Best Glamping near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Glamping Reviews near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

311 Reviews of 17 Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Campgrounds

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  Christina S.

  Guide

  Nov. 15, 2019

  Ventura Ranch KOA

  Fun place for young kids!

  We recently stayed here, for the 1st time, last week. We decided to leave the travel trailer at home, and change it up! We stayed the 1st in a large teepee. It had beds for a total of six people. It was hot in the daytime, and got really cold at night, so we switched to a Glamping tent. The Glamping tent was nice! It had a very confortable queen bed, 2 lamps, a fan, a heater, a mini fridge and a microwave. It also had a futon type couch that made into a bed. Loved the Glamping tent.

  Only downfall was, that the place does not enforce it quiet time rules. 10pm to 8 am. Late night loud groups, carrying on until 2 in the morning, loud obnoxious kids screaming at 6:15 in the morning...😩they have many beautiful Peafowl, and they can be loud too, but I only heard them once. The place has very nice tiled showers, with good water pressure, clean bathrooms, a big beautiful pool, but it was closed for the season.

  There are fire pits throughout the 76 acre park, it was nice having a campfire, since so many places don’t allow them anymore...they have a very large jumping pillow for kiddos, my 6 year had a blast playing on it. They also have a zip line, but it was damaged in the large fire last year, and is being fixed currently. There is a stream that runs thru the property, it was fun to explore. They have a rock climbing wall, that is brought out on holiday weekends.

  Lots of fun activities for kids, like crafts, making your own rocket to launch, etc. It is not the place to come, if you want a quiet, mellow place to read a book! It is busy, and loud. They do not have any laundry facilities, nor do they have a little store. The prices on everything are going up 10% on everything, next year. This means that most campsites with full hook-ups with be $ 71 a night, ( not bad ) but the large teepees will cost about $ 200 a night, and the Glamping tents, about $ 180 a night.

  You can buy a KOA discount card, for just $ 30 bucks, and it gets you 10% off, each stay for a year. Valid at all KOAs in America, and some in Australia! We had a good time, and plan to go back in the summer next year. Hopefully, with our travel trailer, it will be less loud 😉

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• 

  Bri L.

  Guide

  Jun. 12, 2018

  Camp Comfort Park

  Great Stay!

  At first, we thought it was a tad pricey but after you realize what all you’re paying for ya wonderful!

  We had an RV, two cars. and a tent and they allowed us to use one spot, for $30 a night! Which is pretty rare!

  SUPER fast wifi(if that’s your thing, we were here for a little under two weeks, so it was nice!), electric hookups, picnic table and fire pit! AMAZING bathrooms and coin showers as well as coin laundry!

  The ADORABLE town of Ojai is a quick 5 min drive up the road with anything you could ever want! The camp host is an amazing older guy, who’s incredibly friendly and takes pride in this campground!

  They lock the gates at night (you can still get in and out!) so you feel safe, they allow pets, and even though it’s buy a road you don’t hear any noise at night!

  Perk (or maybe not a perk if you’re not into it), it’s one of the most haunted campgrounds in the US!

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• j

  jonnysunami

  Guide

  Mar. 25, 2021

  Millard Trail Campground

  Great campground for hiking/biking

  Cool drive to get to the campground. You drive up and down these hilly roads up the mountain to get there. Once there, there's a parking lot that fits about 20 cars. There's about 100 yd hike to the campsites. There's a road that leads to the campsite but it's been blocked off. Only the campsite managers use that road so it's not accessible by RV, just tents. A campsite manager stays in a little trailer overnight so if there's any problems there's somebody there you can go to and ask for help. There's about six campsites and their first come first serve, no reservations. I went during the week and was the only one camping. This place is heavily used for day camping and hiking. There's not a lot of privacy because there's always lots of people passing by who are hiking and biking. You can stay overnight which I did and everything was fine but there's not a lot of privacy. The next day as I was leaving there was another guy sitting up his tent. I bet on the weekends they can fill up pretty fast. It's in Bear country so they provide food storage for each campsite also trash containers too. Each side has a picnic bench and a fire pit. The fire ban has been lifted so you can have a fire. Each fire pit had wood left at it so you didn't have to go searching for campfirewood. Bathrooms included male and female toilets but no showers or water. There's a creek that runs through the campground which makes it very pretty. I saw two to three cabins along the outskirts of the campground that I assume were for rentals. There was one family at one of the cabins the night I stayed. About a 20 minute hike and you can end up at a waterfall which is very pretty. But there are several trails to take for hiking and biking and I saw lots of people doing that. Overall a good campsite four stars. Would have been five stars if they had showers and running water. I didn't see any bears although there was an animal outside my tent at one point in the night I could hear him nosing around. So it's important to keep all of your food and anything with any kind of smell in the bear boxes

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• 

  John Y.

  Traveler

  Aug. 16, 2019

  Reyes Creek Campground

  Off The Grid

  I prefer primitive or dispersed camping because I usually like as much privacy as I can get when I'm camping, but with current fire restrictions I was limited to developed campsites if I wanted a campfire (and what's the point of camping without a campfire?). I was also planning the trip on short notice, so developed, reserveable campsites were in short supply. Then I found Reyes Creek.

