San Simeon Creek Campground — Hearst San Simeon State Park

A GREAT find, can't say enough good things about this place.  We stayed in the Washburn campground (up the hill/less expensive/better views/less people, more space, less trees and a clear view of the sky in every campsite (visited in February, we have Starlink and solar). The stars here are incredible at night, all you hear are the waves crashing, and beautiful views in every direction.  The camp host, Shelby, was delightful and very accommodating when we wanted to switch sites.  Lots of bathrooms, very clean, lots of dumpsters and water spigots, all conveniently located.  Rangers regularly drive through and we felt safe and attended to; a sketchy situation had materialized in one of the sites and the Ranger stood in the pouring rain for two hours, ensuring these folks left.  A well run and maintained area. RV water and dump station at bottom of hill. automated, $10.

General: Two campgrounds: San Simeon Creek, close to Highway One and the beach and Washburn Primitive, located about a mile inland. We stayed in San Simeon Creek, so the bulk of this review focuses on that one. 

Site Quality: Sites are spaced a decent amount apart, some with foliage providing privacy. The camper pads are level, paved, and designated as either 25 - or 35-foot campsites. Site 102 was a 25-foot site but IMO that is a stretch as our 18-foot campervan fit but not with much extra room. Surprisingly enough, we saw some rather large rigs in some of the spaces. No hookups. Depending on where your site is located, you will hear road noise from the highway. The tent section is closest to the highway. 

Bath/Shower House: What we’ve come to expect from California state parks: single units, most with a toilet and sink but one with just a toilet. Although they had toilet seat covers, there was NO soap or trash receptables in any of the units. Two outside sinks. Token-operated showers that looked decent but did not use. In the Washburn Primitive campground, there are only vault toilets but the one I looked at appeared clean. 

Activities: There is a horseshoe pit, but it looks like it has not been used in a long time. Also an amphitheater but do not know if there are currently programs as we were there during the week in the “off-season”. There are two trails that lead to the beach: one from the campsites and the other via a wooden boardwalk, a short walk from the campground. There is zero cell service in the San Simeon Creek campground, but I got two bars of Verizon in the Washburn campground. 

I waffled back and forth between three and four stars; the sites were fairly well maintained, and the beach access (and proximity to Hearst Castle) is likely the reason most people stay, but it annoyed me that there was no soap or garbage receptacles in the bathrooms (in an eternal Covid world, there should be soap in all bathrooms!) but we had a quiet and pleasant stay during the week in early November.

This campground is just two miles south of the Hearst Castle Tour site. It's just off the 101 highway on the inland side of the highway. There's a great view from the upper loop where you can see down to the beach in the ocean. the lower loop is more secluded And covered with more trees and vegetation. We stayed in the upper loop. the campsites are close together without much privacy for isolation between. the entire campground is. somewhat run down. There's a lot of potholes in the roads And the vegetation has been beaten back by all the campers over the years. this campground could probably stand to close for a year or 2 and undergo thorough restoration. it is, however, still very convenient and wouldn't hesitate to use it again if we were coming to visit Cambria or Hearst Castle. also nearby, just to the north, there's some other cool sites like. the elephant Elephant seal viewing area. And there's a lighthouse that can be toured as well.

We got lucky and found a semi-private site in the lower campground. Lots of trees and shrubbery to provide cover.

The upper campground has views of the ocean but seemed windier. Campground was busy but people were cool. Bathrooms were squeaky clean. Once things got quiet late night we could hear the ocean from our site.

Overall this was a nice campground. It was very green from all the rain we had this winter. The campsites are close together without much privacy. Because of the time of year we went it was mostly RV and trailers. It’s only 2 miles to Cambria, which is why we stayed here. The showers were pretty cold but again that could just be the time of year. We bought firewood from the host and I do recommend buying a fire starter. We had our dogs with us so we didn’t make it to the beach.

Nice campground with flat back in sites. Bathrooms were very clean. Great beach access via a trail under the highway. A bit of noise from Highway 1 during the day. Can be windy.

We made our reservations through reserve California. The pad length was listed as 35 feet. Upon arrival, we saw it was 25 feet. Since we have a 32 foot trailer, we backed over the stops and the rear of the trailer was against the fence. So that worked. Now in the evening, we were around the campfire, just 4 adults, and the ranger appears. He asks “ what do you hear?” We say nothing. He says, no just you guys talking. You need to go to bed. We were not load at all. Pretty bizarre. I’m not making this up.

