Rincon Parkway Campground

Beautiful view and right on the beach. It is right on highway 1 which is cool but noisy with passing cars. Also, there is a train across the highway. The train only came through a few times a day so not bad. Some of the spaces are bigger than others. I booked site 15 which was double in width than most. Check google earth to see which spots are double if you need extra room. If you are pulling a trailer I would suggest the double spot so you have somewhere to park your vehicle. Outside of the road noise and lots of people great spot.

We have stayed at Rincon many times. We even remember when it was first come. It is now $39 plus a $10 “reservation fee”. You can make a reservation the day of and only need to book one night.

Our last site had a bunch of trash in it and a random person parked in our site (even though there were two full spots open on each side of our site smh). The road noise is loud and so are the waves. We have seen dolphins most our stays! Honestly I think $50 a night for a dirty site with no amenities is crazy. We only stay here when passing through now, there are very few choices in this area.

Couldn’t ask for a better view. Nice sunsets. Weather happened to be perfect. Waves are loud and drown out most of the traffic and neighbors. As mentioned by others the traffic is busy in the morning and the evening (“rush hour”). Other than that it’s quiet. Trains roll by several times a day. No horns. Arrival was uneventful. No ranger on-site just an occasional drive-by. You must make reservations online but you could check availability on you mobile and make the reservations right there. These spaces are parallel to the shore but there is an easement space and then a bike lane so you’re not right on Highway 1 so to speak. We went during the week and had the beach in front of us to ourselves. Access at this spot was fairly easy but not ADA. Lots of dolphins playing in front of us as well as ocean birds of various sorts.

I’m sure Rincon gets a lot of mixed reviews. There are definitely pros and cons to staying here. The beach is fantastic, but it can be difficult to access. If you’re relatively nimble you can make your way over the sandstone boulders from the RV parking to the beach. It was a little more difficult for Riley and getting our very cautious, very stubborn mastiff up and down was a challenge. He did love the sandy beach though! Lots of off leash dogs on the beach, but most folks were very considerate and would leash their pets when passing other dogs.

Rincon offers no amenities other than garbage dumpsters and a couple of porta-potties. The spaces are TIGHT with folks parked nose to tail. We had just enough room for our 33 ft motorhome with the toad parked perpendicular in front. To camp here you must be in a self-contained RV.

Yes, there is road noise and yes, there are train tracks. The train wasn’t an issue at all, mostly a passenger train and no whistle blowing or braking. The traffic on Hwy 1 kicks off for a morning “rush hour” around 6am and again in the late afternoon, but midday and at night it wasn’t bad at all. Hwy 101 is more heavily trafficked, but it’s further up the hill and we didn’t notice any noise. The sound of the surf was constant and a plus in my book.

We stayed at Rincon so we could visit Channel Islands National Park. The visitor’s center is in Ventura, access to the park is by boat booked through Island Packers. Well worth the visit! Other than that, we were content to enjoy the view and play on the beach.

Reservations are recommended, but my understanding is that you can talk to the park ranger about same day openings and then mobile pay.

We had 4 bars of Verizon 4G.

We grew up in T.O. and Camarillo and as kids drove with our parents on this very part of the highway, before it became a campground. Many times since, we have driven past on the new section of highway and wanted to pull off and stay. Had to move to Seattle before we did :). The highway is a little noisy and you are pretty tightly packed nose to tail, but just a few steps further west from your rv door and you're on the beach. Hard to beat. No hook ups or services provided other than dumpsters for trash. Ventura is close and has all the retail outlets you'll need. Camping is by reservation only through the Ventura County website. You'll find the rangers particularly helpful in making or extending reservations when they are onsite. Be aware that getting to the beach involves scrambling down the rock sea wall (there are no stairs)... easy to moderately difficult depending on how spry and stable you are on your feet. Depends on the dog of course, but some may have difficulty with the big rocks. We just fit with our 35' motorhome and our little Honda FIT parked perpendicular to the site. If you are bigger, it looked like sites 4 through 18 were wider (they're next to a concrete sea wall) and some longer 5th wheels were backed in diagonally to fit.

Would not stay again. In the middle of the night, we were woken up by flashing lights, a BLARING siren and loudspeaker saying “no overnight camping, move along”. It must have woken up every camper within 30 spots. The sheriff was RIGHT beside us, so we thought there was a problem with our reservation. My husband stuck his head out the window and tried to talk to the sheriff but the sheriff blatantly ignored him. My husband got out of bed in the middle of the night and went outside to talk to the man. The sheriff was talking to the man in front of us when my husband got out there, and when my husband tried to talk to him afterwards he just got back in his car and drove away. Apparently the siren was for the people in front of us, but how were we to know?? If you’re going to blast your siren 5 feet from where people are sleeping, causing them to GET UP AND OUT OF BED you could at least apologize and say, “sorry, not you” ?!?!!! It was ridiculous. If we’re paying $44 for a parking spot with no hookups, I would have wanted to get a good nights sleep at the very least.

This was just beyond the retaining wall area where you have a bit more space for your set up between the rig and rocks. Our area had a limited amount of area before the rocks but the great thing about site 27 is that it has a little path that easily takes you to the beach. Many of the other sites are difficult to climb down.

The view is amazing and we were not phased by the traffic or train. The ocean sound is great to sleep to and covers up most other noise.

Made a reservation several weeks in advance but was able to call in the day of and change site numbers.