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4.5
5 votes

Anthony Chabot Regional Park Campground

9999 Redwood Road, Castro Valley, California 94546 USA

Free
Free to Visit
  • Independent
  • Credit Cards
    Accepted
  • Pet Friendly
  • Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
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“Outdoors & Recreation in Castro Valley, CA”

Camping and a wealth of other outdoor activities are available at the East Bay Regional Park District's Anthony Chabot Regional Park.

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Reviews of Anthony Chabot Regional Park Campground

32 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.0 Access
4.7 Location
4.7 Cleanliness
4.4 Site Quality
4.6 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G/5G

Confirmed by 19 users | Last reported on November 02, 2022

AT&T 4G

Confirmed by 13 users | Last reported on April 09, 2022

T-Mobile 4G

Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on April 09, 2022
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Reviewed by
Campendium

September 02, 2014
Rated

We stayed here four nights to test out our new Airstream and visit some friends and family who lived in the East Bay. While it's a bit of a small, curvy road (only 6.5 miles from Skyline Dr, but it takes 20 mins or so), several people came out to visit us to enjoy the sunset through the Eucalyptus Grove as the fog rolled in. We took some nice hikes down to the lake (the sites 69-72 look down over the lake). Lots of families, youth groups, "groups of youths" but all well behaved and a great experience.

A note, our site was pretty sloped. Took 5 blocks on one side to level us out!

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 63

4 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

November 23, 2014
Rated

We had an appointment in San Francisco and were disappointed in the quality and price of other places to stay in the area. We found Chabot, made the reservation online and were completely happy with our decision when we got there. It's located on a hilltop in the East Bay but feels very remote even though it was only 45 minutes to downtown. There are 70 miles of paths for biking and hiking, a lake and golf course. The staff was very friendly and patrolled the park frequently keeping an eye on things. There was water and sewer at the site which was only moderately level (needed 3 levelers) and we got great TV reception from the city. Cell and internet were fine in the park, but there was nothing on the 6 miles down to Castro Valley. The biggest negative was the gun range adjacent to the park which operates Friday - Monday from 9 am to 5 pm daylight permitting. It was very loud and detracted from the peace and quiet of the park. It seemed a bit inconsistent to put a gun range next to a place where folks camp and from looking at the Gun Club's website their lease may not be renewed. Will definitely stay here again when in San Fran.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 1

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
3 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

December 10, 2014
Rated

This campground is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Area , you need to take a bit of a windy tortuous road from Castro Valley or Oakland. If you are in the area and interested in spending time in San Francisco the excellent BART light rail system has a station 15 minutes from the campground. This is by far the best way to get into the city.
They have a few RV sites with full hookups. These sites don't have lake views but they are spacious and shaded. For lake views you need to be in the main dry camping area.

A big bummer about this campground is they have a curfew. This was a big deal for us as we were mainly in the area to meet-up with friends and would definitely scupper plans for a night out in San Francisco. They close the gate at 10pm and the gate is a long way from the campground, so you don't have an option to park and then walk.

Still this is my favorite SF Bay Area park because it is a great location, with large sites and is near to public transit. The curfew is what would make me explore other options though. .

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3 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

Reviewed by
koosdeheer

  • 16 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
December 13, 2014
Rated

We really love this place. We are used to roughly two kinds of campgrounds: those having a great nature feel to them, but no hookups, and those that have full hookups but look more like a giant parking lot. This campground has a number of sites with full hookups and it is very lush and green and well laid out. The sites are far enough apart for privacy and there is a lot of shade.

It is not far from San Francisco and the BART is nearby. A few smaller cities are very close. Still you have no idea that you are anywhere near a city when you are on the campground. The only drawback is the gate that closes at 10PM. The gate is so far from the actual campground that parking outside and walking to your campsite is no option.

Access is by a long and winding road. The roads on the campground itself are a bit narrow and have tight curves and go up and down quite steeply. We tow a 34' Airstream and we had to very carefully navigate a few big trees to get the trailer into our site, but we were very happy with our spot. And those same trees provided nice shade, so we did not complain :-)

We were there during the week, so we did not experience any noise from the shooting range.

We would definitely camp here again.

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koosdeheer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 12

3 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Reviewed by
leighwetzel

  • 309 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
November 12, 2015
Rated

If you're coming from the north, it's a long and windy drive to the park entrance. It's much quicker from Castro Valley.

This campground is beautiful. Sites are far apart and surrounded by eucalyptus trees. We regularly saw a coyote and turkeys.

