Best Cabin Camping near Santa Margarita, CA

We really enjoyed this RV park. For an expensive (to us) place with lots of amenities and lots of rules, it still had a really peaceful, calm, and friendly vibe. The guests were all friendly and chatty, staff was friendly, and the place was really clean and nicely cared for. 

With our Passport America discount, we paid $40 (this included tax) for a standard site (on decomposed granite v. the more expensive paved sites). There are also some cottages / small houses available for rent. 

Sites have a grill and picnic table and 30 and 50 amp power.

Amenities:

- laundry room: $2.75 for wash and $1.50 for dry. Soap dispenser for $1. Iron and ironing board available for use for free. Quarters available in office. 

- Small take a book / leave a book table in laundry room.

- pool and spa: one open, and one closed for covid

- fitness room: open

- clean free showers

- free cable

- free wifi (fast!)

- 2 small enclosed dog yards with gravel and poop bags.

- fires are allowed, but park doesn't provide fire pits or firewood. Must bring own self-contained fire pit

- bulk propane fill at $3.50/gal. Filling hours are currently 10am-noon and 2-4pm

- water bottle filling stations

- dumpster and mixed recycling bin

- we saw a skoolie parked here; no rv discrimination!

- various outdoor hangout areas: bbq, wine bar, etc (closed for covid). 

- small nice store at registration desk with basic food items, ice, camping and rv supplies, gifts and souvenirs 

- playground

No dump station here, and use of sewer connection is for guests only.

This small hot springs resort has a unique charm about it. With not a lot of acreage, they maximize the space for sure. The main attraction is the warm pool, 25 yards with swimming lanes, and the hot pool which can accommodate 30 people. We found this rustic resort a good place to spend the night and get in a quick soak, but not exactly someplace we’d like to spend a weekend. 

The RV lot is a large parking lot with spaces allocated on the outside of the gravel road. The tent camping section was a narrow patch of grass, with sites slotted in together along a tight corner of the property. Get to know your neighbors, because you’ll be close! Our little camper and truck rig was just small enough to fit into one of the grass camping sites at 32 feet combined, but it was a tight fit.  We were easily able to run on solar instead of paying for an electrical site.

There's a picnic table and fire ring at each site, but the sites are so small, you are practically on top of your neighbors with zero privacy.  There are pit toilets in the campground as well as flush toilets and showers available near the bath house.  They also offer cabins for rent.

The town of Avila Beach has restaurants and a few convenience stores, but the larger grocery stores are available in nearby Pismo Beach.  Morro Bay is definitely worth a visit as well!

Lopez Lake Recreation Area is 15 minutes behind the “Village” of Arroyo Grande, CA.

Lopez is a frequently visited spot for us - We generally camp in a primitive site the back of the Squirrel Loop of the park. The Squirrel Loop is not a lakeside loop (you cannot see the lake at all from here), but we have found it to be one of the quieter, less trafficked campground in the park. The Squirrel Loop is nestled inside a canyon, surrounded by big, beautiful live oak trees.

Lopez Lake is a very large campground with many different loops, so many of which are nearby the lake. If you haven’t been to the campground before and are not worried about reserving a site ahead of time, take some time to drive around the park when you arrive to see what area you would most like to camp in - there are a lot of great spots here there and everywhere!

Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. There are clean plumbed bathrooms, and coin-operated showers. Lopez has full hook-ups for RVs, and a marina to launch boats. There is a small but well-stocked convenience store in the marina with food, ice, firewood, beer, fishing gear, etc. There is also a small cafe located in the marina store, with limited hours.

Lopez Lake is the home of the Mustang Waterpark, a small, but super fun water park. I believe the park is closed during the fall and winter months, but is open during the spring and summer. Swimming is allowed in the lake, and there are some “beach” areas that have been cleared of lake plants and rocks for safe swimming.

Hiking to Big Falls is a fun adventure if you want to leave the campground. There are certain times when the falls are not accessible without 4WD, however, we have been in severe drought conditions in Central California for the last few years, so you don’t have to worry about crossing any deep creeks, if any. A super low clearance vehicle may have a challenging time crossing the creek beds, even when dry. The drive to Big Falls trailhead from Lopez is short, but probably takes 15-20 minutes as you are driving through a curvy, narrow canyon road. The hike is through live oak trees most of the way, so most of the hike is nice and shaded. Keep and eye out for salamanders when crossing the creek beds! While it is unlikely, black bears mountain lions have been spotted on the Big Falls trail, so be aware of your surroundings. Here are directions to the Big Falls trailhead: http://www.hikeslo.com/big-falls/

