Best Tent Camping near San Lucas, CA

Great for tent camping and hiking. RV sites have 30 amp hookups. No water or sewer hookups. Dump station was available. RV sites are all gravel and fairly flat. Paying after the store closed at 6pm was an ordeal. Could never make it happen. We tried to log in for 3$ to pay online but it failed and we were never able to connect. Tent sites were secluded, many under shade trees, and well dispersed. Bathrooms were few and far between. Mostly vault toilets. There is a pool that families will enjoy. There is a small store. Walks and hikes are what is available. For a National Park it underwhelmed.

Tent camping

This campground is one of our all-time favorites. Tent sites are far enough from the RV sites that they are quiet and peaceful. The river is lovely and cool. It's a super popular campground and yet the tent sites are situated such that it feels more spacious than crowded.

Nice bathrooms, ocean sounds, not that level for tent camping at c7 .

Close to the beach within walking distance. Showers and restrooms not chemis . No hookups last time I was there both RV & tent camping .

Fernwood is a unique campground because it has tent sites, RV spaces, canvas tents, cabins, a motel and even a restaurant. It’s situated on the river in Big Sur, and is surrounded by the majestic Redwood trees. If you don’t feel like cooking head up to the restaurant for a delicious meal. There’s also a small market to pick up necessities and ice.

Not sure if there is a bad tent camping site in this State park. All the site are in and around Redwoods – a perfect getaway for an individual, a couple, or the family. Sites close to bathrooms, include a firepit and table, plenty of room. Perfect for kids to explore – trees, streams, fields. Several excellent hikes in the immediate area – for all skill levels.

This is a great stop along highway 1 with trails to the ocean. The tent sites are in a nice open field so you see the other campers but most are quiet and respectful. it is possible to share a campsite with others if it's full and you are willing to make friends.

This is my second choice campground right in Big Sur. Not because I really like it, I've been there when it was too crowded, but because it has similar qualities to my favorite campground across the road -Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. 

In the summer the campground is thick with families and RVs/trailers, and tent campers. But off season the place mellows out and there is room to move. The campground is on either side of the Big Sur River, RVs and trailers on one side, tent campers on the other. 

Amenities are there, but the free showers on the tent camping side of the campground are better than the pay for showers on the RV side. Every time I've had a meal at the restaurant there has been a different menu and style. Maybe they change chefs every season, but it's not a far drive down to Deetjen's for breakfast if one is up for a treat. The Fernwood General Store has a good selection of food items, wood for the fire, and a few camp supplies.

My most recent stay here was in July 2019, on my sister's vacation with her RV. We had spot number 9 which was smack dab in the middle of everything which was not my preference, but my sister loved it. When I have a choice, I tent camp or vanlife in Big Sur between September and April. 

I would give it between 3 and 4 stars, depending on season and how much you like to be around other people.

This is in a beautiful area, and a gorgeous site but I’ll tell you why I gave it a 3 Pro: friendly staff, lots of shade & some grass at what seemed like all sites, close to small food and many things to do, availability, They let my small van stay at tent only camping, firewood $10 on site, flushable clean bathrooms

Cons: upkeep of foliage was good but walking through whole campsite saw trash and full fire pits at every site. I stayed at two sites and preferred the tent camping first come serve area as it has less vehicle traffic. C36 felt so busy.

Great park with trails that vary from flat oak meadows with wildflowers to strenuous mountain hikes to canyon creeks & caves. Parking inside the park fills up early (by 8am) so get there early or you’ll have to start your hike from the big lot at the visitor center and add a few miles.

The campground is good. We tent camped. Bathrooms are kept clean & stocked with TP & soap. Water taps are frequent. Some sites are small & exposed; others are big, shady & private. Many on loop C are good. The camp store is very well stocked.

Tent site C74 didn’t have much of a level setup site and was right across from the bathroom. We heard slamming doors all night. This particular site was practically on-top of the adjacent site. Good things is the proximity to the bathroom if you don’t mind the slamming doors. It was also close to the trashcans. We came in late and left early so we didn’t experience much of the park but it appeared well maintained and well traveled. Campsite was full so reservations are probably needed.

