Tips to Reserve A Campsite on ReserveCalifornia
Updated: January 25, 2022
Anyone who has tried to get a campsite reservation using ReserveCalifornia.com knows it is very difficult. This is especially true at the popular campgrounds like San Elijo State Beach, South Carlsbad State Beach, Doheny State Beach, Leo Carrillo State Park, Refugio State Beach and others.
Refugio State Beach – Campsite #35
Demand far exceeds supply for the limited number of campsites and the 6-month rotating reservation window makes it all the more difficult. This is also why we launched CAMPSITE ASSIST – a popular app that will send you a text & email alert when a campsite becomes available on the dates you want to camp.
Our tips below come from the countless hours our team at CampsitePhotos.com has spent trying to get campsite reservations (sometimes successfully), as well as input from other campers.
Tips to Reserve A Campsite on ReserveCalifornia
- Without stating the obvious, nail down what days you want to camp (arrival date and the # of nights), and of course research what campground you’d like to visit. You should also check out the campsite photos on our site to discover the campsite of your dreams. Trying for mid-week, non-holiday or off-season will also improve your chances.
- Get organized and assemble your “reservation team” (the more people trying for your reservation the better).
- Login to ReserveCalifornia.com 6 months prior to your arrival date and about 20 minutes prior to when the reservation window opens (8 a.m. PST).Enter the name of the campground and arrival dates. Selecting a site type is optional.
- Click the “Show Results” button. If campsites are available, make sure your equipment is okay for the site (type, size, etc.). Then reserve the campsite and continue to payment.
- If no sites are available, click on a camping loop section to see “next available date”. A window will pop up showing when campsites are available. You can click to reserve or click ‘Next” to see other dates.
If you’re trying for dates that are not yet released, go through the process above and then click through the calendar to your arrival date. In the example below, we want to arrive July 26th (the reservation window will open January 26th at 8 a.m. PST). However, it is important to check to see what campsites are available the day before the reservation window opens (in this case on January 25th)! As shown below (checking on January 25th), there is one (campsite #10), and maybe more that are available for a July 26th arrival.
Here is where it gets exciting. On the day reservations are available (January 26 example above), login about 20 minutes prior to 8 a.m. (PST). Then go through the same steps/process and end up at the screen shown above. Also, open another tab on your monitor that displays a clock ticking by the second. At 7:59:59 CLICK ON THE DATE (July 26) of the available campsite (see below).
If quick enough, you’ll see a picture grid with instructions to verify you are a human. DO IT QUICKLY!
If someone beat you to it, you’ll get a message that the campsite is no longer available. As is most often the case, we didn’t have any luck in our example. If you’re successful you’ll see a button to ‘Reserve Unit’. CLICK ON IT IMMEDIATELY! If you’re still successful, you’ll be able to take a breath and confirm/pay for your campsite. If you miss out, continue to go back and check for available campsites. On occasion, people may have booked multiple sites and will be cancelling the ones they don’t want.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – Campsite #6
ReserveCalifornia.com also will hold or lock a campsite (indicated by the ‘lock’ icon on a particular campsite/date). The ‘locked’ campsites indicates that the campsite(s) were recently canceled but not yet available to reserve. These typically get released the next day at a set time. Our Campsite Assist – availability alert service – will notify you when they are available.
43 Replies to “Tips to Reserve A Campsite on ReserveCalifornia”
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This instruction is now out of date. They have changed the user interface a bit since this was published. Any tips for the new interface?
Thanks Jeffrey,
And yes, we are in process of updating with tips for new user interface . . . which doesn’t appear to be much better unfortunately.
I followed the instructions listed above but when 7:59:59 came around and I clicked on the green box for the campsite nothing happened. No window popped up saying that the site was booked or anything like that. Is there something that I did wrong or is that part of the updated interface referenced in the comments above?
Hi Nicholas,
You did good/right. Unfortunately the ReserveCalifornia reservation site/system tends to be glitchy (among other things) because of the traffic and other reasons. Sometimes it works, sometimes you have to keep trying.