Was there for 4 days for the first time. Very well kept and a joy to stay at, found out about the gang of trash panda’s (raccoons) by another campers experience, would love to be there when the berries are ready to harvest as there were many vines all around the campground. Was very pet friendly as far as we were concerned. Looking forward to staying there again.

This is in a beautiful area, and a gorgeous site but I’ll tell you why I gave it a 3 Pro: friendly staff, lots of shade & some grass at what seemed like all sites, close to small food and many things to do, availability, They let my small van stay at tent only camping, firewood $10 on site, flushable clean bathrooms

Cons: upkeep of foliage was good but walking through whole campsite saw trash and full fire pits at every site. I stayed at two sites and preferred the tent camping first come serve area as it has less vehicle traffic. C36 felt so busy.

Got to the ocean and needed a spot to sleep that wasn’t on the side of the road. Online said it was full but we chanced it and went to the campground anyway and they had lots of spots available! The sites were close, bathrooms weren’t amazing and only a few showers worked but it was good enough for the night. There’s a trail that is behind the campground that leads to a little lagoon type spot and right out to the beach. There were otters lagoon in the morning and the sunset was gorgeous on the beach at night. Nice location to Cambria and plenty of beaches!

Nice bathrooms, ocean sounds, not that level for tent camping at c7 .

Was a nice stay. Clean bathrooms. Campsites on top of the hill are very windy in the evening. The lower sites are more protected.

This site was such a great find! The camping spots are big, fit pit and picnic table available. Some sites had nice large trees for privacy. Location was perfect, secluded but close enough to small towns and beach. Fall asleep listening to the waves crash on the sand. Bathrooms were really clean. Rangers were available on site.

This place had nice campsites surrounded by trees. Clean bathrooms and quiet location near the ocean.

We stayed in the upper primitive Washburn campground. It is small and sites don't offer much privacy (rv lights shining on our tent) so it wasn't our favorite type of camping experience. But the hike to the beach is  perfect and beautiful. We drove through the lower campground and it is much closer to the beach. Those sites offered much more privacy and there's lots to choose from as it's a much larger campground. We will likely go back to that campground. The vault toilets at Washburn were the nicest I've ever seen. Large, clean and modern (if a vault toilet could be modern!).

Nice place near beach with clean bathrooms. We were able to get a spot by just showing up. Dogs are not allowed on the beach or trails.

We stayed in the more primitive campground, Washburn. It’s lovely, quiet, and dark. You can hear the ocean. Cell reception isn’t the best.

The campground is very big, roomy, clean, nice. Our two campsite we stayed at were perfect for the family nice big space, across the way from the restrooms not a far walk. Nice walking distance from the beach. I love the beach access from the campground. The showers had hot water. I don’t remember the site number, my brother-in-law reserved the sites for us. The over flow parking was just on the outside of the main entrance of the campground, not a bad area. Cell service-no good, verizon.

Our trip began with us coming up short finding a site on a first come first serve basis. We drove along the coastline to "Big sur" and still nothing we made our way back here, and checked again with our camp host "Rachel" and she said after seeing us twice if we stuck around we might have a cancellation soon. They did and we snagged Site #51 which we are calling camp "Area 51" Great site my kids loved all the trees that were there to climb on and I even set-up a hammock underneath the shaded Dome hung trees. Clean Flushing Toilets & Hot showers were less then 100ft from our site. My kids made friends with the sites both to left and right of us and they played hide and go seek and Tag and even climbed the tress together Upon leaving the kids added each other on Roblox and Fortnite and this wouldn't be possible without "Rachel" for making this trip one for my kids to remember.

                                   Thankyou,

Quick overnight stop on our way south. Disappointed to see that dogs aren’t allowed in the beach. This coastline is an environment sanctuary. Giving this four stars because spot was really nose down even with blocks on the front tires. Camp ranger was nice. Strict with the dog rules but nice…

It’s a beautiful area that’s great for family camping. The cell phone reception is bad, the closer you are to the host site the better the reception

Very nice drive to the site, restrooms were clean and the views were great!

Washburn Campground is one of two campgrounds in Hearst San Simeon State Park, the other being San Simeon Creek Campground.  We stayed in both campgrounds. The two campgrounds have different amenities and features, with the Washburn one being more "primitive" even though neither have hookups.  

Coin operated showers are technically available to San Simeon Creek guests only, though I'm not sure how anyone would know or care if a Washburn camper went over to shower at San Simeon Creek. 

