CampsiteScan

Los Angeles has no beach campground of its own that books through a system we can watch, but it has seven within about ninety minutes, from Point Mugu in the northwest to San Clemente in the south. We check all of them ourselves, several times a day. Here is what each one is actually like, which sell out fastest, and what to do about it.

Everything below books through ReserveCalifornia.

Emma Wood: Ventura’s RV beach

Emma Wood, just north of Ventura, is a row of self-contained RV sites on a dirt lot between the highway and the sand. No hookups, no tents, trains at night. It is the plainest campground on this list and one of the easiest to get, and the surf out front is why people go back.

Point Mugu: the only tent-on-the-sand option

Point Mugu gives you a real choice. Sycamore Canyon is a shaded campground on the inland side of the highway with a walk to the beach. Thornhill Broome is a strip of sites on the sand itself, along the road, with no shade and steady wind. Camping directly on the beach is rare in California, and Thornhill Broome is one of the few places you can still do it from a car. It sells out accordingly.

Leo Carrillo: the Malibu classic

Leo Carrillo puts you in a sycamore canyon at the west end of Malibu, with a walk under the highway to the beach and tidepools at the point. It is the closest full campground to the city, it has shade and showers, and it is the park our own Los Angeles users ask for most. Summer weekends are gone months ahead.

Bolsa Chica: an RV lot on the sand in Huntington Beach

Bolsa Chica is a paved lot for self-contained RVs right on the beach, with the wetlands across the highway. No tent sites, no hookups. It is the closest overnight option to the Orange County towns, and it tends to keep room that the tent campgrounds do not.

Crystal Cove: the view

Moro Campground at Crystal Cove, between Laguna and Newport, is terraced into a bluff where most sites get an ocean view. It is small, it is newer than most state park campgrounds, and it is the prettiest campground in Orange County. Weekends go fast.

Doheny: the family beach

Doheny in Dana Point has a handful of sites close to the sand and a gentle beach that suits small kids. It is the pick for a first camping trip with young children, and everybody else has worked that out too.

San Clemente: bluff sites above the pier

San Clemente sits on a bluff at the south end of town with a trail down to the beach and the pier a short walk away. It has tent and RV sites with hookups, and it is the biggest campground on the Orange County coast, which is why it usually has a better shot at last-minute availability than Doheny or Crystal Cove.

Getting a site once it looks booked

Ten million people live within an hour of this stretch of coast, and Southern California has far fewer beach campsites than it has people who want them. Two things actually work: book the morning the six-month window opens, signed in and ready before the release time, or watch for a cancellation, since sites come back onto ReserveCalifornia at all hours and get taken again within minutes. Our beach camping guide rates all of these parks by how often they sell out, updated from our own checks, and if this stretch is full for your dates, San Diego and Santa Barbara are a different pool of sites with a different set of cancellations.

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