El Capitan State Beach

We thoroughly enjoyed a quick, spur of the moment weekend escape from LA. During the offseason, all spaces are walk in (no reservations accepted) and only two of the loops are open. Space 107 is the money spot, right on the cliff with a fantastic ocean view, but also not as much privacy. All of the spaces in this same row (105, 103, 101, 99 and 97) have ocean sunset views with a lot of privacy. Space 95 is on this same row, but is more exposed to the road, Amtrak and highway. Each space has fire pits, picnic benches, tree cover and easy back in. The bathrooms were clean flush toilets, nothing special. The staff was very friendly and the hosts come round with firewood and just to check on you. There is a partially paved pathway along the top of the cliffs and maintained stairs down to the beach and tide pools (pay attention to the tide!). Surf was up and there were some great surfers staying in the campground. You can walk from this campground over to El Refugio Campground. Dogs are not allowed on certain parts of the beach, but when it's so uncrowded, they don't seem to enforce this. The campground did seem to have several homeless folks passing/hiking through, which wasn't a problem but the park staff made it a point to let us know that they were making sure they were monitoring them.

During the summer, reservations fill up as fast as space is available and the whole place is busy with a much different atmosphere.

Spectacular sites overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Woke to wales moving down the coast not very far offshore. Trail and stairway leads down to a narrow strip of beach beneath the cliffs. Awesome for exploring.

California State Parks reservation system is such that someone can reserve a site out from under you from the comfort of their own desktop. Makes it hard stop in for a couple nights. Not just here, but at any California State Parks.

The park staff is also not on their 'A' game, which makes it doubly tough. They failed to post that the site we chose was reserved, which had us having to move the next morning. They also had no idea which sites were reserved or open for the next few days. Their attitude was if they need to move you, they'll move you.

Not much fun moving sites every day. We packed it up and just moved on all together.

Sites were on First Come First Served basis until March 31. Stayed here in a 40' Motorhome.
Was able to snag a nice oceanfront spot on the Del Mar Section. There is no dump station or power, but there is water available.
Bath houses were closed in this particular area during our stay. Got to enjoy dolphins frolicking. Fairly quiet with the exception of a fast train and some road noise. Sunsets were spectacular! There is not much commerce within the immediate area. Nearest town has all your typical stores. AT&T & Verizon Mobile hotspot signal was adequate.

Totally stumbled across this place by chance as we headed home from So Cal at Christmas. No hookups, right next to freeway and train tracks but the view is fanatitic.

We come here nearly every year. The individual sites vary greatly -- the ones along the bluff with a view of the ocean and the sunsets are world class. The ones closer to the rail line and Highway 101 are less than that. The beach isn't the best -- the ratio of rocks to sand is higher than it is at most southern California beaches, but then again it's still a beach, and it's easily walkable from all of the campsites. The beach store is a convenient place to re-supply.

The RV-only overflow area at the far end of the campground is significantly worse than the individual sites. Up higher on the bluff so the view is nicer, but the access to the beach is more difficult, and the RVs are all packed together on a single giant paved parking lot.

Great location, but the spot I was in was hard to back into with my 23' airstream. Also none of the water spouts were threaded on the outside, so I could not fill my empty water tank.

I arrived here in a very rainy winter afternoon. Paid for my spot and left to go back to town to get groceries. I thought I should leave something in the spot to show it was taken so that in the rain a newcomer didn’t have to go back and forth to the ranger only to discover the site was occupied.

I left my camp chair and mini cooler. Neither was fancy. Both were from the thrift store. But when I returned an hour later they were gone.

I asked the person manning the booth if maybe they had taken them thinking they were left in an unoccupied site. Nope. Later an official ranger came by to ask about it, which I thought was super cool of them.

I’ve never had anything stolen from a campsite!! The monetary value of the items was basically nothing, but I thought it interesting that this campground is one of the priciest I have ever stayed in, and this is when something gets nabbed?

Otherwise, my stay was great. It rained the whole time but I managed to get out and explore. It’s pricey but that’s bc of the Southern California location.

Rate: $45 plus $7.99 reservation fee

This is a large camp site. Well over 100 sites and multiple group camp sites. This means it’s kid friendly - and there are a lot of kids. I can see why this is popular with families. There’s access to a very nice, large beach, so the kids can spend the day there - only a few hundred feet away. When I walked around, nearly every site was filled to capacity. Multiple families shared a camp site, so you get the image that this is a packed campground. With 128 individual sites and multiple ground sites, I estimate there are close to 1000 people camping on any given night.

When I checked this campsite using the California Online reservation system - it only showed 3-4 sites open. Of which 2 of them were reserved for handicapped. This morning I walked around my loop (sites 1-28) and counted 4 regular sites open and 2 handicapped sites open. It is possible that people reserved these sites, and never showed - though I find that hard to believe that many people would be a no-show. It makes me a bit upset, as I paid $8 for the online reservation fee - though it looks obvious I didn’t need one. Plus I could’ve picked a site that was more level than the one I ended up with.

I was in site 4 and the online review they said the grade was level. It definitely was not. Luckily it sloped down equally, so I managed to have a decent night of sleep without my head being tilted down. I had no cell service in my spot, though I had service while walking around the campground. The bathrooms are very outdated and likely inadequate for the number of people that stay here. The coin-operated showers have no instructions, so I just put in $1 worth and it allowed me a leisurely shower. The bathrooms really need updating. They honestly look they’re 40 years old. Consider that I am paying $53 for a night and another buck to shower, I was expecting something a tad nicer.

The campground is literally right off the highway. There's train tracks in between the highway and campground, so you can imagine how loud that is when a train comes through.

My experience is California camping is they have large, crowded sites that are expensive. For many - the price is worth it. But if you're just passing through (as I was), it was overpriced and not enjoyable.

The views are beautiful but the sand and beach are full of tar. We went for a walk on the beach, my husband decided to take off his shoes what a mistake. His feet were covered in tar. It is one of the priciest state campsites I have stayed. The campsites Also had quite a few of yellow jackets. Avoid the sites near the 101....it is loud. Don’t think I will return!

We stayed at El Capitan for 3 weeknights in the beginning of October. The campground was about 2/3 full, and we had the most perfect weather imaginable. All 3 days we had excellent views of 3 of the 4 Channel Islands. The park was clean and the bathrooms were reasonably well kept - a bit older, but in good overall shape. We enjoyed some excellent hikes along the coastline. We also took a drive up the road to Refugio State Beach.and walked most of the way back towards El Capitan.

We stayed in campsite 116 with our 5th wheel, and our friends camped in a tent in 118 right next to ours. We really enjoyed our site, as it is surrounded by trees and would be an excellent spot in the summer to keep you cool.