Four state beaches in San Diego County allow camping, and the number of people chasing a site runs well past what all four can hold. We check each one personally, several times a day. Below is what every park is really like, which ones disappear fastest, and what you can do about it.

All four book through ReserveCalifornia.

Silver Strand: an RV lot between two waters

Silver Strand occupies the slim strip of sand connecting Coronado to Imperial Beach, the Pacific on one side and San Diego Bay on the other. Camping here means a paved lot built for self-contained RVs, so expect no tent sites and no hookups, with either shoreline a short walk away. No other campground sits this close to downtown San Diego, and that proximity is most of the draw. It also tends to hold open space longer than the other three.

San Elijo: the one everyone wants

San Elijo perches on the bluff above the surf in Cardiff, near enough to Encinitas that a taco shop is walkable from your tent. Tent and RV sites with hookups are mixed together here, alongside hot showers and stairs leading down to the beach. Summer weekends vanish months in advance, and among our own users this is the park they fight over hardest in the county.

South Carlsbad: the same idea, a few miles north

South Carlsbad lays out rows of sites along the bluff edge, with stairs dropping to a long sandy beach. It runs bigger than San Elijo, which eases the pressure slightly, and families with small kids tend to prefer it because the beach below is wider and gentler. The same weekends sell out for the same reasons.

San Onofre: surf first, everything else second

San Onofre, sitting right at the Orange County line, works nothing like the other three. The Bluffs campground is a strip of primitive sites above Trestles, one of the best known surf breaks in California. Showers are absent, sites crowd together, and the freeway hums all night. Surfers shrug it off, and so will you if waves are why you came. A short walk inland puts you at the San Mateo campground, which offers more shade, hot showers and quieter nights. San Onofre also carries far more sites than the other three combined, which explains why last-minute availability usually turns up here first.

Getting a site once it looks booked

Two approaches genuinely work. One is booking the morning the six-month window opens, signed in and ready before the release time hits. The other is watching for a cancellation: sites return to ReserveCalifornia around the clock as plans collapse, and they get claimed again within minutes. Our beach camping guide ranks all four parks by how often they sell out, refreshed from our own checks. If San Diego is full for your dates, Doheny and Crystal Cove in Orange County sit under an hour up the freeway.

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