Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Solvang, CA

Not far from Solvang and right on the beach. It's a "parking lot" campground so you're right next to other campers. The bathrooms were okay and there were showers available. The sinks for washing dishes were not working. The train goes by right next to the campground, but we like that sound and it didn't bother us. The camp host was very friendly and even had a "little free library"!  Nice touch.  

The person at the pay station gave us a map of the sites that were still available so we could drive through and choose the one we wanted, then return to pay for it. Unfortunately, we found that the map was not accurate, but we did find a site. 

There were large fire pits. 

I imagine this campground fills up quickly on weekends in summer, as it's not far from populated areas. I think we were lucky to find a spot on a Friday night without having a reservation.

Everything‘s clean and orderly. Pool area is nice with a nice hot tub. Friendly staff and the grounds are well kept. Nice dog park. Not much road noise from the 101. Has all the modern conveniences. And all this comes with a price. It is pricey, but there’s a lot of amenities.

Just 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.

I am a native of Santa Barbara, CA, so I grew up going to Cachuma Lake. Cachuma Lake’s main recreational area is on a bluff overlooking the lake. There you can find tent sites, yurts, cabins, and full hookups for RVs. There are also smaller campgrounds at lake level - we prefer to stay in the Mohawk Shores campground, which is at lake level. The Mohawk Shores campsites are in a more densely packed oak grove, offering more shade and more privacy than the upper-level campgrounds. A few years ago they started pricing the “lakeside” sites in Mohawk more expensively than the rest of the sites in the area; ironic though, since the lake has been so empty the last few years due to the drought, and these sites are no longer lakeside.

The campsites each have their own picnic table and firepit with a grate, and water spigots are available in various places around the campground. Mohawk has its own bathroom with flushable toilets and coin-operated showers - the bathrooms and showers are kept clean. I prefer to shower in the showers located in the upper-level campgrounds, as they are in their own individual, lockable stalls, rather than the locker-room type set up in the bathroom in Mohawk. There are multiple dumpsters available for trash AND recycling around all of the campgrounds.

Caution: There is a lot of poison oak around the park!

We have rented a yurt a couple times, and hope to do so again soon. The yurts have bunk beds inside (bring your own bedding!), an overhead light, and a heater. Outside each yurt is a picnic table, charcoal barbeque, a firepit, and a water spigot.

We will often bring an easy-up to use in the day-camp areas in the upper-level of the park. There are oak trees all over the park, but if day use site with a table under a tree gets snagged, it’s nice to have the easy-up for shade - if you have one, I would recommend bringing an easy-up if you are going to camp in the upper level campgrounds, not all of the sites have shade.

A small but well-stocked general store is available, as well a small (expensive) gas station. Cachuma also has a pool (for an additional fee), gameroom, playgrounds/jungle-gyms, and disc golf courses available.

Cachuma Lake is a great place for wildlife viewing and birding. I am a photographer, and love seeing all of the birds that hang out around Cachuma - ducks, coots, Western and Clark’s grebes, loons, osprey, hawks, turkey vultures, turkeys, quail, American white pelicans, cormorants, etc. I have gotten my best birding photos at Cachuma Lake. Deer can often be viewed on the shores of the lake, and we have even seen bobcats and foxes. Pontoon boat tours to view wildlife launch every day from the marina.

Keep in mind that you CANNOT SWIM in Cachuma Lake. Silly, I know, but they justify it because Cachuma lake is Santa Barbara’s drinking water source. You are allowed to boat, kayak, and fish on the lake, but no swimming! Motor boats and pontoon boats are available to rent, and now they even have kayaks to rent hourly! My dad has a small 14 ft fishing boat, and we enjoy taking the boat out on the lake to fish and sightsee.

There are endless trails around Cachuma Lake in Los Padres National Forest. There are some mellow hikes around the perimeter of the lake itself, offering nice views of the lake and the surrounding Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountains.

Figueroa Mountain is near Los Olivos - Grass Mountain and Figueroa Mountain are both beautiful hikes, especially in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom. Both are strenuous, steep hikes, but the views are totally worth the effort.

Cachuma lake is about a half an hour from the city of Santa Barbara, 15 minutes away from Santa Ynez (if you like to gamble check out the Chumash Casino), 20 minutes away from Solvang, and 20 minutes away from Los Olivos. There is fantastic wine tasting available in any of these small towns, and everywhere in between - you are in the heart of Santa Barbara’s wine country! There are endless tasting rooms available inside the towns, and countless vineyards that you can visit to wine taste. A popular wine trail is on Foxen Canyon Road - it is a lovely drive on a country road with some really beautiful and quality wineries and vineyards.

Solvang is a fun town to visit - it was originally a community full of Danish immigrants, so the Danish theme has stuck. It is very touristy, but even as a native, I still enjoy going to Solvang. There are a lot of shops, antiques, candy stores, restaurants and tasting rooms to visit. We are partial to the Solvang Restaurant, and for more than just their Danish Aebleskivers. If you don’t know what an aebleskiver is - its DELICIOUS. Aebleskivers are round Danish pancakes that are shaped like a ball - they serve them with amazing homemade raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Everything at the Solvang Restaurant is good, from their traditional breakfasts to their Scandinavian offerings to their sandwiches.

