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3.9
80 votes

Emma Wood State Beach

State Beach Access Rd., Ventura, California 93001 USA

Free
Free to Visit
Closed Now
Opens Thu 6a
  • Independent
  • Credit Cards
    Accepted
  • Pet Friendly
  • Not Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
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“state beach at the Ventura River estuary”

Emma Wood State Beach is located at the Ventura River estuary at the most of the Ventura River. The water's moderate temperatures make this a popular park for swimming, surfing and fishing. Perch, bass, corbina and cabezon frequent the area. A wide array of wildlife, including songbirds and great herons can be found. The ruins of a World War II era artillery site are located within the park. Camping is available for self-contained vehicles.

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Reviews of Emma Wood State Beach

22 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.5 Access
4.9 Location
3.8 Cleanliness
3.2 Site Quality
2.8 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G

Confirmed by 6 users | Last reported on June 28, 2020

AT&T 4G

Confirmed by 10 users | Last reported on July 14, 2021

T-Mobile 5G

Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on January 26, 2023
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Reviewed by
Campendium

June 18, 2015
Rated

Overpriced and under-serviced, this is still a compelling place to stay for an overnight or two while passing through the area. You're parked just past the edge of the surf at high tide, watching the wind and waves as long as you like. Your $40 a night is paying purely for the privilege of parking on the beach. That said, staying on the beach is pretty amazing, and that's what you're here for. There are absolutely no hookups or services of any sort, except the occasional trash bin.

Bring earplugs. Trains run on the major rail line just a few feet from the camp road all night long, the busy 101 freeway is just past that, and of course the beach isn't very quiet either. The campground seems to largely be the domain of partying locals. The more genteel crowd is further south at the Ventura "Beach" RV Resort, paying twice as much or more, with no direct access to the beach whatsoever (despite the name).

Most sites are back-in sites with little separation, and because half the people park head-in, you're often sharing that little space with your neighbor. Some sites are parallel-park along a seawall, which is where I stayed. This is nice because you can achieve complete privacy using the coach shades. The downside here is that there is absolutely no space. I sat out on the seawall.

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 64

4 Access
5 Location
3 Cleanliness
1 Site Quality
1 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

November 27, 2015
Rated

We always stay at Emma Wood State Beach Campground during our Senior Sprints, Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks, Focus Midgets, Sport Compacts, and Mod Lites fall racing excursion to Ventura Raceway, over at Ventura County Fairgrounds, California.

So peaceful and quiet at Emma Wood Campground, after a long day at our VRA races. Always good folks there too. See the Pacific Ocean's old WWII artillery ruins (bath), and relax at The Denkes Fire Pit at night. Come have a cold one with the boys!

Garry Denke

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Nightly Rate: $20.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 2

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

March 30, 2016
Rated

We try to come to Emma Wood at least once or twice a year. You are parked at the ocean's edge and you truly feel like you are away from all the stresses in life. There are no amenities at all, so no tent camping, which I am totally okay with. The beach is large stones, especially now after the recent storms, but the kids love exploring in them. A quick 2 minute drive just outside the camp will get you to a sandy beach that you can spend the day at if you prefer.

The only downfall is trying to get spots here in the non-reservation season. We usually have to take the trailer out a few days before the weekend to ensure we get a spot (that means paying for a few extra days too). We've even had the unfortunate experience of not getting a spot and having to bring the trailer home and unpack it. It's all worth it though, for the times we've stayed.

I gave 2 stars for Site Quality because the sites tend to be a little rocky and uneven, again especially since the recent storms. I gave 3 stars for Noise because there is a train track behind the sites and occasionally a train will go by, however that noise is usually mitigated by the ocean noise, and the ocean noise is what you are there for!

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 30

5 Access
5 Location
3 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

August 25, 2016
Rated

What an enchanting and fabulous place to camp! For a mere $40, you are RIGHT ON the beach. As I write this, the surf is breaking 20 feet from my window. This is pure boondocking, though there are some porta-potties by the ranger station. Reservations recommended.

The farther you get from the ranger station, the more remote this feels. Sites are pretty close together, but people are pretty cool (who isn't happy camping at the beach?). There are miles of beaches to walk the dog, and a bike path if you don't like sand. Yes, the train goes by often, but isn't the train a lovely, if slightly mournful, sound? And as another review said, the sound of the crashing waves nearly overpowers it. Playful, surfing seals and passing porpoise provide plenty of entertainment. There are rock firepits at just about every site.

Ventura, only a couple of miles away, is a gem of a town, with a large old downtown and a very lively craft brew community. Great Verizon service, even without a booster.

Tell no one.

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 79

5 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

May 13, 2019
Rated

First time here and we love it. Rustic Beach Camping where you are almost right on the sand. In California no less. No frills. No water. No power. No dump. But what an amazing view from any window in your RV.