This was a fantastic campground for a family. Hikes within short walking distance and within bike or short car ride to general store and lodge. Coin showers and bathrooms were very clean. There is a laundry site (this was open) and second general store on premesis however it was not open for the season yet. Camp hosts were very nice and knowledgeable about area. Wood bundles were delivered directly to site. Tent site came with picnic table and large fire pit with grate. This made for an amazing first experience at Big Sur. Highly recommend.

Nice rv/tent campground. It was the most reasonably priced campground we could find in the Big Sur area. It’s right off Hwy 1 so there is some traffic noise but since the road is closed a few miles south, there’s not much traffic (this will change when the road reopens in Sep 2018). There is beach access across the road, about a ten minute walk. There are flush toilets which are clean. Several of the sites have a slight slope but not too bad. Sites have tables/benches and fire pits. Most had bbq. Ranger comes around every evening selling bundles of firewood.

This is another favorite of my Big Sur stops. If you're with a big group, this campground has lots of tent sites and plenty of room to host multiple campers. I think each site has a limit of 3 tents (that could be wrong, but I remember the number being lower), but even coming up in the middle of Spring Break we didn't struggle too hard to get a campsite.

The campsite is close to some trails and is across from the iconic Big Sur waterfall. If you get the chance to camp here, I highly suggest walking across the street to check out the waterfall. There's a lso a nearby trail right at the head of the campground. The trail weaves up into the mountains and has a beautiful view of the ocean from higher up. There's still a lot of fire damage along the trail, but it's cool to see how the forest has re grown since.

This is one of my favorite campsites due to iats relatively small size and gorgeous views of Big Sur. There is a cute, rocky private beach with access from the campground and a long hiking trail across the street that is dog friendly (just be aware of poison oak). 

Just note that if planning to reserve a spot, you must come first thing Friday morning when they open. By lunchtime, all spots are usually gone. If you come mid-week, even better. Also important if you want a spot overlooking the ocean. 

Also, raccoons are intense here. They will go through your stuff if you leave anything out. My dog did have a good time patrolling the campground at night and scaring them all away though. 

The last time I was there there were massive motor homes parked in all the front facing spots which was kinda a bummer, so even more reason to get there early to strategically pick a spot if tent camping.

This was my first BLM camping experience and only second motorcycle camping experience overall.  I stayed at Condon Peak on July 4, 2020 after finding the sites further up on Coalinga Road full.  I also ended up back at Condon Peak on July 25, 2020.

IIRC, there are 6 sites.  Each site is large enough to park a decent sized RV, though getting up the rocky, gravel road may be a challenge.  Each site has an picnic shelter (no sides) with a table and a firepit, a few feet away.  There is one vaulted toilet (i.e. concrete outhouse) at the campground and no running water.

The sites are a good distance from each other (100+ft?) so you're not right on top of each other like some other campgrounds.  For tent camping, the ground where RVs normally park is pretty hard & packed which makes driving tent stakes difficult. I bent more than one.  The ground closer to the edge of the sites is softer but you lose your tent perimeter.  

Bring *lots* of bug spray.  The flies and other biting insects start swarming almost immediately when you enter the campsites.  Some of the campsites have sizeable holes in the ground and it wasn't immediately clear (for us novices) if they were snake holes or rodent holes hence large tent perimeter and bent stakes.

We stumbled upon this campground here on the Dryt. We were able to book 2 nights stay very late and got in for electric hook ups with our class B van. The spot was 86 D loop and it had a nice oak tree for shade. It was next to the road but the road wasn’t busy so it wasn’t disturbing us. They had good showers with good pressure for 50 cents 3 minutes or 75 cents for 4 1/2 minutes. Flushing toilets a pool and nice camp store. We rode our bikes around the grounds and they have awesome tent camping in very shaded and secluded areas of the campground. Site 70-60’s looked nice. We drove to the National Park entrance and hiked Bear Gulch one day. Amazing and moderate hike to beautiful rock formations caves and the reservoir. Next day hiked to the balconies and caves from Old Pinnicle road. More cool caves and beautiful 4 hour hike there and back. We took showers used the dump station for our grey water tank and emptied our Porta potty in the bathroom. This campground was great!!