North Beach Campground — Pismo State Beach

Green, grassy campground with well separated spaces. Most pull thru and level. All surrounded by grass for nice tent camping. Surf sound is continuous. Masks other sounds except noisy generator in next site. Nice restrooms

Being so close to this awesome beach is definitely a hook, but something is off about this place. The staff are on top of you from the time you pull in to if you are a couple minutes late leaving. Little to no shade. Said hello to other campers with no so much of a nod.  

Not my scene for sure.

Stopped here for a quick overnight stay on the way to Big Sur over New Year’s Eve weekend. Bathrooms were clean, campground seemed well maintained. Sites very close together with limited to no shade.

I wish I could say this is the worst campgrounds I’ve been to, just to keep people away. Very nice, clean and spacious park. Maybe 100 feet to the beach. The town of Pismo is very nice to walk around. I must say one of the best parks I’ve been to.

Beautiful campground in a great location, but sadly it's filled with thieves. We had over$500 worth of stuff stolen, and the things stolen were too big and heavy to be taken by foot. So the ranger station at the front isn't bothering to stop random cars from entering the campground and taking your things. We told the rangers and they didn't care. The camp host said she's never seen so much stealing at a campground and would never be coming back. If you stay here, don't leave anything of value out in the open or it won't be there when you come back.

Beautiful campground - open park-like setting, not much division between sites. No hookups available here (Oceano 2 miles south has sites with electric and water hookups though). 

There's a dump station here, $10 (even for campers), payable by credit card only at a little fee station right at the dump. There's potable water at the dump station as well to fill your tanks.

As with all California state parks now, not only is there recycling bins available but also food waste / compost bins (yay!).

Showers available, payable via tokens.  Good cell reception here.

Really hard to get a spot here during busy season - recommend reservations!

I would have given this review five stars if the sites had more privacy. The sites are a reasonable distance apart, though. That said, there is so much to do and see nearby, even within walking distance.  The campground is right next to several paths, a boardwalk, a marsh with lots of ducks, and a monarch butterfly habitat. I don’t know if we were just  a lucky, but the campers all seemed very friendly as well. The bathrooms and showers were very clean and private. There were plenty of hosts/rangers so we felt safe. We would love to go back again.

This Campground is a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors, family and friends.  We have been coming here for over 10 years for an annual reunion.  The sits give you a lot of open space.  If you are a Boondocker type you will enjoy the experience

In walking distance to downtown Pismo and a short ride to Arroyo Grande

Camped here late February, many sites were available and we drove around looking for a good site then registered online.

Easy check in, lots of things nearby & close to the beach.

Lots of space between neighbors as well

I love pismo beach, dune and the town, very convenient!

Lots of space, you don't feel cramped even with all sites around you occupied. Toilets are very clean, there are lots of trash cans, can't complain. Nice rule that prohibits generators use after 8pm. There are sites for tents, small campervans and bigger rigs.

Only stayed here for one night. Everything was clean and kept up.

Overall campground was safe and chill. Easy walk to the dunes that lead to the beach. Site 72 had no shade and was not pleasant during the day with the sun making it feel much hotter than it was. Retreated to the butterfly grove for awhile to get cool. Found out the butterfly action ends in February.

Good for a few days at the beach with kids. Neighbors are close, but everything else is nice. :)

Shower are 1$/4minutes, there are sinks for washing dishes which is awesome! Right behind pour campsite was a small beach access so we could eat right on the Beach!

Well kept campground, surrounded by eucalyptus grove and adjacent to the beach and also a monarch buttefly conservation area, less Than a mile to downtown. No hookups but tap drinking water on site

This is a great campground. Sites far apart, easy access to garbage disposal, flush toilets, showers and nice grassy sites. It is a short walk to the beach. You can walk along the beach to Pismo Pier or you can take with paved walking path into town. The Monarch Butterfly Grove is right next to the campground. You can walk along a boardwalk to Pismo Dunes. The only two negative things were the luke warm shower and someone stole my collapsible water container (why would someone do that?).

