Best RV Parks & Resorts near Santa Barbara, CA

Nice RV park... It's pretty big and offers several options for staying from small cabins to full RV hook up sites. I personally was a little disappointed that place was packed as most places we have been staying had a 50% capacity restriction. Staff was friendly and helpful and definitely will return after pandemic is gone. Quiet time wasn't enforce which is nice for those wanting to party.

Our site had a gas grill and fire pit which was nice for some of the chilly nights we had.

In looking for some places to camp near Santa Barbara when I was there for work, I explored all the listings which said “camping”. This like in many locations was a bit deceiving as camping means different things to different people.  

Let me start off by saying this is a RV site only, not a tent site therefore it offered no services that applied to me as a tent camper.  However like always I chose to explore the site anyway, because I do have friends in the traveling life who do have RVs.  

This place targets the more long term campers.  As Santa Barbara is vacation destination they encourage the person who is wanting to spend anywhere from a month or more and even do long term site leasing.  It is basically a place you can rent a slot and have water, sewer and trash just like an apartment, but you are in charge of your own electric which is already run to each site as well as cable or internet.   

The sites were nothing super exciting in appearance and didn’t offer much shade around the facility but they did have the pool which was a big bonus.  It is relatively small so there is no way staying here you wouldn’t know your neighbors.  

You are minutes from the beach which is a HUGE bonus of this site as well as access to the golf course and resorts so it is like resort living on a more realistic budget.  I could see this being a great option for full timers for sure.

Again though, this place isn’t really for a short time stay for an RV and does not accommodate tents whatsoever.   

TIPS:

• Call in advance since it is small you will want to make sure that there is in fact a site available and might have to be placed on a list.
• Best for detachable vehicles such as 5th wheels so you can move around town without having to rely on ubers.  Uber is a lot higher in this area for some reason than it is in other areas, probably because it is a destination location.

There's a lot to like about Flying Flags RV park.  Its clean, has lots of full hookup sites, an onsite restaurant, clean facilities, as well as tents and cabins for rent. Why a 3 star rating then?  Well, per my system, 5 stars are the truly special places (i.e Yosemite, Zion) where one should travel to for multiple days. 4 stars are top-tier spots for locals, and should be part of a larger trip to the region for out-of-staters (examples include Lake Sonoma and Lopez Lake). 3 stars are perfectly fine, but you mostly go there for convenience. Flying Flags in Buellton is such a place. You come here because you can explore Santa Barbara, Solvang, and the surrounding wine region. The RV park itself is big, and the spots are pretty close together, and while it's not necessarily beautiful itself, it is clean and comfortable. If I'm planning a trip to Santa Barbara in my 28' Airstream, this is absolutely a park I'd stay at again. I prefer dry camping (i.e. limited or no hookups) in my trailer, but I certainly appreciate full service as well, and Flying Flags delivers.

If you own an RV, this is a perfect "home base" for exploring the area.  Solvang is a town in central California that looks like a Scandinavian village. It was featured prominently in the movie Sideways. Buellton and Solvang are both basically right in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country. Many, many wineries are within short driving distance. Santa Barbara is an easy hour-ish trip.  The coast in Santa Barbara and just south in Carpineria is some of the most beautiful in California. The surfing is exquisite (these are well known, popular spots so expect the usual "locals only" aggression in the line up). Paso Robles is about 100 miles up the road from Buellton, so it's entirely possible to do an "up and back" in the same day.

Flying Flags RV park won't take your breath away with natural beauty, but it's close to a lot of places that will.  It's convenient, clean, and a great place to park an RV for a couple of nights as you explore the surrounding areas.

Low key but nice beach side campground along California’s Central Coast. Not to far from Santa Barbara. A bit of a surfers paradise because of some of the spots not far from the campsite.

Nestled between Ventura and Santa Barbara just north of Los Angeles is this picture perfect State Beach campground. This location has both full hook-ups as well as tent camping right up to the coast This campsite also has showers availa le and restrooms There are plenty of miles of bike trails as well as hiking tails to the Bluffs that overlook a sea lion protected sanctuary But the most glorious reason to come here are the breath taking sunsets viewable from your own campsite

This is a great 35 campsite campground located about 50 miles from Santa Barbara. There are hiking trails with views of the forest and mountains to explore.

Every campsite has a fire ring and picnic table.

The lovely county run park in the hills above the Santa Barbara coastline, is a great campground offering a wide variety of camping experiences from full hook ups to grass covered spaces under the trees along the shores of this lovely reservoir. The sites offer the usual camp picnic table and fire ring, and the many group sites offer large grills and even a few picnic shelters. 

The sunshine is typically abundant in this California park, and even without full hook ups you can easily get all the power you need with an appropriately sized solar panel system. We’ve run on solar for over 10 years, and it saves us thousands of dollars each year for our full-time camping life. 

