El Capitán State Beach Campground — Hotel in Isla Vista

5/11/2023 UPDATE: El Capitan State Beach is temporarily closed to camping until further notice due to severe storm damage, flooding, and debris cleanup. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding while State Parks works towards reopening. We are continuing to assess damages that have occurred in local State Parks; these assessments will inform recovery needs. Emergency repairs have been completed on the entrance road and beach trails. Day use in the lower part of the park is open, including one restroom. The park remains closed to camping until further notice as work continues to restore key waterlines that provide service to the park's facilities. State Parks is engaged with local, State, and Federal Emergency Operations to acquire the resources necessary for repairing these damages. Channel Coast District staff is receiving support from around the state, and all efforts are being prioritized to bring back access to these beloved State Parks. Please visit our Facebook page for progress updates and our El Capitan Entrance Improvements Project page for the latest...

El Capitan State Beach campground is a beautiful place. There are beautiful views of the ocean from many sites. There's a very nice beach, walking paths and trails, with one that goes by a little stream. (Amount of water in it varies depending on time of year, and if there's been rain.) There are very nice sized campsites where you are not on top of each other, and are not too close together, like so many other Southern California campgrounds. It's a nice place to get away from it all. The restrooms near our site were out of order on our last visit here, but hopefully they will be fixed soon. They put up a temporary outhouse for now. There is a cute little store with cute souvenir items. It would be nice if the store also carried a few items that people often run out of or forget, but it's not that...

Nice campground. Regarding beach access: Be aware that most of campground is up on a bluff, NOT on sand level, which means the beach is mostly accessed via one staircase just SE of the Lifeguard station, which is also up on the bluff (see map). I don't know why they don't state this fact anywhere on the map! On the other hand, the day use parking is more on sand level, so that is the 2nd beach access point. Knowing this, campsites 120's and mid 80's are the ones with shortest walk to the beach. Regarding the beach: there is naturally occurring tar in the sand, so if you have clean freaks in your group, pack baby wipes and some oil to remove tar spots from feet after a trip down to the water (or...