New Brighton State Beach Campground

Location is great. Easy access. Noise from the freeway. Heard sirens.

There are a ton of reviews for this place already so I will try to keep it short and only add info that I didn't see mentioned in previous reviews.

Showers are $0.25 per min ($0.50 min to start).  You don't get to adjust water temp, but it was pleasantly hot. Showers are non-gendered and individual.

Dump station is no longer free; all California State Parks are charging $10 to dump now, even for campers.  You pay at the dump site with a credit card. There are 4 dump holes and a potable water fill as well.

We love staying here as it's so convenient to Capitola. We were able to park our RV in Capitola and walk to the shops. We got last minute reservations (it's really hard to book a site here in the summer), but had to move sites in between days, and so we used that 2 hour block between noon checkout and 2pm checkin to drive the RV to Capitola. It seemed like it would have been too much of a hassle to try and get to move to the new spot before checkin, so this worked out fine.

We love all the state parks along the beach in California, and I'm sure we'll be back at some point.

Despite the website showing every site booked, we drove in about 4 pm to a decent number of sites. Entry ranger was available pretty late. Site was $35 I believe, and has paid showers and restrooms. Site had a fire pit, paved parking for a larger vehicle, table and decent amount of shade. Lots of families and lots of kids. Cool weather along the beach, can't ask for much more.

This was our third visit in a bigger travel trailer this time. Spot 64 was humongous and extremely private. Very close to trail down to the beach as well and like the last time they now charge you $10 to use the dump station. Excellent stay recommend going to Gayles deli in Capitola for sandwiches.

Nice quiet spot. Rangers were helpful and accommodating. Great views and easy access to beach.

Not sure why the reserve california site says every SP or SB on the coast has 0 sites for the foreseeable future, but we decided to take our chances. Yes! arrived at like 3 pm and they still had 10 open sites. We got site 72.

Like other reviews said, this campground is super "non-private" but it reminded me of... any other state beach/state park, so not a big deal for us. It was nice and quiet, mostly RVS or vanlifers. Bathrooms were fine, no lines ever. Lots of cute dogs.

"Premium" sites (bluff, beautiful beach views) are 50$ a night, regular sites are 35$, and full hook-up is 50$ too I believe.

Overall, really nice campground, with a trail right to the beach. Enjoyed it!

Very nice and quiet. Bathrooms are clean for camping standards. Coin operated showers. Good experience here!

It's fine, but I don't really understand why it's so popular. Lots of annoying group sites, yelling kids, and giant RVs. Quiet hours aren't respected or enforced. High metal fire pits so you can't see your fire if you sit. Itchy, scrubby grass everywhere. The beach is really close, but this is California, and there are plenty of much nicer beaches. It's okay, but I wouldn't go again, and I definitely wouldn't say it's worth reserving months in advance.

We just got back from New Brighton, stayed in site 108. Love this State Beach! Our site was large enough for our big truck and 26 ft trailer, plus a 2nd small SUV. There was plenty of flat area for my sons tent as well. Not a ton of trees, so this particular spot didnt get a lot of natural shade, bring pop ups! The site next door, 110, had many more trees and shade. The sites are far enough apart to feel secluded. At night you can still hear the ocean even though we werent in a premium spot. You can walk a short ways to see the ocean and there are several trails down, but the one with real stairs is closed so you better be sure-footed if you're taking the other trail. We opted for the short drive to the beach lot. There are bathrooms with flush toilets and showers close by and a dump station on the way out. Plus New Brighton is just a few mins from downtown Capitola, and not much further from Santa Cruz so there are SO many things to explore when you're there. Definitely a new favorite place!

Camped with electricity and water, situated on a bluff near the ocean. Easy walking distance to the water, nice roomy campsites with fire rings and tables. Not too close to other campers.

Absolutely wonderful spot to camp! Just a quick walk down the hill to the beach (there are stairs, so can’t pull a wagon as a heads up). Beach wasn’t busy and the waves aren’t too big.

Epic sunset views. Most campsites are quite big. Some trees and shade too. Super clean bathrooms.

Near a freeway but we didn’t hear any traffic noise from our site.

Nice flat paved roads inside the campground for biking or scootering kids.

Dog friendly beach.

This campground is usually booked up but we were able to get a last minute reservation a few weeks before. Lots of free sites even though it looked full online, so worth calling the day or two before the weekend too.

Hh

New Brighton is a jewel on the California coast. Camping is on a bluff above beach and you must walk down stairs to get to the beach. Camping in the woods with the beach below is perfect. The bathrooms are clean and the campsites spacious. New Brighton is a must go to Camping spot.

