Pacific Dunes Ranch & RV Resort

Stayed 2 nights as part of our Thousand Trails Collection membership. Paid $20 per night.

Full hookups (50amp power, 60psi water, sewer). Internet was good with AT&T, just ok with Verizon, but with a WeBoost cell phone booster we streamed without problems.

Easy, contact-less check-in. Our information was taped to the outside window. They originally booked us in the first spot but it was clear as we parked our 42ft 5th wheel that we were too large for the site. They let us move a few spots down to site 16 and we fit just fine, although we did have to park our truck just across the little street in an overflow site.

Great location, just a few minutes from grocery stores, restaurants and the beach.

While I've read the rates at this campground are $67-$70 per night, I only paid $20 nightly due to my Thousand Trails Collection membership. Frankly even that was overpriced for my needs. Due to COVID I checked in online and never spoke to anyone here. I did see at least one golf cart circling each morning and waved.

Internal roads are paved and that is nice however the sites are mostly coarse sand and rock. At least it wasn't dusty when I was here. The sites are VERY narrow and not all that long. For the most part, I felt very cramped here. They do have full hook-ups with 50 amp. There are a number of RVs parked here full time, but they seemed to be maintained and their sites were decent for the most part.

The beach is on the other side of the dunes and I chose not to walk the distance due to my age and stability. Dogs are not allowed on the dunes, they are the State of California property!

The small laundry rooms were spread out over the facility. The one I used had 2 washers and 2 dryers. One of the washers didn't work the whole time I stayed.

There were a couple of dogs off-leash here, not sure if they enforce leashes, but they do advertise dogs must be on a leash!

Really no pool or other facility here, but with COVID it would have been closed anyway. They do have horseback riding available on the beach.

The location and the sites were ok. Sand and crushed rock for the pads made it messy, and the amenities are pretty poor or non-existent. All of this would have been a 4 star for me, but the staff and the permanent residents don't care about the rest of the paying customers. One permanent resident was riding his no muffler Harley around the campground at 4 am, two nights in a row. When we complained about it, the staff basically said, we don't care, and told me to get over it. Other permanent residents were living in total wrecks that looked like they should be condemned. Also apparently they have a theft problem as well. DO NOT STAY HERE. There are plenty of other nice places to stay in the area.

We booked a two-night stay here as one of our last chance getaway opportunities this summer. Super location, right on the doorstep of the Pacific Dunes.

If you use Waze for your navigation, be aware it will try it divert you on a dirt road maybe 200 feet or so before the actual entrance - don't go down the dirt road.
Check-in was mostly completed on the computer before our arrival, including site number assignment. When we pulled up, I did hop out of the truck to pop my head in the office. You couldn’t really get in as there was a table blocking entrance for social distance protocol. The lady in the office greeted our arrival and advised our personal map and info was taped onto the front window of the office. So I walked over, pulled down our info sheet, and off we drove to our site.
We walked the dunes to arrive at the beach - an enjoyable afternoon. If you are adventurous, bring a boogie board, long piece of cardboard, or other item that might allow you to ride the dune hills (we plan to do so on a future visit). You literally step out to the dunes from the corner of the property and then you can spend a little bit of time to a lot of time, exploring and enjoying. This is also a great place for photography. There is horseback riding available from an outfit just before you enter the property.
Proximity is close enough to downtown Pismo and some of the fun things to experience there.
While there are a good number of sites available at this RV Resort, we were pleased to find it generally extremely quiet. A good mix of vacationers along with full-timers here. Our site was a pull through (we are still RV newbies), full hookups (electric, water, sewer). Sites were a wee bit closer to each other than we would have preferred (e.g., our patio table almost next to the next trailer's sewer hose). Our rig was 30 feet end to end, no slides - fit just fine. Lots of very large rigs here too.
There are additional bathrooms on the property - including showers, which we took advantage of versus using the RV shower. Clean and large enough sized.
Our trip in the summer was met with great vacation weather (only about 80 degrees here, while it neared 100 in our hometown of Simi Valley). Also, being summer, no wind - so not sure what the experience is like here in fall and winter or anytime the winds pickup given that you are so close to the dunes. We had no issue with sand, but this might be something to keep an eye on depending on when you travel here.
Glad to have found this location. We really enjoyed the nearby areas and plan to return in the future - a probably annual stop for us moving forward.

We booked a two-night stay here as one of our last chance getaway opportunities this summer. Super location, right on the doorstep of the Pacific Dunes.

