Best Equestrian Camping near San Rafael, CA
Are you looking for a place to stay in San Rafael with your horse? Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. You're sure to find the perfect site for your California horse camping excursion.
Best Equestrian Sites Near San Rafael, CA (9)
1. Skyline Wilderness Park
Napa, California23 Reviews•65 Photos•327 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
2. Bodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Bodega Bay, California34 Reviews•118 Photos•578 SavesBodega Dunes (Sonoma Coast Camping) has a potable water fill station and a dump station that service both campgrounds . There are no potable water filling areas at Wright's Beach. Do not use spigots for your filling needs. Fill up your water tanks at Bodega Dunes prior to you arrival. Maximum trailer length is 27' and hook-ups are not available. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and a paved parking spur. Running water and flush toilets are available in the bathrooms. Max occupancy is 8 people and two vehicles per campsite. All vehicles MUST stay on paved parking spurs. Any vehicles that do not fit may be taken to the overflow parking lot in the day use area. Wright's Beach does not offer group camping. When the campground is full, the overflow area on either side of the kiosk may be used for self-contained vehicles on a first come, first served basis. Reservations are recommended, especially on the weekends, holidays and during the peak season.
- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- RVs
$35 / night
3. Coast Campground — Point Reyes National Seashore
Point Reyes National Seashore, California9 Reviews•25 Photos•349 SavesOne- to six-person sites: 12 Seven- to 25-person sites: 2 Coast Campground is nestled within a small coastal valley with easy access to the beach and tidepools. The beach is within 220 yards of the campground and tidepools are located ~720 yards to the southeast. One may access Coast Campground by foot, bicycle, or horse; not by boat, auto, or RV. The shortest approach on solid ground is via the 1.8-mile slightly uphill hike on the Laguna and Fire Lane Trails, starting at the Laguna Trailhead just east of the hostel. There are 12 regular sites and two group sites.
- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
$30 - $90 / night
4. Ritchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Deer Park, California26 Reviews•66 Photos•196 SavesLocated in the heart of the beautiful Napa Valley wine country, the Park offers Napa valley camping, picnicking, swimming, and hiking trails that go through stands of coastal redwoods as well as forests of Douglas-fir, tanoak, and madrone.
Park is open year round.
A few drop-in sites are available on a first-come-first-serve especially during the off season.
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- RVs
- Tents
$43 / night
5. Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
Orinda, California1 Review•27 Photos•63 Saves- Pets
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- Tents
- Group
6. Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park
Pleasanton, California5 Reviews•1 Photo•33 Saves- Pets
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- RVs
7. Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
Alamo, California1 Review•19 Photos•24 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- Tents
- Group
8. Sunol Regional Wilderness
Sunol, California3 Reviews•10 Photos•61 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- Group
- Equestrian
9. Dixon May Fair
Dixon, California1 Review•1 SaveSpace rental beginning January 1, 2022 is $40 per day 2021 rate $35 per day and the dump fee is $10. If interested, please call main office. Check in time after 1 p.m. and check-out time is no later than 12:00 p.m. Special arrangements for after-hours arrival or departure must be made in advance. Spaces are on a first-come, first-serve basis with no guarantee of availability. Due to COVID-19 restrictions on number of spaces, we encourage you to phone us on the day of your arrival to obtain a reservation for a spot. Spaces will be assigned.
- Pets
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- RVs
- Equestrian
- Standard (Tent/RV)
$40 / night
Recent Equestrian Reviews in San Rafael
123 Reviews of 9 San Rafael Campgrounds
Cloey J.
Scout
Skyline Wilderness Park
Beautiful location
Beautiful 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
Shari G.
Legend
Bodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Quiet Spot Along the Spectacular Sonoma Coast
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!
Laura M.Legend
Doran Regional Park
Big and Busy
Great (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.
- kken K.Scout
Bodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Clean campground
There 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
Emma R.
Traveler
Ritchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Close to wine country
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.
Gina D.
GuideRitchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Beautiful
This rv site was awesome.It's quiet beautiful, lush green. Be aware tho. It's full of poison oak!!!! But yiu can get around it.
There are no hook ups. But the sights are mostly shaded, so it was a great help and I did not go in a hot time of the year. They have good hours for use of generators as well We Brought our electric bikes and rode to the geyser in Calistoga and to multiple wineries It was a great way to travel
Michelle W.
RangerDoran Regional Park
Amazing location
I loved my spot right by the ocean. The bathrooms were nice and had hot water.
Stay in the Cove campsites!- Mark E.Scout
Doran Regional Park
Great Place but impossible to get into anymore!