Nicholas B. I think you actually need to hit the “refresh” button at 7:59:59 at the top right of the screen- THEN click on a site that shows it’s available by turning solid light green (dark green with the 2 lines means it’s an add-on date and WILL become available at 8:00 when you refresh, unless someone else gets it first.)
I have tried this many times, using both my browser refresh (Chrome) and the website refresh on the right side of the page. I do it exactly at 7:59:59.
Nothing changes, campsites that should become available 6 months out still do not have the green box, just the “add-on” box. Very frustrating. I was always able to reserve on the old system, just had to keep trying.
This system sinks! I had the site in my basket. Was filling in the info and still had 13 minutes left. When I clicked to accept and pay, it said some items in my basket are no longer available. The system let someone else steal 2 of my 3 days I had in my cart! It give me a total price and everything! Beware!!
I know. The site doesn’t work at all. I’ve tried with two different browsers to reserve sites that were clearly available for the dates, but no way to book. Frustrating. I’ve spent nearly 40 minutes. And the Chat agents are of no use either. One told me to call the park phone #. I did so and it rang and rang. No pickup.
I wonder if we no longer have 15 minutes to relax and put in our payment. I wonder if several people can have chosen the same site and the first one to pay gets it. I haven’t seen any warning lately that I have 15 minutes in which to pay. I had a site but couldn’t finish because a pop up window said that my vehicles had been at the park over 30 days in the calendar year. That’s simply not true. I could not complete my registration. I finally called )it took 30 minutes. The screen still indicated that the site I wanted was mine. After talking to a representative, the site was unavailable. Someone else had taken it. There was never a warning that I had 15 minutes to complete my registration. This system sucks. We had a much better chance to reserve when a whole month opened up at a time. Any thoughts on the 15 minute window?
Hi David,
That’s too bad about your experience with ReserveCalifornia. I believe they do have a 15 minute timer to allow you to make a payment. It is usually in the upper right hand corner. Not sure why it indicated you could not reserve because you had already stayed at the park for 30 days (which was not true). Sounds as if there are other glitches going on with their website/reservation system.
Do you know what the new “holds” are on ReserveCA website? I thought maybe it was like the notification you could sign up for (back when state parks was on ReserveAmerica) whereby you’d get an early morning email that somebody had cancelled on your date. However I signed up for many “holds” this summer, and never got a single notification. Thanks!
Hi Colby,
I’m not familiar with the “holds” on ReserveCA. Did you mean ‘alerts’? Last year ReserveCA did start to ‘hold’ some of the canceled campsites instead of making them available. These are indicated by the ‘lock’ icon in the booking system. ReserveCA does release these sites and usually on the next day.
Also, ReserveCA allows campers who have an existing reservation to modify their reservation. For example, a visitor who already has a reservation from September 1-7, can modify their reservation from their original reservation to September 2-8 before the 8 a.m. PST reservation window as long as it is within the maximum stay limit of that particular park. They can do this two times. This is another reason why campsites that show availability on a particular day are not available when it comes time to try and reserve (at 8am six months prior to arrival). Remember – you can use our Campsite Assist service to get availability alerts when campsites are cancelled.
Thanks for the quick reply. FYI the “holds” dropdown is in “Your Account” and the 2nd item down “Your Holds” is just below Your Reservations. I’ve never figured out what this is for, other than I’ve tried making “holds” thinking it was some kind of wait list, but then never hear back on anything. So I have no idea! Anyways, thanks
Thanks for additional info Colby! I’ll check out the ‘hold’ feature in my account and let you know if I can figure it out.
I get notified w hen the 15 min clock is close to ending. AND when the 15 min occurs, I get kicked out of the park I’m trying to reserve back to the home page. happens the same everytime. I agree the software is NOT user friendly.
I got to the reserve screen and after pressing it I was required to prove I was a person. The when I got back it was gone. This is totally unacceptable. But like most things there is nothing anyone of us can do about it. Don’t you just love California, even camping turns into a competition.
I hear ya Joe! On occasion I (and others) have been able to confirm I was a human prior to trying to make the reservation. It doesn’t work all the time though – asking me to prove again during the process and my campsite reservation was gone.
Does Reserve California let you change the dates of a reservation after it’s been made like Recreation.gov? For example, a Sept 1-7 booking is modified to be Sept 3-5? I understand you only get to make modifications 2 times, but is the length of stay fixed?
