Best Glamping near San Simeon, CA

We stayed here a few years ago, but on the primitive / non-hookup side. We stayed on the E/W hookup side this time and liked it as well, though it does have the more typical RV/parking lot feel as compared to the other side.  There's a nice walking trail that connects the two sides. It's $50 for an E/W site, plus an $8.25 reservation fee.

There's a cool lagoon that you can walk all the way around on, with lots of birds, and much of it accessible as well which is nice. There's a cool visitor center, open 12-4. The beach is a short walk away. There's a great Mexican restaurant down the road also, Old Juan's, it's so good and has great vegan options.

The showers here are nice and clean, and $1 gets you 4 minutes.  The showers are individual, private, and non-gendered. There was no host on site when we were there, but the rangers were very present.  This campground, like all California State campgrounds we've been to recently, has trash, recycling, and a food compost bin which I love.

There's a fun game for kids where you download an app and go on a scavenger hunt and complete other challenges.

No dump station here, but there's one just 2 miles north at North Beach Campground, and it's $10 for dump and water fill there.

We rolled through on a Friday night in May with no reservations and got absolutely lucky to snag the very last site.  Would not recommend chancing it on weekends in the high season.  We only were able to get a site because the ADA sites are released at 5pm and we happened to be there right at the right time to get one.

Very nice campground - one side is hookups at $40 (electric and water only), and this side is kind of boring with RVs all lined up in a row. FYI there are no sewer hookups here and no dump station. You can drive two miles up the road to North Beach and use their dump station and water fill for $10.  We stayed on the tent side for $25, no hookups and much more pleasant and green and beautiful.

There's a lagoon and a boardwalk to walk around it, but the boardwalk ends and the trail turns to mud and it was pretty much impassible when we were there - thick black muck that will suck your shoes off and get your dog's belly all dirty. Watch for mosquitoes, especially the sites along the lagoon.

Beautiful walking trails to the beach - we saw a coyote here!  We heard them yipping all night as well.  Interesting experience for us to see and hear them right on the beach. 

As with all state parks now, there are recycling and food waste bins available, thank you California!

The visitor center is right at the entrance of the campground and there's a good Mexican restaurant within easy walking distance as well.

Overall a great place, amazingly cheap, and we're happy we got lucky and snagged a spot!

We camped here February 24-26, 2025. The forest service website indicated the campground is open all year, but when we arrived on the site one through four were available. Beyond site number five was a locked gate. Site five was closed due to “hazardous tree“. The stream was running plentifully and gave a lovely background noise. Sites 1 & 2 share a parking pad which is almost level. Site 1 is completely exposed and quite spacious and full of ground squirrel disruption. Site 2 is very convenient to the parked car, and it was our choice because we sleep in our van. Most of the water taps were not operable but the one by the toilet near the entrance did work and was labeled “non-potable, not for drinking or cooking”. The tap in site number 2 had no handle and was dripping at a rapid pace so we hung a bucket on that tap and use the collected water for handwashing. There were trash cans conveniently located to all of the sites, and there was a good supply of toilet paper, but even though the weather was cool, the toilet closest to the entrance was a bit smelly. It is a pit stop for people driving over or back on Naciemiento-Ferguson Road. I noted that reviewers indicated that they were plagued by flies and yellow jackets in the mid summer, but we had only a couple of flies, no yellow jackets. The weather was predicted to be sunny and pleasant with highs of 70° based on checking the weather reports for Jolon, California. It was almost a new moon and the stars at night we’re gorgeous. There was heavy dew which turned into frost in the early morning. We saw the occasional lizard and a couple of slow moving salamanders. We saw no raccoons, and considering that they have switched from having dumpsters to having trash cans I suspect that raccoons are not a problem. There was a posted memo dated February 2 reported that for the Monterey Ranger district, campfire restrictions were lifted until March 25, due to sufficient rain having been received. We walked the loop of the other campsites; some of them have the picnic table and fire ring located some distance from the parking spot, a few are possibly suitable for RV camping but most of those would require at least some leveling. I don’t know when they plan to open the rest of the sites, but probably March would be a good time to come and enjoy this campground. Bring your own drinking water. The fee is expensive for a no-water campground, but I was willing to pay the discounted price with my lifetime senior pass.

[ PROS]

• Super close to the beach! There are a couple beach trails that lead you right to the ocean.

• Love that you can walk to the dunes and spend the entire day there.People bring the craziest beach set ups and have bonfires and cookouts here. Souped up trucks with ATVs roll through and drive right along the beach. It’s quite the sight to see.

