Best Campgrounds near Pacific Beach, WA

Imagine a world where moss, funguses, lichen and other epiphytes grow upon the living trees in such vast numbers as to be more noticeable than the massive trees themselves. Imagine wandering down the trail in the middle of this mass of life and observe a herd of Elk browsing on this herbivore salad bar. It’s exceptional. 

The campground is within walking distance of many trailheads, and the visitor’s center. During the day, especially on a weekend, this place will be hopping, and traffic to get into the park is backed up for miles. So, plan accordingly. 

The sites are small but well spaced apart with the usual fire ring and picnic table. Check out the parking space limitations carefully, because this campground was developed back in the day before the massive rig trend. Its age makes it nonetheless charming, as we love these classic campgrounds. The bathrooms were recently renovated and offered flush toilets and running water, but no showers (we grabbed a shower for a fee at the general store, campground, restaurant down the road). Freshwater spigots and group dishwashing sinks available near the bathrooms– why aren’t these more regular throughout the NPS system?  We were able to find a reservation with little planning- using Dyrt Alerts! 

Activities abound in this part of the park, road cycling, hiking in the forest, or day trips to the beach areas along the coastal road– just be mindful of traffic. Returning to the campground in the early evening shouldn’t cause too much pain as the worst traffic is between 10am- 4pm. The nearest town with groceries, laundry and restaurants is Forks, about 75 minutes away.

Imagine a world where moss, funguses, lichen and other epiphytes grow upon the living trees in such vast numbers as to be more noticeable than the massive trees themselves. Imagine wandering down the trail in the middle of this mass of life and observe a herd of Roosevelt Elk browsing on this herbivore salad bar. It’s exceptional. 

The campground is within walking distance of many trailheads, and the visitor’s center. During the day, especially on a weekend, this place will be hopping, and traffic to get into this part of the park is backed up for miles. So, plan accordingly. The sites are small but well spaced apart with the usual fire ring and picnic table. Check out the parking space limitations carefully, because this campground was developed back in the day before the massive rig trend. Its age makes it nonetheless charming, as we love these classic campgrounds. We were able to find a reservation with little planning- using Dyrt Alerts!

The bathrooms were recently renovated and offered flush toilets and running water, but no showers (we grabbed a shower for a small fee at the general store/campground/restaurant down the road). Freshwater spigots and group dishwashing sinks available near the bathrooms– why aren’t these more regular throughout the NPS system?  

Activities abound in this part of the park, road cycling, hiking in the forest, or day trips to the beach areas along the coastal road– just be mindful of traffic. Returning to the campground in the early evening shouldn’t cause too much pain as the worst traffic is between 10am- 4pm. The nearest town with groceries, laundry and restaurants is Forks, about 75 minutes away.

This Olympic National Park Campground along the Washington coastal route is highly coveted, and frequently packed. If you’re lucky enough to get a reservation, or a cancellation (see the Dyrt Alerts), you’ll be treated to some of the best sunsets that the Olympic Peninsula has to offer, if you don’t mind a little traffic noise. 

Many of the campsites are tucked away under the spreading canopy of trees and moss, and little sunlight filters in. While others face the ocean and have more expansive views of the sky. We were lucky to grab one of the latter and had plenty of open sky for solar power and satellite internet. 

The bathrooms offer clean flush toilets and sinks, but no showers. The sites all have the typical picnic table and fire ring, but pay close attention to size limits within each site on recreation.gov because the sizes vary widely as does the space between sites. 

Activities abound in this park of the park, road cycling, nearby hiking in the forest, or miles and miles and miles along the wide sand beach. The shore is quite shallow here so the tidal flats are very wide. Many different beach access areas within a short drive bring you to different types of beaches, some with sea stacks, stellar tide pooling rocks and backcountry trails.  Head to the Kalaloch Lodge for a tasty dinner out!

Many NPS Park Ranger programs meet at these different beach locations. The Hoh Rainforest Visitor’s Center is about an hour and 20 minutes from the Campground. Also be aware of the traffic congestion at any of the visitor centers in Olympic NP, which can have you waiting for several hours to get into the park. 

The nearest town with groceries, laundry and restaurants is Forks, about 45 minutes away, but the nearby Kalaloch Lodge served an excellent table, reservations suggested.

This Olympic National Park Campground along the Washington coastal route is highly coveted, and frequently packed. If you’re lucky enough to get a reservation, or a cancellation (see the Dyrt Alerts), you’ll be treated to some of the best sunsets that the Olympic NP has to offer, if you don’t mind a little traffic noise. 

Many of the campsites are tucked away under the spreading canopy of trees and moss, and little sunlight filters in. While others face the ocean and have more expansive views of the sky. We were lucky to grab one of the latter and had plenty of open sky for solar power and satellite internet. 