This will be a common stop for us now. The only reason I don’t give it 5 stars is that there is no dump station. For 40.00 per night I would expect at least that.

There do have porta-potties and trash bins.

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 13

4 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

September 07, 2019
Rated

Arrived and checked in with no problems. We had reservations although I'm not sure we needed them. We arrived on Labor Day and there were plenty of empty spaces all week.

Ranger warned us to make sure generator or anything else valuable was locked up. We had no issues. We felt very safe camping there.

The space is very rocky so you need to be careful walking around. It is a little bit of a walk to get down to the sandy beach but all in all, we loved it.

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 87

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

September 26, 2019
Rated

We only spent one day/night here but we absolutely loved it. Only minutes from downtown Ventura, with bike paths, and running trails right outside our mobile human habitat-- we knew we had found a special spot to spend the evening. We went for a lovely beach run, came home and had dinner right on the ocean's edge, before going to sleep to the pounding sounds of the Pacific Ocean. We will definitely return!

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
2 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

February 28, 2020
Rated

Okay, so to start off I would say that if you like being right on top of the water this is your place. The only downfalls or this is absolutely dry camping there is no water on site anywhere no hose bib anywhere in the park. There is also no where to dump your tanks once you’re done. The other issue is you are extremely close to the freeway and the train tracks are only about 40 feet from the campsites, So if you like the sound of freight trains starting at 6 AM this is your place. It’s a good place for a quick getaway as long as you take in mind that it gets crowded in the summertime

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Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 43

5 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
1 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

June 28, 2020
Rated

Emma Wood is a dry camp just north of Ventura. Very basic sites most of which are not level and are rocky. Make sure to lock up anything of value as it will be stolen. 90 is probably the best spot in the campground. We had a very pleasant stay here. The rangers are nice and helpful. You are camped right on the beach so make sure and check the tides as severe high tides will flood some of the sites. Beautiful way to spend a few days watching dolphins swim by and sea birds diving for fish. You can ride bicycles up the coast or take the bike path into Ventura. You do get a bit of noise from the 101 and trains that go by but we didn’t notice it much with the view we had. Cell service for AT&T was spotty at best. We will stay here again.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $27.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 90

4 Access
5 Location
2 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

May 16, 2021
Rated

I took advantage of the walk-up service prior to Memorial Day 2021, when all campsites are reserved for the next 6 months. I started off at space 69, with my trailer parallel to the ocean, until the ranger said that spot gets wet. I moved over to 68 for the night, and that space also gets wet. Space 90 became available the following day and stayed there throughout. The benefits of the space was no one to the left of you and better cell signal. I have a weboost system and noticed a jump from 1 att 4g bar space 68 on hotspot to 3-4 bars at space 90. I think the one thing that takes getting used to at night is the sound of the waves against the rocks. It gets really loud as the rocks are a bit larger. Look for small rocks if you want to sleep at night. The amtrak surfliner was not loud at all and breezes by in a matter of seconds. For water, i ended up going to san buenaventura st beach and filled my 5 gallon foldable water jugs through a faucet. Pretty time consuming. Next time, I would just fill up with fresh water from home. For dumping, I went to Sycamore Canyon, 25 miles south in Malibu as it was on my way back to LA. Really easy and free. Just show your receipt. There was an option to go 15 miles north to Carpinteria St beach, but thought 26 miles round-trip wasn’t worth it. The city of San Burnaventura is a really cute town. Main st is blocked off and you can start to feel a better sense of community during covid. As for energy, I went through 4 20lb propane tanks to power the generator and to refill the 400 amp hour battery system. I used the generator 3 times for around 6 hours each day. It was overcast the whole week so I didn’t get much solar generated. My goal is to minimize generator use and might just adding 200 amp hours of battery and expanding to a portable solar system to catch the sun as it sets. Hope this helps.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 6

Site Number: 90

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Emma Wood State Beach

State Beach Access Rd.
Ventura, California
93001 USA
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Hours

Closed Now
  • Sun - Sat: 6:00 am - 7:00 pm

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  • Check
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unavailable
    Wifi
  • Unavailable
    Wheelchair Accessible
  • Check
    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
State park or forest
Last Nightly Rate
40.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
33.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
20.0
Max Length
45 ft
Max Stay
7
Sites Count
90
  • Unavailable
    Paved Sites
  • Unavailable
    Fifty Amp
  • Unavailable
    Full Hookup
  • Check
    Rec Facilities
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through
  • Unavailable
    Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dump Station
  • Unavailable
    Big Rigs
  • Unavailable
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
  • Check
    Boondock
  • Unavailable
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Unavailable
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
  • Check
    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Primitive Sites
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Unavailable
    Public Water
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through RV Sites
  • Check
    Reservations
  • Unavailable
    Sewer Hookup
  • Unavailable
    Showers
  • Check
    Sites
  • Unavailable
    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Water Hookup
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