There are pit toilets available in Washburn, as well as trash and mixed recycling dumpsters.

Washburn is $20/night, with an $8 reservation fee when making reservations online.

There is practically zero verizon service, very weak AT&T service, but decent T-Mobile service on our hotspot.

There is a path over to the beach, very convenient (goes under Hwy 1).

Elephant seal viewing is nearby, as well as being close to the cute town of Cambria and San Simeon.

Warning: the map is wrong!  We picked site #226 based on the map showing that it wasn't next to the toilet.  The toilets ended up being directly next to 226, which was fine but not our favorite thing.

There is a dump and water fill for RVs located in between the campgrounds, and they are available to guests of both (or $5 to use for people not staying at the campgrounds).  Firewood also available for sale from the host, but check out the hours before heading over to buy wood.

We stayed here in mid-March, and the campground was beautiful and green and peaceful.   The landscape may turn brown later in the year.  

The sites are nicely spaced out for the most part.  Each site has a picnic table and steel fire pit.  Some sites have some trees for shade, but most do not.

We really liked it here.  The $20/night compared to the $35 at the busier and more active San Simeon Creek makes it a no-brainer that Washburn is where we'd choose to come.

San Simeon Creek Campground is one of two campgrounds at Hearst San Simeon State Park, the other being the primitive Washburn Campground. The only difference between the two besides the $15 / night price difference is that San Simeon Creek has flush toilets and showers available, and Washburn has pit toilets.  Neither have hookups and both have access to the dump and water fill which is located between the two campgrounds near the host.

We stayed in site #9 for one night, which I would recommend you avoid. This spot is used as a cut through to the bathroom, not only by campground guests but by people parked on the road behind the campground who hop the fence to come into the campground and use the restroom.  We had people traipsing through all day and all night.

Showers are clean and reasonably priced, at $1 for 12 min. Pressure was decent and temperature was good (warm enough).  

Campground was busy with families and kids and large groups.  It was very active, but we stayed there on a Saturday night so that might be why.

Staff was really friendly.  When we arrived there was a sign indicating both campgrounds were full but we asked if there were any cancellations or anything available and they said one spot had just opened up which they allowed us to pay for and take without making the reservation online.

The campground is close to the cute town of Cambria, as well as some restaurants in San Simeon.

Firewood is sold by the host only during certain hours, currently 330-630pm only.

There was good ATT and ok TMobile service, but Verizon was very weak/unusable.

Loved how spacious the campgrounds were. February is a great time to visit - not too cold and very green :)

This is a great stop if you want to spend some time with the elephant seals without the crowds of Big Sur.

Although our trip landed on a gloomy 60's weekend weather, that did not take from the enjoyment we had at this state beach park. We stayed at the upper level of the San Simeon campground, which frankly was the better of the 3 available. I prefer to have some quiet, and level one although a bit closer to the beach was a bit more rowdy since it is bigger. Washburn was just plain depressing, maybe some people enjoy the views from up there so they don't mind the lack of trees and unpaved roads, but it just was too sad. Where we stayed at was just right, had beautiful trees, no neighbors behind our sites C13 and C15, and we could see and hear the ocean from where we stayed. The walk to the beach is not short, but who cares (unless you can't walk which is understandable for some people). The lower campsite is also not as close to the beach as one may seem to think, you still have to cross the trail and a stinky creek to get to the shore. So it's going to be a walk no matter what, and the hardest part is indeed the sandy part. At night time we got to hear owls too, see some bats, and cows. There is a cow farm/barn in the distant hills where the cows graze freely. The bathrooms are clean, and for $1.00 you get 12min of a hot shower. We took a drive to elephant seal beach, and got to see them bathing in the sun. On the way there, there is private land off the road where we saw Zebra’s. We were able to snap pics just off from the road, not disturbing the private land. We also saw blue jay's, some other little pretty birds, and squirrels (too friendly hmmmmm).  Wonderful time here, wish it didn't have to end. I loved it that all neighbors were respectful too.

And listen all night. Nice clean campground with plenty of spaces and an overflow for extras. Spent many summers camping here and now I live here! Hiking, ocean fishing, Cambria downtown only 5 miles away for bike rentals, gas, restaurants or grocery shopping. GREAT weather year round!

Love this campground! Tons of trees, walking distance to the beach. It’s beautiful!

On the central coast. Lots and lots of marine life. The coast village of Cambria just two miles south on the 1 highway.