The gates close at 10p which really puts a damper on going out. The drive to the Castro Valley Bart station plus the train ride into the city totals about 90 minutes. To be safe we'd add another 30 minutes on top of that which means we have to wrap up any socializing by 8p.

Cell service is spotty throughout the campground my speedtest.com results from site #10:

AT&T - DOWNLOAD: 4.60Mb/s, UPLOAD: 4.03Mb/s
Verizon - DOWNLOAD: 5.03MB/s, UPLOAD: 1.13Mb/s

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 13

Site Number: 10

4 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

Reviewed by
annandjohnglaves

  • 22 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
January 20, 2016
Rated

This is definitely a destination park even though we only used it to visit friends in Oakland. As everyone else has said, the 10pm curfew wouldn't be so bad if the gate wasn't about two miles from the campground. There are 12 sites with full hookups. Our site 8 was paved and level. Very nice. The bathrooms are kinda different. Partially open air. On a rainy, windy day it might be a little uncomfortable.
No wifi is kind of a pain. But the over-the-air TV reception was great.

And it's an absolutely beautiful location, which we didn't even see until the moment we left when the sun appeared. We will definitely be back.

P.S. Luckily, the ranger gave us a handout with phone numbers if there was noise after 10pm.
On Saturday night there was a very loud party two sites from us. A quick call took care of it right away.

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 8

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

January 26, 2016
Rated

I'd agree with everything the other reviewers have noted, except for the connectivity via Verizon. It seems to vary quite a bit by site location. In some places we had calls dropping frequently, and from site #5 data connections were extremely poor, often falling back to 1x with low speeds, even with a rooftop antenna and Wilson booster.

Our visit was during the peak of El Nino storms, which may have been a factor. It definitely affected the electrical service in the park. When the rains arrived the power went out repeatedly. My external power protector (a Progressive Dynamics unit) cut the electricity several times because of unsafe conditions including an intermittent open ground, and high voltage (>132 volts). I reported this to the campground but they could do nothing until the electrician arrived after our visit.

On the last day the circuit breaker on the campground pedestal simply tripped off whenever anything was plugged into it, so we gave up and relied on battery for the last 24 hours. (I tested the power at another campsite and it had the same problems.)

All of the sewer outlets have been labeled with signs warning you to open dump valves only partially. Apparently there have been sewer problems. We had no trouble with that.

This is still the only really decent place to stay in the Bay Area (even with the winding road and 10 pm curfew), so despite the problems we'd probably stay here again if we needed to be in the area.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 6

Site Number: 5

2 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

March 06, 2016
Rated

A nice park with located atop the rolling Oakland hillside, with decent access to San Francisco. Accessing from the East Bay is pretty easy and would serve as an convenient base, however access to Peninsula and/or coast is quite far and would a huge hassle on any regularity.

RV campers have choice between full hook-up or primitive campsites. Hook-up sites are close to campground entry and decently spaced, whereas the primitive campsites are spaced much closer together.

I very much like this park, but would highlight a few things in particular:

- Chabot gun club is out of visual range from the campground, but close enough to hear. The gunfire can be quite loud at time, especially over the weekend.

- Sewers are old and easily back-up ... which I discovered first hand, and likely much to the annoyance of neighboring campers. Emptying tanks must be done very cautiously.

- Sites 1-4 are isolated from the rest of hook-up sites, and I think it is the best loop in the park.

- Sites 1-4 offer the best data coverage. I found Verizon (voice and data) to be poor throughout the park, but AT&T was fine, especially when boosted. I had not issue streaming video.

- No generators are allowed in the park, even at primitive sites.

- Tire puncture spikes prevent vehicles from accessing the park after 10pm. However, exiting the park is no issue anytime.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $33.00

Days Stayed: 15

Site Number: #4 (7 nights), #18 (1 night) & #1 (7 nights)

4 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 26, 2016
Rated

As others have said, this park is the most beautiful place to stay if you need to have access to the Bay Area. It's a bit time consuming to get into/out of, and many of the sites are a bit tight (at least for a 25' trailer).

They don't have many hookup sites. We dry camped for a few days. Allstays says they have 12 hookup sites. I saw 4 of them (#1-4), they looked roomy. There is a dump site.

