Camping at Carlsbad State Beach is unmatched…read more This campsite offers the best of both worlds: city life + beach life. It sits right on the ocean bluff with two sides, bluff-side (oceanfront) and streetside. Obviously bluff-side is preferred, but staying on the streetside is still a treat. A few things I love about this camping experience: - They allow all forms of camping. Tent, RV, van, etc. - The site has clean bathrooms and warm showers. Just be sure to purchase tokens at the front for the shower. - Dog friendly! You can bring your pet along but they must be on leash and aren't allowed on the beach. - Carlsbad has the most captivating sunsets, and if you're lucky, you'll even see a few dolphins. Truly the most memorable 32nd birthday activity with all my favorite people.

Carlsbad is a beautiful city with a lot of nice restaurants and little shops so I opted to try the…read morebeach here today rather than Oceanside where I usually go. I lucked out and found a super close parking spot in the neighborhood across the street. The beach itself was VERY short compared to sand length at other beaches so people were almost on top of each other. There was a pretty intense drop off about half way down the sand so it limited space for people to put down their stuff and lay out. I'm not sure how normal it is at this spot but there was a TON of rocks. It was way too much to be able to enter the water without having them beating your feet and ankles. My friend was bleeding after trying to check out the water. The surf was also a little intense that day so I'm wondering if that had any effect on the rock situation? This was a very clean beach with restrooms at the bottom of the ramp from the street so it did have that going for it but we decided to leave and head for a beach where we could safely go into the water that day. I'll have to come back another time to get a better idea.

I've driven past Paradise by the Sea for 45 years and never paid any attention to it. Living so…read moreclose, my wife and I decided it might be a neat place to try with our Class A motorhome. We spent 3 nights here in August of 2026 and were delighted that we did. It's an oasis in downtown Oceanside. The staff are delightful, the resort is very will organized and well maintained. There's a locked gate to enter a very short path to Buccaneer Beach. Spaces are concrete paved and the utilities are perfectly positioned. My only comment would be that there's not much room between spaces so it's tight, but still very maneuverable. Keep in mind, this is prime real estate close to the beach, so it's expected that they need to make the best use of their acreage. Paradise is a very neat place to get away.

When we pulled into the driveway (after hours) we were greeted by August who got us all of our…read moreimportant info for our stay. He got parked on our pad and we were set. The facility is extremely well taken care of and walking distance to public transit which we took to the SanDiegoZoo. The bathrooms are clean, the pool and spa are sparkling and the onsite store is stocked with necessities. The laundry is open 24hours, super clean though I don't use the facilities. We will be back as soon the summer hits. Walking distance to a beachy peninsular area. Onsite cornhole, chess, & connect four are in the hang area. There are trains all day long but never found it to be a major issue. The loudest noise is the duly and diesel trucks that are onsite inside camp. You can hear the ocean mostly. Definitely will be rebooking in the summer

We rented a RV for a couple of days with our family and our dog. Check in and check out was super…read moreeasy. The RV was old but very well maintained and clean. We've interacted with several staff members and all of them were nice, extremely helpful and accommodating. The lake had beautiful views of the mountains and everyone had a great time. During the summer weekends, they have water play for the kids. There is a playground, volleyball and basketball courts and plenty of paved roads to ride bikes or scooters. The RV itself said it accommodates 6 people but personally I think it's good for 3-4 people. If you're very tall, the beds will be cramped for you. Everything you need is provided. Just bring your own food and drinks. There is a market at the entrance to buy some snacks, ice cream and drinks. All in all, we were very pleased with the campground and the great people working there. Highly recommended.

I rented the eagle crest premium camping cabin from Wednesday until Saturday. There's WiFi, private…read morebathroom, air conditioning, and TVs with the premium cabins. There is a portable Ac in the living room and a window ac in the bedroom. My child slept upstairs in the loft bedroom. The main issue is that you can't run both the portable and bedroom ac at the same time because it pops the breaker. The window ac is very noisy and makes a rattling sound. Don't even try to use the toaster and ac at the same time. It was 90s during the day and still very warm at night. It was an inconvenience not being able to run both AC units at night. They provided towels, toilet paper, soap and pans but no hair dryer. The groceries at the market are extremely expensive. Best to buy all your food at the stater brothers down the mountain to the campsite or go to the grocery store in Idyllwild. I rented the pontoon boat for fishing and that was my favorite part. It was so relaxing to cruise on the lake and enjoy the beautiful Mountain View. We caught a very large cat fish with the night crawlers. I recommend coming in the spring or fall to avoid the extreme heat during the day and bring all your food with you to save money. Come during the week for a more peaceful experience once Friday night hits, lots of families are arriving. Theres cafe in the market that has pretty good food but they have odd hours during the week. Idyllwild is a 15 minute drive with fun quirky shops and good restaurants to explore.

