This park is now managed by San Luis Obispo County and has been renamed Coastal Dunes RV Park. The restrooms are in need of repair, the noise from Highway 1 and the trains can be unbearable. The pool is nice and clean, the sites have grass and while not huge are much better than Pismo Coast Village. This park really caters to senior citizens and and older families; with the exception of the highway and trains very quiet at night. The price is low for this area and last minute reservations are sometimes possible. However due to the noise I would not stay here again. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Just saw this info in the SLO County Park website: Effective October 1, 2006, San Luis Obispo County Parks is pleased to announce new management of Coastal Dunes RV Park. (formerly Sand & Surf RV Park) We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
My husband and stayed there in August of 2003, with our kids. I will never go there
again. Their pull-thru sites consist of were you park and about five feet of space before the next one. The pool has sharp rock around the outside (my youngest cut open his back.) Trash bins were overflowing. What they say is near beach, is actually a 5 or 6 block walk to the beach. There is a highway in front of you were large trucks drive by all night. The best part was the train tracks that ran 100 feet behind the park. The trains go by all night, shaking the entire motorhome. Of course there is no mention of this in the brochure. Also the security staff was VERY rude. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This park is wonderful, we got stuck in the sand but a helpful camper helped us out and we had a wonderful time. The waves are at your front door. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
You're either going to love this place, or hate it. You are literally on the beach, and chances are you will get stuck in the sand at some point. No specific spots or hookups, but there is a truck that comes around and sells water at .50 per gallon and will pump out for $30. If you like ATVing, this is paradise as there are great dunes right behind where you camp i.e. you are in between the ocean and the dunes. Be sure to register and pay, as there is a stiff fine if you just park without doing that. People drive their loud ATVs 24/7, and it can be hazardous to walk around because of them. So, if you are looking for relaxation, stay away--but for the unique experience of camping right on a beach and being right by outstanding ATV riding, you can't beat it. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Park was being renovated during our stay. Good basic campground with backin sites. Park road a little tight for the big rigs. Located next to an airport, but very little traffic. The beach is about 1/4 mile away. Pismo State Beach Oceano Campground, where there is a butterfly grove, is even closer.. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Wonderful find, but not on reservation system. First-come basis. San Luis Obispo County operated park with full hook-ups. Back-in sites, most double wide for second vehicle. Tent space, firepit, and table with each site. Two camp hosts. Weekly rates available. Two week limit. A few sites can handle 40' trailers. Small children's park onsite and larger community park across the street. Just 1/4 mile to beach and Oceano OHV State Beach. Next to Elks Club RV parking and around the corner from Pismo Beach State Park Oceano Loop. We camped here in a Motorhome.
My favorite park, not a resort nor is it trying to be. A spotless, well groomed park with dune views for some but somewhat breezy to wind blocked lower area still having dune access. No ATVs allowed to drive in park. Great riding stables within walking distance. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Name is now Pacific Dunes Ranch RV and the Resort is off the name. Should make some happy. The park is still neat, clean, friendly and a great place to stay. Rest rooms/showers spotless, small fairly well stocked store, video arcade for kids and community room for clubs. Very good riding stables for beach rides within walking distance. We'll definitely be back! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
There was not a blade of grass in sight. Trees were mostly non existent, with the exception of a king palm tree here and there. The list of amenities leads you to believe there are fire rings available, which is not the case. The campsites are so small I don't know how you would even be able to have a fire. I am still trying to figure out what qualifies this as a resort. There is no pool, spa, or even beach access that I could see which could suggest this is a resort or even justify a $3.00 a day resort fee. I will not stay at this campground again, it just did not live up to my expectations. If you don't want to pay to rent horses, or bring your own, and if you don't ride ATVs this is not the park for you. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Nice Park in a country setting. Don't expect to "walk to the beach" from this park unless you are up for about a 1.5 mile one way hike in the dunes. If the wind blows while you are at this park, prepare to clean sand out of every part of your rig! Quiet setting, clean facilities and nice views. We will not return in favor of other parks in the Pismo area that are closer to town and to the beaches. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Like all RV parks, this one had good things and bad things about it. On the good side it is relatively new and modern and some of the sites have nice views of the dunes. There were several things we didn't like however. The laundry room was small and the machines needed maintenance. There was a sign that warned that if you were going to use both washers at once you needed to start them 5 minutes apart or the drains would overflow. I think that when they are charging you $35 a night they should be able to figure out how to get two washing machines to work at the same time. We were here right after President's Day and they must have been busy that weekend because the garbage dumpsters were overflowing. I feel that a facility should be able to handle the garbage even when it is filled to capacity. Perhaps they just want to save money by having the trash collected as infrequently as possible? We also had to pay an extra $4 to get WiFi so that brought the cost up to $39 for one night's stay. We probably won't be back - it was too expensive for what you get. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We were part of a rally but have used the stables for beach rides(Great) and have wanted to stay there. We were not disappointed. The park has no trees, it's in the middle of sand dunes! Restrooms and showers were immaculate,club house large and very clean. All employees were helpful and informative on local area. Will stay here again for SURE! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This was the third time we've stayed at Pacific Dunes Ranch. It is not a bad place overall. My biggest complaint goes for the incredibly narrow spaces. We had a "regular" site as opposed to a "premium" - maybe the premiums are wider? Don't know, but we were right on top of our neighbor. He literally had to go under our awning to dump his tanks, which of course meant that his sewer connection was just outside our window. There are literally no trees or grass. All the sites are a combination of sand and gravel. Our site was so unlevel, we had to lower the trailer's tongue almost to its limit of travel in order to get the trailer level. Which meant the rear end was sticking way up. The inner sites (as opposed to the outer perimeter where we were) are level though. It was very quiet at night. The fog rolls in and everybody heads inside their rig. Overall, if you don't mind the close quarters, it's a good alternative to your "typical" Pismo area parks which tend to be booked solid during the summer - just try to get a premium site toward the back, away from the outer perimeter. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is an expensive park; weekend rates are $40 per night. The sites are narrow and there is NO grass anywhere. The ocean is not close, even though the parks ads indicates a short walk to the beach. For anyone wanting to ride ATV's this would be great. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Awsome spot. Great alternative to the Pismo and Grover beach area. Only four miles from Pismo. This site sits in an incredible spot. It sits right at the end of some huge and great sand dunes that separate the park form the beach. Long but amazing walk to the beach. Very friendly staff. Very clean. This are has one of the most beautiful scenery. Highly recomend it. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Stayed here over the busy Memorial Day weekend. The park is at the edge of the dunes, not close to the beach. There is horseback riding, and you can borrower saucers to slide down the sand dunes. The beach is about a 1-2 mile drive. Did notice a few permanents, but well kept for the most part. They did not charge me extra for 3 kids, but then again the rate was quite high already. Small store and arcade for the kids, and OHV area close as well. Did not use the bath house. Overall a pretty good park. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We've stayed at this park before and enjoyed it more. This time we were with a fairly large
group. The group area is not as nice as the other part of the park dedicated to individual campers. Spaces were very tight and the sites seemed more dirt than gravel as opposed to the other areas where they were larger and had more surface gravel. All in all a nice park that could be a great park, especially considering the location. Hookups are well placed & worked well. Sites are fairly level We will stay there again. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Review Rating
[ 5 / 10 ]
2002
$38
Park is close to cities of Pismo and Shell Beach. There were several residents at this park - sites not very well kept. Sites are too close together, all dirt, no grass, no shade, but relatively level. Firepits advertised but didn't see any. Walking distance to the sand dunes, but quite a hike to the beach. There is a horse stable on site where you can rent horses and ride to the beach. Park is clean, but expensive for
what you get. We camped here in a camper.
This was our first visit to this park. We have a 36 ft. 5th wheel and stayed here in June '08 for one week. Pro's: Clean, pull thru and back in paved sites, very spacious, nice large grass area, heated pool and huge hottub, fire pits (select sites), quiet, laundryroom clean, clean bathrooms/showers, kid friendly, bike rental and arcade, Pirate ship playground nice, I feel secure with the children riding bikes and scooters around park, people drive slow, 24 available staff. No evident permanent residence with "junky" sites. Camp host lives on site, some long term residents but super clean trailers, nothing offensive. Con's: No beach access, so you drive to the beach (dunes close by, so you can pay $5 to take 4 wheel drive on dunes), 5 minutes to Pismo if you don't have 4X4 and you have to pay for parking in Pismo now, RV store expensive, drive to town to get other food is far, some staff rude (mostly good though), no tents allowed or anything on grassy area, no enclosers from awning, raccoons come on grounds to find food and climb in tree's by camp, extra vehicle parking fee ($25/wk. or $4/day, extra fee's for more people at camp. Overall, we would stay at this park again. We had some issues when we first got there. They forgot to give us a fire pit site, which I specifically requested. So, they accommodated us by bringing a portable one to our camp, it did fine and kids were happy. Other issue we had is we kept losing our electricity and we complained to staff for two days to fix it, they finally did. Management came to our site and offered us two free nights for all the trouble the electicity problem caused. That was great of them to extend that courtesy. We would stay here again and would recommend to our friends. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
I thought the sites were adequate. The main distraction at this park was the ever-present maintenance staff. They were always under foot, making a lot of noise and not very pleasant. They spent several hours in the early evening power washing the pool deck with a very loud compressor. They decided to clean the pool as soon as we went swimming. Items in the store are very pricey. The staff at the office were very accommodating. We camped here in a Motorhome.