WARNING : While the possibility of a black bear sighting is fairly uncommon, black bears are seen every year at Lopez Lake. You are in black bear county, and there are no bear boxes/ food lockers at Lopez Lake. I would suggest locking your food and coolers up in the car at night to avoid attracting wild animals to your campsite.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $35/night (primitive site)

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: Yes (coin-operated)

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: No

Animal Bins/Food lockers: No

Trash: Yes

My wife,son and I stayed here May 11-13 in our class C. We even brought our two dogs. A quick get away during the lock down. This was one of the few campgrounds we found that were taking reservations. They only took full hookup sites because bathrooms, showers and laundry are closed. The playground was open. Fun bounce pad. There is frisbee golf and horse shoes. They even have an Emu that is friendly and your kids can pet. The place is very clean and the staff is friendly. The campground was pretty empty except for a very few brave campers and the staff. It is a short walk down to Lake Santa Margarita. We stayed in site 28. AT&T cell service was zero to very poor at our site. WiFi was poor and slow. They advertised good WiFi in our spot but it just wasn’t so. A bit pricey but we just wanted to get out of the house. We would stay here again.

We stayed here in March 2020 when COVID-19 blew up so it may not be reflective of more typical times.

Park is centrally located, close to stores etc and 5-10 min drive to Pismo Beach.

There are both tent and RV sites of all sizes, 30/50A hookups, water & sewer, plus concrete fire rings and picnic tables at each site. Lots of green, trees, and a small duck pond.

Some permanent residents but mostly travelers.

Park was clean, staff friendly and efficient. Bathrooms, showers, laundry were all clean and operational but were shut down while we were there due to COVID.

Per friendly with a dog run. Good for a night or two for us.

No OHV activity nearby, Pacific Dunes Resort is a somewhat secluded RV park. Close spaces, picnic tables, but must bring your own fire pit. No grass, but hard packed sand and gravel. Upper area closer to the dunes is preferred for breezes. Lots of permanent residents, but the park is well kept. My only complaint is about sporadic restroom cleaning during Covid-19. Not as often as scheduled and we were camped across, so could visibly observe. The dunes were beautiful, but walking to the beach would be quite an effort. Without the OHV activity, it was safe to hike or dune surf. Horseback riding, basketball court, and remote controlled car track were other amenities. Bike ride to the Oceano Dunes Natural Preserve beach was only 10-15 minutes. Many good restaurants near the park, Sylvesters, Old Juan’s, and Rock & Roll Diner. Old West Cinnamon Rolls and Splash in Pismo Beach are a must.

“Luxury RV Sites” not so much I’m not sure why they claim luxury.

 It’s just cement pads on top of each other so no one has any privacy from their neighbors. Definitely not worth the$1600 a month to stay here. You would think for$1600 there would be more and better options offered. 

It is a very clean campground, I will give them that. It says it includes a picnic table at the back in sites and we were there for 3 months and never saw 1 picnic table.

 We are dog friendly people, we did not travel with our dogs, the campground is full of dogs which is great, our daughter loved it. Except there was constant barking from all over the campground. My neighbors dogs barked multiple times a day and multiple times at night, constantly waking us all up in the middle of the night and my daughter during her nap midday. 

They do not enforce their own quiet hour rule. Like I said dogs were constantly barking, people playing loud music, loud diesel pickups and playing loud music driving throughout the campground. 

They offer a great pool area, one bigger pool but it’s always in the shade because of the big solar panels they built. And one smaller pool in full sun which is nice. But it doesn’t matter because the water is so cold there’s no way we would ever try to take our toddlers swimming in those pools. There’s also a large jacuzzi in the shade. 

It is a family friendly campground unless you have kids that nap during the day. It is very noisy. Not to mention it is located right along the freeway so you’re constantly hearing the roaring vehicle and truck sounds from that.

 They had some tiny homes lining the outside of the campground that they were removing, I’m assuming to make more room for RVs. Which is great Monday-Friday. Then they were removing them Saturday and Sunday as well. Sunday is my husbands only day off and the only full day we get to spend together as a family. And we got to spend our beautiful Sunday sitting outside with our toddler playing and grilling, while listening to the banging and hammering and the loud trucks taking out the tiny homes on a SUNDAY. 

They do have an awesome building by the pool that offers use of a play/game room, kitchen, grills, and dining room. Which is great but it’s constantly filled with people who are not staying in the campground on the weekends, so the people that are staying there and paying for the amenities can’t use it on the weekends. 

Like I said, definitely not worth the$1600 monthly fees for long term living. If you’re here for just a night or two might not be that big of a deal. When we first got here we were told it would be$1400 monthly payments and not even a month in we get a call that they are raising the rates to$1600. Quite a joke of a“RV Resort”.