North Beach Campground — Pismo State Beach

Large sites with fire rings, picnic tables, some sites don’t have much shade and some do. Less than 1/2 mile walk to beach. Couple miles from Oceano dunes. Hot showers. Can get windy. Dog friendly.

I skipped out on Oceano and came here hoping they might have something open. Turns out they had 8 and the park ranger let me drive in to scope it out. I picked a site close to the beach and even better my Oceano reservation could be transferred. Yay. Loved this campground so much. It’s well laid out and all the sites are well spaced and clean. The evening was much quieter, with a sunset and sounds of waves. A ten minute walk to the beach and right next to the butterfly grove. I have already made another reservation to see about the butterflies when they are in season. Pismo Beach is fantastic!

Being so close to this awesome beach is definitely a hook, but something is off about this place. The staff are on top of you from the time you pull in to if you are a couple minutes late leaving. Little to no shade. Said hello to other campers with no so much of a nod.  

Not my scene for sure.

Stopped here for a quick overnight stay on the way to Big Sur over New Year’s Eve weekend. Bathrooms were clean, campground seemed well maintained. Sites very close together with limited to no shade.

Beautiful campground - open park-like setting, not much division between sites. No hookups available here (Oceano 2 miles south has sites with electric and water hookups though). 

There's a dump station here, $10 (even for campers), payable by credit card only at a little fee station right at the dump. There's potable water at the dump station as well to fill your tanks.

As with all California state parks now, not only is there recycling bins available but also food waste / compost bins (yay!).

Showers available, payable via tokens.  Good cell reception here.

Really hard to get a spot here during busy season - recommend reservations!

This Campground is a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors, family and friends.  We have been coming here for over 10 years for an annual reunion.  The sits give you a lot of open space.  If you are a Boondocker type you will enjoy the experience

In walking distance to downtown Pismo and a short ride to Arroyo Grande

I love pismo beach, dune and the town, very convenient!

Lots of space, you don't feel cramped even with all sites around you occupied. Toilets are very clean, there are lots of trash cans, can't complain. Nice rule that prohibits generators use after 8pm. There are sites for tents, small campervans and bigger rigs.

Only stayed here for one night. Everything was clean and kept up.

Good for a few days at the beach with kids. Neighbors are close, but everything else is nice. :)

This a a great campground. It is very well kept. Walking distance to the beach, the Monarch Butterfly Preserve and town.

Came in at dark and reserved on the fly. Easy, clean, and close to beach.

Great beach access and sites are spread enough apart. It does feel little like a trailer park because of all the rigs that stay here die a few nights, but the updated bathrooms and showers are worth it!

Good dry camping with water and dump station at the exit. Cheap and safe. Check out.

This is the North Beach Campground at Pismo State Beach. We stayed in October and it was 90 during the day and around 60 at night. We were tent camping and while better than the neighboring RV park, there were still more RVs than tents- I’d say 80%/20% RVs to tents. That being said our campsite was large with a picnic table, fire ring and water hook up. There were restrooms at central locations throughout the park. Showers are $.50 for two minutes, accepts dollar bills only. We were at site 48 and it was a very large site, could fit 3-5 tents easily and runs along a center large grassy area. The big draw back with the campground is there is very little to no shade and no privacy. The best sites in my opinion were sites 7-25 ish that run along the side of the park closest to the beach path. Those spots had easy beach access, a bit more privacy as you don’t have campers along your backside, and afternoon shade from a row of trees. The rest of the sites are all in a grass field. Some have trees and some don’t, it’s kind of a crap shoot. It’s a short 5 minute walk to the beach from anywhere so that’s a huge plus, the park rangers were all very nice while we were there and there’s a Monarch butterfly sanctuary within walking distance (they weren’t there when I stayed in the park). Bathrooms were clean for a state park, shower was sandy but it was getting high usage. Overall I’d return if I was in the area and didn’t care about privacy.

ETA: I forgot to mention the sand flies, mostly in the evenings, were fierce and left huge itchy welts on me (less so on my husband) so I highly recommend bringing bug spray.

A bit crowded, but it's hard to beat camping right on the beach

Great place to camp right off the dune though can be crowded and has many spots that are not on the beach. The sites are not ocean view with the sand dunes but a short walk over and your there. Also a very easy walk on the beach to downtown. It can get crowded and their is a security booth where you have to sign in, little annoying when they tired to charge our two motorcycles as two cars but they let's us by.

Love beach camping. Go here every year for Thanksgiving. Beautiful place. Lots of dunes to ride and fun times ocean fishing