Moro Campground — Attraction in Laguna Beach

View/Ocean Access/wildlife: View is unbeatable. Campground is also pretty protected from danger as it is far enough from the highway it protects accidents there, far and high enough ground to protect from surges and floods, from the ocean anyway, not a lot of wildlife in that area, save small animals and birds looking for food(typical for beaches here). On one side is the beach view and another is the "hills" view, but really every site you can enjoy the view of the water and bluffs below. You have to climb down under a the pacific hwy bridge for beach access(moderate hike, not too bad, most is stairs or ramps down) so this isn't "on the sand" camping technically.

Price/booking: Can be a lot of money to camp here, $50/night is the standard rate (for 2017, may change) but they give discounts to disabled/senior/military with a California state parks pass which rangers can issue you on-site, but may want to take care of this in advance, (note: this is NOT the same as a National Parks Pass). Drive up spots can be few and far between as they book months in advance, so know the booking windows and use them. If you want to risk it, be there by 9AM sharp with cash in hand, they will allow drive up spots if somebody cancels basically. They check in at 3, and have an 11 or 12 checkout, you can use your camp parking slip to park in any day use or camp lots for your stay without having to pay extra for parking. Make sure you accurately tell them how many are in your party and how many cars. They will write you a ticket if a separate unreported car arrives later and camps.

Season/weather: Peak season is may-sept, may want to plan in between if more quiet and privacy is desired, book ahead either way though. The weather usually stays from 60s to 80s with some variation during summer and winter, but generally stays in that range. In June particularly (but any month if conditions are right), the morning will be cloudy but dissipates in early afternoon. Very typical, Google "marine layer". Occasionally rains, not often, but it is moist air and condensation is common so pack bedding and tents accordingly. This camp does not allow fires but do allow small propane grills and RV's.

Things to do: Lots! Loads of hiking trails, rangers are happy to give you maps of trails, the hills aren't for rookies though! Beach access of course, great beach, typically had guards in the summer and weekends. No rentals for boards or bikes on the beach, so plan ahead if you want to do that. That path to the beach can sometimes be overwhelmed by the high tides(esp in 2017) so keep track of low/high tide times and beach hazards before you go(rangers or lifeguards can help). Also you can leave the campground to explore Laguna's sights and other beaches and coves once you are checked in.

If you are physically impaired, the best way to access the beach is this: Once you check in you can park at the beachcomber cafe lot, and they can shuttle you to the beach to/fro. Check out that cafe too, esp in the early morning, food is great and it's right on the sand. For camp, make sure to pack your supplies and food as there aren't a lot of drugstores or gas stations in the immediate vicinity. There is a small vendor for beach snacks on the beach, and the cafe of course, but that's...

First off, you can't beat the view. Drinking your morning coffee looking out at the Pacific Ocean never gets old.

Most of the spots have great views thanks to the "theater" style rows where each row is lower creating a theater seating effect. Just make sure you try to get a spot near the ends as the bathroom/shower facility is in the center and blocks views from the upper row.

Speaking of getting a spot, this place is very popular so you will need to get on the reserve California site right when the sites come available or someone else will snatch the sites.

Most of the sites will require a little leveling left to right. We were in site 5 and had to level about 4". Not a huge deal but something to be aware of.

The bathrooms were very clean and well kept. Only negative is they have a sink but no soap or towels/hand dryer so we would just wash our hands back at the RV.

They showers were also clean but very basic. There were no temperature controls but the water temp was fine. They only operate on tokens which were available to purchase through a kiosk. It accepts credit cards so it was super easy. 2 tokens for $1 was decent since 2 tokens got you 4 minutes.

Two minor gripes that knocked off a star. First, all of our confirmation paperwork said we could check in anytime after 2:00 pm. We showed up at 2:30 only to be turned away because check in was now 3:00. When I said our paperwork said 2:00, I was told yeah, we know, it is wrong. They would not let us stay on the property until 3:00 so we had to find a place to go for 30 minutes. Second, our spot was a "premium hookup" spot, which we assumed would be full hookup. Turns out, none of the spots have sewer. Shame on us for assuming "premium" would have sewer.

Overall, it is a very relaxing and...

The camp host was overzealous and eager to display his authority. He was very unprofessional when he told us we needed to move one of our trailers because we were in violation of the rules, a rule that he was not able to cite, of course. He also threatened to have one of our vehicles towed for being in the wrong site (our bad for switching tags with one of our friends at a different site, but still, what harm are we causing?).

We were calm and asked to speak with a supervisor and he didn’t really like that much but the supervisor was able to help. Later that evening, we received a visit from the State Park police, and they told us that our stabilizer was touching the ground on a part beyond the allotted space. Now that might sound like it’s bad, but if you go around the campsite, you will find that most trailers have a stabilizer lowered beyond the barrier. I am really not sure why they wanted to selectively enforce this rule on us or why we were met with so much resistance.

We’ve camped here at least five times in recent years and we’ve never had to deal with the Karen camp host before. I hope they can get this under control. To be honest, this was one of our favorite beach campsites, but I don’t think we will go back after this experience. It made us really uncomfortable and we weren’t sure if they were going to be coming again in the middle of the night to tell us about something else… Really bad experience that I think is uncharacteristic for this location, but they might’ve changed staff. Good luck to everybody. We really loved camping at Crystal Cove, but I guess we won’t be...