Best Campgrounds Near Santa Barbara
20 hand-picked camping destinations curated for families visiting REI Santa Barbara. Each campground selected for quality, scenery diversity, and memorable experiences.
Showing 20 campgrounds
Featured Picks
Carpinteria State Beach Campground
Best all-around close option for Santa Barbara families: walkable sandy beach, tidepools, nearby seal rookery and a strong rating. Easy access, full amenities and multiple activity options make it an ideal first coastal camping trip.
Santa Cruz Scorpion
Highest-rated and most accessible Channel Islands campground with hundreds of reviews. Offers a family-friendly boat-in adventure with protected coves, clear water for snorkeling and excellent hiking from camp.
Wheeler Gorge
Closest true mountain-and-creek campground to Santa Barbara with very high use and strong feedback. Shady oak and sycamore forest, Matilija Creek, a small swimming hole and short hikes make it a go-to family basecamp away from the coast.
Belknap
Top-rated giant sequoia campground with a creek running through camp and excellent family reviews. Delivers the classic big-tree Sierra experience for a weekend road trip with plenty of short hikes and water play nearby.
Dogwood
Large, well-developed mountain campground with one of the highest review counts and ratings. Near Lake Arrowhead and Lake Gregory, it offers shaded forest sites, lake access, and a full mix of family activities from hikes to bike rides.
Ricardo Campground
Red rock cliffs and dramatic desert canyon scenery create a totally different feel than coastal or forested sites. Highly rated with good reviews, it’s a great choice for families wanting easy car camping in a spectacular desert landscape.
More to Explore
El Capitan State Beach Campground
Classic Santa Barbara–area state beach with a mix of shady creekside sites and quick access to sandy shoreline and tidepools. Strong ratings and a slightly more woodsy feel make it a great alternative to Carpinteria.
Refugio State Beach Campground
Palm-lined crescent beach with a sheltered feel that’s ideal for younger kids and paddle sports. A favorite close-to-town coastal campground that rounds out the trio of Carpinteria/El Capitán/Refugio choices.
Paradise Campground
Popular Santa Ynez River campground offering shady oak groves, seasonal swimming holes and fishing. Provides an easy inland river experience close to Santa Barbara for families who want a break from the beach.
Santa Rosa Island
More remote Channel Island with rugged mountains, deep canyons and long beaches. Strong reviews and a wilder feel than Santa Cruz make it a great multi-day island adventure for families with older kids.
Santa Cruz Del Norte Backcountry
Best-reviewed Channel Islands backcountry site, perched in oak woodlands above the coast. The hike-in access makes it a good next step for families ready to try a mellow backpacking experience with big ocean views.
Sycamore Campground
Combines a shady canyon setting with underpass access to the beach. Highly rated with many reviews, it offers excellent hiking and biking right from camp plus easy saltwater swimming.
Thornhill Broome Campground
Drive-in sites right on the sand give a unique sleep-by-the-surf experience. Well-rated and popular, it suits beach-focused families who want maximum time by the water and don’t mind a more exposed, roadside setting.
Selby Campground
Small, quiet campground in Carrizo Plain with sweeping grassland and mountain views. Especially good in spring wildflower season, it’s a near-to-home way for families to experience open desert skies and solitude.
Redwood Meadow
Complement to Belknap in another sequoia grove, with a more rustic feel and nearby waterfalls and creeks. Strong reviews and spectacular trees make it a great deeper-into-the-forest option for families.
Sandy Flat
Well-loved Lower Kern River campground with beachy river access and dramatic boulder scenery. Offers a very different water experience than the ocean, popular with families who enjoy rivers and warm-weather camping.
Morro Bay State Park Campground
Coastal campground overlooking Morro Bay’s estuary and marina with excellent birding. Strong reviews and easy access to paddling, short hikes and bike routes make it a versatile central-coast weekend base.
Oceano Campground
Family-friendly blend of lagoon, dunes and ocean near Pismo. High review count and easy biking and walking access to the beach and nearby dunes make it a fun, activity-rich destination.
Islay Creek Campground
Montaña de Oro’s main campground, with rugged cliffs, hidden coves and nearby streams. Well-rated and less developed than Morro Bay State Park, it suits families who want a wilder coastal hiking and biking experience.
Kennedy Meadows Campground
High-elevation meadow and river setting at the gateway to several Sierra wilderness areas. Offers cooler summer temperatures, big night skies and a classic mountain-camping feel for experienced car-camping families.
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