If you use Waze for your navigation, be aware it will try it divert you on a dirt road maybe 200 feet or so before the actual entrance - don't go down the dirt road.
Check-in was mostly completed on the computer before our arrival, including site number assignment. When we pulled up, I did hop out of the truck to pop my head in the office. You couldn’t really get in as there was a table blocking entrance for social distance protocol. The lady in the office greeted our arrival and advised our personal map and info was taped onto the front window of the office. So I walked over, pulled down our info sheet, and off we drove to our site.
We walked the dunes to arrive at the beach - an enjoyable afternoon. If you are adventurous, bring a boogie board, long piece of cardboard, or other item that might allow you to ride the dune hills (we plan to do so on a future visit). You literally step out to the dunes from the corner of the property and then you can spend a little bit of time to a lot of time, exploring and enjoying. This is also a great place for photography. There is horseback riding available from an outfit just before you enter the property.
Proximity is close enough to downtown Pismo and some of the fun things to experience there.
While there are a good number of sites available at this RV Resort, we were pleased to find it generally extremely quiet. A good mix of vacationers along with full-timers here. Our site was a pull through (we are still RV newbies), full hookups (electric, water, sewer). Sites were a wee bit closer to each other than we would have preferred (e.g., our patio table almost next to the next trailer's sewer hose). Our rig was 30 feet end to end, no slides - fit just fine. Lots of very large rigs here too.
There are additional bathrooms on the property - including showers, which we took advantage of versus using the RV shower. Clean and large enough sized.
Our trip in the summer was met with great vacation weather (only about 80 degrees here, while it neared 100 in our hometown of Simi Valley). Also, being summer, no wind - so not sure what the experience is like here in fall and winter or anytime the winds pickup given that you are so close to the dunes. We had no issue with sand, but this might be something to keep an eye on depending on when you travel here.
Glad to have found this location. We really enjoyed the nearby areas and plan to return in the future - a probably annual stop for us moving forward.

We stayed in late October and loved it. I was told by a local that October and early November are the best weather times of the year. Fog rolls in and cools it down during other months. We had clear blue skies our entire stay.

With Thousand Trails you still pay $20/night for this location. You can also camp on the beach for $10/night through the state park and we saw many RV's right on the beach, including large fifth wheels. Pacific Dunes Ranch is in the dunes 1/2 mile from the beach which is a hearty hike or you can drive to the state park to get to the beach.

3 miles up the road is the Monarch Butterfly Grove with free entry. There were 850 estimated Monarchs when we visited. Best time is November/December from what I was told. We were a little early. We still managed to get a picture through the scope they had on site.

Overall, we loved this location. It is one of the few places I would pay the extra fee with TT.

This resort is what you make of it. If you plan on being out and about doing activities - exploring the town, dunes, SLO County, etc. it’s a great place to come back to, have a fire (make sure to bring a fire pit), and rest for the night. Otherwise, the sites are pretty tight. We were given both 44 and 45 because our site was only long enough to hold our 30’ TT, so they gave us the next site to park our truck. Luckily, they did this with everyone in our row which meant we all had a space in between us that allowed for a bit more room to spread out. Without the extra space, we wouldn’t have been able to have a fire and set out camp chairs. I was thankful that the resort did this even on a holiday weekend. We were in the lower level which didn’t give us a great view of anything, but it meant it was much less windy than the upper sites. I’m giving 4 stars only because of how tight this place can be. We were fortunate that the pull through spot in front of us was empty when we arrived and again when we left because there was no way us newbies could have backed in and pulled out very easily.

We stayed here close to 4 months. Sites are adequate and if they have space they will give you the spot next to yours for parking your truck/tow vehicle. Gravel pads with a picnic table. Quiet location between vegetable fields and the dunes. Access to the dunes is in the back of the park. Great spot to let dogs runs. My only complaint is how many dogs (atleast 4 on a regular basis) were running around leashless without owners anywhere to be seen. Honestly, it was a little absurd. I mentioned it to one of the ladies in the office who's response was "you're not the only one who's complained, I'll talk to them" It's been several weeks and it's still the same. Dogs running around, marking peoples personal belongings. This is a little bit of a soapbox issue for me because it's a safety issue and one that's simple to prevent. Not all dogs are friendly or good with other dogs and the front office seemed blasé about it. It's not fair to "hope they are friendly" while you're walking your leashed dog around.