Looking to go glamping near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and enjoy a rustic retreat into nature? Find all the best glamping sites for your Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California camping adventure with The Dyrt. These scenic and easy to access California glamping locations are perfect for any adventurer.
One of the best places for Malibu Camping is Malibu Creek State Park, just 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles, features hiking, fishing, bird watching, mountain biking, rock climbing and horseback riding opportunities. Fourteen-mile Malibu Creek is the principal watercourse of the Santa Monica Mountains that ends at Malibu Lagoon. There are 15 miles of streamside trail through oak and sycamore woodlands on chaparral-covered slopes. Following the trail along Malibu Creek State Park, the visitor will be treated to spectacular vistas, including volcanic rock gorges, scenic pools, and breathtaking views of the Las Virgenes Valley and Malibu Canyon. Previous to being opened to the public in 1976, the park was used extensively to film numerous movies and TV shows, such as Planet of the Apes and MAS*H. Most of the park's land holdings were donated by Bob Hope, with later significant acquisitions from Ronald Reagan and 20th Century Fox.
$45 - $225 / night
Lake Casitas camping offers over 400 sites, so you can choose the camping experience that suits you best. Some sites are lakeside, close enough to hear the lapping water, others are nestled among the trees, and still more are located on hillsides offering splendid views of the sparkling lake.
We have sites to accommodate tents, tent trailers, campers and RVs, all with picnic tables and fire rings, and some with children's playgrounds close by. Shower houses with bathrooms are located at the front gate and towards the back of the park. We also have a convenient, fenced, dry storage facility for recreational vehicles, boats, canoes & kayaks
UPDATE as of 10/10/20 Requires military ID and only open for Active Duty for camping at this current time. People can use the Day Use with proper identification
Twelve miles south of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria camping offers a mile of beach for swimming, surf fishing, tidepool exploring and camping. Although dogs are not allowed on beach, we have a great picnic area where they are allowed to enjoy the outdoors as well. Lifeguards patrol the beach year round and lifeguard towers are staffed roughly from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. The Spanish named the area Carpinteria because the Chumash tribe, which lived in the area, had a large seagoing canoe-building enterprise, or "carpentry shop" here. This was because of naturally-occurring surface tar, which was used to waterproof the canoes.
Seals and sea lions can be seen in the area December through May, as well as an occasional gray whale. Tidepools contain starfish, sea anemones, crabs, snails, octopi and sea urchins.
$180 / night
Ventura Beach RV Resort is located just off the 101 freeway in Ventura, California. The resort is a lush 14 acres and offers RV and tent sites ranging from standard to ultra deluxe sites. As well as travel trailer rentals, poolside yurts, and a summer studio. The resort has a refreshing heated swimming pool and inviting hot tub. A recreational room with billiard tables, a flat screen television, an ATM and vending machine. You can also enjoy our playground and half basketball court.
$55 - $80 / night
Scout
Rude and not pleasant employee no compassion, whatsoever noisy, and a lot more never coming back
Guide
First, I imagine this place was so cool in the 80’s. You can see the bones that it was built around. It’s just a touch run down. That said, the bathrooms were really clean. The showers were quarter showers, but seemed fine. For December it was pretty quiet. The spaces are different, some shade some not. I wouldn’t suggest for really large campers. But for a van, we had power, water, bathrooms and off season prices.
Legend
Three miles from a the grocery and only minutes from north LA, you'll find a basic campground with flush toilets, coin showers, and easily accessible hiking trails. The sites are basic with campfire pit and grill, open space for a tent or rv, and picnic table. The inner circle of sites abuts the bathrooms and is better for groups. The outer rings on three sides have nice views, but some sites on the south side are shorter and abut a fence.
We stayed in site 59 which had a really nice shade tree and great views of a meadow and the cliffs out the back of the site. The sites are fairly open and close to each other, so be prepared to hear everything, and because the campground is close to the city it is popular with groups and families.
The campground was under fire warning all weekend, but faux wood (javalog or duraflame) and charcoal was still allowed. The camphost sold Javalogs, and there were plenty of options at the nearby Albertson's.
The state park is a former movie set and is filled with easily accessible trails for hiking and some for mountain biking. The primary trails were open fire roads with off-shoots to lakes, pools, meadows, and more. It was easy to imagine you weren't anywhere close to the city. During a holiday weekend the trails were fairly busy with day-use hikers, but even then, it was easy to get away and be on trails alone if you wanted. There is also a visitor center in the park, but it has limited hours.
The wildlife is abundant. There is plenty of birdwatching, and coyotes were wandering through the park and campground without fear. If you have a dog with you make sure they don't try join the pack. On a hike right out of the park a few hundred yards, I came across a pair of bobcats—mom and cub—making their way to a running creek.
