above. All campsites include a fire pit and picnic table. The campground offers cold outdoor showers and chemical toilets. No RV hookups are available, however, there is a RV dump-station.
$45 - $250 / night
Owl Loop (sites 203-220, 283-317)
$25 - $300 / night
Clean, quiet campground located in one of the OC Parks, with plenty of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian use. I stayed here on a weekday, and there were a few couple of vacant campsites in my area, so it was an extremely quiet visit. Bathrooms were clean and well stocked for my stay. I didn’t use the showers since I was only staying one night, but I heard they were free!
Rangers were very friendly and firewood was only $5 for a decent bundle that lasted me over 2 hours.
The city of Rancho Santa Margarita is right up the hill, so you can grab food and any necessities if needed.
My site backed to the creek, so I never had people walking through my campsite.
My dog & I slept in my van, but there was room for multiple tents, and a decent amount of shade in my spot.
My spot didn’t have its own water spigot, but there was one at a site across from me.
I was fortunate that all of the campers around me were quiet and considerate. I know that it doesn’t always work out that way, and having obnoxious neighbors can really ruin your experience.
Visiting family in Santa Ana and LA. Not to far for them to come to us and all to go to beach. Park clean and well maintained, personnel very kind and friendly Beautiful view from our site on area B. Crowded on weekend, much less during week Campground is not associated to adjacent Frank Bonelli Regional. Charge $12 to enter with vehicle but no fee to ride in on bikes
We traveled as a group of 17 campers and were able to disperse evenly between 4 close together campsites. We were in 19, 20, 21 and 23. Even though the website says it allowed 2 cars per site we were charged for the 2nd vehicle. In each site. I had also checked online prior to make sure we would have cell service with that many people meeting us. Only those of us that had Verizon had only a single bar. The campsites in the inner ring (ours was #21) are VERY close together. Not at all private, your camp is literally up against a couple others. We had children from the other sites running all through ours and it was so close you could hear everyone else’s private conversations. #19 and #20 were on the outer circle but just enough space to park and then walk through very sticky manzanita trees into the campsite and picnic table area. None of them had much or any shade. Our saving grace was our 4th spot - which gave us enough room to have all of us sit out of the way of the sticky trees and one tree in the middle to give us a touch of shade throughout the day. It had 2 picnic tables and was much more private so we didn’t disturb anyone and we didn’t have everyone else disturbing us. The vault toilets (yes, I know what they entail, and yes, it’s summer) were horrendous and barely useable, but we had 2 within very quick walking distance of us. They do allow dogs (we had 5 dogs and 3 cats with us) and it’s a short drive into the little town of Idyllwild. It’s a campground that served its purpose in getting all of us together and of course we had a blast, but it’s not on my “must camp here again” list.
People are complaining about freeway noise, we stayed in site 3 (the closest site to the freeway) and it was quiet as a mouse from inside our (insulated) RV. Amazing amenities. Dog park, pool, clubhouse. We loved site 3 so close to the amenities and restrooms. Overall amazing stay
The parking lot is next to the beach on the one side but also next to the highway on the other side. So the view and the breeze is beautiful, but the traffic noise in the evening and morning is not so nice. With earplugs everything is fine! ;) The host Jim is very kind and helpful!
This place is nice, clean and quiet with newer RVs. It’s only a few miles off 78, about 10-15 miles from Carlsbad beach and the same distance to Escondido. We are long-time San Diego residents living out of state and came home to visit family. This is not a park like private site setting. It’s an RV parking lot with sewer and water hook-ups. If you want a location and North County works for you, this is a good place. There are two mobile homes but the RVs are all newer. Sites are narrow and close together, but this is the city in San Diego, not a spacious national park! Bathrooms in pool area are clean.
Camping outside esablished campgrounds within the Angeles National Forest is sometimes prohibited, you have to be on top of reading recently published orders on https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/angeles. Currently, camping is allowed for 7 days or less, see here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/angeles/alerts-notices/?aid=78080 The people I saw camping here looked to have been set up somewhat permanently though. I wouldn't feel comfortable setting up a tent here, but it could be an okay rest area at the beginning/end of the hike to Bridge to Nowhere.
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 ⛺️ 🙌🏻
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.
Awesome spot, lots of sights and some even have overlooks of the entire park. Can get crowded but no one was there on a Friday night in July. Bathrooms, trash, water and even buckets to fill to put out your fire. Fire pits, benches and grills nothing more you could want.
Great rv resort. Close proximity to casino.
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
After trying to find an escape from the fireworks and trying campgrounds in surrounding areas to this one and all of them being full, we just kept driving (ended up off-roading) and found this hidden jem. Quite, dark, and one dirt road in n out. No amenities besides a picnic table & fire pit. There's an outhouse, but it's pretty gross..
We spent 3days and 2nights here and enjoyed our stay, the caretaker was so nice! Although the restroom are very dirty but overall it was a great stay!
The pictures can be deceiving. It’s beautiful there, however, other than the picture showing flat ground, and wide space, this isn’t accurate.
This time of year, mosquitos and flies everywhere to the point where it really ruined the experience. No matter what sprays, lotions, candles or anything we tried, it was not working.
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.
Site 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.