Excellent campground on the bluffs. Wonderful beaches below that are easily accessible. Just down…read moresome stairs. The campsites themselves are huge. Plenty of room for your RV, trailer or tent. Plenty of room for multiple if you want to share. We were in site #108 on the outer edge with HWY 101 just above us. There was road/city noise, but we all became accustomed to it. The loud train crossing warnings and trains going by at night took some getting used to. The facilities are well maintained. The bathrooms were relatively clean. The showers need more hooks to hold your stuff. Showers run on tokens. One token gives you two minutes. The water gets hot fast and the pressure is good. Tokens are two for $1.00 at the main entrance. It is ridiculously difficult to get a reservation. Jump on-line six months in advance and keep at it. Calling usually yields very little success. If you can get lucky and get a spot, I totally recommend it!

San Elijo is a great beach and a great campground. During low tides, you have plenty of room to…read moreplay and the kids love it. There's a section of the beach toward the south where dogs can play totally legal. The only thing I would worn at this time of the year would be stingrays when the tide goes out it gets very shallow around the rocky parts and that's when you wanna be really careful. I got bit about a week or so ago and thank goodness that Macy was there as a lifeguard. I had my foot bleeding in a boiling water pail for 45 minutes, and then she told me what to do to get antibiotics and start them right away. It was really a great thing that a lifeguard didn't have to do but did.

Walked through here to get to the hiking trails, everything looked clean and well maintained, no…read moretrash anywhere. It was hard to find where to leave payments and the "camp host" was not around. Maybe set up a more convenient payment process with QR codes to pay electronically. We were the only people there in the couple hours with another couple on the way out when we got there. It was an enjoyable hike with convenient signs marking all the different paths.

This campground was great! Very quiet, clean, and has pretty views of the mountain ridge. I arrived…read moreon Friday around 1pm, the campground was still very empty; fellow campers didn't start arriving until Saturday afternoon. The entire campground was clean, restrooms were clean for being outhouses, and everyone was very respectful. I took out the wild horse trail which was 4.5 miles out and 4.5 miles back to the trailhead. Trailheads are literally walking (steps) away from my site. Gorgeous views out here!!!

This is an RV owners nightmare. We moved in August this last year 2025. The first thing that…read morehappened was immediately upon plugging into their electrical source things started blowing in our RV our air conditioner went out our refrigerator went out multiple Outlets were blowing we had no idea what was going on and thought that it was something electrically with our RV but upon plugging in a surge protector and after $3,000 worth of reviews we discovered that their electrical source was miswired see the photo below it had what's called reverse polarity. We notified the manager of this situation but by then had thousands of dollars worth of damage to our coach it took them over 2 months to repair the situation and weekly complaints. My wife had just started a new job in the area and although we really liked the trees in the space the damage to our coach was now substantial and was going to cost us a lot to repair. It was at this time that we discovered that the management here was very uncaring and unconcerned about the damage to our coach caused by their faulty electrical wiring so we posted our first negative review and then the managers began to retaliate against us. We discovered that the the managers have had these electrical problems for a long time and that many of the residents here have had damages to their coaches as well some of them have had so much damage in fact that they can't afford to move many of them are elderly and they don't have the means to move or their trailers are too old to get into a nicer Park so Palm View RV park is run by slumlords and owned by Anthony Delcao and he is a horrible human being. Manager's names are Teresa Porter and Keith Porter and they are drug addicted slumlords that bully tenants don't furnish you with legal leases have unsafe electrical supplies and basically are cheating these poor people out of their money running a trashy little RV Park stay away from this park it's dangerous to hook up here and if you pull up and hook up you might not ever leave.

