8 September 2026 · 6 minute read
RV camping on the San Diego coast
Beach sites open six months ahead to the minute and sell out that morning. How to get one, and what to do when you cannot.
Our 2021 Highland Ridge Open Range, set up at the yard the way it arrives at your site.
The run down
Oceanside is 62 miles from the yard and San Diego proper is 85. Call it an hour and twenty to an hour and forty depending on which coast road you end up on and what the traffic is doing.
It is an easy drive. No grades worth worrying about. The hard part is not the journey, it is getting a site.
Beach sites go on sale six months ahead
San Elijo and South Carlsbad release sites six months out to the day, and the good ones are gone within minutes of the window opening. This is not an exaggeration and it is not first come first served in practice.
Set an alarm. Have your account logged in. Know the site number you want before the clock starts. People plan a coastal summer in January.
If you missed the window
You have options and they are better than they sound.
- Campland on the Bay has full hookups and takes bookings much closer in
- Santee Lakes is inland by twenty minutes, full hookup, and far easier to get
- Paradise by the Sea in Oceanside is small and full hookup
- Midweek on the bluffs is a different world from a Saturday
Length limits on the bluffs are real
This is where we see the most trouble. A bluff site listed at thirty five feet means thirty five feet, and a thirty five foot trailer plus a truck does not fit in it.
Send us the site number when you book. We will tell you which units fit it and which do not, and that conversation takes two minutes and saves a wasted drive.
Hookups on the coast
Most of the state beach sites are dry or partial. You may get water. You will often not get power. That changes what you want to rent, because a hot afternoon with no shore power means no air conditioning.
For a dry beach site, pick something with a decent fresh tank and plan to be outside during the day, which on a beach is the point.
Fog and salt
May and June bring grey mornings that burn off by lunch. It catches people who booked for sunshine and wake up to a wall of white. It lifts.
Salt air is the other one. Rinse the unit down before you bring it back if you have been parked on sand for a week. We do not charge for it, we would just rather it did not sit.
What we send to the coast
Shorter trailers, because the sites are tight and the length limits bite. A twenty two foot unit opens up sites a thirty foot one cannot touch.
If you have a full hookup site at one of the inland parks then anything on the board works, and the bigger units are more comfortable for a week.
Written by the WeRV yard in Hemet. Call or text (951) 289-0755 if you want a second opinion on a site before you book it.