We came in last minute without reservations, so we had to move a few times. We stayed in #55 one night, then #40 for two nights. They tried putting us in #25, but it was too tight. There was a tree on one side, the site marker post on the other, and someone in the spot across from it, so we couldn't get in. We also had to back out of the loop that #25 is on, because it was curbed and way too narrow for us to drive through. I think the guy who assigned us that spot didn't have experience with a trailer.

It takes 5-10 minutes to drive out of the park. It kind of feels like you're entering a National Park, which may or may not be appealing if you have to go out to the city much. The road to it is a tiny mountain road with no shoulder, and, in the springtime, a lot of branches that need trimming. We scratched our rig trying to avoid pushing opposing traffic off the mountainside. At one point we also had to stop in the middle of a bend and let a bunch of cars pass because it was too tight with all the rush hour traffic. But that was just one particularly tight part.

The sites themselves are generally on top of hills with Eucalyptus trees, gorgeous views, and totally reasonable space. You would never imagine that there is a metropolis just on the other side. There are definitely sections where the sites are pretty close, but generally I didn't feel crowded here.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $25.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 55

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 26, 2016
Rated

If this park had a self pay kiosk it would be one of our top ten best campgrounds. But because it is overstaffed with extremely unhelpful employees it is on our top 10 worst campgrounds. The online reservations are extremely complicated and are not up to date at the check in office. Because of reservation mistakes they had us jumping from sight to sight.

The whole park seemed poorly managed. It felt like no one wanted to help us and they only wanted to do their job in the absolute easiest way possible. They somehow managed to believe that their reservation mistakes were our fault and had no interest in making our stay enjoyable.

There are only 11 (they say 12 but they keep one site for staff emergencies only) hookup sights and a strict NO generator rule in the dry camping loops. We had plans in nearby areas and with few other options we didn't want to leave but they made it feel impossible for us to stay.

With the parks beauty, amazing trail systems and location this place could be fully booked all the time. Which the hookup sites are and we were lucky to squeeze in without a reservation. But with the strict NO generator rule it really limits who can stay in the dry camping sites. After jumping from sight to sight to accommodate to their ridiculous reservation mistakes we decided we had had enough but weren't quite ready to leave the area. We decided to put our batteries to the test and see how long they would last in a dry sight. Which I have to mention, all three dry loops were completely empty. We get the no generator rule and to be honest here, if we had solar we would probably greatly appreciate this rule. But we don't have solar yet so our options felt small. And the factor that completely defeats the point of the NO generator rule is that the campground backs right up to the Anthony Chabot shooting range. The guns fired all day long and were unbelievably loud. The loud noise of the guns made any bothersome noise from a generator seem ridiculously small.

The park itself is unbelievably beautiful though. With tall eucalyptus trees towering over our airstream and more than enough space between campsites. Wild turkeys and deer wandered the campground. AT&T worked great. 4 bars and LTE but Verizon had zero. The mountain bike rides were amazing but the trails have lots of rules so make sure you stop to read them or you will be fined.

If you come to this park make sure to make reservations well in advance. The least amount of interaction with the staff the better. Oh and expect someone to come knocking at 12:01 if you aren't out of your sight on checkout day. Even if you are the only camper in all the dry sights.

The campground is only 45 minutes from San Francisco. We enjoyed spending a day in the city and then returning to the beautiful eucalyptus woods. But beware that they lock the gates at 10:00pm and make no exceptions. They will lock you out and not let you in until the next morning.

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Nightly Rate: $25.00

Days Stayed: 6

Site Number: 5,12,9,35

5 Access
5 Location
3 Cleanliness
1 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Anthony Chabot Regional Park Campground

9999 Redwood Road
Castro Valley, California
94546 USA
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  • Check
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unknown
    Wifi
  • Check
    Wheelchair Accessible
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    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
Other public land (TVA, DOD, county parks with campgrounds)
Back In RV Sites Count
12
Last Nightly Rate
35.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
35.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
25.0
Max Length
40ft
Max Stay
15
Sites Count
12
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    Paved Sites
  • Unavailable
    Fifty Amp
  • Check
    Full Hookup
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through
  • Check
    Tent Sites
  • Check
    Dump Station
  • Unavailable
    Big Rigs
  • Unavailable
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
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    Back In RV Sites
  • Check
    Boondock
  • Unavailable
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Check
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
  • Check
    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Potable Water
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through RV Sites
  • Check
    Reservations
  • Check
    Sewer Hookup
  • Check
    Showers
  • Check
    Sites
  • Unavailable
    Slide Outs
  • Check
    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Vehicle Wash Permitted
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    Water Hookup
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