CA camping trip being planned South Coastal areas

We're from So Cal and frequent the area you're heading to. El Capitan is nice, but no hookups. Refugio next door is nice too, but no hookups either. Emma Wood, Faria Beach, and Hobson are choices too. Faria and Hobson are Ventura county campgrounds. Like the other poster said, we prefer to go about another 2 hours north to Pismo Beach when we get the chance.

BTW, McGrath in Ventura is one of our all-time favorites if they ever re-open it.

djgarcia wrote:

John S wrote:
We are planning to go camping after we arrive in San Diego in May and are going to travel North over a weekly period towards San Louis Obispo. We will be camping with a 27' airstream trailer.

Want to stop at some nice campsites along the way. Looking for any and all recommendations from folks who have been there.

Some possible ones we found are: Crystal Cove SP and El Capitan SP. Are these good ones to stay at? Are there better ones in the area? Best campsites to reserve?

John S.,
Personally, I would by pass Santa Barbara as a place to RV on the way up the coast. I would find an RV park in Pismo to use as a home base. All kinds of ocean activities and sight seeing adventures all around Pismo. Santa Barbara is a beautiful area but is typically overcrowded for RVers, and is only 2 hrs. from Pismo for a day trip. Look up Pismo beach on the internet and you will get all kinds of RV visitor activities within a 40 mile radius.
Bring a fishing pole to fish off the pier in Pismo:)

P.S.
I recommend making reservations well in advance for RV parks on the coast areas.

John S wrote:
We are planning to go camping after we arrive in San Diego in May and are going to travel North over a weekly period towards San Louis Obispo. We will be camping with a 27' airstream trailer.

Want to stop at some nice campsites along the way. Looking for any and all recommendations from folks who have been there.

Some possible ones we found are: Crystal Cove SP and El Capitan SP. Are these good ones to stay at? Are there better ones in the area? Best campsites to reserve?

John S.,
Personally, I would by pass Santa Barbara as a place to RV on the way up the coast. I would find an RV park in Pismo to use as a home base. All kinds of ocean activities and sight seeing adventures all around Pismo. Santa Barbara is a beautiful area but is typically overcrowded for RVers, and is only 2 hrs. from Pismo for a day trip. Look up Pismo beach on the internet and you will get all kinds of RV visitor activities within a 40 mile radius.
Bring a fishing pole to fish off the pier in Pismo:)

Above El Capitan but before Flying flags is Refugio state park, neither of these parks have hookups and they also fill quickly for weekends all year round. Across the freeway is a El Capitan private park that is kind of pricey but full hookups and pool or spa I believe. In the Ventura area up in the canyon, rt 33, is Lake Casitas which should be very nice that time of year with dry through full hookups.

Point Mugu State Beach. Just north of Malibu. Dry camping, but you are parallel to the beach. You open your door and step out onto the sand. It's pretty cool.

Remember, you can camp year-round in Cali and May is a very popular month. Coastal campsites will disappear very quickly.
Even for May, the sites could gone in minutes.
Competition for rezzies is super fierce.

I seem to remember that many state park sites can be reserved for May.

Emma Wood State Beach in North Ventura is right on the water, no facilities. They take reservations from May 15 through Labor Day. All CA state park reservations are through Reserve America, there are probably openings during the week and some weekends. The other state parks by Santa Barbara are nice.

San Diego- my choice would be Chula Vista RV Resort. It's a 5 star park in my opinion located at the south end of San Diego bay. It's close to all of the San Diego area attractions.

Heading north your choices may be hard to get into.

San Clemente State Park is nice but only 2 hours north of San Diego.

I would try Rincon Parkway north of Ventura. It's a first come first get county campground right on the ocean. Best views for the money. Boondocking at it's best. If you arrive on Sunday thru Wednesday by 9-10AM you usually can get a spot.

Next choice north is in Buellton. Flying Flags RV Resort. It's a little inland but very nice full hookup park.
Or Jalama State Beach- great ocean camping. Windy... Great burgers at the snack shack. Road to get there is two lane narrow and curvy.

Morro Bay state park in San Luis Obispo area.

Look at www.goodsam.com. You will find every campground listed in Calif. It will also give you all the information about each RV park. You can usually make reservations right on the website.

I would say it will be hard to find availability on any of the campgrounds near the coast reservations go by fast.You mention Crystal cove beautiful ocean view but expensive for a campground that only has electricity and water, no sewer. You could try Santee Lakes not on the beach this one is inland. You also have San Clemente and San Mateo.Th Check them out .Furhter up north is El Capitan and also Carpinteria State beach ,Hobson, Rincon and Jalama Beach County Park Been many times to el Capitan State Beach, nice campground you have a better chance of getting a site here than down the coast near San Diego. Around San Luis Obispo you have San Simeon and Morro Bay State park.Check all this campgrounds under California State Parks.or Santa Barbara County Parks. Happy camping