Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

Purple Sand Beach

I love this campground and have been going to Big Sur since I was a kid. Sadly, they have upped their fees to $50 a night.

The location of the campground is great - nestled among huge trees with tons of shade and right in Big Sur off of Hwy 1. When we first arrived, we were taken aback by the beauty of the park. We noticed a fair amount of trash on our site left behind by other campers. The conditions of the restroom facilities was also very disappointing - lots of trash, wet toilet paper, and mud in the showers. This campground could have been so much better with a little routine maintenance! We may return in the future, but we'll also be looking for alternative options.

Just spent three nights in this Park with a group of families. The location is amazing. Great access to the California HWY 1 coast. Pfieffer beach (Must Visit) is only 4 miles away. Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park is 20 mins south along the dramatic coast road. The drive in from the North is also awesome.

The campsite we stayed in (55) was extremely level and shaded. Easy to get into with our 30ft trailer. It is opposite the toilets and also had a spigot that was threaded (opposite the site) and made filling up your water tanks easy. The site was close to a little store that had everything and a short walk to multiple shower blocks ($1 for 2 mins).

The site is a 30-second walk to the river that was beautiful to swim/float in and a short walk through the campground to the Gorge.

Although it's a large campground, you felt well spaced out.

AT&T cell service was minimal or non-existent. Sometimes at night, some email came through. Our friends with Verizon has slightly better voice service but also limited data.

The campground has a dump station and also fresh water.

This is a large, we'll run, state park in the heart of the Big Sur area. The campsites vary greatly and we had a nice spot next to the creek feeding into the Big Sur river. Which means we didn't pay a premium for a river site. Don't get me wrong some of the premium river sites looked worth the extra dough but many didn't imho.

The sites can be a little close together. Ours was nice as we only had neighbors on one side. Our site was tight for our trailer size and leveling was a challenge. The trees at are site were both a blessing, think 24/7 shade, and a curse, think leaves all up in our awning and our slide. But we loved the trees and the shadey views they provided :)

The park is top notch! There is a lot of amazing hiking available right in the park, the Big Sur river runs through the park, and there is plenty of wildlife to peep at :) And it's a very short jaunt to Andrew Molera State Park, Nepenthe, and more!

The dump station in the park is fairly easy to access and was clean, or as clean as those places ever are...ewww ;) The roads in and out of the park are pretty narrow. This was really the only concern we had when towing our rig in and out...

Flush toilet / water available / bathroom sink / shower available / table / fire pit / easy access / high shade.

It's a big campground, but it needs to arrive early to get a site (around 10:00). Even if there are a lot of people, with bushes and trees we still have privacy. There are hot showers running with coins. Be aware of squirels: they ate our tent making bad holes… The location is good: near to the north entrance of Big Sur State Park. Few minutes driving south, there is a big Visitor Center for maps and information. North of the campground, there are some others (private) campgrounds if this one is full. Ten minutes driving Southn there is the famous Café Nepenthe, and continue straight to the MacWay Falls. We stayed there mid-May, it was cloudy and rainy, but still really beautiful and less crowded.

This is a very nice campground that is tucked away in the woods but it is a bit pricey. Getting a campsite can be confusing. If you reserve online it is $35 plus a reservation fee which I think was $10. However, those were sold out and come to find out only about a 1/3rd of the sites are open for reservation. The first-come, first-served sites again start at $35/night but the river sites are $45 (Don’t miss that) and en route, camping is available for self-contained rigs if all the sites are taken but those will set you back $45 as well and it is just a parking lot.

All sites are in the trees with firings and decent spacing between sites. The restrooms are dated. This area has the southernmost redwood trees although they are tiny in comparison to the giants in Northern California. The river walk is a great way to see some of the trees. The Buzzards Roost trail is also nice but it is steeper than most will like.

We ended up on the coast over the weekend while on a long road trip, which wasn't ideal. No private or public reserve-able sites available, and as it turns out, road closures due to fires and the sheer number of visitors in general meant the NFS first come/first served sites wouldn't have been an option. Got lucky and arrived at Pfeiffer Big Sur just before 2 pm when they release unclaimed sites and nabbed one. No hook ups,filthy picnic table, close neighbors. We were unlucky enough to have a double family group that had no respect for the peace and enjoyment of anyone else next to us, and another loud Kumbayah bunch behind us who stayed up late and got up early. Campfires everywhere and wood being sold like hotcakes while the state is BURNING DOWN. Why anyone would think this was getting away into nature, I do not know. It was a little sad to have this as our Big Sur experience. But the ranger who checked us in was super helpful and my husb said the token shower was decent enough. It's a lovely spot, being loved to death.

Very nice park and in a great location, but no cell or wifi access. Booked a site for two nights but we left after the first night as we needed to be in contact with family.

The RV park store was closed (covid related?) and the larger Lodge that serves breakfast was not open by 7:30 am, so we left to find a Starbucks.

We would have been better off just day using the park which I think costs $10 instead of the $70 plus we ended up spending for the two nights

j'ai beaucoup aprecié ce camping car il est tres calme et surtout au bord d'une riviere Big sur et quand il fait chaud c'est tres agreable de s'y baigner

(Google Translate - French to English) I really appreciated this campsite because it is very quiet and especially on the edge of a Big Sur river and when it is hot it is very pleasant to swim there