The flush bathrooms are clean and spacious. Water spigots were plentiful throughout the campground. The coin operated showers got the job done, but since we were there during a chilly March, things could have been warmer. But hey, everything important got clean… 

The lake is perfect for boating, but since it’s a drinking water reservoir, there is no body contact with this body of water. So plan on using the campground pool to cool off during the summer months. Hiking and mountain biking trails are abundant throughout the area, and kayaking, canoeing, fishing or sailing on the lake is the perfect way to spend the afternoon. 

The campground offers some excellent yurts and cabins for nightly rent right on the shores of the lake. These are often booked out so plan ahead. 

The camp store offers enough grocery supplies in case you forgot something, including ice, snacks, fire wood, and gas.  There is also a cool pub down by the boat ramp which offers live music in the weekends.  The nearby tourist town of Solvang offers a great day trip to sample the amazing Dutch pastry treats, pick up some groceries, wine tasting, or a night out on the town.

Good experience overall. There are many kinds of sites including full hook up, partial, primitive, cabins & yurts. Many sites have views of the lake.

The spots are just so small, especially the ones with full hook ups. You can park your car on the next loop over, but you will barely have enough space sit in your chair

Stayed at site Fox 5 (full hook-ups) for 3 nights. Nice level concrete pad and fire pit. We didn’t have any immediate neighbors and it was very quiet and felt very remote at night time. Fox camp is perfect for our kids that like to be on their bicycles and explore. There is a park store right across the street (very pricey but convenient). We had a great time here and will most likely be back.

Carpinteria State Beach Campground is a one of our frequently visited “staycation” spots. We live in nearby Santa Barbara, but will use Carp State Beach as a midway meeting point when friends from Southern California and Central California meet up.

The campground is pretty large, and caters mostly to RVs and trailers. There are loops within the campground that are essentially just asphalt lots with small dirt spaces for fire pits and picnic benches - these are intended for RV campers, but we have tent camped there in a pinch. Since we are tent campers we do prefer to camp in the grassy tent sites, but they are limited in number and tend fill up quickly. Because of the moderate year-round weather, Carpinteria State Beach Campground stays pretty full all year long!

The campground has full hook ups, clean plumed bathrooms, and coin-operated showers. There are grocery stores and conscience stores within short walking distance for anything you might need. Train tracks run directly behind the campground, so there is some noise pollution from the passing trains.

The campground is at the very end of downtown Carpinteria, right next to the ocean. There are no “ocean front” sites, but the beach is a quick 1-minute walk from essentially anywhere in the campground. Some small sandy dunes separate the campground from the beach, and there is an accessible paved boardwalk running along the length of the dunes. There are beautiful tide pools just south of Carpinteria State Beach Campground that are a must see. Check the tide charts on the internet to visit the tide pools at low to mid tide.

While we really enjoy camp cooking, we tend to opt to walk into town to eat when camping in Carpinteria. Linden Avenue is right next to the campground, and is the main street in downtown Carpinteria. There is a wide variety of restaurants, breweries and coffee shops downtown. Island Brewery CO is a local favorite just on the edge of the campground - while I don’t think they have food available (yet), their beer is GREAT! Their avocado beer is a must try - I know it sounds weird, but it’s delicious (and doesn’t taste like avocados)! Rincon Brewery is a few blocks up from the campground, and also has great beer, and TASTY FOOD!

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $45/night (normal campsite)

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: Yes (coin-operated)

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: No

Cell Service: Yes

Animal Bins/Food lockers: No

Trash: Yes

Camp Comfort in Ojai - i didn't know what to expect but was pleased how amazing it is. A small campground with 16 full RV hookup sites and a camphost run by the county and decent priced. Rangers that check in with you and asks if they can help with anything, all easy, peasy, nice. The location is phenomenal - surrounded by hills that bask in a beautiful golden light before sunset, a creek runs along the edge making the area right in front of the hills like a tropical garden -green and lush. The birds are singing in a chorus and closer to sunset and at night it seems a thousand frogs are croaking. Amazing! There was a wedding in the park and a baby shower while we were here. I can see why they chose this park. Each site has water, sewer, electric, a fire ring and a bench/table. The sites are paved and flat but the surrounding area in the site is dirt so some had a tent up too. Each site is pretty spacious. There seem to be partial shade throughout. The adjacent park is full of beautiful trees and lush. The bathrooms were nice and clean as well as the laundry area. I didn't use their showers as we have our own in our trailer.

We biked into Ojai thru green lushness and beautiful silvery sheer like oak trees, a nature wonder. There are bike trails going all over Ojai and all the way to Ventura although from the campground into town uou are along a road that just is super lush. The foodin Ojai is really good. The architecture has a lot of mission remenants or replicas. It's quaint and fun! Hippie meets new chic sort of.

It's hot in the day though right now but cools at night and we left our trailer windows open all night. There were some flies and a few mosquitos probably due to that the creek is almost dry byt its still very lush here, almost tropical looking.

We will however be back in fall and spring and probably winter but summer might be a little hot for us. It was 90 or 92 in the day time during our visit and upper 40s /lower 50s at night.