San Mateo Campground

Peaceful and quiet campground. I love the space you get between your neighbors and the smart layout of the place. The trail to Trestles beach is a nice walk of 1.5 miles. The trails are scenic and my dog loved walking each day.

-update 6/28- Back again at the place I love. Each time I come up here, I enjoy it so much. I just found out you can use your camping pass to go to the other state parks for free during your stay. We drove to San Clemente State Park for the day and walked down to the sand.

-update 10/7- your camping pass is also good for parking at Calafia Beach for the day.

-update 6/27- still my go-to spot. Mid week spots are open even during summer. I got my spot just one week out. For beach camping, you have to be 6 months out and only if you're lucky.

-update 9/24- Super peaceful and quiet. They even called me when I was walking to tell me water was spilling out of my trailer. Plus they turned the water off as well.

Make sure to take the time to properly tie down and secure your tent. It can get windy during the day and we seen about three tents go for a walk lol

Super fun place for families to camp, close to nearby San Clemente state beach and lots of other pretty beaches to see too!

Clean & quiet, with the hum of distant traffic, crickets & bullfrogs lulling you to sleep. OP were friendly, totally courteous with the noise levels.

Shower water was warm & a buck/token for two minutes.coulda been a little cleaner, but it worked and there was plenty of toilet.

Dumpsters were close by for easy clean up.

Bring firewood or charcoal. Enclosed pits are available. No grills are provided. Each site has its own picnic table.

Nearby Spigots provide t.b used for cleaning, but not human consumption.

Dog friendly walking/biking trails are available through and around the San Mateo primitive campground. I didn't see a playground, but I wasn't looking for one either.

We had site 103, which was close to the exit, the showers, and trash dumpster.

We were unable to access the Internet. Bring CDs and a player if you need music.

We took our church group here for a couple of days and loved it. There were showers and restroom facilities and well maintained camp grounds

If you are going to camp and stay in the campsite it's not bad. If you, as many people do with the state campgrounds, use it as a base while going to the beach every day it is not the best. That walk, hike really, to the closest beach is 2 miles with no option to drive or park closer and walk. Trestles beach itself isn't bad, but it's nothing spectacular and to me was not worth the 2 mile hike. A much better option is to drive up to San Onofre Beach because you can get free parking there with your campsite parking pass/tag. That beach is very rocky though, so bring water shoes.

Also, the absolute dead spot for wifi and cell service that is the campsite is beyond annoying. Even texting people in your group is impossible and heaven forbid if there was an actual emergency.

The sites themselves were pretty well maintained but are extremely small. Though they are covered in weeds. Which the caretaker did have weed wacked, except it was during the morning while my family was actively trying to eat breakfast. He was just spewing bits of dead weeds and dust everywhere. And it wasn't raked or cleaned up after either, just left there for everyone to walk through. Cars and trailers can only go on the thin strip of asphalt in the site. We normally have 2-3 families per site at other campgrounds and never had a problem fitting everyone. There is literally no way for that to happen with those sites. The bathrooms are clean but 1/2 the showers didn't work and were constantly eating up tokens and there was no soap. The only actual electrical outlets were in the bathrooms. The picnic tables were also chained down so you can only move them a couple feet. Not a problem for a single family, but with multiple families it makes arranging tents a problem on the already tiny spots.

Squirrels are a big problem there with many people needing to leave their hoods up to try and deter them from nesting in the cars at night. They also ate through the pop up trashcan that was at our site.

All in all, I would not choose to come back here if I had a choice of other sites.

Awesome Hosts! Clean and beautiful campsite (: Definitely making this place a vacation destination

Great campground in San Clemente. It is tucked under a dense canopy of trees. Sites are very spacious and offer privacy. Hot showers. The only drawback is that the beach is on the other side of the freeway which makes it a bit too long for walking there. I recommend to at least use a bike or drive to the beach

My family went camping for the first time and this campsite was perfect. It was close enough to other people so I didn't feel too nervous but far enough for privacy. There are bushes and trees in between each camp site to really give you your own space. It has hot showers and bathrooms and sinks to wash dishes and brush your teeth. The gates close at 10 so make sure you have everything you need. There is a trail to the beach but we chose to drive. Overall an amazing first time camping.

Absolutely loved this campground. Rabbits, hazelnut trees, and birds are everywhere and they are beautiful. We never took the trail to the beach but drove instead, my kiddos don't like walking far and it appeared far from the valley but in my opinion it would have been better than driving. We tried San Clemente State Beach and San Onofre State Beach. San Clemente require a hike from the parking lot to get to the shore. The hike is steep, takes you over train tracks, and not ADA friendly. We loved San Onofre Beach the best for the waves and the accessibility. Beautiful rocks and shells everywhere. Back to the campground. The front gate sells wood each day for roughly $10 a bundle. There is no store on site, but there are stores close to the camp ground if needed. Showers were hot! Felt great! They take TOKENS only. A token machine is outside on the exterior of the shower facilities. Roughly $1 for two tokens which is about a four minute hot shower. Plenty of bathrooms, and water stations throughout the camp ground. Lots of privacy on our campsite! Fire pit and picnic table. Ample parking. Enough for a mini van and two more cars. And visitor parking onsite if needed. I believe it is $20 (for visitors) but your pass will get you parking at the state beaches as well. Due to the rainy year we have had, we had to clear our camp ground before pitching our tents. I had a root poke my air matresses, so it is a good idea to bring some kind of scissors just in case. Also, the ground is either hard almost stone or sandy like, so bring good stakes and a hammer. So many furry rabbits. They are so cute in the morning. And a ton of hazelnut trees. Our view of the mountainside was gorgeous and so many stars at night. Loved it and cant wait to return. Oh, our doggy loved it as well. Very dog-friendly!

Nice campground with squirrels rattlesnake
…and helicopters of marine base passing by a couple of times day and night. Also several heavy ammo gun shots.

Love this campground for the location and awesome sites. Great walking path to Trestles Beach, takes approx 20 to 30 min by foot. Many people bike. Good showers and clean bathrooms. Camp is well run with lots of surfers and families. Cool in the evening and warm in the afternoon. Fire rings and picnic table at sites. Many sites have great privacy with thick plants between.

The sites were easy to access. The sites were very private, surrounded by lots of trees and shrubbery. Everything is green and pretty. Bunnies, squirrels, and birds were abundant. About a 10 minute drive to the beach.

Beautiful site near the beach but also near Cristianitos rd which is very busy and noisy 24 hours a day signed up for two nights but left after the first. Campground itself is nice clean restrooms and very friendly rangers.