  The campground is very isolated. It's about a 40 minute drive from the nearest town (and therefore the nearest gas station or market - plan ahead). There is no power, or water. There's no cell service in the camp, but a 5 minute drive up the mountain there's a dirt lot they call the 'phone booth' that gets decent reception. The camp hosts were super friendly and helpful. There are 2 loops for campsites - the center of the main loop seemed pretty flat, but all the sites were visible to your neighbors. Sites on the outside of the main loop offered more privacy, but most appeared to not be very level, and not necessarily well laid out. I stayed in site 11 on the outside of the loop which was large and fairly quiet, but my 6 person tent just barely fit in between some trees which offered some shade and was only on a slight angle. The one downside was the bathrooms - vault toilets that varied in condition, but none that I used were particularly good. If bathroom condition is a major sticking point with you, you may want to look elsewhere.

  As an added bonus, as isolated as the place is, right outside the entrance to the campground is a bar & grill called the Camp Scheideck Lodge. They have a full bar and great food (and the customer-only bathroom is a great step up from the campground). It just changed owners last month (second time in a couple years) and the new owner, Devin, is friendly and welcoming.

  The temperature varies greatly from day to night (90's to 50's when I was there) and there are bugs a plenty, so bring repellant. Firewood is available at the camp, and ice is available at the lodge.

  So if you want a little isolation with privacy, a campfire, and a friendly bar within walking distance, this place is for you. I'll definitely be coming back.

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• 

  Kim P.

  Traveler

  Oct. 7, 2019

  Ventura Beach RV Resort

  Beach close by.

  Walking distance to beach. Taken well care of. Nice store on grounds. Pool and spa on site.

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  Sam & Amy inc. L.

  Guide

  Nov. 1, 2020

  Santa Cruz Campground — Carpinteria State Beach

  Sardine in paradise

  Hadn’t been here in over 30 years and it’s still a great camping beach. Beach is clean, swimming is mellow, the tide pools are cool, and you can walk to just about anything you need. There are trains that come through right behind the campsite, but did not seem as obnoxious as I would have thought.

  Loved the whole place but one thing. The spots are tight!!!! We felt like we were on top of our neighbors and had to park our car far away. We even had one of the premium spots on the sand (360). Our fire pit and table was within feet of our neighbors stuff. So much for social distancing. Luckily, the camp host, Tom, was awesome! He saw that we got pinched in and loaned us a fire pit that we set up away from the neighbors. Very friendly staff and it appears that they are doing a lot of work on the campground to make it nicer. Just wish they’d make the spots a tad bigger.

  I’d go back for sure, but if you are in the mood for seclusion and harnessing your inner introvert. This is not the place for you.

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• 

  Kiley S.

  Guide

  Jul. 18, 2021

  Kenney Grove Park

  Such a Pleasant Surprise

  I stayed at Kenney Grove Park on my way from Vegas to Santa Barbara, and again on my way back. I believe it was $23 for a dry camping spot, plus another $2/night for having my dog along. It was a lovely, quiet park that I was surprised to find tucked away in Fillmore. On the Saturday night that I stayed, it was lively with BBQers and families, but quiet by 10. Shower houses were lovely for a vanlifer like me; bring your quarters as they are coin operated. Nice clean bathrooms with running water. Water spigots, picnic tables, and firepit at each site. Cute little grassy park with swings. Also- gorgeous orange groves and rose bushes decorating the road into the park. As a Midwesterner, I was in awe of that! Loved walking my pup along that road.

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• 

  Angelica G.

  Traveler

  Jun. 6, 2018

  Canyon Campground — Leo Carrillo State Park Campground

  Peaceful and Serene

  We live in the South Bay and went camping here for just one night. It was a quick drive up the coast and onto this hidden gem. You get access to a private beach with gorgeous California hill views of PCH behind you. Perfect place for families or even RVs.

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  Rochelle M.

  Scout

  Jul. 9, 2020

  Santa Cruz Campground — Carpinteria State Beach

  Things as Usual

  With all the Covid-19 guidelines in place for campgrounds to reopen, I was excited to see what that would look like. I naively thought the campgrounds wouldn’t be open to capacity and I was hoping for camping not so close to other campers. I don’t love how tightly packed everyone is on a normal summer camping day/night. So imagine my annoyance when it was just as tightly packed during this social distancing summer as it usually is!

  With that said, people were kind and our small campground worked for our family. The only problem we had was a neighboring campground deciding past quiet hours that it was a good time to start singing and playing the ukulele. Not sure why the camp host didn’t come tell them to be quiet. It lasted until 11:30pm at least.

  There is construction on one of the bathroom buildings so there were additional porta-pottys with portable hand washing stations next to them. These bathrooms were very clean! I was pleasantly surprised.

  We love the beach access right next to our campsite and the beautiful scenery of the mountains above. It really is a gorgeous place.

  Our boys loved guessing what trains (metro link or surf liner) were passing through- because yes- the train is a stones throw behind the sites and the trains runs frequently.

  My 4 star rating is for what it is. A great camping spot that will always be booked to capacity because it’s beach camping in Southern California. I wanted to write an updated review for those wondering what covid-19 looks like here. Well? It’s the same. Just some extra hand washing stations and some people wearing masks.

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