El Chorro Regional Park

Nestled in a beautiful regional park outside of San Luis Obispo, this park is awesome! Great playground, gardens, full hook ups, and we even had room to set up the tent! Biked around the road to the playground (which has a cool climbing structure) and even caught a local baseball game. Definitely made our list of favorites!

Assuming we had Verizon LTE since we loved it so much. Otherwise it would have been a struggle to get work in.

We were searching for a campsite as a base to visit Hearst Castle and the elephant seals near San Simeon. The RV parks in Paso Robles are very expensive; the private campgrounds near Morro Bay appeared likewise. We found the El Chorro Regional Park and what a nice surprise it was. It features fully serviced campsites (electricity, water and sewer) for $35 per night in an excellent location.

Site Location: Excellent

The park is located on Highway 1 about midway between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. Downtown Morro Bay is about a 10 minute drive. Hearst Castle is less than 45 minutes away.

Site Quality: Very Good

There are three loops in the park: Bishop, Chumash and Romauldo. Bishop is unserviced and in an open field. Many of the sites are enormous pull-throughs and reasonably level. Curious, but there is no dump station in the park.

The Chumash loop contains smaller sites more suitable for class B and smaller class C RV's. This is the largest loop containing many trees with a large grassy area in the middle. The lengths given in the park's website are very conservative; you can easily fit a larger RV than noted. Note that most of the sites on the interior of the loop have the services on the “wrong” side if you are in a trailer. They are designed for nose in parking. Most sites on the outside of the loop have the services on the correct side for a trailer.

The Romauldo loop is smaller than Chumash but contains larger sites. Our site was listed as 40 feet in length but we easily fit our 28 ft. trailer and truck in (combined length of about 49 ft.). Most sites appeared reasonably level although some dipped at the rear. There are several pull through sites occupied by large Class A motorhomes. Sites are reasonably spaced with lots of trees and shrubs/hedges separating sites. All sites feature full hook-ups (electricity, water and sewer) and appear to be on the correct side for trailers.

Facilities: Average

Of the 61 sites, 43 have full hook-ups. There is no dump station for the unserviced sites in Bishop loop. The restrooms are bunker style architecture: concrete block including separation between stalls and kind of dark. The showers are pay showers; the restroom is open to the outside so it was cold in December. That said, they were kept very clean by the campground host.

We found this park to be a little gem if visiting the area. Morro Bay is close by and San Simeon is less than 45 minutes away. There is a lovely day use park adjoining which includes a nice little botanical garden featuring plants from a Mediterranean environment (South Africa and Australia included). Note that sites in the Romauldo loop require reservations.

Great facility if you have a rig that will fit. This is largely a park made for yesteryear's smaller, non-slide rigs. Campground (not an RV park) looked to be 3 loops. The first lacked hook-ups. It appeared to be newer due to the lack of mature trees. We needed a site that we could fit our 37' Class A with 3 slides, our CR-V, and rooftop satellite TV clearance. We.found one vacant site that would absolutely have worked. One occupied site that would have. One unoccupied site that might have. Note that we were in the car scouting sites mid-day on a Saturday, intending to come in the following Monday. The perfect vacant site was booked most days for the upcoming two week period. That was disappointing, but the deal killer was the additional charge for a dinghy. $35 for a FHU (30 amp) site in a beautiful campground is pretty good. $15 each day for our toad if we unhook it . . . You must be kidding. For $9 more we booked a deluxe, FHU site (70' x 45') available for our entire planned visit, at a private park in Morro Bay. El Chorro is a beautiful facility, but it didn't work for us.

This campground is landscaped for privacy and has full hook ups or dry camping spots. Its close to down town San Luis Obispo and also close to Morro Bay. There is a botanical garden on site that is nice to walk around and watch birds and a small play ground for the littles.

Its a nice place to stay while you explore the general area and is remote enough to feel like you are in the wilderness of San Luis Obispo. It was quiet while we were there for most of the time but the weekend it was filled up and a little loud.

Some of the spots are a bit small so make sure to pick a spot you can fit in, there is little wiggle room.

This was a great campground for us. It's a few miles out of San Luis Obispo, but still close enough for going to town to do some shopping (everything from supermarkets to The Apple Store). We loved the very natural setting in a county park, with lots of trees and wildlife nearby. There was some persistent road noise from US-1 nearby but it wasn't too annoying. What worked especially well for us were all the places we could walk our dogs nearby. The county park includes a huge fenced dog park (with picnic tables, dog bathtubs, and more) which was less than a 1/2 mile walk along a trail from the campground. There's also a relatively easy hiking trail (some parts are a little steep uphill) which is about a three mile loop from the campground. We were there before the summer season started on April 1, so there was no staff except for the two camp hosts (no check-in, no office, etc.). Our Verizon and AT&T both worked well. The only potential downside is finding a good site for a large motorhome. There are three loops: Bishop (B) has enormous pull-through sites suitable for any sized rig, but has NO hookups (and there's no dump station). Chumash (C) is the prettiest loop but is mostly designed for tents, vans, and very small RVs. There are a few sites in C that can fit a 36-38 foot motorhome. Romauldo (R) is mostly long sites that can fit very large motorhomes, but the sites there are awkwardly arranged, many having large/dense shrubs along both sides of the RV, with the camping space (picnic table, fire ring, etc.) being behind the RV instead of next to it. Many of the sites are also very un-level. We camped in (R) for a few days and had to put three wood blocks under our front tires and leveling jacks, and still weren't quite level. We then moved to (C) when one of the few larger sites there opened up. Would we stay here again? Absolutely! We really enjoyed our stay, and the price was great. We will just be sure to reserve a large site well in advance.