So great to find something available in this area!
The place is clean and quiet. Our camp site was very spacious, and it was easy to back in our teardrop trailer. Restroom was cleaned every day, but wished there was some sort of light in there. It is dark in there even in the day. Camp hosts are friendly and knowledgeable. Overall, we had a really great time, my wife and I and our two labradors. We will return.
There is always a spot or 2 open. Staff are always polite.
The campground is located in some lush pines In Angeles forest. It’s nothing too spectacular but well maintained and a pretty area. Most of the sites are spaced out fairly decently. I would recommend for a quick one or two night escape from the city.
I had a positive impression of this small campground, located just 5-7 miles away from the 215 highway, amidst natural surroundings. I can join many activities here such as playing merge fruit. However, I was taken aback to discover that the campground was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It would be great if they were open full-time, although it didn't affect our stay as we had planned to leave by Monday night. While the bathroom facilities could benefit from some renovations, the actual campsite itself was quite enjoyable. Despite a previous reviewer mentioning that the road near the campground was busy, we personally didn't find it bothersome as there were only occasional cars passing by during the day, and the traffic volume was relatively light during our visit
The turn is not marked well, in fact the coordinates are a little bit off. If you miss the turn like we did you have to go 5 miles or more to get a turnabout big enough to turn around. You climb a big steep hill to get to the turn in. On the way back down from the turnaround we almost burned out or brakes. We decided not to go to the site because it looked like a one lane road and too tight for our 35 ft bumper pull. Disappointed because pictures from others looked great and it is a beautiful area. We found a spot near the road that I’ll post for others.
This type of place would definitely appeal more to a extroverted and social crowd. Every day and night multiple other campers had music blasting and were yelling and screaming. Our dogs were charged at every single time we went for a walk by off-leash dogs at other sites, sometimes attacked, multiple times per walk, and by the same dogs over and over. Owners didn't care, no leashes or tie-outs to be seen, no apologies when our dogs got attacked. Rangers were few and far between and did nothing to uphold the rules. Hosts in each loop did nothing and most of the time were part of the problem. We were lucky the place was only ever ~30% full on the busy nights, otherwise I can't imagine how bad it could get.
Facilities: Bathrooms were not good, no soap, cleaned so infrequently anytime a few other campers came through it was trashed for days afterwards, sites were overgrown and uncared for, garbage everywhere from campers that rangers didn't clean up
Cell Service: Good enough Verizon and T-mobile to work remotely
Starlink: While we didn't need to use it, all sites are open to the sky if you needed to
Solar: All sites are open to the sky for good solar
They are scammers. The cabin they have on site electricity keeps going on and off, the cabin was also dirty. Got a bad splinter on my hand from the railing and spoke to some residents and figured out that even though they’re selling memberships the electricity is going to be shut off. They are going to cause hundreds of people to go homeless and trying to keep it a secret. What a shame.
This is our second stay here and probably our last. It was super expensive this time and we were put in the back (overflow) lot which name I use loosely as when it rains it floods. Had to park the car at the office so it wouldn’t float away. Upon our arrival my husband pulled up in our 42’ 5th wheel and parked to go into the office. There is a painted line on the curb where I guess you’re supposed to park but our unit would have been longer and wider than that space provided. She also could have used some tact and nicely asked if he could park the unit in the space provided but she was asking for a fight. He went to register and a lady with longer gray hair and glasses, who I’d seen there before, greeted him with..you need to park by the curb in the designated area- you’re blocking my driveway!! That kinda set the tone. He said I thought you’d open the gate so I could get out of the way. About that time I pulled up in the car and he was storming out the bldg saying I have to get out of the way- park in the designated area! So I went in and couldn’t understand why he hadn’t registered already. She very hatefully said I told him to move he was blocking my drive! (There was nobody out there but us). The tone could have been better, but I wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation- she took my information and said you’ve been here before so you know where you’re going! Maybe she is the owner or maybe an employee but it wasn’t a great way to start off our 2 wk stay at the rate of $2k! She was a real bitch!
Wow Wow i had the chance to stay at this amazing RV park, it started the moment i stepped in the office i was greeted by Cynthia who took the time to answer questions i had about the park, then i had a question about the area and Tyler picked up the conversation humbly explaining how peaceful the facility is, i was set it was easy to get my 26 foot travel trailer down the lane, as i was parking i met a man name Jim little did i know at the time he was the new head coach for the charges, wow it was an amazing experience from that day forward pool was clean and the jacuzzi was hot, clean laundry room, very peaceful place thank you waterfront i highly suggest visiting this place amazing, i will tell my friends.
Camping near Rancho Santa Margarita offers a fantastic escape into nature, with beautiful campgrounds that cater to all types of campers. Whether you're looking for a beachside retreat or a mountain getaway, there are plenty of options to explore.
Exploring the campgrounds around Rancho Santa Margarita can lead to memorable adventures, whether you're camping in a tent, RV, or cabin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Rancho Santa Margarita, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Rancho Santa Margarita, CA is San Mateo Campground — San Onofre State Beach with a 4.2-star rating from 49 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Rancho Santa Margarita, CA?
TheDyrt.com has all 139 dog-friendly camping locations near Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