The spaces are too close together. I asked for a wide space in the office and was told that I was being given one. There was only about 12 feet between my RV and my neighbor in my space. When my neighbor put out their awning, it was one inch away from my slide out. We camped here in a Motorhome.
The sites are so tightly packed in it took 45 minutes to get in. There was a lady parked in the middle of the narrow road, when we asked her to move so we could park she screamed obscenties at us. This continued throughout out stay. Managment new about this, and promised us a free weekend after all the problems we had. They never fulfilled their promise. We were so tightly packed in that our stairs out of the trailer ended up under the trailer next to us. It was just awful. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
I enjoyed the park very much. The staff in the office was very friendly. If making reservations, try and do it ahead though, because they are often booked. I was impressed with how friendly the girls in the office were. The bathrooms were nice and clean. One of the maintenance guys needs to watch his mouth though. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 3 / 10 ]
October 2006
$33
Rudest staff we have ever encountered. I think the worst park experience we have had since we started RV'ing. Unless you like being berated and treated poorly, I would try Pismo Village right down the road. We camped here in a Motorhome.
What can I say, It's Pismo Beach. Got to take the Quads out and rock the dunes and relaxed in the evening. No real complaints, although nothing to rave about either. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We have stayed at this RV Park many times. Very nice people run. quieter than Pismo Coast Village (a zoo in the summer months). Not much to do for the little ones compared to other parks. They have a swimming pool and a jacuzzi. Nice laundry room on site. You have to drive to the beach or into Pismo (2 miles) to find good resturants. There is a fresh produce stand within 1/2 mile from the park with the best strawberries. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
We have stayed here twice for 2 weeks and 4 weeks. It is a very nice park for short stays. Most of the sites are pull through with side by side hookups, which we don't like because your patio looks at your neighbors patio and there are space conflicts depending on the size and type of RV next to you. There is nice grass everywhere, but the landscapers move your picnic table and other items when they mow the grass and don't always move them back. The park is gated and very secure, and the nicest we have seen in the Pismo area. The rear section of the park has a lot of full timers and that section tends to be a bit trashy. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We stayed at the park in Feb 04. The park was very crowded and had many RVs that live
there. It felt more like a parking lot with small grassy areas next to the hookup areas. There is a train that goes by regularly, can wake you up at night. The park was clean, although it says families are welcome we did not see any children. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 8 / 10 ]
2003
$33
This park is one of the best on the central coast. However, the managers are aware of that
and are very arrogant and non-customer friendly. Their staff are much nicer, just don't care for the managers themselves. Several instances over the Labor Day Holiday weekend with disregard for their customers. Also, with the site set up facing each other (opposite entry's permit camping with friends very easy) you have to share your site with strangers which we didn't care for much. Great facilities, including awesome bath/showers and pool area. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
2003
$37
Very clean park, some residents. Will definitely return. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Review Rating
[ 7 / 10 ]
2002
$29
I really don't appreciate it when the sites are "most common site 22'" and when you get there you can't totally setup. Our site was 15' wide and we had to park the tow rig in the road. Nicely landscaped and well maintained. You have to be careful pulling in and out of the main driveway as it is very easy to scrape bottom. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 8 / 10 ]
2001
$32
Wonderful well kept clean park close to Pismo Beach. Nive landscaping, all paved sites/roads, with a great pool for the kids and a nice well stocked store. We camped here in a camper.
This is a great family campground; however its been a while since I have stayed at a California State Beach Campground on a summer weekend. The bathrooms are really quite disgusting and my neighbors started drinking at 9:30am and they were loud and vulgar by 5:00pm. I love the large campsites; the closeness of the dunes and beach; within walking distance of the pier; and the generally quiet and family oriented atmosphere. We camped here in a Motorhome.
I see reviews on Pismo State Beach Oceano but not North Beach. If you are not an ATV fan or Party Animal but love the Central Coast; this is the park for you. My family and I have camped here more than 25 times over the last 15 years and we always have a great time. Sitting on the Dunes watching the sunset is always special; every winter we come to camp and watch the wintering monarch butterflies. My husband enjoys golf at the small 9 hole course nearby. No hook-ups and the restrooms are maintained by the park service; but the sites are very large, campers are quiet and family oriented. I have camped at Pismo SB Oceano but much prefer North Beach We camped here in a Tent Trailer.