West San Diego Area?

[lovingtahoe]

Roman and I are planning some trips to San Diego (so Roman can surf!) any favourite places to either boondock or hook-up in the north side of San Diego?

[1953 Flying]

How far north of SD do you want to be. Does Roman ride a long board or a short. If he does both I can reckimend San Elijo State Beach which is about 40 min north of Down Town San Diego. If you want to stay even further north I can highly sugest San Onofre State Beach. Both place have GREAT Surf. Well good luck and Have fun.

[lovingtahoe]

Originally Posted by 1953 Flying

How far north of SD do you want to be. Does Roman ride a long board or a short. If he does both I can reckimend San Elijo State Beach which is about 40 min north of Down Town San Diego. If you want to stay even further north I can highly sugest San Onofre State Beach. Both place have GREAT Surf. Well good luck and Have fun.

He rides both, wants to stay as close to north county as possible. do these places have a max amount of days you can park? thanks for the info!

[1953 Flying]

Not to sure on how long you can stay. I'm sure it's would be the same rules as for any state park. Just do an internet search for the locations. If you plan on doing a trip this summer reservations might be a little tough, as they are popular spots and book up fast. Here is a spot that is locate just north of Oceanside, called San Mateo Campground. It's in a small surf town called San Clemente. The campground is about 1 mile inland from the beach. If you camp ther you get to use the day use at San Onofre State Beach. Surfs up

[sandiegan]

South Carlsbad State Beach, San Elijo, San Onofre(bluffs, not San Mateo)and San Clemente are where you want to be, but are hard to get into during summers and weekends without booking months in advance. Silver Strand south of Coronado is not nearly as nice, but that means you might get in. Guajome County Park is 7 miles inland near Oceanside. There are private parks like Campland on the Bay, but it will cost.
Tom

[lovingtahoe]

you guys are sooooo awesome thank-you for all the great information!! most camping will be dome in fall or winter so I'll will start booking today! Whoo-hoo.

[1953 Flying]

Originally Posted by sandiegan

South Carlsbad State Beach, San Elijo, San Onofre(bluffs, not San Mateo)and San Clemente are where you want to be, but are hard to get into during summers and weekends without booking months in advance. Silver Strand south of Coronado is not nearly as nice, but that means you might get in. Guajome County Park is 7 miles inland near Oceanside. There are private parks like Campland on the Bay, but it will cost.
Tom

San Mateo is good for boondocking. Lost of shrub oak. It's also just a 1 mile walk away from the worlds greatest surf spot " Trestle". Thats just my 2 cents worth.

[Dureedesign]

I don't want to be the barer of bad news, and I don't know how much lead time you have, but I called about 3 weeks ago to all the state beach parks (The state uses a central reservation center) and found out all the state beachs are highly desireable, cheap, and virtually impossible to reserve as people do it up to a year in advance. I called every state beach from San Diego to Capistrano with no success. Also, most have very limited hook ups with little or no utilities. The secret seems to be book EARLY!

[lovingtahoe]

well, perhaps we will have to stay in RV parks after all. Are there any recommended ones?

[Dureedesign]

I had no choice given the short notice of purchasing our AS and I had to go to CA anyway so I paid the big bucks! Rest assure that after my one excellent and expensive stay in Long Beach I have booked all my trips until the end of the year!
A couple of thoughts, on your way there save money and drycamp at Walmarts. They are safe and I have yet to have a problem. Next, IF you can, try to stay a week in one place and just use it as your heaquarters. Weekly rates are a lot less than daily or even just weekends.

Also, you can get a $12.00 membership to Good Sams (thru Camper World) and lots of places give you 10% discounts.

Also, Fairgrounds around the country often have limited RV parking etc.....normally these are unpublished and really cheap ($10.00 for hook up).
I know they do it at the Orange county fairgrounds....check into that.

Lastly, as a last resort I stayed at a great place in Long Beach with a view of the Queen Mary at the Golden Shores RV Resort 562 435-4646 it was expensive $37.00 a night but pool, spa, laundry, lawns and the works, plus it was the only place I could get in on.
(If you do end up there, say hello to Larry (the resident nightman and mechanic) who really helped me out with my maiden voyage and little issues I had)

Also, on onother occasion I chose to stay in Oxnard (Malibu and all were to much$$$$), I stayed at a place called Paradise Villas, right of the 101 and Vinyard, with a weekly rate of $185. Good Luck
P.S. Everyone before is correct, I used to live there and San Onfre Beach as well as Doheny Beach are great surfing!

[Jeff Evans]

We live in south Orange County, California, just north of San Diego County. We frequently visit the state parks close by on short notice including Doheny, San Clemente and San Onofre. The California State Park system uses an outside vendor ReserveAmerica. You can call their toll free number at 1-800-444-7275.

You can also make online reservations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reservations can be made up to 7 months in advance on the first day of the month beginning at 8:00 a.m. PST via the website.

The secret is to set-up an account, then login to your account before 8 AM. When the clock strikes 8 AM start making your reservations. For example, on January 1st at 8 AM the reservations system will take reservations for the month of July 2008, on Feb 1st you can book for Aug 2008, etc.

You can use the search function at the California State Parks website at Find a Park Just select the park you want and click on the online reservations button which will take you to ReserveAmerica's website at Find Campgrounds - ReserveAmerica

[TBRich]

Don't overlook the San Diego County Park system...it's really quite nice...we stayed at 3 different parks in May 07...and you can make reservations on line...none are very far from the ocean or San Diego... We'll be going back there next spring/early summer... (check out our travel log...link below in signature...for some details)...

Here's a link: Camping/RV Parks in Southern California

TB