Thornhill Broome Campground

It's a strip of nose--to-tail parking spaces wedged between Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean, but it's just what I wanted. Tents on the beach with the surf lulling you to sleep. Traffic noise drops off eventually.

There aren't many places where you can camp right on the beach in Southern California. Tent campers can camp on the beach, and RVers have sand right outside their doorstep.

As the other reviewer mentioned, sites are nose to nose. Since we arrived on a Saturday, I was worried that we'd have to parallel park, but I think that's why you don't get an assigned spot until you arrive. The site the guard gave us was flanked by empty spots so we could easily pull into it.

I deducted the first star because the road noise competes (and wins) with the sound of the ocean waves during the day.

I deducted the second star because we used the water faucets in the campground to fill our trailer, and on our 3rd day, the faucets all had signs that said "non-potable." Was it potable one day and then not potable the very next day?

Oh, and our firewood was stolen and we got ants. :(

I was able to get great Verizon LTE with our booster (23 down, 2 up) otherwise without, it's 3G.

Thornhill Broome is one of many places along the California coast to camp at the beach, but more peaceful than many of the others because there's less highway traffic going by. The PCH at this point isn't very heavily traveled, so it's an easy drive north to Oxnard for supplies, and also southward to Malibu.

The sites are all asphalt, parallel-parked along the beach. If your trailer exceeds 30 feet or so, you'll have to park your tow vehicle perpendicular to the beach or it won't fit. All wheels have to be on the pavement, but some people make stone "ramps" on the sand so their vehicles can hang over the edge of the site.

There are no facilities at all except a few water spigots and portable toilets. You have to plan ahead a little because there's also no dump station and the gate is locked at 10 pm (no gate code). There are no services nearby but it's a 20 minute drive to services in Oxnard.

If you are locked outside the gate one night, there is room to park off the highway. Just don't block the gate and be sure to put a note on your car saying that you are paid at the campground. We did that and managed to avoid a ticket.

The beach is mostly rocky but there is sand too. Waves are often large and there are "sneaker" waves so keep an eye on the water when you're walking nearby. It's not a good place to swim or play in the water but the scenery is good and there's plenty of room on the beach for tents, chairs, etc.

In high surf some sites can flood a little.

It's pricey for what you get, but the location (on the beach near Malibu) is what you're paying for.

Camping and RVing all across the country and this has definitely been one of our favorites. No hookups, $35 right on the beach and dogs are allowed! Enjoyed watching dolphins, birds and even seals and sunrise and sunset. The waves crashing cancel out most of the traffic noise! What a gem! Stayed two nights on the weekend with no reservations in November!!! You can use the dump station at Sycamore Canyon across the PCH!

We camped at this location the 12 &13th of March and the place was almost empty. All we could hear was the crashing of the waves and the smallest amount of road noise. There are 2 locations with toilets that are decently maintained and a spot for you to fill up your water. Apparently you can use the dump at the spot across the street, but we didn’t look into this.

Overall, it was a great experience. Definitely would hit up this area again.

Nothing between your bed and the ocean but rocky beach! The sound of the waves mostly drowns out the traffic on hwy1 which is just a few yards away from all the sites. When I was there in May the beach was too rocky to walk down or play in the water. This park takes in around $60000 a month but not much is invested in it. Really shabby, filthy porta-johns, a few water spigots (that according to the kiosk employee were "pretty much" potable) and dilapidated picnic tables are the "ammenities" all that income provides. I still give it 4 stars because location location location. Great hiking, showers that dont work, and a dump station are at very nearby Sycamore camyon campground in the same state park( Point Mugu).

While this campground is nothing more than a narrow strip of pavement sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway...if you want beach access it doesn’t get much better. As other reviewers have stated, what this place lack in amenities, it makes up for with the amazing beach right out your door! We camped there in mid-March without reservations and had no problem getting a spot. In fact, we never had anyone else in the sites adjacent to us. Be sure to hike the trails across the road. Great views up there.

No showers or dump station, but we were able to get fresh water (although the spigots are not threaded so don't expect to hook-up a hose and fill your tank) and used the dump station over at the Sycamore Grove CG.

Okay, so like others before me...there are lots of cons to this campground, buuuuuut location, location, location!

Cons -
- Right next to the busy road. It does quiet down some at night as traffic slacks off, but you will hear cars all night.

- No amenities - we boondock 90% of the time so we sort of expect to have some amenities when we do pay for a site. There is no dump station, no fresh water to fill your tanks, no showers and only port-a-potties (and obviously no electric).

- Spots are close together. You are nose to tail all the way down the beach and the turnaround at the end has been washed out. Our 24ft motorhome had to do a 5 point turn to get turned around and thankfully we weren't too boxed in. I can imagine this would be a real issue if you're towing (although plenty were doing it!).

- No cell signal - this is a big one for us since I work an 8-5 job where I often video conference. The ranger told us they recently took down the Verizon cell tower at the entrance to the park. We could get some 3g at the day use area (north of the park by about a mile), but it wasn't enough for me to feel comfortable using for Skype calls. We ended up parking at the National Recreation area another mile north before you get to the naval base (30 down/10 up unboosted through the Verizon hotspot). This is the only reason we might not stay at this site in the future - we never felt settled at the campground because we had to commute (with the RV) for work every day - and it's not an easy park to get out of.

Pros -
- You are right on the beach. Literally, open the door and your toes are in the sand. Within minutes of arriving, we saw whales breaching, seals and dolphins. This is the reason to stay here!

- Firepits are provided in the sand for each site and the host sells firewood.

- Hiking just across the road has great views.

We would stay here again when we don't need cell signal.

Okay, so like others before me...there are lots of cons to this campground, buuuuuut location, location, location!

Cons -
- Right next to the busy road. It does quiet down some at night as traffic slacks off, but you will hear cars all night.

- No amenities - we boondock 90% of the time so we sort of expect to have some amenities when we do pay for a site. There is no dump station, no fresh water to fill your tanks, no showers and only port-a-potties (and obviously no electric).

- Spots are close together. You are nose to tail all the way down the beach and the turnaround at the end has been washed out. Our 24ft motorhome had to do a 5 point turn to get turned around and thankfully we weren't too boxed in. I can imagine this would be a real issue if you're towing (although plenty were doing it!).

- No cell signal - this is a big one for us since I work an 8-5 job where I often video conference. The ranger told us they recently took down the Verizon cell tower at the entrance to the park. We could get some 3g at the day use area (north of the park by about a mile), but it wasn't enough for me to feel comfortable using for Skype calls. We ended up parking at the National Recreation area another mile north before you get to the naval base (30 down/10 up unboosted through the Verizon hotspot). This is the only reason we might not stay at this site in the future - we never felt settled at the campground because we had to commute (with the RV) for work every day - and it's not an easy park to get out of.

Pros -
- You are right on the beach. Literally, open the door and your toes are in the sand. Within minutes of arriving, we saw whales breaching, seals and dolphins. This is the reason to stay here!

- Firepits are provided in the sand for each site and the host sells firewood.

- Hiking just across the road has great views.

We would stay here again when we don't need cell signal.

This location is...”ok” in my opinion. There are a ton of rocks in the beach so the kids weren’t able to play in the water. We have Verizon and had no reception. We had to drive a few miles in either direction to get service(it may be a plus to some). Lots of trash found on the beach, fire pits were full and had to be cleaned out for us to lite a fire. You are right off of PCH and get the noise from cars driving by. Since summer is almost here there were a few bike clubs and mustang clubs driving the road.