CG? Santa Barbara, Monterey, Eureka, Portland, Sandpoint..

[3LittleDucks]

Need some campground recs for the following areas...
Santa Barbara (close to town, visiting friends/family, maybe Carpenteria?),
Monterey (we plan to spend a day at the aquarium, so maybe 2 nights there?)
Eureka/Redwoods (How is Giant Redwoods RV?)
Our last destination in the US will be Sandpoint, but will likely stay in the Portland area to break up the drive.

Thanks in advance!

[Redsky]

Cheapest RV spot is the Watsonville city park at Pinto Lake. Only 5 minutes to Hwy 1 and another 30 minutes to Monterey. A RV park in Prunedale at Hwy 101 and Hwy 156 that is 20 minutes from Monterey. Moss Landing RV park is right at the harbor and there are 5 good restaurants you can walk to but it will be windy and foggy in the summertime. Same applies to the RV park at Marina.

There are RV accommodations at the Monterey County Fairgrounds right in town and at the Laguna Seca recreation area. The RV setup at the Monterey County Fairgrounds includes full hookups and 50 and 30 amp service and you can walk to the downtown area and the wharf area. It has showers and a coin laundry. Easily the best place to stay while visiting Monterey. The $50 a night rate includes a toad.

[crabbin_cabin]

Sandpoint - take highway 200 east of Sandpoint about 20 miles to Sam Owen cg (USFS) just past the town of Hope and adjacent to "Beyond Hope" resort. A gorgeous part of the country.

[3LittleDucks]

Thanks for the tip, Lake Cachuma looks quite nice. 🙂

[JohnG3]

tres vagabonds wrote:

kalynzoo wrote:
Santa Barbara: FlyingFlags Resort Park in Beulton.
Monterey: Moss Landing KOA, definitely not like a traditional KOA, good location, fully paved, when we were there they did not have any of the KOA family amenities...but I'd go again for the cleanliness and location. Or Santa Cruz KOA, just what you'd expect...clean family location.

Unless they have moved Santa Cruz KOA is actually closer to Watsonville, it is a nice park we have stayed there a few times

Flying flags is at least a 45 minute drive to Santa Barbara. Lake Cachuma is only about 15 minutes.

[tres_vagabonds]

kalynzoo wrote:
Santa Barbara: FlyingFlags Resort Park in Beulton.
Monterey: Moss Landing KOA, definitely not like a traditional KOA, good location, fully paved, when we were there they did not have any of the KOA family amenities...but I'd go again for the cleanliness and location. Or Santa Cruz KOA, just what you'd expect...clean family location.

Unless they have moved Santa Cruz KOA is actually closer to Watsonville, it is a nice park we have stayed there a few times

[kalynzoo]

Santa Barbara: FlyingFlags Resort Park in Beulton.
Monterey: Moss Landing KOA, definitely not like a traditional KOA, good location, fully paved, when we were there they did not have any of the KOA family amenities...but I'd go again for the cleanliness and location. Or Santa Cruz KOA, just what you'd expect...clean family location.

[DaveG39]

You can try Carpinteria State beach or Lake Cachuma for the Santa Barbara area. If you are a member of an Elks Lodge, we have full sevice RV spaces.

[Rocky2]

I haven't stayed at Giant Redwoods RV park but I have used Ancient Redwoods RV park. I found Ancient to be a fine place to stay when I needed electricity. I preferred to stay in the state parks, Albee Creek in particular. Since you are heading north, don't miss Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, just north of Orick before you get to the Klamath River. Top notch area. Even if you do not stay, at least take the Newton Drury Scenic Byway, better than the Avenue of the Giants in my opinion.

[msmith1199]

Link to Laguna Seca RV Park.

If you want to stay here make sure you check to see if there will be a race when you want to be there. If there is you probably won't get a RV site, but if you do you could be in for a very loud stay. But if you like race cars it would be fun.

[msmith1199]

You probably aren't going to find many cheaper RV parks going North, at least not on the coast. The County park at Laguna Seca would be cheaper if price is a concern and it is a nice park.

[3LittleDucks]

Wow, $80 a night but looks like a nice place. Will call tomorrow and find out about availability.

Another option would be to stay between SB & MB, spend the day at the aquarium, have a look around the area then keep heading north a short ways and camp somewhere else..

[msmith1199]

Monterey Dunes Nice park, not too far from the Aquarium, but not walking distance, and right next to the beach. You can't see the ocean from the park as there is a mountain of sand dune in the way, but it's an easy walk to the beach. Oh yeah, and this place is pretty expensive. Last time I was there it was about $75 a night.

There is also a KOA at Moss Landing which is further from Monterey. It's a fairly small park with small spaces, but I like it. It isn't cheap either.

There is and RV park at the Monterey fairgrounds too, but I've never stayed there and there is a County RV park at Laguna Seca Racetrack. I stayed there once, but I prefer being closer to the beach.

Monterey is not really RV friendly. There are just not a lot of RV parks in the area. Don't be fooled by Monterey Vacation RV Park. Even though they have Monterey in their name they are over 30 miles from Monterey and they are right on Highway 101. I've never stayed there and I wouldn't because of the location, but I've seen others on here comment on it and they seemed to like the place.

I'll let others with more experience comment on the other areas.