North Beach Campground

This is a great California State Campground, that is steps away from the ocean and a short stroll into the town of Pismo Beach. No need to get in your car the whole time you are here.

Beachside camping can be hard to come by in California especially at weekends in the summer, but if you are not planning many months ahead you may still be able to snag a site at one of the state beaches during the week. We arrived on a Sunday in May and there were still a few empty spots to be had.

The campground has all pull through spots, with picnic tables and fire rings. No hookups here, but that help keeps the price at a reasonable level. There are showers and restrooms, as well as a dump station. The sites are well spaced out and although there are not many tress, you shouldn't feel like you are too on top of your neighbors.

The best thing about here is the location, a short walk over the dunes and you are on miles and miles of sandy beach. Absolutely beautiful. And you are also no more than 5 or 10 minutes walk from the town of Pismo Beach with restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

This is a really nice campground behind the beach dunes in a small town urban area. It is bordered by sand dunes, a lagoon, and the beach to the West, a private campground to the North, a Monarch Butterfly Preserve and sand dunes to the South and Hwy 1 to the East. It's right between the City of Pismo Beach and the City of Grover Beach, and is part of Pismo State Beach.

The campground is large with spacious pull-through and back-in sites. I've stayed here on several occasions and I prefer the pull-through sites as they accommodate larger rigs. These are dry sites meaning no hookups, but there are water faucets at nearly every site (no threads in the faucets), and there is a dump station right in the campground, There is also another state park dump station a half mile down the road.

The beach is beautiful and dog friendly. You can also drive your car on a portion of it to the south. There is an entrance station on Grand Avenue for this, and your campground pass gets you through the gate for free. Bring your bikes and ride all over downtown Pismo. Take a walk on the pier, do some shopping, go surfing or kite surfing, fishing, hike the beach and dunes, go out to lunch or dinner, and so on.

The one negative thing is there are thieves that come out at night an steal your stuff, so lock things up at night. They especially like generators and will cut through chains and cables to steal them.

When I think of camping on the beach I think of sand and surf. This campground is right next to the beach, but from your site you can't tell your at the beach. The campground area is landscaped with mostly grass and trees and there is no view of the beach from the campsites. If you camp in the row of sites next to the sand dune separating the campground from the beach you will have sand covered with ice plant next to your site.

The sites are not identified clearly and its difficult to see the site numbers when driving through the campground. The site I stayed in was pull through and it was easily accessible. While the pull through sites are convenient they are not huge. My 25 ft Airstream filled the length of the site. The downtown area near the campground just off the 101 freeway is congested with some one way streets and tight turns so look at a map prior to visiting the campground to select the best route for your rig.

Overall the campground is nice with the majority of campers using tents. I did not have time to explore the surrounding area, but the downtown area of the beach town is within walking/biking distance from the campground. I did have time to walk to the beach, its a short distance from most sites up and over the sand dune. The beach area is expansive with great views of the coastline.

I look forward to visiting again.

This is a lovely spot! A spacious, quiet campground with plenty of green grass next to a 100% dog-friendly beach and walking distance from a super cute beach town.

There are no hookups here (dry camping only), but sites are very nice. Flat, paved sites with excellent separation, spacious “sitting areas” and a mix of trees and wide-open views. Back-ins are VERY short (21-25-foot max only) and pull-thoughs have an official 36-foot MAX, but *some* of the pull-throughs can accomodate larger rigs depending on how curved they are and how many trees/rocks are in the way of rig swing as you pull in (we estimated our 40-footer could fit into ~1/2 of the pull-throughs). Beach access is right next door and 100% dog-friendly plus you can walk to downtown (either along the pavement by Hwy 1 or along the beach) and bike/drive to nearby Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande. Another huge bonus is that North Beach Campground does not offer any day-use area and is physically separated (by several miles) from the official OHV area of Pismo (Oceano Dunes SVRA), so it’s nicely quiet and you don’t have to worry about sand traffic.

Minor dings? Showers are pay only and if you check-in while the booth is manned they have a VERY strict 2pm checkin time (you won't be let onto your site sooner). Also extra vehicles cost $5 unless they are towed in, so don't unhook until you get through the font booth.

We came in the off-season so sites were first-come-first-serve and only cost $25/night. In high season you need reservations and sites cost $35/night.

Nice state campground with well-spaced pitches and an easy walk over to the beach.

This is a great campground if you want to stay close to Pismo Beach but it is also very crowded. They allow 3 vehicles per site and many of the sites were taking full advantage of the vehicle policy. The campground and bathrooms were extremely well maintained and the bathrooms offered pay showers (tokens could be purchased near the campground host).

We stayed Sunday through Wednesday in late September 2017 and the campground was full the entire time. Unfortunately we had really noisy neighbors who were watching a TV mounted on the side of their RV and did not respect the quiet hours. We notified the campground attendant the next day and the neighbors were a little better the remaining nights but ultimately these sites are so close together that the courteousness of your neighbors can really impact the experience.

We bought a Coleman Instant Cabin for this trip because we did not want to be bound by California's 55 MPH trailer speed limit. The site worked well for our tent and was one of the shadier sites available but I would not recommend it for a trailer or RV. Cell service on Verizon was good but I don't remember the exact number of bars. The beach is only a few minutes walk away and allows leashed dogs. Be sure to check out Splash Cafe (clam chowder) and Old West Cinnamon Rolls, you won't regret it!

We loved our time at the North Beach Campground! Being just a dune walk away from Pismo Beach was amazing - we took full advantage of the ultra close proximity. The campsites are some of the best we’ve encountered. We were expecting more of a typical campground with rigs right next to each other - but there was ample space in between with lots of trees and shrubs. Neighbors were all great and respectful of the quiet hours.
It’s a dry campground. The dump site and potable water are free and next to the entrance. Each camp site has a picnic table and a campfire. Easy bike ride to Pismo Beach for shopping or eats. Great cell service too!

Terrific little campground! Walk through the dunes to the beach. Very friendly host and campers. A convenience store within walking distance. I only stayed one night on each end of my road trip to the Bay area but would have stayed longer if I could and will return when I can.

First come first serve during the off season, it's still easy to show up at the end of the day and find a site. I'm told it gets booked up quickly once the season opens and being very kid friendly, it's filled with active families during that time.
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I camped here again on July 3rd. And as reported, the place was packed! And full of "holiday spirit." I was told as I was leaving the morning of the 4th that by the end of the day people from all around would be taking the short cut through the campground to the beach for fireworks. If you like that sort of thing, this place is great. I'll stick to off-season visits!

Loved this campsite, nice layout, decent enough shower blocks, hot water and right next to the beach. One thing to mention is price is now $35 per night.
Staff were pretty friendly and helpful. Whilst there are trees around theyre quite small so sites were a little exposed. On our second night we stayed in 76 which had trees to block morning sun.
Nice town, it was actually our favourite area in California!

We were set to camp here but all entrances, drive-up and walk-up are barricaded off indicating that the park is closed for repairs. We chose Pismo Beach State Campground instead and the attendant there stated that North Beach Campground would be closed until June 2019.

I have stayed here in the past and the location cannot be beat! I am unsure of what the construction is that is being done and what changes can be expected.