This review is for the primitive loop which is the first loop in the park on the right. There are around 5 looooong pull-thru sites (probably 70ft or more) available and several back-in sites around the perimeter. The other 2 loops have hookups but are tight- not big-rig friendly. There are pay showers available, but we didn't use them.

We had the place to ourselves. The views are spectacular. You can walk down to the ball fields and watch co-ed softball games at night (especially fun to watch if alcohol is involved), continue further and explore the botanical gardens, go even further and enter the largest cutest dog park you have ever seen (all mulched, baskets full of tennis balls, scattered fresh water swimming troughs, shade trees, picnic areas, benches) or continue walking and hit the hiking trails.

You can (and should) drive a few miles into town and grab a beer at Central Coast Brewery. Or TapIt or Beat the Drum breweries. If its a thursday at 6:30pm you should go over to the Farmer's Market on Higuera St. Its THE local thing to do. Amazing food, bbq, roasted corn on a stick, donuts, brats, thai, you-name-it...oh and fresh locally farmed fruits and veggies (See? Not everything I mention will kill you). You can also shop and eat to your heart's content here.

You won't want to leave. So stay awhile!

Came in with no reservations and had our choice of a few full hookup sites. Cost was $40 but $3.50 per night per dog. There are trails and beautiful California scenery all around.

Spots are small. Our 15ft. teardrop is snug in its spot, but there is a campfire/grill and picnic table available, extending the useable space for each spot. We were lucky enough to hunt out a spot with trees, always good in July.

Compared to where we were at the beach, this place is a great find. It's quiet, I can hear birds singing as I type this, and there's a great breeze. The bathrooms and showers are adequate. Cell signal is great, and Starbucks is about a 10 minute drive, so we can get more data heavy work done without driving too far.

Half way between two of my favorite places, San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, this is a fantastic spot to find yourself for a few days. This is one park where the full hook up sites are better than the dry sites. The dry sites have no trees, and are closer to Highway 1. The second two loops with the hook ups have better separated sites and the trees give you much more privacy and you are further off the road.

Some of the sites are big, we had some friends in a Class B+ join us for the night and fitted them in with our truck and trailer no problem. They also have a generous overflow area

You can hike directly from the campground, there's a playground and a public golf course just a short walk away.

Friendly staff are a great bonus and something you shouldn't take for granted given some of our experiences!

This is a great place mid-way between SLO and Morro Bay, feels rural yet close to town. SLO is a nice little college town with lots to do, brew pubs, dining, shopping, etc. Both Verizon and AT&T worked well.

We stayed in the Chumash loop. The sites are a bit uneven. The most difficult part is that hookups on the inside (even-numbered) sites are opposite than "normal" -- that is, when you are facing the site from the street, the hookups are on the left side. If you can pull straight in, that's perfect; but if you back your rig in (trailer or 5th wheel especially), hookups are on the wrong side. Extra-long power cords and water and sewer hoses will fix that.

We arrived on a Thursday, and the place was quiet. Friday and Saturday it was full and noisy, with many large groups of people, lots of them locals enjoying a couple of days out. By Sunday evening, though, everyone was gone and we had the place to ourselves again.

Now to the best part: the dog parks. They are fantastic -- the best I've ever seen. There are, technically, two dog parks, one for small dogs and one for large dogs. Even the small dog park is big, and the large dog park is enormous. It even has picnic tables and a big barbecue if you want to have a dog-friendly, off-leash party. Tennis balls, ball throwers, lots of water dishes, small play pools -- everything your pooch could want. And even miles of hiking trails in the surrounding hills. We had trouble convincing our border collie not to stay here forever.

We stayed here and site hopped a few times from Thanksgiving through Christmas this year. It's a pretty park about 5-10 minutes drive from downtown SLO, and 15 from Morro Bay with a Botanical garden, dog parks, picnic areas and hiking trails. Overall we really enjoyed our time here and would definitely stay again - there's a ton to explore in the area.

Our one comment would be that there were a lot of hosts for the size of the park (4+ for fewer than 80 total sites), but sites weren't really cleaned or maintained between visits and the hosts were never around to sell firewood. On the other hand, we were also never charged the "pet fee" and were there a bit over the max stay, so we benefited from the lax-ness.

Nearest propane is at the U-Haul in Morro Bay.