Golden Gate National Recreation Area

What a great place to go camping at the spur of the moment when there is availability. Our campsite was clean and not too much a hike from the parking lot. A great hike to the beach was quite the adventure for the next day.

Lovely, quiet campground with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and eucalyptus groves.

I had so much fun here with my friends. The campsites were easy to find, and had a portable toilet with trash cans nearby. Our site (#3 I believe) had some tree cover too, which was helpful since it lightly rained overnight. You can get views of the Golden Gate Bridge if you walk a bit outside the campsite too. Highly recommend this campground!

Great little campground with views of Golden Gate Bridge. Will be back soon for sure

Spectacular campground! Site #4 is great - 3 picnic tables and 4 10x10 level tent pads. The restrooms we used were very clean and it looked like they recently replaced the metal toilet seats. The drinking water system was not working so we just brought plenty of water. There was zero ranger presence, so of course a group of bro's showed up at the day-use-only picnic site and set up tents there as well as on the bluff by the battery overlooking the beach, which was irritating.

The hike-in campgrounds are quite accessible from the Tennessee Valley Trailhead parking area, although on weekends and at busy times you might have to park further out (traffic seems to lessen in the afternoon, and parking spaces become available again). The trail from the trailhead to the campsites is paved or hardpack dirt and flat or mildly hilly. The campsites are pretty spacious as far as campsites go, with a decent amount of space to spread out, but for the most part there aren't physical barriers separating the sites. Although the recreation area can be windy, the campsites are enclosed by hills and (at least during our stay) weren't windy at all. Being so close to the bay/ocean, know that your tents and any gear left outside will likely be dew-covered in the morning. One of the bathrooms at the campsite was closed for repair, but the other one was functional, and above-average in terms of cleanliness (we've been to other state and national campsites with far more challenging restrooms). I would also include that the bathrooms at the trailhead were pretty clean, cleaner than those at other parks, given how much traffic they probably see. Kudos to park staff for maintaining the facilities. The hiking around the campsites was great. Some challenging hills to the north and south, and a nice hike down to the beach to the west. I think most people visit the Tennessee Valley Trail for the beach hike, and it doesn't disappoint. The main drawback/challenge is the lack of running water nearby. There supposedly is non-potable water available at the equestrian center, but we didn't see it (to be fair, we didn't go out looking for it, so this is just to say we couldn't confirm whether one actually exists). Plan to bring extra potable water for cooking and/or cleaning.