More Food Recommendations:

Cold Springs Tavern is a historic site dating back to the 1880s when it was a stagecoach stop. Cold Springs Tavern has a full bar and serves some quality meat selections, including famous Santa Barbara style tri-tip. If you are there on a Sunday, they start serving traditional tri-tip sandwiches around 11am - BEST tri-tip sandwiches around! They cook up the meat on giant barbeques outside, and serve the sandwiches hot off the grill - just tri-tip and fresh garlic bread, YUM. They have homemade salsa and homemade BBQ sauce to dress the sandwich with. Sundays at Cold Springs Tavern is a popular spot for locals to go have a beer or a drink with tri-tip, and there’s always a fun atmosphere.

If you are in the mood for some quality Mexican food, Dos Carlitos in Santa Ynez is a favorite spot.

Los Olivos Grocery has a great deli with delicious sandwiches - both hot and cold - and a good selection tasty deli side dishes. The store also has a good selection of local wines.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $30/night

**Plumbed Toilets: Yes

**Drinking Water: Yes

**Showers: Yes (coins needed)

**Picnic Table: Yes

**Firepit: Yes

**Cooking Grate: Yes

**Shade: Yes

**Cell Service: Yes - Limited

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: No

Trash: Yes

My experience was a wee bit different than anticipated... I arrived just prior to the forcasted “Pineapple Express”. Check in was painless, campground was not packed. Once parked the doggos and I enjoyed a few hours on the beach before sundown. It started raining cats and dogs during the night, 7am the rangers advised that evacuations could be in store....3pm we had to leave the campground and we were directed further down the coast to Oceana. The new campground was also flooded, but I was able to find a spot with a small patch for the dogs to do their thing without having to wade through water. The next day broke to a beautiful sunrise. The rangers and the park police were awesome, I felt completely at ease knowing that they were vigilant for our safety. Both campgrounds are beautiful in each their own way.

Casitas Lake near Ojai in Ventura County has something for everyone, especially parents with children off from school in the summertime. The campgrounds are spacious and clean and there are at least six different types from basic tent on dirt all the way up to executive motorhome with all hook ups. Prices vary from 35 to 55$ for tents on dirt to 65-75$ for RVs with hook ups.There is also a charge for a vehicle, boat, pet, etc. The highlight for families though is the waterpark. Open during the summer, it’s perfect for the younger kids when it’s hot.Always check current Covid restrictions as most water parks are closed.

There's a lot to do here for kids; little hikes, boating, pool, parks, and the nature center is always a favorite for my kids. We've stayed in the main camping tent area, RV sites and the 500 sites down the road, all were great! It's close enough (about 20-30 min) to Solvang and Santa Barbara so you can take little day trips if you are staying a while. Dog friendly!

Campground Review:

This would be the most epic campground ever for a huge family reunion! There is something for everyone here- RV sites, tent sites, cabins, yurts, even big group sites. There are tent sites overlooking Lake Cachuma, and tent sites in the shady grass, and almost everything in between. There's a dog park, and playgrounds, and a pool (since you can't swim in the lake because it's drinking water... which was strange to us as Utahns when all reservoirs are drinking water and we still swim in them), and a general store! There are close to 200 sites here, which is mind-boggling to me. It was an awesome campground, and we were cooking up plans for a someday party (be it friends or family) there.

The restrooms are plentiful and clean, the quiet hours are well observed (though that may have had more to do with the fact that the campground was pretty empty while we were there), and the facilities are reasonably easy to navigate. Every employee we interacted with was helpful and professional. We rented kayaks for several hours while we were there and it was a blast! This place is a perfect little getaway a super reasonable distance from Santa Barbara and the surrounding areas.

My only complaints were mostly about the tent sites. Some of them are a little too smashed together with unclear boundaries, and the footing consisted of kind of icky weeds. I know, it's me being absurdly nitpicky. But I can't give EVERY campground 5 stars... right..?

Product Review:

As Rangers for The Dyrt, we get products to test from time to time, and at Lake Cachuma we tested out some Optic Nerve sunglasses. We used them throughout our trip, but they came in especially handy while kayaking! The morning started out a little cloudy so we were worried that we wouldn't get a real opportunity to use them, but the sun eventually came out and the sunglasses were PERFECT. The pairs we got were polarized, which was great for cutting glare from the water (as well as driving throughout our whole road trip. The sunglasses were comfortable and seemed high quality, which was great considering they're nowhere near as spendy as some of the high-end brands of sunglasses. I'll admit I was too much of a wuss to see if they'd float in the lake, but they were awesome for keeping our eyes safe and protected (from the sun and from splashes)! If I had to have any gripe it would be that the wood grain print on the sunglasses I got (which I love) is pretty pixelated up close- completely a non-issue that only affects aesthetics, but might look better with a higher resolution for future printings.

Pro Tip for Hungry Adventurers: DO NOT MISS Cold Spring Tavern just up the highway from Lake Cachuma. Delicious food, atmosphere that is simply out of this world, and a gorgeous setting. Seriously. Don't miss it. And if you live in Santa Barbara and you've never been... GO. NOW. You won't regret it.

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.

Very tight space, lots of amenities like pools, playgrounds for kids, restaurants, activities, performances on weekends but can get quite busy and crowded. Close by solvang town and many pretty hiking trails