Santa Cruz Campground — Carpinteria State Beach

The park staff is amazing, Susan and Jake. The location to Shopify and eatery’s absolutely perfect.

Santa Cruz non-hook-up sites have: asphalt parking (close to level); picnic table; fire pit.  Individual restrooms with flush toilets and hot/cold water sinks cleaned daily but get lots of use.  Showers (tokens) cleaned but may have beach sand on floors.  Check feet / shoes for TAR from beach before entering tent / RV!  Baby oil helps take it off... plastic bag(s) helps to contain shoes.  Spaces can be tight... neighbor's RV was about two feet from ours.  Non-hook-up fee was $43.00 plus $8.25 online reservation fee.  "Enroute" camping may be available if campground is "full"... no hook-ups or tables - and have to leave by 9am - but you might have more space!   Inquire at front gate even if sign says "campground full".  Quiet after 10pm on Friday night even though campground and group sites were very full.  Thanks fellow campers!  Nice wide and safe swimming beach - close to quaint town - make this a CALIFORNIA CLASSIC.

Beautiful location. Close to town. Walkable, hike-able, bike-able, rideable via paths. No dogs on beach. There is a dog beach further up the coast. Sites are pretty tight. Lots of families and tent camping. Need token from kiosk for showers. Train comes by every once in a while. I stayed in Santa Cruz in my 25’ motorhome with no hook ups. Had my own picnic table and fire ring. May stay again only because of the nice walkable paths. Watch where you step near the tar pits.

Facilities are run down. This places needs a major make over! Bathrooms are dirty, showers are gross. Sinks to wash dishes are disgusting & right next to dumpsters. You have no privacy and sites are right on top of each other…you’re basically in a parking lot. Barking dogs right next to you can get pretty annoying pretty fast. NOT WORTH the $70 a night fee. I would only stay here here as a LAST resort

My family camps here everyone year for as long as I can remember. The beaches are always nice. The trail that goes to the end of the campground is always fun bike ride. Carp itself is one of my favorite little towns. When camping, we also stop at Robitaille's Fine Candy shop.

Great location, spots are so close to the beach with no bluff and stairs. Spots are very snug. You can get stuck waiting for a while if your neighbors don’t know how to park their unit. Only downside is the neighbors sewer is in your site. Also we had some grumpy neighbors which sucks with the smaller sites. Seals and dolphins all around while you swim or surf

$10 per night per person, max 2 nights and 48 hour wait before you can come back. Max 5 times per year.

Took my son here for a weekend to explore Santa Barbara. There is no overnight parking in the park unless you have a previously reserved car camping campsite. We walking in with our belongings and there was three other campers on their bikes. Short walk to the Amtrak Surfliner, restaurants, dogs are allowed on a leash on the campsite. There is a dog beach a few minutes walk away.

There’s 3 fire pits for H&B campers, a Food box and a bike rack.

The spots are just so small, especially the ones with full hook ups. You can park your car on the next loop over, but you will barely have enough space sit in your chair

Great location at the beach. Beautiful little town with many shops and good food. Camp spots are crowded together closely in the anacapa loop. I had to park my pickup in the overflow parking since it wouldn't fit in our tight little assigned space. Many things to see and do here from the beach to hiking trails to tar pits right nearby.

Location and beach access: 5

Spacing of sites: 2 ( If you have a small enough unit, get beach front - a must. If you have a high sitting RV, the second line of sites from the beach will give you a view.

Bathrooms and showers: 1. Their cleaning is minimal. White bricks are dirty, dusty on top ledges. Shower floors have not been scrubbed in ages. Stains on walls could easily be cleaned off. Really is disgusting in our loop. The Santa Rosa loop looks to have newer facilities

Great campground, get a burger at The Spot.

This campground had more of a tailgate feel due to the parking lot camping spaces provided.

Santa Rosa Loop #309

Check in 2:00 pm Check out 12:00 pm

The parking spot was two vehicles wide. The backyard area was Sandy ground equipped with a fire pit and wooden bench. Plenty of space if you want to add tents.

Night two we switched locations to San Miguel Loop #421. This space was more compact with a smaller backyard area. It was one of the rare spots that had a tree that provided plenty of shade. We did not need to setup our easy up.

