Best Campgrounds near Santa Cruz, CA

lucky to have good weather and limited wind. beautiful walk in site (about 200 feet from car). other sites were crowded (more of a parking lot) but amazing location with access to beach. if you can get sites 36-38 go for it! tent only for these sites.

Lisa was helpful when making this reservation a few months ago. It went the same way for check in. Prior to check in while enroute we appreciated her call assigning our site and the best way to enter it. 

The site was a pull through as well as our friends who were able to face the opposite way to have a common camp side with us. Of course the utility sides were in great position for that. Full hook ups with 30 amp. (used my 50 amp adapter), no issues.

The RV part is comprised of 80% permanent residents. All rigs look to be maintained and sites without clutter. I was impressed really. I have been to other RV parks with a high number of residents, and it looks like a RV graveyard frankly. From the park you can head about a quarter of a mile and walk or ride the coastal path all the way to the marina or south to the Ritz Carlton. Great ocean views.

Nice campground, not very big. Beautiful views of Salinas Valley and San Juan Bautista. Great star gazing too!

San Ramon, CA. Ok for a night’s stay. Address takes you to main entrance to fairgrounds where a person manning a booth directed us to drive around the fairgrounds to Gate 12 which is entrance to the RV park. Thank goodness there was still a person on duty at the main entrance or we would have not known what to do. We made reservations by phone and staff did not mention that we had to find Gate 12!

Very close to the beach, quiet, excellent friendly staff always happy to help. Had some helpful neighbors for my first time in the travel trailer. They have activities daily and things to do which are sent out daily in a text. The store has many items that may be needed and some souvenirs. It was a great visit!

The atmosphere here is wonderful. It’s quiet and right on the beach. Some RV spaces with hookups back right up to the sand/vegetation. Bathrooms and showers on site. We stayed in a spot without hookups and it was $35 per night. Gate staff was friendly and helpful. No dogs allowed in the beach in the park but a short walk away there is a public beach that is dog friendly, so that was nice for our doggo.

We stayed here for a week due to it's proximity to the beach and Monterey/Santa Cruz. This park is very well cared for, and management responsive. Showers, laundry and store are all clean and well maintained. Sites are close together but paved. Beach is super close and sea life plentiful. Surfing beaches very nearby. We visited in the off season and most local shops were closed, but the fresh seafood and coffee shops were open. Other shopping is a drive away. Sites are tight but paved.

We stayed here for 12 days while visiting relatives in the Bay area. This campground, while in the heart of Fremont, feels remote and safe in spite of being close to town. Sites are not huge, but arranged in such a way as to feel private. It is in the Coyote hills regional Park. There are many many trails for hiking and biking, and wildlife is plentiful. Our RV is small and we used the showers and bathrooms quite a bit. They are cleaned daily and we're always in great shape. The laundry is run by an outside organization, and the change machine was always empty, but everything worked well.

The staff was amazing. Tent site was spacious. Not too crowded. Clean bathroom and shower. Several trails to walk. Close to town in case we forgot something.

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

The coordinate given are Not valid. It is a residential area and not an RV nore an campsite! Reservation per phone with none refondable possibility. Be carefull! Dont book!

High priced. Nice people at desk. Damon who helped us park was very friendly. Almost entirely high-priced big rigs, some of whom seem settled here but it's clean, 'orderly,' very quiet. Rigid rules keep the order; nice that no political flags/signs allowed. 2 dog parks and lots of grassy areas to take for a walk. Showers in locker-room/bldg, bathrooms nice and clean. Green grass. Also has laundry with 2.50 wash and.25 dry for 8 min. Skunk wandered by site in the night. Cool train sounds from nearby tracks at night. Was probably the most convenient to San Jose, otherwise we likely would've been in mtns. and too far away from town for our needs at the time. Would not be a regular choice for us.

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.

Nice bathrooms no tokens needed, hot water, clean sink for dishes. Lotsa shaded oak spaces. Good trails.

The pictures here are very deceiving. Driving in, the first 4 campsites are occupied by broken down trailers, an overturned couch and broken BBQ pits. We stayed in site #6 which was probably one of the best sites. Great shade and car was able to be parked nearby (you walk down non-maintained "stairs" with rotted tree branches as the steps).  

Overall, I had high hopes based on the description here especially reading: "Our onsite staff will go around and enforce the rules." but this is clearly a non-maintained campground that was probably very nice 45 years ago. No hiking trails are maintained, the bathrooms are "rustic" which is fine--nice to have running water when you've got little ones to clean. But the floors were rotted and I was afraid we'd step through the floorboards. 

If you are a true car camper who can lock your doors at night, this is probably the spot for you. Running water, showers and washing machine. If you are a tent camper with small kids like me, this is not where you want to stay. I'm disappointed I paid the price I did to stay here, I'd pay $25/night because this is essentially a parking space in a poorly maintained campground.

Cold. Foggy. No amenities. Don’t go there.

-Coastside Local