Best RV Parks & Resorts near Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

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

This is a very nice campground near everything but still away from it all. No issues parking our 42' 5th wheel here. Clean and quiet despite the peacocks. They can be rather loud when startled. I swear they could hear my morning alarm and squawked their disapproval. The camp host Shawn is AMAZING! Bathrooms are very clean. Showers are coin operated. DO NOT expect cell service. I could only work from this spot by placing my mobile HomeFi router on top of the camper. Our Verizon phones were paper weights. Make sure your reservations are complete online before arriving. The Rangers check the spots multiple times a week. The kids enjoyed the playground and fields. It's not uncommon to see and hear movie/TV production crews at the filming locations along the road. Pet friendly but be careful at night. Mountain lions were spotted while there.

Ok, so first off driving into this place feels a little "Texas Chainsaw" but don't worry, its fine. When I saw regional park I was expecting something way bigger however this is about the size of a small city park that turned its parking lot into a campground. None the less, we had a very pleasant stay. It was nice and quite despite it being Fourth of July weekend and we even had a few friendly bats fly around us. The playground was a bunch of old metal pieces that looked like you would surely break a leg so naturally my 2 and 4 year old LOVED it. LOL. Its in a great location with close drive to Ventura and Pismo beaches. Would definitely stay here again for a quick getaway.

Oh and note, the full hook up sites are for Model A's (stayed at 56). So hook ups are on the opposite side and really close to the "entrance" so we couldnt back in, we had to parking our towing vehicle in the general parking area. We had our small travel trailer and thank God we had a 40 ft sewer hose.

We were hesitant at first from working remote by being so close to the highway, but the tall wall that separates the highway and the park works very well. We ended up extending our stay because it worked out so well. 

Wifi and AT&T cell service worked great overall. Video calls were inconsistent so hotspotted those calls, but streaming and email and search worked just fine. 

Very close to neighbors and a tight fit, but the city has so much to offer, we didn't need to spend much time at the RV park so were fine with cramped space. Great owners and really nice and accommodating staff. Management helped us park. 

Laundry conveniently on site and worked really well.$1.50 wash and$1.00 dry. Trader Joes.7 mi away; walkable to the waterfront and biking lanes and trails all around.

Being that we chose this camp site last minute is a total score. Large sites, full hookup options and 10 minutes from the beach. Camp host were very nice and accommodating. Some sites are close to the 33 highway so you will have road noise but we are used to Rincon. There is tent camping in the higher sites. Covered with plenty of mature trees for nice shade. Clean restrooms but no showers. Campground is very close to the Ojai-Ventura bike trail. Hiking trails all over and did I say 10 minutes from the beach!!! We stayed with our 2 toddlers/teen and had a blast. Only odd thing is that some sites hookups are backwards. No biggie. We just ran our lines under our rig. We would definitely stay here again.