It sucks that so many people go here now. Allowing people to book so far in advance takes away from people trying to camp that have to travel from great distances that cannot risk arriving for the first come first serve spaces!!!
RoamingAspen V.TravelerRitchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Quiet in Winter
Nice sites in Oak, Madrone and Manzanita forest. As many have mentioned, it’s also a Poison Oak farm, but if you keep to the trails and roads it’s fine. Many sites are not level. Road is narrow. Bathrooms clean, showers although clean were not inviting. ATT was a bar, occasionally two. Was able to make a call if I stood still. Minutes away from Calistoga and St. Helena. We imagine it’s a very busy place in peak season, but a nice quiet getaway in winter.
- Kristi D.Legend
Skyline Wilderness Park
Great Napa Valley views
Great place to hit Napa Valley. Staff was super friendly. Spots were pretty level, but close together. They gave free wifi but it was not consistent. It constantly dropped.
They had a great little fenced in dog park which was great for our dog. The bathrooms were pretty clean with nice hot water. Codes needed for showers.
Very quiet, no issues. We had friendly neighbors. There were people coming in for day use to use the trails for hiking, biking etc. We didn't get to explore as we were strictly in area to wine taste and eat some good food. We enjoyed our time there and would stay there again. $65 a night. Pricey compared to some places in CA, but probably a good price for Napa.
mike Y.Scout
Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park
Comfortable 1-Night stay
A good RV park @ fairground with lot of RVs $42 for 30-AMP though we don’t need it. Good Wifi & clean toilet/shower Friendly staff
Chris N.GuideDoran Regional Park
Lovely water access
This campground is lovely. Easy access to potable water. Helpful hosts. Access to both the cove and ocean. For us the downside is that we were surrounded by large RV’s, which is not our preference. After 8 when they generators turned off it was lovely.
If I returned to this campground my preferred spot would be 75 or 76 as they are private and have bay access.
Ivette D.ScoutBodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Beautiful!
Stayed at this campsite at the tail end of a storm so not many folks pitching a tent. The campground was quiet and met some lovely people every now and then. The sites were distant enough to give each camper privacy. Bathrooms and showers were really clean compared to other places. You had to pay for hot water, but $20 got 3 of us enough hot water for 3 days.
The trail to the beach was a nice walk and easy to follow. The beach itself was quiet and only a few folks were out there after the storm.
Overall, a beautiful campground, I'm hoping to go back again and stay in the same spot.
- Neil T.Legend
Skyline Wilderness Park
Handy for Napa Area
It’s good for an RV park type setting, but it’s still an RV Park.
Close to town.
We didn’t try the trails as we explored the area by car.
The RTT area is generously sized, but not marked so you just have to hope you have respectful neighbors. We did!
No shade in that area.
We enjoyed the wild turkeys wandering through camp.
Recommend the Hog Island Oyster Company at the farmers market in town.
- Neil T.Legend
Bodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Nice Setting - hope you like foghorns
We got a great workout hiking in the dunes to see the sunset over the ocean.
Lots of cool and funky trees.
Bathrooms could be updated/cleaner.
Nice place to eat in Valley Ford called Rock Oysterfeller.
There is a foghorn that sounds off every 10 seconds or so. I didn’t notice it when we set up camp…maybe the wind and waves. But in the middle of the night it woke me up. I thought it was some Tsunami warning or something. I managed to read what it was and after a while managed to sleep through it.
- GGeorge K.Scout
Doran Regional Park
Great winter get away
Walks, birds, great sky, no hookups but nice
- SSebastian D.Scout
Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park
Crowded
Typical evening park. Everyone on top of one another. Good electricity and decent wifi.
Patty G.ScoutDixon May Fair
Ok for a night
We pulled in with a travel trailer and an suv with small cargo trailer. They made us rent 2 spots even tho we could have fit it one as the sites are HUGE. Full hookup, no wifi, cable connection but no cable, and NO BATHROOMS.
- FFemke J.Guide
Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park
Perfect for first or last stop
Perfect stop before dropping off rental RV in SF and clean, top up propane etc.
keith B.GuideDoran Regional Park
Perfect
Great campground to visit with the family and get away. Fires are allowed most of the year. The campground has coin operated showers and flushable toilets. As well the day use area allows fires in designated fire pits of course. Restaurants and bars are about a 10 to 15 minute drive away. Highly recommended the best campsites are near Cove camp
Joe C.ScoutRitchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Great campground near wineries.
