Best Cabin Camping near South El Monte, CA

A little something for every type of camping. Cabins, paved pull through & natural dirt & grass. Friendly staff to check us in gates close at 10:pm your provided with a security gate code to get back in if your out late.

Lots of families with children, fishing for catfish in the little lake which is shaded with trees and plenty of tables to picnic by the lake. Playground plus lots of grassy areas. We stayed in the natural area with hook-ups everything worked great.

Neighbors were nice, cute set ups with twinkle lights and people enjoying outdoor fire pits. Campers we’re playing music, laughter echoes through camp ground but nothing too loud and all quiet later.

We drove over to the Mission Inn (8 min drive) enjoyed lunch. Their is a pedestrian only shopping area with a Saturday farmer’s market plus lots of restaurants.

The campground sells firewood plus has a little store. Would stay again.

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

Very large park for RV, cabin and tent camping. As it's listed as a "resort", we figured it would be pretty upscale. Disappointment upon our arrival. Floods have been in the area and much of the sites were closed and being cleaned?? The road closest to our site was washed away (from earlier reviews it's been months), so a long jog or drive around the perimeter to get us to the pool, laundry and hot tub…speaking of which, the pool, hot tub and laundry facilities all needed attention. You could actually see people's footprints (bottom of pool and on pool and hot tub entry steps)…that much sand, dirt, etc…I didn't venture in. When we arrived, we started driving around to find the best site for our rig. We're a 32ft class A w/20ft enclosed cargo trailer tow. So, all in all about 55ft. Well, that wasn't easy. Most of the park's electric and some sewer connections didn't exist or were "down" for repair. We have yet to actually SEE someone working on these issues. We are currently here and checked in for a two-week stay. After some boon docking prior to our arrival, we wanted all the bells and whistles the park boasted they had. Took us just over THREE HOURS to find a decent spot. Many levels to this park and most didn't have a decent WiFi (we have our own router) signal. Some sites had dumpsters blocking them from being a true "pull-thru". That left us with about two areas to choose from. It's dusty, dirty, and, really, not ready to be called a "resort"….more rustic than we'd been looking for or what website photos showed. We would not recommend this "resort" to anyone. Several folks with dogs they let simply sit outside and bark, poo, etc….strict rules against that, in most all resorts we've ever visited. Unless you plan on tenting, cabin or what have you, it's not worth it. Very disappointing! :(

Spent Spring break here with the family. We read a lot of reviews on this park - many of them mixed. Overall, this park did not disappoint - too much.

Amenities are very good for young kids. Canopy Court area has easy and close access to the splash pad, the playground, a large grass area, and even the pool. The boat launch is very near by too but we had no use for that.

This park is clean! Like no park I have seen before. The staff are always moving around the grounds and “picking up” as they go. Quiet hours are strict - some may see that as a bad thing but I appreciate it. Even with 4 young kids, we like that the park slowed down right on time.

Only arguments - the spots are relatively tight. We reserved a spot for a rig with slide outs on both sides to accommodate our 39’er but it took some creative parking to get the rig into the spot in a way that we could actually open both sides. Once in, we had to make sure we pulled back far enough otherwise the very nice provided picnic table would of been right next to the front wheel. Water pressure is a bit low too but nothing terrible.

Location wise - awesome. We used the campground as a base camp to spend time in LA and San Diego as well as a day in Joshua Tree National Park. 1-2 hours from everything.

We will definitely be back.

This campground has So many options! great walk in secluded rustic camp sites, super social fun camp sites , secluded places to park vans and Campers, and awesome gleaming cottages. best place to sleep is on the top of the mountain infinity deck! Right next to the private Bar area which is like an  amazing western Saloon with Billiards and great vibe and Hooka Corner and some amazing Star Gazing!  The people here are super friendly and nice and there is a great social vibe for those who like to join others for some great times in nature. be it a hike, star gazing or campfire!

[ PROS ]

• Crystal Cove State Park and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park are adjacent to each other, and a small pedestrian gate separates them.
• The best trail here stretches across the two parks -- No Name Ridge!! Amazing for EPIC SUNSETS!
• Some sites have MILLION DOLLAR BEACH VIEWS of the ocean.
• There are about 60 camp spots and a lot of them are RVs, but it’s nice because each row of 10 spots is elevated from the previous row (tiered campsites) so everyone gets a semi view
• Part of CA State Parks so showers are token operated. Clean and well maintained
• Walking distance to Crystal Cove Historic District, which has a couple places to eat right on the beach
• Crystal Cove Historic District also has some "preserved" beach cottages from the 20s, 30s, and 40s on the beach that are largely in ruins. It’s fun to explore and check out.
• Lots of fun things along the beach to look at like tide pools and rock formations beach
• Great Visitor's Center that is worth checking out. The Rangers are amazing and provided us with a super helpful information about the park, its trails, and the cottages.
• Each site comes with a picnic table, a water faucet/drain.
• The beach has less crowds/tourists/homeless compared to other beaches. It’s really quite and peaceful.

[ CONS ]

• No coal or wood fires :( Kind of a bummer since your evening ends early. You can bring propane pits yourself for fires though. Also, it can get extremely cold at night in the canyons, even if it’s in the high 80s during the day. Be prepared.
• They do not allow any alcohol at the park. No exceptions. Rangers patrol constantly and will approach you for random things if they see you breaking any campground rules.
• The hiking trails essentially have zero shade so it gets really hot. Bring a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen so you don’t roast. Also stay hydrated!
• The campgrounds is a little further from the beach than I expected from looking at photos online. There is no direct beach access so you’ll have to go to the day use area and pay for parking ($15 parking)
• You can get to the beach if you’re down to wade through 2-3 feet of still water that puddles under the highway underpass. It’s a little inconvenient if you’re with children or carrying a lot of beach equipment.
• Campsites are VERY close together so be prepared to meet your neighbors. It’s also very quiet as soon as the sun sets (since there is no campfires keeping people up) so everyone ends up going to bed around 8pm as to not disturb your VERY close neighbors.
• Be careful of rattlesnakes

This campgroud has two sections. The lakeview area has dirt roads, sparse grass and a few spots close to the lake. The Cottonwood campground has concrete pads and well maintained grass throughout. This campground may have been renovated recently by the looks of it.

There is a small store and a couple of cabins too, but the cabins don’t appear to be bookable via the website.

I stayed in both and liked the spacing and grass better in the cottonwood campground but overall this park was a nice surprise for us, especially given the limited amount of “good” campgrounds around LA.

Showers available, but only ok. Need to use tokens for them. Cottonwood has full hookups thru out, and lakeview is mostly just water/electric with a dump site near the entrance.

Definitely would stay again. Weekends are very busy here