This campground is in Santa Cruz. Surfed pleasure point a 10 minute drive away every morning and night. Sites are ok, nothing special and neighbors are very visible. Coin showers with awful pressure. Wood available from host.

We tent camped here but most people had a trailer. Translation: the bathroom was empty. Quiet with quick access to the beach via a steep paved path. The premium spots seem super worth it with panoramic views of the Pacific. Warning: the line for the dump station wound through nearly the entire park.

There is a BMX park a short drive away.

This beautiful campground is right on the beach and very close to the touristy areas of Capitola and Aptos.  We walked along the beach to Aptos and Sea Cliff for dinner one night, and rode our bikes to Capitola for the day.  The weather was beautiful and sunny when we were here in late February, but it did get windy in the night.

Most sites are dry camping only, but there are a few with hookups. There is a dump station with 4 dumps and potable water to fill your tanks on the way out (beware that it gets backed up with RVs using the dump right around the noon checkout time).  Potable water spigot is up past the dump area.

This campground will not let you check in before 2pm, and will give you a free pass and direct you to the day use parking lot at Sea Cliff to wait, as the New Brighton day use parking lot is under construction to repair a sinkhole. 

There are coin operated showers here, but the showers ate our $0.75 when we tried to use them, so be aware.

Garbage and recycling bins available here.

There are hike-in and bike-in sites, but be sure to look up what is open before you come as things seem to be changing frequently as covid guidance changes.  I saw a sign for enroute camping for bikers as well.

Bear box, metal fire pit, and picnic tables provided at each site.  Firewood available for sale.

Good cell reception.

$35 for dry camping

$50 for premium / hookups

$8 reservation fee

no extra fee for dogs

Great campground with beach access. Nice paved camp spots with picnic tables, storage boxes and food storage lockers. Pay showers were nice.

Lot of space with amazing view to the ocean and trail to the beach. Free restroom and showers work with quarters. Firewood pit and lot of grass. Free Sewage and fresh water on the entrance.

Very quiet area and pretty well spaced out sites (for a coastal campground). Once the sun went down there were very few people outside. Good beach access (down a ramped pathway and then staircase). Bathrooms are clean and single occupant. Pay showers (so bring quarters-25 cents a minute). There is a little noise from route 1, but our campsite was closer to the ocean so didn’t bother us at all. Will definitely stay here again.

Nice camp area. Little distance to the beach although the beach area was small. Weather was nice.

Great campground and location. You can easily walk to the beach. Close to Capitola Village, Santa Cruz, and Kayaking at Moss Landing. There are some wonderful large campsites facing the beach but hard to reserve unless you are quick to get in when window opens up. The other sites are OK and there are a lot of them. Some are close together but walk to the beach and there is lots of room.

Great campground and location. Walk the beach or hike a trail, lots of options. Short walk or bike ride to the beautiful Capitola Village. Observe the local wildlife including birds, whales, otters, seals, the list goes on. Amazing tide pools. Many activities to do here... bicycling, kayaking, skatepark, pump track, hiking, running, the list goes on again.

Sweet lil spot right outside Capitola came in on a Monday night and all the premium sites were booked. Direct access to the beach. Showers kinda meh but the rest made up for it!

Great campground out side of town. Large spaces out spots. Books out fast and hard to get into.

90 degrees in October. Beach is not crowded! I’m in heaven

great campground located right outside of town. I was pleasantly surprised in the campsites and the beach is lovely!

This campsite is very nice as it has hot showers, cellphone service and is close to town. We needed to run to Target for a few things and it was about 15 minutes away. The downside is that it can be loud. Since it's not secluded you can hear traffic and sirens from the road. We were on site #16 and it was a good spot. Some sites seemed like they could use more privacy, but ours was nice. Also, there is a trail down to the beach that is highly enjoyable. Overall, camping here was very nice and comfortable, but I docked one star because I could hear traffic and sirens from our tent and we were closer to the beach than the road.

All kinds of camping here and it’s a walk to the beach. Perfect for anyone.

Amazing views and setting in this campground. Stand up paddle board in the cove or go for a surf a little bit down the road. Electrical hook ups and showers are available. One of california's better state park!

Campground does not allow hike and bike campers to stay more than one night, and you cannot check in until 4pm and must check out by 9am.  I am guessing this is because of its proximity to Santa Cruz. In May the campground was very busy with people coming from the nearby city.  The hike and bike area is near a couple of large picnic areas where you can charge your electronic devices. The view high above the ocean is very nice, but it is a bit of a hike to the beach.