Hi Andrew,
Yes, you can changes dates and length of stay for an existing ReserveCalifornia reservation. As you mentioned, you can change it two times.
Thanks for the reply! I just missed out on one today. The green icon immediately became a lock when I tried it at 8am, that just means I was too slow right?
Also, I’m testing a reservation at another site, it first takes you to the page where you put the name, occupants, license plate..etc, but it’s not in your cart yet until you click “reserve”. During this time, can others also technically reserve it before you or do you have some time here to input these details?
Rats! Sorry you didn’t get that campsite. Changing from ‘green’ to a ‘lock’ probably was the result of the person who had that campsite reserved the day before – changing/extending their stay another day. ReserveCalifornia allows reservation holders to change the dates twice.
Which is the other reservation site you’re testing? Generally you have a grace period to fill out the info and pay for the campsite/reservation.
Sorry for the confusion, I meant I just tried testing making a reservation for a different random campsite still on ReserveCalifornia and was wondering about the page BEFORE the campsite is actually in your cart for the 15min period. It sounds like there’s a grace period but not sure what that is.
No worries Andrew.
For ReserveCalifornia – you need to get your campsite/reservation in your cart for it to be held for you. Then you have 15 minutes to complete the process/payment or it will be released back into inventory.
Sorry but I am new to the new system and used to the old. The previous system either listed it was booked or available. Now They have something called add on dates. Does that mean it is available?
Also if there were cancellations you could backtrack and see if any green boxes popped up. Can you still do that. Confused Thanks
Hi John,
The “add on dates” are not available. I believe they are held for someone that has reserved the site the day before and can add on if desired. An available campsite will show (green box) and those may be the result of a cancellation. You can always check for those and reserve. Or you can get a campsite availability alert/notification using our Campsite Assist app. It will send an email and text notification when campsites become available for the dates you choose. It also includes a link to ReserveCalifornia to try and reserve the campsite ASAP. Others monitor and you need to be quick or will miss a cancelled campsite.
Wishing for the old system’s method of reserving. This new one is so much glitchier and seems less likely to fulfill a requested date. I don’t understand how “add on dates” work or why you’d leave some sites in limbo for someone who’s booked the night before? The site either is or is not available. Thanks for all the hard work, but whoever put this together had no user case scenarios to go by! 🙂
Has anyone noticed that the circles on the map don’t turn green anymore for the day spots open up? I am currently looking at Silver Strand SB and I see plenty of spots available to book for 8/16/23, but the map circles are not green however, if you click on the red circle for the available spots it does allow you to book. Is this something new they started? I am wondering if this is the case for cancellations too. I want to snag a cancellation spot tomorrow for Doheny and I would normally just click the circle when it turns green, but now I am wondering if that is not even an option. Any info is appreciated!
Hi Erin,
I see what you mean. I’m leaning more toward ReserveCA not having the map synced up with the campsite list (which shows – green – available sites).
Hey,
Does anybody know if there is there a limit for an individual to rent several sites for a group (3 or 4 or more campsites?)
Thanks a lot
Rock
Hi Rock,
Per the California State Parks website: To hold a campsite, it must be reserved or occupied. With that said, you could get a few people to reserve individual campsites.
In a month like February which has 28 days, what happens when 6 months forward the month has 30 or 31 days? Then what happens to days 29-31??
Hi Dennis,
Good question!
ReserveCalifornia has a calendar that shows/indicates what dates are available to try and reserve. For example, today (February 24), you can try and reserve campsites for any day through August 23. On February 25 (8:00am PST) you’ll be able to also make a reservation for an arrival starting August 24. So on Feb 28, you can try and reserve a site arriving on Aug 27. Hope this makes sense!
Hi! If I have a reservation for May 2-6, when is the earliest that it can be modified for September 1-5? Will it still be 6 months prior, on March 1st? Or can the modification be done sooner?
Hi Kaleb,
You’ll want to modify prior to when reservations open up 6-months prior for Sep 1 arrival. You should be able to do it now. Remember – you are only allowed 2 modifications.