• Very convenient location to ATV rentals, beach/convenient stores, and a few eateries.

• Fantastic park rangers serveiling the campgrounds every hour. The ranger presence definitely keeps the rowdy crowd here in check.

• There looked to be a very nice Visitor Center. For some unknown reason, they were closed both days that we were there.

• Really big and clean showers and restroom facilities. They were very well maintained considering how packed and heavily used they were. Toilets ran out of toilet paper so make sure you come prepared.

• We saw tons of cool birds around the campsite. My favorite of the weekend were the swallows that flew around dusk. They fly like bats! We also enjoyed seeing a couple ospreys by the beach. We even saw one catch a fish!

• Campfire is sold here for$8/bundle at the camp host.

• Each site comes with a picnic table, fire ring, and 2 parking spot. Our neighbors had 3 cars so we let them use one of our parking spots since it was a madhouse here.

**[ CONS]
**

• Hard to find availability. This place is usually pretty booked up.

• Very, very crowded campsite. Sites are extremely close together so there is very little privacy. It feels like a giant parking lot

• Sites are small so setting up two tents feels very cramped already. Luckily we just stayed in our tent trailer on a parking spot so we felt like we had a little more space.

• Loud campground! This place attracts a party crowd so be prepared to listen to people roll in with their loud souped up trucks and blast music on speakers throughout the day. Hope you like listening to hip hop from 10am-9pm!

• It doesn’t seem like the 8 person max/site rule was regulated. People had upwards of 12 people at a single campsite so you can imagine how crowded the place was.

• There was constantly a long line for the showers throughout the day.

Overall, this is not my favorite place to camp by far. It feels more like a giant tailgate party than it does camping. We were looking for a nice relaxing weekend by the beach so had an unexpected weekend. This is one of the few places left in California that allow cars, trucks, RVs, and ATVs to drive right on the beach. It’s pretty weird to see. They also allow people to have bonfires right on the sand so be careful where you walk. There’s ash and coal everywhere. And sadly, also lots of trash left behind from people.

It was late in the day and we were desperate so we came here. Nobody else was here at all. That could be a plus, But they should really keep the bathrooms clean. Attached are pictures of the bathrooms

Overall, the privately-owned sites at Lake Nacemiento resort are good - but you'll probably want to get one of the reserved spots! They are further away from the boat launch, general store, etc, and can be much quieter (depending on who your neighbors are, of course!) If you call for reservations, the staff are quite helpful, and they can even describe some of the attributes of the sites. For example, we stayed at the Sandy Point campground, which was quite close to the water, and they helped me find a site big enough for our group. BUT! be sure to ask about which sites are more secluded - some of the sites are right next to each other, some are a bit more private.

The first time I went to Lake San Antonio was with a birdwatching group looking for bald eagles. It was another hot summer and the water level of the lake was low. That didn’t deter the eagles as they flew across the lake to try to dive down and catch a fish. San Antonio Lake is 17 miles long and narrow with both north shore and south shore campgrounds. The South Shore Campground has more amenities such as flushing toilets, showers and a marina, launch ramp and boat rentals. There are 4 group sites with hookups and 3 large family campgrounds each with 100 or more sites. Only sites with hookups can be reserved. Fishing can be good with lots of striped bass in the lake. Fees include 15$ per car/boat. Currently the lake is open but the campgrounds have closed at various times due to the fires in Monterey County. Summer droughts can reduce water levels significantly. Check the status prior to visiting at 805-472-4311 or Monterey County Parks website.

There is no potable water available, not even a water fountain. People and animals cannot touch the water. You cannot fish or swim in the lake. There is no reduction in price. This may be temporary, but it has been this way for at least a year.

This is not a camp ground for taking your big travel trailer or large RV!!!!  I would say that your max tow trailer would be a 24' and then you will need a place to park your truck.  Some spots are great, some horrible.  Meaning that you are just parking next to the main road.  We got very lucky because the camp host saw us trying to set up and said that someone else was a no-show and we could have their spot.  It turns out it was the only spot that we could fit in!!!  Other spots are just a spur from the main road, but have a nice area a little further from the parking spot.

If you are tent or van camping, I think that this place would work fine.  Picnic tables, fire rings, and pit toilets.  We made reservations months in advance so I don't know how busy it can get.  Our 4 day/3 night trip was in November and all of the sites were reserved, but only 30% of the people showed up (at most).

It rained when we were there and it was beautiful.  We probably won't return due to the size of the camp sites and there are other places near this one that are cheaper.