The night is the thing you book first in San Clemente, and the van second. All four camps within reach go through ReserveCalifornia, and on a summer weekend none of them has room for someone who just turns up. San Clemente State Beach is the simplest first night, a full-hookup loop on the bluff at the edge of downtown, and its pass office handles after-hours check-in when the drive runs long.
San Onofre Bluffs is the surf night, up on the terrace above Trestles, and it's dry. The entrance locks at 10 p.m. and opens at 6 a.m., with no gate code, so a late pull-in means sleeping somewhere else. San Mateo is the inland version of the same park, with electric and water. Doheny is the beach-level week down by Dana Point Harbor, also dry, and it's taking bookings three months out rather than the usual six (parks.ca.gov).
The Bluffs pads sit in a line where old Highway 101 ran, with dirt trails cut down the cliff to a strip of undeveloped beach. You get a dump station, cold outdoor showers, and chemical toilets, and no water at all, so arrive full (parks.ca.gov). Not every cliff trail is open, so check which ones still reach the sand before you count on a shortcut down.
Trestles has no road in. You park at camp and walk under the railroad trestle to the sand (parks.ca.gov). Surf Beach, the day-use strip with The Point and Old Man's, is for parking and paddling out, not for camping. The wave out there is big enough to stage Olympic surfing in July 2028 (parks.ca.gov).
Take San Mateo instead if you'd rather plug in and get a hot shower after a day in the water. It sits in the sycamores on the inland side of I-5, out of the wind, with a 1.5-mile nature trail that runs back out to the surf (parks.ca.gov).
Doheny State Beach
California's first state beach has a gentle longboard peak at the north end that goes easy on beginners, and camp sits close enough to the water that the day is just back and forth to the sand. The premium row is beach-level against the harbor breakwater, with an active rail line behind camp; standard sites sit back a bit and run $50 a night against $65 on the beach row, as of August 2026 (parks.ca.gov). Top off your water and empty your tanks on the way in, since there are no hookups at the site (parks.ca.gov).
San Clemente State Beach
The walk from camp goes two directions. A steep trail drops off the bluff to about a mile of sand below, and the level one runs into town, past the Spanish Village restaurants to the pier. Go north along the shore and you pick up the city beach, T-Street, and the Beach Trail, all run by the town rather than the park (parks.ca.gov).
These are state-beach loops, sized for vans and mid-size motorhomes rather than the biggest rigs. If you need more room than they allow, look at a larger RV across California.
Up the coast, Crystal Cove and the Newport shoreline are the Costa Mesa trip, with the historic cottages and tidepool coves covered on the Costa Mesa campervan lander. South past the county line, the state beach at Carlsbad is the next overnight down the coast.