New Brighton State Beach

First the max number of days you can stay is seven. There are some electrical and water hook up sites that you must pay $50/night. There are also some premium sites for $50 which supposedly look over the cliff onto the water. Site number 90 is a very short site and you cannot see the water but it is considered a premium site!!!! 81 which is not a premium site is across the street and does have a view of the water. Unfortunately site 81 is in full sun. We enjoyed our site because we got enough solar, so we didn’t need to use the generator, but still had some shade. Quiet hours are 10 PM to 8 AM and generator hours are 10 AM to 8 PM. I’ve never seen these kind of hours before but maybe it occurs at all California state parks.

There’s a lot of poison oak, but it is cut way back around the area.

Dogs are allowed on the beach but must be on a leash. It’s a very short beach and once you hit potbelly beach you can take your dog off leash. We saw a lot of people with their dogs off leash even on the state beach, it doesn’t really seem to be enforced .

We were surprised at so many empty sites. We made a reservation six months in advance. The only time we saw a sign put out at the campground said it was full was on Friday and even then we saw many unused sites???

As California State Parks go at least they allowed the dogs on the path and on the beach.

The bathrooms were so so we didn’t use the showers. There were many water spigots throughout the campground that had a little stool so you could wash off your feet. Getting water at the dump station was funky as you had to pull in the opposite way the vehicles were going into the dump station to dump. Having a very long water hose would work also . The dump station was $10 and took credit cards.
They do not let you in the park until 2 PM. You can go and park in the day use area. The day use area is large and has plenty of parking. There is also overflow parking on the right hand side catty corner to the dump station, where you can park a large RV until you’re allowed into your spot.
We had no trouble putting our star link on the top of our RV as cell service was lousy. Cell service in the Day use area was excellent.

Sign say pay it forward and clean up your own site. We never saw anyone come around to clean up sites. People before us had left a lot of paper plates and trash in our fire ring. Firewood was $15 a bundle.

Recycling and trash were available throughout the park. There was a nice day use area for campers only that overlooked the water.

We were excited to get 4 nights in New Brighton State Park. On the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Near Capitola, Aptos, and Santa Cruz. However, this poor park is beaten. Rules regulating the number of campers and people are overlooked. Several tents per campsite with fire pits smoldering and extra bbq’s around the tables. The fire pit at our site was left with trash in it.
All of this is so unfortunate. Amazing location. Just sad.

Verizon speed was fast enough to hit my plan cap of 50Mbps download and 12 Mbps upload. That required cellular band locking during peak times - high congestion. T-Mobile did 70/10. Both speeds were using a roof mounted Pepwave antenna. ATT had 5G but didn't speed test.

We stayed for two nights. It's a cute little state park. The site was somewhat level. The interior road is very narrow and winding. There was a warning about theft on our reservation window sticker but we didn't see anything sketchy.

The trail down to the beach was a fun experience - easy access down the side of a cliff. We didn't note the maintenance issues others did.

There were lots of resident quail and other birds.

There’s so much to do. Quaint little village of Capitola is nearby as are Aptos and Santa Cruz. Campground is mostly dry camping in spacious sites, some with electricity and water. Some sites have great ocean views. We were there in February after significant rains and out site (#103) had mud around it so we couldn’t really use the picnic table. Clean bathrooms and showers.

Cons:
-Site 52 is on a path that is not shown on the map. We would never in a million years chosen this site when we had the option of others, if we knew there was a path on it.
-you have to pay each time you dump $10- we can see this for folks not staying here. Why is this not included in the stay fee for those that are?
-loud at night on weekends way after quiet hours
-people have had coolers and generators stolen so lock your vehicles
Pros:
-location
-ocean path in the campsite

(Feb 27-March 2, 2022)
This is a very nice state campground. We had a very large site with beautiful trees, grass (could use a cut but it was late winter), and ocean views. Easy walk down to ocean. Clean restroom and shower facilities. Quiet at night. Lots of families with kids bike riding around and people walking their dogs - like camping is supposed to be. Part of the campground was not yet open, probably because it was winter. Nice ocean breezes in the afternoon and the sound of crashing waves to put you to sleep at night.

The campground is really close to Capitola and Santa Cruz, Sunset Beach, Aptos and Soquel. It is a great gateway to the seaside towns with restaurants, wine tasting, and pubs a short, easy bike away. Also, about 30 minute drive to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

I hesitate to give 5 stars since there is some neglected maintenance, like most CA state park campgrounds. Even reluctant to give 4 stars because I want to keep this more of a secret!

The park needs some grounds maintenance and one of the central beach paths is gated. Exceptionally roomy sites to spread out. Premium seem overpriced and need maintenance. You’re basically paying for ocean view. Location, location, location.
Clean bathrooms, showers (bring quarters) and mellow campground. Good mix of families, seniors and other campers. Dog friendly. Lots of pups.

Our first site 84, we could see the ocean from our picnic bench.

Flush toilet / water available / bathroom sink / shower available / table / fire pit / easy access / middle shade.

Location is super nice: just above the sea! You can have a walk on the beach direclty from the campground, enjoy nice sunset. The sites lack a little privacy. If you want a site close to the sea, with a view - frontline sites - it will be more expansive. Sanitaries are clean, but old. Hot showers run on quarters. There are lots of woods on the beach, if you want to make a fire with, choose really-really dry ones, otherwhise it will be more smoke than fire ;).
We stayed there mid-May, it was really wet.

We wanted to stay 3 nights but got only space for 2.You have to go through a complicate procedure a combination of showing up in the morning to get on the waiting list and beeing there personally at 10 to 2. How strange! The spot is nice with clean showers (run on quarters) and restrooms. The highlight of course is the beach access down a short hiking path. Stuff is not very helpful.