Carpinteria State Beach

Easily my least favorite and most expensive campsite on my 2 month cross country camping trip. I camped here 10/15/2015. Tent camping was $45, for a patch of ground that was essentially a parking lot surrounded by RVs. RV camping here is even more expensive, I think it was 60 or 70. Also you are close to the road and there is a train that comes by every few hours which is likely to disturb your slumber.

Beautiful beach, but the lack of hot water showers and the 5 am train were not great.

$35.00 got us no hook ups in the parking lot behind the ocean front spots, but that was fine. We really liked the town and it was nice to see the ocean. I'd find a better place next time we're in the area.

This is a beautiful beach in an urban setting and a favorite place for us to go for Christmas. We stayed in the Santa Rosa loop and the beach was just a few steps from the trailer. $50 per night gets you full hookups and sites are extremely packed in. There is really not enough room to park your vehicle adjacent to your trailer and still use a slide out or awning, so you have to park in one of the overflow lots, and the parking there is limited. Still it's fun and a great place to get around by bike, so bring it.

They really pack 'em in here, each loop has a lot of campers so the noise level on weekends and holidays can be crazy. Lots of families, so lots of kids. Weekdays in January were pretty deserted, so much better as far as overcrowding goes. If you really want the beach and don't need hookups, go farther down the coast to those parks and take your shot at getting a spot right next to the water.

Beach row is no hookups, but you do get water views. However, you need a small trailer in the San Miguel loop (18 foot limit), not sure about the other loops. As other reviewer mentioned, hookup sites can be tight. The Class A next to me one night did not put their slides out at all, no room; the next Class A carefully managed to fit in so they could use their slides.

The beach is the big attraction here - at low tide you can walk a mile or more, and it's beautiful. Lots of pelicans and seagulls, and tide pools at low tide.

If you're looking to get away from it all, then this is not the place for you. If however you're looking to get right up on one of the nicest beaches along the the American Riviera, then you will have a hard time doing better than Carpinteria State Beach.

The spaces are tight and packed, and unless you're here during off-season, it will be packed like sardines. That's OK though, cause there's plenty to see and do in the neighborhood. Carp itself is a wonderful last old-school Cali beach town, with shops and food all within easy walking distance.

With the waves as a constant soundtrack, and sunsets to die for, evenings will not disappoint. Picnic benches, fire pits, sand, and surf. What more can you ask for?

Book ahead -- this place fills up well ahead of time.

We stayed here pre-solar setup, so we ended up in the full-hookup site. You somehow squeeze your camper and truck into two side by side spots, my truck was 6" from our neighbors slide out. It's very tight. We stayed in a 24' max site with our 25' Airstream (it's technically 23' without the hitch and bumper, right?) and it fit just fine.

We stayed in the back row, which isn't on the beach. The sites on the beach are still very tight, but you have the entire beach on one side of your site. There are train tracks that run behind the campground, the train runs often and it's loud. The park is not well maintained, but it has a funky kind of California vibe that makes you like it anyways.

Easy access to shopping, groceries, laundromat, etc.

We loved it, we'd stay there again. If you have kids, go to Padero Beach Grill for lunch or a sunset dinner, it's the most kid friendly place I've ever been.

We were traveling back from Zions and needed a 1 night stay before heading North to Oakland SF bay area. The other beach campsites like Hobson or Faria didnt take reservationis

It was a parking lot and very family friendly. Dogs are not allowed on the beach so bummer for us. The showers were a bit run down and dirty

The town is cute and we were able to walk and get burgers at The Spot. They had an outdoor deck to sit with our dogs.

I've been camping for 20+ years and I think this is the first time I could pass my neighbor a beer without either of us exiting our RVs. I arrived too late to really enjoy the beach; I was just looking for a safe and legal place to park for the night. They charged $45 (which I was told is a discounted rate) for the space. There is zero privacy and zero escape from the neighbor's noise and smoke.

The beach is nice. I can understand why people enjoy coming here, but I wouldn't return even if they paid me. So sad and disappointed even though the staff are all quite nice and accommodating.

We stayed in the Santa Cruz loop with our 3 kids in our 30ft Airstream. It was our Spring Break (mid-April), so I was expecting the campground to be more crowded, and when I made reservations it was almost full, but when we arrived there were a lot of spaces available. We arrived on a Monday and even though the check-in states 2pm, we arrived at 11am and there was no problem getting into our spot. I'm glad we did- it made backing into our spot much easier since a lot of the surrounding spots were vacant.
Speaking of spots- they are very close together, but you probably already knew that if you are researching this campground. Our spot (224) was great though- despite the parking spot being very narrow, we had a fair amount of open space to spread out. The only (very slight) bummer was we didn't have enough space to park our truck (F350, 8ft bed) and had to park in the overflow parking. And honestly, you are at a gorgeous beach in SoCal and space is at a premium. Get cozy and enjoy the scenery! All we had to do was cross the little road, walk over a small dune, and the beach was right there.
The bathrooms and showers were located about 15 yards behind us. The toilets were fine, the showers were decent. Nothing too exciting there.
This a great camping spot for kids. There is a great boardwalk that lines the beach and takes you to the interpretive play area at the North end of the park. My kids loved riding their scooters and bikes around. The neighbors were quiet, and even though we were snuggled up to our closest neighbor by only a couple of feet, it didn't matter.
A note on the weather. Coastal weather is fickle, especially in the Spring. The first day we were there is was insanely windy. The second day was better, but still pretty windy. The third day was perfect. Just be prepared for anything.
All in all, we would definitely come back.