The bathrooms offer clean flush toilets and sinks, but no showers. The sites all have the typical picnic table and fire ring, but pay close attention to size limits within each site on recreation.gov because the sizes vary widely as does the space between sites. 

Activities abound in this park of the park, road cycling, nearby hiking in the forest, or miles and miles and miles along the wide sand beach. The shore is quite shallow here so the tidal flats are very wide. Many different beach access areas within a short drive bring you to different types of beaches, some with sea stacks, incredible tide pooling rocks and backcountry trails.  Head to the Kalaloch Lodge for a great dinner out, then walk along the beach at sunset.

Many NPS Park Ranger programs meet at these different beach locations. The Hoh Rainforest Visitor’s Center is about an hour and 20 minutes from the Campground. Also be aware of the traffic congestion at any of the visitor centers in Olympic NP, which can have you waiting for several hours to get into the park. 

The nearest town with groceries, laundry and restaurants is Forks, about 45 minutes away, but the nearby Kalaloch Lodge served an excellent table, reservations suggested.

This app shows the campground is full. It is not. During September through May, it's first come and first served. We arrived on Saturday around 1 PM and found a few open spots. It's located above the bluff overlooking the beach and easy to walk down to the beach.

South Beach Campground across the road was closed so I drove up the gravel road here a bit. Not many spots but if all you need is a place to park and sleep then you’re good. No amenities, but a place to park and sleep. Definitely stop at the campground picnic area and hike in 2 minutes to see the ocean. You’re up on a bluff and it’s beautiful

Have been coming here my whole since I was a kid. It’s one of my favorites and they got hit hard with the heavy rains. No wind but man it was muddy at our site

The road was a little rough but my suv made it fine. No signal and got a little snow on the roof in the morning but it was a good spot with a great view.

Our friends have stayed here a few times for razor clam digging and seemed fine with it, so we tried it. We stayed 2 nights during a mid-November clam dig. There is a string of long-term campers and a string of short-term spots. It was really empty, so there were no close neighbors. I could see how it would be overly snug during a busy session with how close the sites are together. You literally have enough room for a slide out and 5 feet or so to the next site's picnic table. The covered fish cleaning station was very nice to clean clams. It's an older looking campground but we were happy with it.

Drove about 1 mile down the road and it was closed off. A couple of pull offs that were super muddy so didn’t bother. South Beach Campground just down the road is also closed.

Such a beautiful view, hard to beat! clean bathrooms and everyone was very friendly. Lots of little trails straight to the beach. Great place to watch the sunset and have a quiet campfire

Not a bad find that doesn't require any permit of any kind which was great! Would stay here again I pitched a tent which was nice and found a spot right by the river.

This campground is part of the Olympic National Park, it’s FCFS only, and very bare bones. There are flush toilets, but no sinks or showers or water spigots- don’t forget to bring your own water! 

It’s $20/night, and you pay when you arrive after you select a site. You pay either via a QR code with PayPal or a credit card(if you have cell reception), or fill out your credit card information on a slip that you drop in a deposit box. No cash and no checks accepted. No campfires allowed at this time. The ATT phone had decent reception, the Verizon phone was very weak and basically unusable. 

There is a row of sites along the edge that are the primo sites- full ocean view. Everyone else can make do with the ocean views they get from in between all the other campers. The waves are calm and steady all night, very relaxing and nice for drowning out generator sounds. There are trash bins but no recycling bins. Each site is attached to a numbered picnic table. If there’s no free picnic table then it’s not a site (we were confused by this big open area that would have easily fit us, but it wasn’t actually a site. Look for the picnic table). 

There is a host on site. There are trails down to the beach, after climbing over driftwood and rocks, but otherwise no trails or hiking or anything else to do directly from the campground. We stayed one night.

Just about 10 miles north of highway 12 near Elma. Got a great site right by the river. Nice toilets & showers (in old building so was pleasantly surprised!) wifi by information center, cell coverage limited (1 bar t-mobile with Weboost)

Wife found this place on internet.
You pay a $5 “road use” fee to access the property. You drive down to a huge gravel bar solidly packed down. There are many sites right next to the Hoh river, and it’s beautiful.
We talked to some great other campers and had a peaceful stay.

Wonderful spot to wake up next to a river. Need to be mindful of other campers in the area. Met a friendly dog. Looks like an ok place to float down the river 😉

The layout of this campground packs sites too close together. It feels more like tailgating in a parking lot than camping. Other than that, this park is pretty great. It's a very short walk to the beach and a stone's throw from Westport. It's even got some decent trails for hiking around a bit. The bathrooms are pretty standard fare for state Park bathrooms, however, the free showers were a great plus.