I have been using ReserveAmerica/ReserveCalifornia for years, mostly to book campsites at Angel Island and cabins at Mount Tamalpias/Steep Ravine. Until this year, I have always been able to book a few cabins each summer, usually with a few I could cancel to keep preferred dates. There were always bugs and site revisions that often frustrated my attempts and wasted a lot of time. But for the first time, I have been unable to reserve a single cabin for next summer, despite being at my computer at 8AM whenever possible. The Park Service claims this is due to increased demand, but demand would have to be several times more to account for my failure, since my wrist hasn’t slowed any. Maybe someone here can help enlighten me, if there is any reason to think that demand has suddenly multiplied, as I suspect rather that some people are using automated systems for registrations, against which I can’t manually compete. I have noticed that the captcha seems to come up every time now, for the past week or two, maybe in an attempt to thwart automated systems. But unless there is a way to prevent booking from more than one tab or window per account, or to prevent easy registration of multiple accounts, then an automated system could just randomly click on the captcha and still get through occasionally – which means always, if there are 100 browser windows doing it at once.
In my frustration I tried searching Google today for “california state park cabins impossible to reserve 2023”, and (before the listing for this site) is the first hit for a Sac Bee article (https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article272529225.html) about pending AB618, designed to penalize no-shows to improve campsite availability. I wrote to its author, Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of district 16, suggesting that the current “hunger games” reservation system be replaced with a lottery to promote fairness and prevent automated reservations and wasting everybody’s time. I recommend writing to her, especially if you live in district 16, if you have ideas to improve the reservation process at ReserveCalifornia.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your input! Your experience sounds all too familiar. I am familiar with AB618 and hoping something comes of it. I’ll be watching it closely. I know Yosemite National Park / Rec.gov recently tried an “early access” lottery system for North Pines campground. Lottery winners were able to try and reserve campsites before the the general public had access. Perhaps the State of California will move that way.
As you pointed out, it is still almost impossible to get a campsite reservation at California State Parks. Supply/demand is a factor, and I believe there is still some pent-up demand after Covid restrictions were eased. I also believe there are still bots capturing reservations although not near as bad as a few years ago. ReserveCalifornia seems to have better systems in place to prevent bot reservations.
ReserveCalifornia’s reservation system/process also is part of the problem – confusing at times and cumbersome. There are also policies in place that make it difficult to reserve a site. For example, people who do get a reservation have the opportunity to change the dates of the reservation (2 times). They can change the date a day before the reservation window opens on a particular day and reserve the site for 7 nights. This is a reason you never see availability around the holidays. For example, if someone reserves a campsite in mid June for 7 nights, then can change the arrival/departure dates twice – pushing it out over the 4th of July.
I have previously used the system and its hard but I have done it…. Now the last few mornings when I have tried to get a site. I hit the book button and it sends me back to the reserve CA home screen…. then of course the sites are gone…. how do I stop this? What is happening? TIA
Hi Jenn,
The ‘sending back to ReserveCA home page’ has been happening to people for several months . . . and not sure why. Many (myself included) have also run into having to do the ‘confirm you’re a human / captcha’ test after hitting the ‘book’ button.
Every time I attempt to reserve a camp site, I get multiply requests to “verify you are a human” and by the time I have done so the site is gone. Why do I get multiple requests to “verify you are a human” and is there any way to avoid these requests? 🫣
Hi Daniel,
The request is a code/program set up ReserveCalifornia.com and (as you pointed out) it does occur multiple times – and most of the time at the wrong time! Best way to avoid or reduce the request is to ‘verify you are a human’ at about one minute before reservations open (so 7:59 AM). You should not get another request before reservations open and/or when you are clicking on to reserve. I know it’s frustrating – best of luck.
To clarify – verify you are a human (around 7:59 AM) when you have already set up the campsite you hope to reserve.
I have a campsite reserved and based on the lock icon that someone just canceled a better premium campsite #. Do I have to wait until 8am to try and snag that spot or is it possible to “modify” the current reservation earlier then 8am?
Good question Nikki! You can only modify dates of the campsite you reserved. You can’t modify to switch campsites. So, you’ll need to see if the other premium ‘locked’ site opens at 8am and try and reserve it. Best of luck!