WE just stayed two nights camping and had a great time, site was good, bathrooms and showers were clean. Good access to wineries close by. Only real downside was that because of the dry conditions we could not have a campfire.
It was not a problem for us but ATT reception was poor, could not get messages at the site but sometimes could while moving around the campground.
- CColleenScout
Doran Regional Park
Not for privacy or quiet
There's a loud boat horn, all day and night. Miwok is set up as a group campsite so there is no privacy or space between neighbors. There is no view other than other campsites or the parking lot at most of the Miwok campsites. Prepare for cold wind and wetness (fog, humidity) at your camp. The facilities are safe, clean, and monitored.
allison W.Legend
Coast Campground — Point Reyes National Seashore
Earn it
Hike in (or boat in) — part of what makes this place so amazing is the awesome and unspoiled nature. Miles and miles of hiking trails, unique ecosystem you won’t find anywhere else along the coast (or in the world!). This is an experience everyone who loves the Bay Area should have at least once.
- AAsh C.Guide
Ritchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Camping in wine country!
Great spot for cheap and restful accommodation while Visiting wine country. Yurts, and campsites, pull thru and rv sites. Not super cheap cuz you are in California but way more affordable than any hotel and 5 minutes from Calistoga, thru vineyard lined lanes. Lots of hikes for a hike level. Mosquitos started coming out but tolerable. Nice trickling river and peaceful pondering spots. Great bathrooms but bring lots of quarters for showers, helpful staff! Rico you are the best for giving me firewood!
Lisa C.GuideBodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park
Small location, amazing proximity to quiet beach
This location has no hookups but does have a dump station, vault toilets and small bbq grills available. Beautiful sunsets just a short walk away in the dunes. Day use is also available
- DDan U.Scout
Ritchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Wonderful location - mediocre sites
The location of this campground is amazing, if a trip to Napa Valley's wine country is on your bucket list. The camp sites are okay, but road and access is narrow for many sites and the gravel pads aren't particularly level. We stayed at site 049 which is a nice quiet spot away from the restrooms -but has trees, rocks, and bollards obstructing ability to cut the wheel and back in. The restrooms were fairly clean and stocked with TP, but no soap or papertowels, so plan to bring those. Also the park is prominently overtaken with poison oak... we knew what to look for and very cautiously avoided it, but it is everywhere, so if you're not familiar with poison oak, be warned.
Overall, an okay experience but I would not repeat at this location.
Bill F.TravelerDoran Regional Park
Beautiful views for days!
Beautiful spot to spend a little time. Take in some coastal wildlife and walk along the beach. There’s no hookups at RV camp sites so be prepared. There’s potable water connections to top up in the site areas and there’s a dump near the entrance. Generator hrs while I was here were 8-8 but with the wind noise I never heard one. It was windy as heck (mid May) but ymmv. Cell service is spectacular. I carry AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and it’s some of the best service I experience camping anywhere.
Guide to San Rafael
Horse camping in California offers a unique way to explore the state's stunning landscapes while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of well-reviewed locations, equestrian enthusiasts can find the perfect spot to saddle up and enjoy the great outdoors.
Equestrian campgrounds include unique features
- Coast Campground — Point Reyes National Seashore provides access to miles of hiking trails and a unique coastal ecosystem, perfect for those looking to explore on horseback.
- Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve offers a primitive hike-in site with stunning views of the surrounding area, ideal for adventurous riders.
- Skyline Wilderness Park features spacious sites and easy access to trails, making it a great choice for horse camping near Napa Valley.
Equestrian campers like these nearby activities
- At Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, riders can enjoy scenic trails that lead to breathtaking views of East Bay and Mt. Diablo.
- Doran Regional Park provides easy access to the beach, where equestrian campers can enjoy a day of riding along the shoreline.
- Bodega Dunes Campground — Sonoma Coast State Park allows for exploration of coastal sand dunes and nearby hiking trails, perfect for a day out with your horse.
Campers appreciate these amenities for horses
- Ritchey Creek Campground — Bothe-Napa Valley State Park features reservable sites and access to drinking water, ensuring a comfortable stay for both campers and their horses.
- Alameda County Fairgrounds RV Park offers full hookups and sanitary dump facilities, making it convenient for those traveling with horses.
- Sunol Regional Wilderness provides a serene environment with amenities that cater to equestrian needs, including reservable sites and access to trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near San Rafael, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near San Rafael, CA is Skyline Wilderness Park with a 4.2-star rating from 23 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near San Rafael, CA?
TheDyrt.com has all 9 equestrian camping locations near San Rafael, CA, with real photos and reviews from campers.