This a a great campground. It is very well kept. Walking distance to the beach, the Monarch Butterfly Preserve and town.

Large camp sites, beach access is directly from the site, cheap rates, clean bathrooms. Great experience all around!!

Came in at dark and reserved on the fly. Easy, clean, and close to beach.

People walking & talking. Up and over the Dunes to the ocean. Parents spending time with their children. Family volley ball from 4-7 ish down the way with lots of laughter. Geese heading out in formation over the central camp-plane. Butterflies butterflies butterflies 😯

I have camped here since I was a teenager, over 40 years of coming here. It’s been 20 since my last visit and it has nice new bathrooms & showers. It’s dry camping, but there’s a dump station right as you come in. Campsites are spacious, not much privacy without any bushes or trees but still a wonderful spot. Close to town and the pier. Beautiful beach to play on, walk the dog or just sit and watch the water. It’s always clean, and best of all next to the Butterflies. I would give it 5 stars if there were more trees. I’ll always have this place in my heart.

This campground is in a very cool location. You can walk straight out to the beach. There’s a monarch Grove right next to you. And it’s about a 15-20 minute walk to Pismo beach Downtown and the Pier where you’ll find all of the main attractions in the area.

Most of the campsites have little to no shade unfortunately. Each campsite has a fire ring though and each campsite has plenty of space between each site. While it’s not private, it’s spacious!

Good cell phone service too.

Great beach access and sites are spread enough apart. It does feel little like a trailer park because of all the rigs that stay here die a few nights, but the updated bathrooms and showers are worth it!

Good dry camping with water and dump station at the exit. Cheap and safe. Check out.

This is the North Beach Campground at Pismo State Beach. We stayed in October and it was 90 during the day and around 60 at night. We were tent camping and while better than the neighboring RV park, there were still more RVs than tents- I’d say 80%/20% RVs to tents. That being said our campsite was large with a picnic table, fire ring and water hook up. There were restrooms at central locations throughout the park. Showers are $.50 for two minutes, accepts dollar bills only. We were at site 48 and it was a very large site, could fit 3-5 tents easily and runs along a center large grassy area. The big draw back with the campground is there is very little to no shade and no privacy. The best sites in my opinion were sites 7-25 ish that run along the side of the park closest to the beach path. Those spots had easy beach access, a bit more privacy as you don’t have campers along your backside, and afternoon shade from a row of trees. The rest of the sites are all in a grass field. Some have trees and some don’t, it’s kind of a crap shoot. It’s a short 5 minute walk to the beach from anywhere so that’s a huge plus, the park rangers were all very nice while we were there and there’s a Monarch butterfly sanctuary within walking distance (they weren’t there when I stayed in the park). Bathrooms were clean for a state park, shower was sandy but it was getting high usage. Overall I’d return if I was in the area and didn’t care about privacy.

ETA: I forgot to mention the sand flies, mostly in the evenings, were fierce and left huge itchy welts on me (less so on my husband) so I highly recommend bringing bug spray.

North Pismo State Beach is a good campground right on the beach and next to a Monarch park. The bathrooms are clean and have showers. The showers take tokens which you can get from the machine next to the bathrooms. The sites are all drive thru. 

The campground is about a mile from downtown Pismo and is a great place to have lunch or dinner.  To the south is Pismo state beach where you can actually drive your car on the beach for $5. Can't beat that deal.

A bit crowded, but it's hard to beat camping right on the beach

Great place to camp right off the dune though can be crowded and has many spots that are not on the beach. The sites are not ocean view with the sand dunes but a short walk over and your there. Also a very easy walk on the beach to downtown. It can get crowded and their is a security booth where you have to sign in, little annoying when they tired to charge our two motorcycles as two cars but they let's us by.

Love beach camping. Go here every year for Thanksgiving. Beautiful place. Lots of dunes to ride and fun times ocean fishing