Carpinteria State Beach Campground (California)
Carpinteria, California 93013
805 968-1033
34.3919, -119.5203
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Carpinteria State Beach is a beautiful mile-long beach located just 12 miles from Santa Barbara. It’s a very popular campground with 216 campsites for RVs, tents and trailers. About 105 have water/electric hookups, and of those there are 80 (in the Santa Rosa loop) with full hookups. The maximum size for trailers and RVs is 35 feet.
Carpinteria campground is actually divided into 4 sections, named after the Channel Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. Anacapa and Santa Cruz is the only area for tents, and if you want to be fronting the beach, request Santa Cruz. Tents are not allowed on paved areas or in the campsites along the beach in the San Miguel loop.
If you have an RV and want to be fronting the beach, request Santa Rosa or San Miguel. Carpinteria State Beach campground has flush toilets, hot showers, a visitor center and dump station. Each campsite has a table, fire ring and grill.
Eight people and two vehicles per campsites. Check out time is 12:00pm and check-in time is 2:00pm. Dogs must be kept on a leash. Quiet hours are from 10:00pm to 6:00AM. Tents are not allowed on paved areas or in the campsites along the beach in the San Miguel loop.
In addition to some pretty amazing wildlife viewing (whale watching, seals, sea lions and shore birds to name a few), visitors can enjoy surfing, swimming, beach-combing, fishing, hiking, biking and camping. with activities such as swimming, surfing, fishing and camping.
Two other California State Beach campgrounds in the area include El Capitan (142 campsites) and Refugio (66 campsites).
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Carpinteria State Beach Comments & Reviews
Visted Carpinteria State Beach Campground lately? We'd love to hear about your adventure. Did you find us useful? Did we forget something? Anything our community should know before heading out to Carpinteria State Beach?
18 Replies to “Carpinteria State Beach”
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Directions:
The park is on Highway 224, off U.S. 101, twelve miles south of Santa Barbara. From the 101 take the Casitas Pass exit. Turn away from the mountains. At the end of Casitas Pass turn right. Drive until you reach Palm. Turn left. The park will be at the end of Palm Street.
Amenities
- Amphitheater
- BBQ Grills
- Campground Host
- Campsite Tables
- Drinking Water
- Dump Station
- Fire Pit
- Fire Rings
- Firewood Available
- Lifeguards
- Pets OK
- Restrooms (Flush Toilets)
- RV Hookups
- Showers
- Visitor Center
Activities
- Beach
- Beach Access
- Beach Combing
- Biking
- Bird Watching
- Boating (non motorized)
- Diving
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Mountain Biking
- Nature Trails
- Ocean
- Photography
- Picnicking
- Scuba Diving
- Skin Diving
- Snorkeling
- Surf Fish
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Tide Pools
- Volleyball
- Walking Trails
- Water Sports
- Whale Watching
- Wildlife Viewing
Regions
- Beach
- California State Beach
- California State Park
- Central California
- Ocean
- West
Campsite Types
- RV
- Tent
- Trailer
Campground Map:
Season:
Year Round
Elevation:
10
# of Campsites:
216
# of RV Campsites:
105
This beach had the worst lots for tent camping. We were mixed in with the RVs. The lots were small patches of dirt, next to a chain link fence, on a slope. It was shocking. With Amtrak running ALL times of day. The bright side is, it’s very close to the beach.
As of Oct. 17, 2012 San Miguel has been renumberd so the sites you see on here are NOT correct.
Thanks for the heads up on the renumbered sites. We are going to reshoot all campgrounds at Carpinteria in 2013.
FYI – we have updated the photos (late 2013) for Carpinteria State Beach and all of the photos are current/correct.
PERFECT FOR CAMPING ON BEACH MAKE CAMPFIRE
Question- the beach front sites say there is a MAX RV length of 25 ft. Is this true? Do you know if they are pretty strict about the max rv lengths?
The beach front sites are 21 ft. from curb to the end of the white line in San Miguel & Santa Rosa so you can hang over in the back BUT you need to make sure that the site has room for you to do that as some have trees and bushes that will not allow hangover.
Beach Row in San Miguel has been changed to 18ft. NO HANGOVER allowed, the picnic tables are now chained and the chains are cemented to the ground on the pavement within your allotted camp space. You can no longer access the beach from the cliff/bluff as before. You are no longer allowed to use the dirt space as part of your campsite.
Are there photos on the site for the “group” campsites like “Gull” “Plover” “Fox” .. they have names rather than numbers
Yes I was wondering the same thing… Id there any chance you might have the group site pictures? If so that would be soooo AWESOME! I’d love to see GFOX. Thanks so much for all this kind work, I love your site!
Hi Kathy,
Super glad you like the site and glad it has helped with your camping/planning. Unfortunately we don’t have photos of the group sites – sorry. We will try and get photos of those later this spring.
You are missing half of the sites in the Santa Cruz loop!
I often use sites 124-125-126 in Anacapa loop — they are beautiful and have shade trees for the afternoon. Women traveling alone may want to avoid site 126, which is next to the bike-in/walk-up site — unless you are extremely compassionate and patient, Unfortunately this site is almost always occupied NOT with bikers and hikers but with seemingly-homeless men, some of whom have mental problems.
We are considering getting reservations but we have a 35 ft trailer and our son has a 35 ft motorhome. We would like to get beach access and our RV’s from rear wheels to front bumper measure 24 ft. Will the overhang be acceptable in some of the spots and is there a place to park an extra vehicle. One of us has a truck and the other a jeep. We do’t want to reserve if we will not fit in the spot. Of course, the big challenge is getting a reservation. We have tried and have not been successful.
Hi Linda,
CampsitePhotos.com is not affiliated with any of the campgrounds on our site. We provide the photos, camping info and reservation link. Unfortunately I won’t be able to help you regarding whether your vehicles size will be an issue at Carpinteria State Beach. You can try calling the park directly to see what they may advise:(805) 968-1033. And best of luck with trying to get a reservation!
FOR SANTA ROSA CAMP SITE R331 JUST MAKING SURE YOU CAN HAVE A TENT
Hi Jacqueline,
At Carpinteria State Beach campground is divided into 4 sections, named after the Channel Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. Anacapa and Santa Cruz is the only area for tents, and if you want to be fronting the beach, request Santa Cruz. Tents are not allowed on paved areas or in the campsites along the beach in the San Miguel loop.. I doubt you can have a tent in Santa Rosa campsite 331, but you can call 800-444-7275 to double check.
I DID AND THEY ADVISED IT DID NOT STATE ON SITE NO TENTS LIKE THE OTHER CAMP GROUNDS SAY