San Mateo Campground — San Onofre State Beach

Very relaxing place to stay. Good amenities and very friendly staff.

Picnic table and fire pit provided. Firewood is cheaper at the San Mateo commissary. Campers were all respectful and honored quiet hours. Noise from the 5 can be annoying which is why I docked a star but I would still consider staying at this site again!

Great campsite! The kids were able to safely use their scooters. Bathrooms were easy to access and after 9 it got very quiet. They sell fire wood for $10 a bundle

State part with a mile walking access to beach. Most spaces are long enough for big rigs but tight because of vegetation. Bath houses are OK but there are a lot of them. Paid showers. Mostly a surfer crowd.

I can’t say that it was awesome but it wasn’t jaw dropping. Nothing to write home about but not uninviting.

Site had tree cover which had some nice shade to provide relief from the sun. Lots of room for a couple vehicles and tents. Clean bathrooms and showers, but we stayed midweek and the place was very, very minimally occupied. Good access to walking and biking trails.

Nice campground. 1.5 miles from the ocean. Sites are quite large with bushes/ trees between sites. Upper campground has water and electricity.

Easy spot close enough to the beach to be almost beach camping but far enough to have plenty of room and spacing to spread out. Your parking pass allowed to you to park at the state beach across the 5 freeway for free. Campsites are well maintained and have mature trees and bushes between sites to provide lots of privacy. Showers/facilities are a little rundown and our bathrooms foot-wash and dish wash station were disconnected. During the weekday you can hear activity from Camp Pendleton. Overall great spot to camp with the family.

This is my n=1 experience, but the night we were camping here, our neighboring camp was extremely loud. In fact, so loud and rowdy that eventually other campers called the police at 2AM, and a few of them were actually arrested for civil disobedience and threatening other members of their own party when the police arrived…

There is a ton of road noise coming off of the highway even late at night whenever a big trailer truck comes barreling down the road. You can try to imagine it’s the sound of the water but it doesn’t really work out when it’s off sync with the sound of the waves.

Camp is not close to the beach at all, but the sites themselves were large and spacious, so that is worth mentioning. Clean facilities in working order, but would never return for the aforementioned noise reasons.

You’re camping off the side of a highway for crisssakes!

Another beautiful gem along the California Coast. Although not on or too near the beach, this campground is truly a lovely spot. All or most of the campsites boast a bit of privacy. While parked on asphalt, you actually get not so small, individual area surrounded by low trees and bushes all around. I appreciated being in my own space, as my puppers are huge attention seekers and will bark to make themselves known. But here, they tended their own business (sleeping) and I got some well deserved peace and quiet!

It’s between San Diego and Costa Mesa so both of my daughters can meet us half way. Beautiful scenery love the nature around us and short walk to the beach

This is part of San Onofre State Beach. The campground is situated between the freeway, Camp Pendleton, and the city of San Clemente. Some campsites offer views of the river basin behind the campground. It is full of huge powerlines and you can see some marine facilities. It is a short hike under the freeway to the beach. There is good mountain biking to be had off of Christianitos. The park offers a nature hike with some informational signs.

Spent about 5 nights at San Onofre. It was close-ish To Disneyland and had nice amenities.

Showers were coin operated, but at least Hot.

Biggest con: Dump station cost $10 to use!!

A little drive to beach , not on the beach, closest beach is Onofre and it's mainly for surfers

We like coming here. It’s close to our home in San Diego. Spots are decent sized. Concrete pads for the RVs. Level. Decent facilities and they had a pop up store from 11am to 3pm on Saturday. Selling clothing primarily. Nice hikes near by. ATT cell phone service 2 bars for the most part. This is our second time here and we will come back.

Overnight stay at San Mateo campground to be close to the beach. Easy to get to San Clemente State Beach and the campground parking pass was also good at the beach.

Nice campground ,cell reception seemed poor, children playing in roads , very stressful driving and having kids dart in path of car because parents aren’t paying attention! We did see a ranger who was nice , bathroom okay for campsite but bring tissue and disinfectant just in case, bring water shoes as the beach is very rocky.

Always fun here. Fire at night, ocean sounds all night!

We came here on our maiden voyage with our trailer. Go figure the toilet valve clogged up once we plugged in. None the less, the bathrooms are close by and we made due until the next morning. Went into San Clemente and got a new valve at Ricks Trailer Supply and was back in business. Great place to get away without being to far away. We enjoyed our peaceful time.

$40 for a parking space 1.5 miles from a surf beach.

It has fire pits, flush toilets, and showers with hot water, but it lacks privacy, nature, and the feeling of getting away from the city.

Very quiet and comfortable place to spend the night! The hike to the beach was okay but pretty close to a busy road. Spotty cell service but that's fine by me when I'm camping! Very clean bathrooms. Overall pleasant stay.

Pretty nice camp ground. Clean and quite. Close enough to the beach. Decent facilities and nice hosts/front gate persons. Site was well maintained and fit 3 tents and 3 cars.

Our family had a great time camping at site number 23 in San Mateo campground. Electrical and water hook ups, a great view, and a lot of space to enjoy this one of a kind Campground. Your camp ground receipt permits you to drive down to San Clemente State Beach and park feet from the water with no extra charge. Great mountain biking Just off the main road. Having an E bike allows you to zip back-and-forth to the world famous Trestles Surfing beach, or you can park on the main street and walk in about a quarter mile to this beautiful beach. This camping area is a couple of miles across from the Marine base, and when we arrived there was some live artillery training during the daytime. At first we thought there were thunderstorms in the area🤓

Wanted to camp near Trestles and this seemed like a better option than the Bluffs. The trail to the beach takes about 40 minutes each way. A few times we drove to the bottom of the road and walked from there instead (15 minutes). Feels a little overpriced at $40 a night. Quiet campground.

We recently tent camped here for 5 days, space 138. Since we were here, Sunday - Friday, we didn't get any weekend crowds, and the days we were here, it seemed more 1-2 night use in the spaces around us.

There are pay per use showers, and flush toilets, that were both clean and had plenty of TP.

I think the wood bundles were $8 from the Ranger stop, but we had bought some in San Clemente before hand.

the long hike to the beach is fairly easy, but long, at least 30 minutes walking on a dusty trail. but it was better than trying to find parking.

Lots of kids riding bikes and having fun! I suggest to follow their lead. Bring a bike to explore the loops and trail to beach. Walking the one mile each way to the beach was nice with our dog on leash because the terrain has snake potential. We enjoyed the view in our Skamper pop up from site with Electric hook up site 30. But other Electric sites had good views 24,26,27 and 28. Clean bathrooms. Nice campground will be back.

My favorite spot in the San Clemente area. It's farthest from the beaches, but it's also quietest and the most spaced out. Bathrooms and showers are standard. Want to surf? Walk the short trail for 10-15 and you're set!