Best Glamping near San Jose, CA

Getting there: From San Jose it took me about 40 minutes. The road is windy, narrow, and not for the car sick. Be prepared to pay $6 for parking.

Campsites: The campsites are nicely maintained. Plenty of area to pitch a tent, all the sites have a BBQ, fire pit, and picnic table. The sites are close together to maybe bring ear plugs in case you have loud neighbors.

The Park: Really pretty, really small. I would say in 1 full day you can explore 100% of this park. No need to make an entire weekend out of this place when you can do all of the pretty stuff in just a few hours.

What to do: Go see the waterfalls. With the current California drought all of the falls were at little more than a trickle but still something to see. To hike to each fall it's about 6ish miles with just a few hundred feet of total elevation gain. The trails are large and well defined for an very entry level experience.

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!

Pros: Lots of sites. Pretty area. Facilities well maintained. Cons: We stayed here several times because of its proximity to San Jose. Almost every time time, though, it was crowded and noisy. Also there are lots of wild pigs! In my opinion, it’s a last resort campground.

The first time here, we put a table cloth and some small items on the picnic table at our site, then left to run an errand. When we returned, someone else was camping in our spot. :0/  Luckily, there was another spot available so we moved and all was well. Still surprised that someone would do that, though.

We love Mount Madonna and have camped here often. It has a few RV sites with water and electric but the dry campsites are a little bigger and very nice. Great hiking trails. Flat looks for kids to bike on. Don't miss the deer pen and the historic house hikes. One of the best local campgrounds near San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Watsonville area. Close but very much a camping experience. Some fog can creep in so be prepared for it to get cold and wet some nights. Camp sites can be close together if in one fo the electric water sites but not too bad. Nice for families. Showers are clean.

We visited the Big Basin Redwoods State Park late July this year with a large group of friends and their families and it was such an awesome experience. We stayed in a tent cabin at the Huckleberry campground which was nicer than we thought it would be. It had just the right amount of space for my wife and I, our two daughters and all our gear. The entire campground is loaded with trees so there was plenty of shade everywhere. There's also a few decent hiking trails close to the campground which is really cool and convenient. My daughters enjoyed every minute from the hiking, riding their bikes, campfires as well as all the other great things to do when camping. We also explored the Visitor Center to see some of the most magnificent dinosaur-like redwoods including what they call the 'Father of the Forest' and 'Mother of the Forest' trees. The guide was an encyclopedia of information on the massive trees which he shared with us along the tour. If you're at all interested, then you must go on the short tour. The only complaint I have is about the one night there were what seemed to be very loud college students, probably from UC Santa Cruz or another nearby college, who were in the cabin at the site next to ours and were partying way too hard. We had to tell them to keep it down since they had woken us up. I'm all for a little partying, but damn, they were loud and no one came around to tell them to keep it down besides us. Other than that, all in all, we had a great tent cabin campsite and did notice some even better in the campground, so we will definitely be going back again.

The park is a on beautiful forested hilltop. Some areas are redwood, other parts mixed with other kinds of trees. This is the only place I’ve seen the redwood trees harvest the fog and make their own rain, which is pretty cool. In the morning it’s raining under the redwood trees but not under the madrone or tan oak trees, which is wild.

It is a lot colder here than on the valley floor. Prepare for it to be 40deg colder than Gilroy or San Jose. We weren’t prepared & had to drive into town & buy more clothes! Also, sometimes the fog whistles through on a stiff breeze so not only is it cold but also clammy wet.

The park has some unique features. Near the ranger station there are pens with white fallow deer. They are descendants of the exotic zoo at William Randolph Hearst’s mansion down the coast. The park used to have hundreds of them, but a number of years ago the park service stopped allowing them to breed because they’re an introduced species. So now they’re down to just two white deer and when those die that’ll be the end of that.

There is an archery trail with 28 targets on a trail through the woods. We were there 3 days in a row and did 20 of the 28. It’s really pretty and a cool challenge. Now my daughter’s asking to put a target in the back yard.

The campgrounds are really well maintained. Bathrooms have soap & TP and kept clean. “Tan Oak” campground seems to have bigger sites than the others, but we drove through all the campgrounds and none of them are awful. Our site (418) was huge and private. There is a large vacant campsite across the road that’s reserved for docents but it was empty when we were there so we had the cul-de-sac all to ourselves. Sites 416 and 417 are also big with hidden spots back off the road for pitching your tent.

Mount Madonna County Park has 4 campgrounds. I've been camping in this park since the late 70s. I've seen some changes over the years...ahem...decades. There's something for everyone here, RVers, tenters, and those who want to rent tent cabins. There are plenty of trails to hike, as well as equestrian trails. No bikes on trails though.

There are several micro climates in this area and temps can vary, besides our weather varies from day to day.

There are trails offering views of the Santa Clara Valley, and trails offering views of the Monterey Bay. The park is above the fog line (most of the year). We don't get rain in the summer here. The park is situated at the County lines of Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County and is part of the Santa Clara County Parks system.

No stores or markets in the park, but you can easily run into town, either Watsonville or Gilroy. It's slightly closer to Watsonville where you will find a gas station/market on 152 (Currently a Valero), or go into Gilroy on 152 for Safeway and more.

There's a small cabin (ranger's station) with a history exhibit and the white reindeer up from the kiosk. My favorite campground in the park is the Tan Oak campground at the top and through the day use area. There are plenty of Geocaches on the trails.

The bathrooms are generally clean. I say generally because I prefer the off season when I have the campground to myself and the bathrooms are super clean, but when the campground is full, like any public bathroom they can need more attention. (Or maybe people just need to clean up after themselves) I've never used the showers, nor the tent cabins. I like the sites because overall they are separated by trees so you don't feel as crowded as more open campgrounds.

Despite signage warning of mountain lions, I have never encountered a single one in all the years of camping here. I've had raccoons and skunks (so lock up your food and belongings), turkeys and deer.

Weekends, especially a holiday weekend such as Memorial Day weekend, can be full. (Not my favorite) I have also stayed for the 4th of July when it fell midweek and had the campground (Tan Oak) literally to myself.

Leashed pets are allowed (2 per site) and 2 cars and 8 people per site.