San Mateo Campground

My wife, son and I stayed here over the 9/11 weekend with our two dogs. The place was nice and clean. The site was private with water and electric hookups. There is a dump station on site. The campground overlooks Camp Pendleton. It is a nice 40 minute hike to Trestles Beach. It is a convenient local getaway. Would definitely stay here again.

The good:

• Pleasant staff
• Clean
• Quite
• Beach access (apx 2 mi) via a nice trail

The not good:

• Site selection is key . . . do your homework
• Spotty (at best) mobile coverage
• Limited shade (on many sites) . . . we camped during dead of summer So. CA heat wave
• Narrow sites boarded by tall hedges (not ideal if camping with friends)

Suggestions

• Take care with regard to forecasts (2 mi from the beach can have a big difference in the temp)
• Don't plan on mobile coverage (although some sites did appear to have decent coverage)
• Did I mention site selection (which is key to any outing, seemed to have a bigger impact here)
• Bring your own shade
• Plan on walking to the beach, as parking is at an absolute premium (great local surf spot)

Personal Conclusion
As we camp with our grand daughter, whose mommy likes to be in touch, the lack of mobile coverage is a deal breaker. Long walk to the beach renders daily visits challenging with small children or mobile challenged. If none of the above matters, my rating would be higher.

We stayed at San Mateo CG for 4 nights July 21-25, 2020. Well-maintained. Mostly quiet in the evening but for some little kids having fun playing outdoors - like camping should be. We were in the dry camping area. Generator hours are until 8 pm and everyone very respectful to the hours.

The restrooms and showers were clean. Sink washing station in good shape, too. Sites are pretty level and have greenery separating the sites. Some open up onto open space. Others kind of backup to other sites. The map on the Reserve California website is pretty accurate.

There is a walking/biking path to the beach. Kind of hilly but keeps you away from the road. About 1.5 miles to Trestles (great surf beach). With your state campground pass, you can also use the day use parking at any state beach until 10 p.m. on your departure date.

We road bikes from the campground on two days. One day down to San Onofre - bike path nearly the entire way. Next day up to Dana Point - bike route and bike path the whole way.

You are really close to Camp Pendleton and can often hear their artillery practice. Fortunately, they don't start until 9 a.m. Be aware if you have pets that are afraid of fireworks or thunder as it can sound like that at times.

This Campground advertised a 1.5 mile nature walk to the ocean. It doesn't tell you that it has to cross Interstate 5, not the kind of nature we are seeking. But the grounds are well-maintained, and if you can be here when it's not fully packed, it's a nice peaceful environment. No Verizon service. Water hookup in pitch and electric. Rate referenced above includes online reservation fees. The campground was maybe one third full in the middle of the week early April.

We rode into San Mateo with absolutely ZERO experience camping, and were very grateful for all it provided. However, if we had more experience camping, we are not sure we would have liked it much. In fact, the others we talked to seemed to only be there b/c it was their second choice (this was on the cusp of what was going to be a very busy Labor Day weekend) of state parks.

That said, the campground was very clean, every site had a picnic bench, fire ring, some trees/privacy. The scenery was lovely if you could look beyond the brown drought stricken hills and lots 'o electic wires, but knowing the Pacific Ocean and great beaches are only a couple of miles west helps (and you can see the ocean from some of the roads around the campground.)

The bathrooms were very clean. Lots of dumpsters. Some informative signage about local flora/fauna/wildlife. The campground is in the middle of El Camino Real - a historic road in the history of California, connecting all the missions, so cool to ponder those who came before...we didn't get to the beach, but from what we were told, it's a 2.5 mile walk or bike ride on a trail there. Super easy access from I-5; limited if any road noise from our site.