Manchester State Park
Point Arena (Mendocino Coast) · near Point Arena · North Coast
Camping
At a glance
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Elevation
- 50
- Campsites
- ~40 sites
- Season
- Year-round
- Fee
- ~$25/night
Permits and booking
- Reservation required
- No
- How to reserve
- FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED (mostly). A wild, windswept beach park near Point Arena with a long driftwood-strewn strand and dune-backed sites. Vault toilets, no showers. Near the Point Arena Lighthouse. Uncrowded.
What is here
- Setting
- beach
- Amenities
- Wild windswept beach · First-come flexibility · Point Arena Lighthouse nearby · Dune-backed sites
- Best for
- Wild, uncrowded, first-come beach camping
- Features
- Long wild driftwood beach · Often first-come · Point Arena Lighthouse · Uncrowded solitude
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Camping detail
- Camp type
- developed · walk-in
- Intl tip
- Mostly FIRST-COME — great for spontaneous trips and solitude. Wild, windswept driftwood beach; simple sites (no showers). Visit the Point Arena Lighthouse (one of the tallest on the West Coast). Often foggy and windy — pack warm. Uncrowded. Combine with the Mendocino coast. A quiet antidote to the reservation scramble.
The guide
Manchester State Park offers wild, windswept, blissfully uncrowded beach camping on the remote Mendocino coast near Point Arena…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Manchester State Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.97, -123.69