I'd recommend a visit if you're looking for a close to town escape.
ScoutDitto what others say…clean, great noise, pricey $142/night for Sprinter, laundry is being remodeled right now
Guide
Facilities are run down. This places needs a major make over! Bathrooms are dirty, showers are gross. Sinks to wash dishes are disgusting & right next to dumpsters. You have no privacy and sites are right on top of each other…you’re basically in a parking lot. Barking dogs right next to you can get pretty annoying pretty fast. NOT WORTH the $70 a night fee. I would only stay here here as a LAST resort
Guide
This is a nicely maintained municipal water reservoir with a very large lake. No swimming allowed, but boating is. Go figure.
There are campgrounds with hookups that are only available for RVs. There is one Campground -Indian- that has a mixture of tent and RV sites with hookups available but it was under maintenance when I was here this weekend. So all the rest of the areas that do have hookups do not accommodate my truck and tent rig. And there are no 110V or 30a outlets available for people who are traveling light -with solar and a minimum amount of panels, where you might need to plug in once in awhile- they can't cover you here. Too bad no one thought of that when they were designing this place, because it's an awfully big place with a lot of sites.
So we're leaving today to find another place to weekend.
But two nights next to the lake, in the campground called Mallard was lovely as can be. Next time I'll come out with more panels to keep my pair of EcoFlow RiverPro solar generators topped up.
Traveler
Youre packed like sardines but it's beachfront. It's noisy if you have party neighbors but they do turn off the music by 1030 ish so it's enforced. You hear planes flying and tmobile wifi is not great at the campground but good when on the beach front. It's at prime location in LAX so that was nice to go around town. Has full hookups. We would come back again if we need to be near LA area.
Legend
This is such a nice and small campground, it's low key and seems to be overlooked because there always seems to be sites available.
We stayed in site #13, which is a weird "pull in" site, which in all the traveling we've done, we've never stayed in one before. So you pull in forward (not back in), because all your hookups are to the left of the site, on the driver's side. Which is fine, except that unless you have a long sewer hose, your hose won't reach from the back of your RV to the sewer connection. Luckily there were vacant spots when we left, so we backed into a vacant spot with a traditional setup and dumped on our way out.
The best part of this campground is the creek that runs behind it. It's so nice and refreshing on a hot day, and safe for little kids to splash around in. There's also a park, day use area, playground, and some sort of meeting spot adjacent to this campground. The showers were nice (coin operated) and as a full timer I always love to see laundry machines at campgrounds.
Pricey, but that's just the norm now. I think our one night was about $50. Great little place.
ScoutCrowded sites, horrible check in, rude people, owner is extremely unpleasant
GuideGreat campground, Great spots but unfortunately bit expensive .Very disappointed about the rules regarding fire, but I understood. I left from the campground after the sunset...fire allowed only with courchal...
Traveler
We stayed in Loop A on a Thursday night in July. For us, it was a convenient overnight stop. It was a lot less crazy/ crowded than we expected for an LA County campground in the middle of summer! This site is on the lagoon, not the main lake, but had nice views and a good breeze in the heat. Very minimal space, not much shade. But the real issue was that the bathroom stalls in our loop (A) had no doors. I also doubt they are cleaned daily, though it wasn't terrible. Being close to the city, there were a ton of people meandering around, but they all seemed to be doing their own thing (e.g fishing or just walking), few suspicious characters. Lots of families and kids made it feel fairly safe for an urban campground. Not our favorite, but we would stop over here again in a pinch.
ScoutJust to be clear, I love lake Casitas. I grew up camping here with my family. The reason I’m writing this review is to warn pet owners about the abundance of foxtails and burs. We have 2 poodle mixes with med-long hair and they both ended up with their fur filled with burs and foxtails. So much that it required a vet visit. This was from a weekend camp in our RV that had a large rug and they have raised dog cots.
TravelerMy family camps here everyone year for as long as I can remember. The beaches are always nice. The trail that goes to the end of the campground is always fun bike ride. Carp itself is one of my favorite little towns. When camping, we also stop at Robitaille's Fine Candy shop.
Traveler
Quiet and nice 2-day stay. Alexi from reception was super nice and courteous. We couldn’t be more grateful to her! Our lot was secluded, private and close to the entrance/exit. The only thing was the unlevel ground we were on. Our RV was a simple 30’ rental without any leveling. Many peacock’s roam around the premises and they can be very intrusive! Playgrounds, zip lining and a massive bounce pad were all on site. Make sure you hike down to the creek!
ScoutGood campground, convenient location, nice WiFi. Sites are pretty close together, some sites had limited sun in December.
