Doheny State Beach (Dana Point)
Dana Point · near Dana Point · Los Angeles / SoCal
Camping · Surfing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Elevation
- 10
- Campsites
- ~120 sites
- Season
- Year-round
- Fee
- ~$45–75/night
- Skill level
- beginner
- Best season
- Year-round · Summer and fall most consistent for beginners
Permits and booking
- Reservation required
- Yes
- How to reserve
- Reserve on ReserveCalifornia (6 months ahead). A popular Orange County beach campground right on the sand at Dana Point, with beachfront sites (premium), a surf break, and a visitor center with tide-pool tanks. Showers. Books out fast.
What is here
- Setting
- beach
- Amenities
- Beachfront sites (premium) · Surf break · Showers · Dana Point Harbor nearby
- Best for
- OC beachfront camping
- Features
- Camp right on the sand · Classic OC surf beach · Dana Point Harbor & whale-watching · Tide-pool visitor center
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Camping detail
- Camp type
- developed · rv
- Intl tip
- Reserve on ReserveCalifornia 6 months ahead — beachfront sites vanish fast (worth the premium). Camp on the sand at a classic OC surf beach. Dana Point Harbor (whale-watching, sportfishing — fishing guide) is next door. Tide-pool visitor center. Showers; RV-OK. Warm water, friendly surf. Very popular family beach camping.
Surfing detail
- Break types
- beach
- Swell
- South and northwest · 2–5ft · Rocky bottom shapes waves to gentler size
- Tide
- Any tide · Forgiving across most conditions
- Wind
- Morning glass · Afternoon sea breeze adds texture but remains manageable
- Crowd
- Family-friendly and relaxed. Dana Point's harbor location shelters the break somewhat, which is both why it's mellow for learners and why experienced surfers look elsewhere.
- Board
- Longboard or foam soft-top · Ideal first-lesson equipment
- Wetsuit
- 3/2mm most of year · Shorty in summer
- Intl tip
- Dana Point Harbor, a 5-minute drive from Doheny, offers whale watching cruises (December through April for gray whales, year-round for dolphins), kayak rentals, and some of the better waterfront dining in Orange County.
The guide
Doheny State Beach at Dana Point is one of Orange County's most popular and coveted beach campgrounds — a stretch of sites righ…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Doheny State Beach (Dana Point) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.462, -117.686