I stayed there in a tent and it was a wonderful experience. They had bathrooms and showers that…read morewere available 24/7 which was very nice. They had a very clean pool that was available to swim in and it was so refreshing. The managers were very professional and courteous! I would definitely stay there again when I come to California!! I would definitely recommend and refer people to say here at this campsite! The campsite was very clean and the people that live there are very nice! 5 stars

Nice beginner destination for a backpacking trip…read more Likes: + Great view of Altadena/Pasadena and the LA county. Maybe you can spot Catalina or the Disney fireworks at night in the distance. + Pleasant getaway from town. Quiet, peaceful nature ambience. + A couple firepits for roasting your food with friends. + Great Mt Wilson with access to the giant 60-inch and the 100-inch Hooker telescopes. A hike you can do in a day. A camping/backpacking trip you can do in day & night. + Trails are wide and well defined. Non-likes: - The water spigot here runs extremely slow. I recommend packing your own extra water. - Restrooms running low on toilet paper. - Cosmic Cafe only open Apr-Sept 10am-5pm, and 10-4pm late Sept-Nov. If you walk farther uphill about 1-2 min, you'll find the white lavatory. Restroom stalls are more spacious than the auburn one. The water fountain and the water spigot there run fine and strong.

What goes up, must come down…read more This hike was a moderate 3 mile hike up and around the San Gabriel Mountains, but so much easier to trek back down. Although we did an extra mile after missing the turn and ended up hiking a total of 7 miles; it wasn't too bad. I only hike about once a month, so I took a few breaks along the way up so it took us about 3 hours roundtrip. The hike starts at the Eaton Canyon Nature Reserve after parking on the street along Altadena. There's parking in a lot as well but I find it easier to park on the street than finding a spot during peak hours. We started the hike by following the Eaton Canyon Falls trail, then veered onto the Walnut Canyon trail, and then followed the Old Mount Wilson Toll Road the rest of the way to the campground. There's some shade on the hike but not much so I wouldn't hike this during the Summer. We did this on 12/2/18 in 64 degree weather and it was perfect. We saw some people that did a one night backpacking trip so it's an ideal spot to practice for longer trips. There are bathrooms but they were locked when we were there and there is no water. There are also lots of tables available so pack a picnic and enjoy the view. Directions I used. If you see a white bridge on your way back, you missed the turn like I did and just did an extra mile. https://modernhiker.com/hike/henninger-flats/

Loved camping here with my family highly recommend! The best part is during the summer the pool is…read moreopen with activities for the kiddos!

PROS: Disc Jockey on Thursday, live entertainment on Sat and Sun. Excellent entertainment! Great…read morebar and food. So much for kids to do. Beautiful mountain views and trees. Pretty lights near the entrance. Thank you for investing in the path to the lake. My husband and grandson were so happy to finally fish. CONS: Staff in the check-in area (gift shop area) need to be nicer to paying guests. Linda, in particular, was so rude to me because I asked when the kids' craft would start (since it was 1.5 hrs late and no staff had shown up). She started talking about me when I walked away. The campground is completely rundown. The turf on the mini-golf course is torn and bumpy; the numerous water features are dry; there isn't a single umbrella in the pool area for guests; the wooden benches are termite-infested and broken; and all the wood on the outside of the buildings is damaged by woodpeckers and heat. Basically, it looks like they spent a lot of money setting up the site years ago, but never invested in its upkeep.

We had an amazing glamping experience and would definitely stay here again! Shantel was incredibly…read morefriendly and helpful. She met us on our first day, made sure we were settled in, and checked that we had everything we needed throughout our stay. The setup was in great condition, and the campsite itself was so much fun. We especially loved the hammock, all the shade, and how well-stocked everything was. They truly provided just about everything you could need except food and clothing, which made packing and camping so much easier. There was plenty to do around the campground, and we had a fantastic time exploring and relaxing. The only downsides were that a couple of the campground showers were closed and the bathrooms were a bit of a walk from the site. We were also a little disappointed that the zipper on the tree tent was broken, so we couldn't sleep in it. However, that didn't stop us from enjoying it during the day, and it certainly didn't take away from the overall experience. Overall, this was a wonderful glamping getaway, and we can't wait to come back!

Highly recommend. Shantel was very responsive and helpful…read moreduring our stay. All cooking and sleeping amenities included. All we had to bring was our own food and drinks. 100% will be back.