LegendDockweilder is an awesome camping experience if you love the beach and airplanes. With LAX less than .5 miles away, you get the pleasure of plane spotting 24/7. The bike path is in front of the campground and it will take you all the way to Redondo Beach or Santa Monica.
Check out the local town of El Segundo. It has some great dining options and looks like Mayberry.
Cell Reception: Great
GuideThe RV park has a hookup area and a dry camping area. The hookups are full of large rigs, very close one with another, in a parking lot style. The dry camp provides much more space, but only relatively small RVs.
Pros: The park is right next to the beach, walk 1 minute and you're there. There's also a bike path that goes for miles both north or south - great for an early workout. Restrooms are clean and have showers.
Cons: You will hear each and every if the planes taking off from LAX, but at one point you don't hear them anymore. It was not really annoying, but that flight at 5a was...
LegendEconomical for California and the area. Off the beaten path from all the craziness by the beach.
We are just passing through CA or it would not be my top spot. They nickel and dime a lot of things, showers pets. We paid online and we pull up and all of a sudden getting charged $5 a day extra for pets including a cat that doesn't leave the camper. Was not thrilled about that.
Otherwise, it was scenic, had a camp store, was close to restaurants, had a gate to drive into, so the place was pretty secure. Seemed like a lot of people gathered on the weekends.
We had the dirt campground which wasn't my favorite but all that was left, while the other campgrounds had cement pads. It was still pretty level.We did have cell reception, nice views and they had a water park for kids during summer months, though wasn't open while we were there.
GuideGreat location, spots are so close to the beach with no bluff and stairs. Spots are very snug. You can get stuck waiting for a while if your neighbors don’t know how to park their unit. Only downside is the neighbors sewer is in your site. Also we had some grumpy neighbors which sucks with the smaller sites. Seals and dolphins all around while you swim or surf
GuideNice campground. Plenty of things to do. Jump pad, pool, zip line, playground, creek. Front desk staff was exceptional. Few cons. Park was a bit dirty lots of trash around and generally not very clean. Bathrooms were really gross. Facilities were a little run down. Our spot was tiny but most others seem descent sized
ScoutLos empleados que nos atendieron fueron muy desagradables, se estaban riendo de nosotros literalmente. Tras pagar la reserva nos dice que nuestro Jeep Wrangler no puede acceder al camping porque no está camperizado, cuando nosotros disponemos de fregadero, nevera, cocina. Todo ello incorporado en el vehículo . Se negaron a comprobarlo. Y simplemente nos dijeron que tardarían entre 40-60 días en devolvernos el dinero.
Scout$10 per night per person, max 2 nights and 48 hour wait before you can come back. Max 5 times per year.
Took my son here for a weekend to explore Santa Barbara. There is no overnight parking in the park unless you have a previously reserved car camping campsite. We walking in with our belongings and there was three other campers on their bikes. Short walk to the Amtrak Surfliner, restaurants, dogs are allowed on a leash on the campsite. There is a dog beach a few minutes walk away.
There’s 3 fire pits for H&B campers, a Food box and a bike rack.
TravelerSnagged a cancellation at Carp Santa Cruz site C233 to celebrate our new trailer and our Labrador’s first birthday!!! Doors opened to the west (that’s a good thing!), and it was easy to back into. Site was flat, but in the back. Heavy foot traffic on sidewalk that connects the different campgrounds gave us little privacy. Still, any time we get to spend in Carp is time well-spent!
Pros:
Cons:
GuideCamped here 4th of July weekend and it was quiet and family friendly. Bathrooms were clean, people were respectful, and it was just an all around nice place to camp - expensive though.
TravelerThis campground had nice facilities, but the general store was minimal due to the old one burning down while trying to dry it out after the flooding. The pool was still closed and there was no pancake breakfast. The bathrooms were clean and in good working order (you need a code to get in). The sites were tightly packed together and there were lots of annoying teenagers running around and music blaring, kids on bikes and scooters, etc. It did quiet down at 10:00ish, so that you could hear the cars rushing along the freeway all night. There was a movie playing that night with free popcorn. The beach and town are a hike from the campground. The site was a double back in, but our sewer hose wasn’t long enough to reach the hookup. Even if we were looking for that atmosphere, the cost was absolutely not worth it. However, we took a tip from another reviewer and went to the Saturday farmers market which was fantastic!
GuideThe 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
LegendGreat location at the beach. Beautiful little town with many shops and good food. Camp spots are crowded together closely in the anacapa loop. I had to park my pickup in the overflow parking since it wouldn't fit in our tight little assigned space. Many things to see and do here from the beach to hiking trails to tar pits right nearby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is Malibu Creek State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 30 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area?
TheDyrt.com has all 15 glamping camping locations near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with real photos and reviews from campers.
