Bolsa Chica State Beach

Spent the night here (barely 12 hours) in preparation for taking in our Airstream for servicing at Orange County Airstream (nice experience there, as well). It was convenient having 30amp and water service at a California State Beach Park! The kiosk attendant and resident host were both very helpful. Didn't get to partake of the sand and sun, but could see that this is definitely "surf city, USA" if one is staying here on vacation. Once caveat: bring earplugs, since the heavily traveled Pacific Coast Highway is a stone's throw from the camping area and even at midnite on a weeknite, it was noisy. Otherwise, get your reservations in early and take in the beach and enjoy the location close to the many Orange County attractions.

It was a parking lot, a beachfront parking lot. That being said, we really liked it. Our site was easy to back into, the walk to the water was close, and we felt like we had ample space to park our camper and truck. The bathrooms weren’t great, not awful, but definitely a bit dirty and seemed to always be wet. There was a really nice paved walk/bike path between the campground and sand. The camphost was really friendly and helpful, he rode his bike around to give us the new gate code (which changes Sunday). This was a pretty basic park, but it was a good spot to stay for a couple days. We had an electric and water site and a dump station was available in the campground. Cell service was great. We camped here for Christmas.

Pros:
The location is good if you need to be around the Huntington Beach area. There's a dog beach nearby (1 mile on a nice bike path). There's also a pretty good brewery down the street - Riip Brewing. Surfing can be had right down the beach.

The restrooms were spartan, but cleaned daily.

Fire rings are available on the beach until 10pm.

Cons:
Highway 1 runs about 40 feet behind the campground. With a 60 mph speed limit and the SoCal car culture, expect to hear the latest in aftermarket exhaust mufflers while inside your rig. We ran our air conditioner just to drown it out.

There isn't much maneuvering room. While the site lengths are generous, good luck getting in or out of the spots. Hopefully you'll have a neighbor that can move their vehicle, or an empty spot across from you. The road that goes down the middle of the campground is just too narrow to be comfortable when entering or departing with larger rigs.

Check-in time is very strict. While the park won't charge you an extra day use fee (like some other CA State Parks), the camp host is pretty particular about the check in time - even if your site isn't occupied.

we tried to book this campground for a month but according to the state ran website it was all taken.
That didn’t stopped us. We arrived here around 8:30am and there were plenty of full hookups waterfront slots available that can accommodate rigs up to 40’.

Plus: The only thing between you and the beach is a bike path and 500 yards of beach sand.
The water pressure and hot water on the showers are amazing. For one token (25 cents) you get two minutes.
The camp staff is very helpful and appear to be happy doing their job.
The campground is close to the HWY 1 but that didn’t bother us at all.
The bathrooms were clean the entire time were were here.

Cons: There are one restaurants on each end of the campground. Both were close the two days we were there.

We love camping there. Close to the bike path you are right there.

Very noisy with traffic on PCH felt like we were camping on the 91 freeway. The camp host & state employees are very nice & helpful just to noisy.

We had to reserve two different spots to get all the nights we wanted, our first spot was a normal one- that back directly up to the highway- so you get a great view of cars flying by and all the noise that goes along with it. You are still close to the beach but you can’t see it at all from your rig our uour space- it just feels like you are tailgating next to a race track.

Our second spot was beach front and a whole different world. You stare out at the beach, ocean and bike bath and hear the sounds of the ocean and the other rigs block the sites and sounds of the highway. It is a much more enjoyable experience.

Bathrooms and showers are part of the state park rather than the campground so you have to use tokens to shower. There is a general store but it was only open on weekends when we were there at the beginning of November.

No dogs allowed on the beach but Huntington dog beach is about a mile away

Stayed here for a week in Nov. Because of our length of stay we had to spend 1 night on highway side. Definitely recommend the beach side.

The spots are very tight and everyone is on top of each other.

The access to the beach is amazing. Way better then any hotel or house in the area. Only thing separating you is a bike path. The bike path is really busy but everyone was respectful of our “space” & we felt very safe.

The hook ups include electric & water with no dump. There is a dump station the next parking lot over but expect to wait in line. Showers and bathrooms were always clean and well stocked.

We stopped here for an overnight on the way home. The spots are tiny and essentially a parking lot. They are back in only with barely any room for tow vehicle. If you have a big trailer there’s no way you’re parking with your rig. We are not on the sand side so there’s a lot of noise from PCH. I can’t complain as we didn’t have a reservation. The market wasn’t open so we had to drive to go get ice. It’s about 3.5 Miles to the HB pier where the nearest 7-11 is. The spots would be worth the fee if you were across from where we are backed up to the sand.

Posted up at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach for five days. Normally we would not stay in a parking lot type campground located on the PCH unless the waves were firing and we were hoping for morning session. Unfortunately, we were in HB so Shon could have shoulder surgery. This campground is convenient for surfers looking for a place to hookup their rigs and enjoy the surf at Bolsa.

Favorite moment - Visiting with old friends.

Nice laundromat on 17th street.

Great tacos at Fiesta Grill on 17th street...say Hola to Carlos.