Bathrooms were decent. No soap provided. Showers available and coin operated.

This campground was extremely busy during the weekend in July I was there. There is a great brewery walking distance (10 minutes) for a quick bite, live music and drinks. The downtown area is very walkable for this campground so you can plan your meals in advance if you don’t feel like cooking.

A little crowded, we arrived just after 3 pm. Lovely beach scenes!

The back row of sites furthest from the beach is up against train tracks so be advised. Sites are paved parking lot style stacked in with a bit of dirt for fire ring table and tent. Not much more but the beach you get is amazing.

Something for everyone. Friendly rangers. Bathrooms with hot hot showers and a very relaxing environment

Very Nice Beach could use a little cleaning up as far as landscape around camp site specially around Camp Santa Miguel

It's a beautiful place to go camping ! Right off the beach! And then the small city is walking distance. There are interesting little shops. Big grocery stores and lots of different restaurants to visit I've camped there in the sumner months and loved it I've camped there in the winter. And it poured!! It was beautiful!!

The Pacific Ocean is the winner here. Sites are small but if you consider the beach part of your site your golden. No dogs on beach though. Town is fun too.

My family has been camping here for 50+ years... should say enough! Best camping trip (with family, friends, solo, whatever!) you’ll have, safe area, very accessible. Bathrooms have power outlets, token-powered hot showers, and super close to town. Make sure you pack your food away at night.... raccoons are present!

Very Friendly,And Clean.You can surely see God's Creation

Camp hosts are friendly and they enforce the rules which I like because it was quiet at night and nobody was taking over my space. However, it is not a campground it is a parking lot where you camp. Bathrooms are dirty, hot shower doesn't always work, ground was full of some gophers who were digging holes so you have to watch your step and it is very wet and muddy. Spots are very close to each other, neighbor was less than 10 ft away. Location is great though, as the beach is right there and it is short walk to town with shops and restaurants. Otherwise this would be one star review. It is too expensive for what it is offered.

I've been going to carpentaria since I was 5 years old. It was always our family "end of the summer" camping trip. I've had so many amazing memories and traditions. We always get up early at low tide to collect sea shells and sand dollars and watch the sea lions sleep on the rocks. And everyone has to eat at "The Spot" which is walking distance from the campground, along with vons and rite aid. Also the brewery is above chill place to enjoy the fine art of drinking. Just a cute and amazing town . I have yet to have a bad experience there. And love meeting people from all over the united states and talking with other campers. Everyone is just super friendly. Also my family in recent years have been going in the winter season and it's amazing still. Slower paced, but still amazing. I can't push this as a must go location, even just for a day.

The sites are just parking spaces with picnic tables. Very little greenery or shade. The restrooms and showers were out of order, and they had a single portapotty for our entire half of the campground. Everything was in serious disrepair and dirty.

Me and my gf came to Carpinteria for our first car camping experience. We paid extra to stay on the beach front spots near the south side of the site. Was totally worth it. We had a great time with amazing views. The beachfront spots didn’t have fire pits though so we ran to the local grocery store and bought one. Overall great site and had a great time.

We were there a week ago and as usual had a great camping experience.   The beautiful beach and the nice convenient downtown walking distance from the campground just in case you forget something or just feel lazy and eat at one of the local venues. The campground is under some construction projects adding restrooms and showers. The current restrooms are dated but fully functional. The showers take quarters so you don't have to worry about tokens.  I have camped here for 25 years in each of the different sections of the campground. They offer camp sites for the folks walking on site and everything in between up to full self contained RVs.  However no pull throughs.

Carpinteria SB is one of our favorite places to camp.  Anacapa and Santa Cruz sections are all dry camping and larger sites.  The other two sections have hook up sites but the sites are very tight.  Anacapa section is right next to a large grassy area and park.  We like to take our dog to play fetch there and we take out daughter to the park at least a few times a day.  Dogs are allowed in the campground but not on the beach, so the grassy area by the park is a great alternative if your dog has a lot of energy.  The town of Carpinteria is super cute with lots of shops and restaurants to walk to.  Island Brewery is walking distance.  They usually have a food truck in the later afternoons and also have a little kids room with toys to keep the kids busy :-)

I would say the only downfall is the train is right next to the campground and it does go by multiple times a day/night