Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

We were a day late for our reservation, so we were allowed in before opening time. We proceeded along the narrow, potholed road to our river site in the Wayland part of the CG, which is CLEARLY designed for tent campers. The parking areas are unnecessarily shallow, with unnecessary posts surrounding the parking area. Our 20' TT barely fit, and was extremely difficult to park because of the unnecessary boulders lining the opposite side of the unnecessarily narrow one-way road. I had to proceed the wrong way down this road to approach my site in such a way that I could park my rig in the tiny space, and still managed to damage my truck in the process.

Stunning Park! Last minute, after 3pm,
We drove up to the gate, many spaces opened 4th of July weekend. We Stayed In 110. Private, Wide Site, Large Enough For Our 28’ airatream. Water Available At Site With No Threads, No Hookups. We also stayed at Big Sur Campground, great park, very expensive 160.00 per night compared
To $35.00 Pfeiffer Campground. No cell service, no work, we have AT&T and TMobil. I hope we can book site 110 in the future.

We got a good overview of the entire place because we were only able to get one night at a time so we had to keep switching sites. We were only able to find spaces in South and Weyland campgrounds, not the Main campground.

First off, the sites along the river in Main camp have beautiful access, but there is also a nice swimming hole so there will be a lot of traffic near your site on a nice day. I want to say that the middle campsites were the best/worst. You pay extra for all of the river sites throughout the state park.

We personally thought sites 72-74 were the best non-river sites. They had a nice big open field behind them and the river just across the road with no campsites in-between and the camp store (with laundry) very close by. There was traffic on the road for people coming/going to Weyland but we were able to get far enough back in the site that it didn't bother us. The open field made for good Starlink reception and solar power, but there were a few trees for shade. Also, the bathroom was easily accessible. Site 75 was on the other side of a little creek so you had to jump it or go way around to get to the bathroom and it was pretty squished with site 76 taking up a lot of the open space.

The Weyland campsites weren't anything special and most seemed pretty tight. 111 was right next to a short trail so there was a lot of traffic coming past. 124 was very tight with a tree leaning over one side so it was a little tough for us even in a comparatively small 18ft van. There were fine bathrooms in this area but only the handicapped stalls have sinks in them.

Verizon service is essentially non-existent in the state park. We would turn the booster on and could get intermittent service but just enough to send/receive texts or load simple webpages.

Showers here were 5 minutes per token and each token cost $1. However, we came from Hearst San Simeon where tokens were only $0.25 each and they still worked here, so stock up if you are coming from another state park where tokens are cheaper.

We enjoyed the Valley View trail and walking around the campgrounds and along the river. Point Lobos isn't too far north and has awesome views with plenty of wildlife. We saw countless harbor seals and sea otters along with some crabs and a few sea lions.

Disclaimer- I was camp host here for 4 months. This is a beautiful park that is well maintained and in the middle of a redwood forest. The Big Sur River meanders through. There are no hookups in the park some sites fit larger size rigs. No reliable cell service or internet. Private showers, coin laundry on site, and water spigots throughout the 3 campgrounds. Many trails within and adjacent to the park. Two other state parks are in close driving distance (under 10 miles). Reservations fill quickly. Lots of wildlife to see. Restaurant and camp store on site and several more within 10 miles. Stars are spectacular- once you walk out from under the expansive canopy.

j'ai beaucoup aprecié ce camping car il est tres calme et surtout au bord d'une riviere Big sur et quand il fait chaud c'est tres agreable de s'y baigner

(Google Translate - French to English) I really appreciated this campsite because it is very quiet and especially on the edge of a Big Sur river and when it is hot it is very pleasant to swim there

Very nice park and in a great location, but no cell or wifi access. Booked a site for two nights but we left after the first night as we needed to be in contact with family.

The RV park store was closed (covid related?) and the larger Lodge that serves breakfast was not open by 7:30 am, so we left to find a Starbucks.

We would have been better off just day using the park which I think costs $10 instead of the $70 plus we ended up spending for the two nights

We ended up on the coast over the weekend while on a long road trip, which wasn't ideal. No private or public reserve-able sites available, and as it turns out, road closures due to fires and the sheer number of visitors in general meant the NFS first come/first served sites wouldn't have been an option. Got lucky and arrived at Pfeiffer Big Sur just before 2 pm when they release unclaimed sites and nabbed one. No hook ups,filthy picnic table, close neighbors. We were unlucky enough to have a double family group that had no respect for the peace and enjoyment of anyone else next to us, and another loud Kumbayah bunch behind us who stayed up late and got up early. Campfires everywhere and wood being sold like hotcakes while the state is BURNING DOWN. Why anyone would think this was getting away into nature, I do not know. It was a little sad to have this as our Big Sur experience. But the ranger who checked us in was super helpful and my husb said the token shower was decent enough. It's a lovely spot, being loved to death.

This is a very nice campground that is tucked away in the woods but it is a bit pricey. Getting a campsite can be confusing. If you reserve online it is $35 plus a reservation fee which I think was $10. However, those were sold out and come to find out only about a 1/3rd of the sites are open for reservation. The first-come, first-served sites again start at $35/night but the river sites are $45 (Don’t miss that) and en route, camping is available for self-contained rigs if all the sites are taken but those will set you back $45 as well and it is just a parking lot.

All sites are in the trees with firings and decent spacing between sites. The restrooms are dated. This area has the southernmost redwood trees although they are tiny in comparison to the giants in Northern California. The river walk is a great way to see some of the trees. The Buzzards Roost trail is also nice but it is steeper than most will like.

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

It's a big campground, but it needs to arrive early to get a site (around 10:00). Even if there are a lot of people, with bushes and trees we still have privacy. There are hot showers running with coins. Be aware of squirels: they ate our tent making bad holes… The location is good: near to the north entrance of Big Sur State Park. Few minutes driving south, there is a big Visitor Center for maps and information. North of the campground, there are some others (private) campgrounds if this one is full. Ten minutes driving Southn there is the famous Café Nepenthe, and continue straight to the MacWay Falls. We stayed there mid-May, it was cloudy and rainy, but still really beautiful and less crowded.

This is a large, we'll run, state park in the heart of the Big Sur area. The campsites vary greatly and we had a nice spot next to the creek feeding into the Big Sur river. Which means we didn't pay a premium for a river site. Don't get me wrong some of the premium river sites looked worth the extra dough but many didn't imho.

The sites can be a little close together. Ours was nice as we only had neighbors on one side. Our site was tight for our trailer size and leveling was a challenge. The trees at are site were both a blessing, think 24/7 shade, and a curse, think leaves all up in our awning and our slide. But we loved the trees and the shadey views they provided :)

The park is top notch! There is a lot of amazing hiking available right in the park, the Big Sur river runs through the park, and there is plenty of wildlife to peep at :) And it's a very short jaunt to Andrew Molera State Park, Nepenthe, and more!

The dump station in the park is fairly easy to access and was clean, or as clean as those places ever are...ewww ;) The roads in and out of the park are pretty narrow. This was really the only concern we had when towing our rig in and out...