Bodega Bay, a beautiful seaside escape just an hour north of the San Francisco Bay Area, offers three different campgrounds. Doran Regional Park Campground is located on a peninsula in the middle of Bodega Bay, with Bodega harbor to the north and the sandy Doran Beach to the south. This long strip of beach is kid- and dog-friendly, with calm and small waves. It is also accessible only from one entrance point, often creating a long line of beach-goers trying to pay and find parking.
Doran Regional Park campers are entitled to a free parking spot, all day access to the beach and regional park while camping, and a campsite within walking distance of the beach.
Skip the lines, stay the night, and camp at Doran Regional Park with your family.
Doran Regional Park Campground is located on the stolen lands of the Coast Miwok and Pomo.
Before you go:
- Reserve a campsite. Sites are available to reserve up to 12 months in advance. This campground is popular, so book as early as you can to get your chosen dates and campsites. Sites are about $42/night plus a $9.50 reservation fee per campsite.
- Check the weather before you go: Doran Regional Park Campground weather can range from sunny and clear, to foggy and cold, or it can be windy-very windy. Plan for a range of weather, and pack layers.
- Prepare for a drive: Doran Regional Park is about an hour and a half drive from the San Francisco Bay Area. Break it up with a stop in Santa Rosa if you need to stretch your legs or grab a snack.
- Extra bonuses: The campsite has WiFi, potable water, restrooms with electrical outlets, flush toilets, and coin-operated showers. Bring quarters!
5 Tips To Get the Most Out Of Your Trip to Doran Regional Park Campground
1. Pick the right campsite and location for your family
The campground has 120 RV and tent sites along the peninsula, in five different campsite groups. The Shell, Gull, and Cove groups are located on the harbor side and mostly designed for RVs. The Jetty and Miwok campsite groups are on the Doran Beach side.
The Jetty group is designed for RVs or tents, while the Miwok tent group only has walk-up sites, meaning you must park in a central parking lot and walk to a shared grassy area to pitch your tent.
Check out the campground map and choose wisely. We selected a Miwok tent site but realized upon arrival that we could not stay in our roof top tent at that campsite. Lucky for us, there was one last site available, next to the RV’s!
2. Prepare for wind
If you ask anyone who has camped at Doran Regional Park, they will tell you a story about how the weather was so windy during their stay that they almost left.
Yes, Doran Regional Park Campground can be windy, super windy. We stayed at the campground for two nights and found that the first night was so windy we were worried our rooftop tent might blow over! It didn’t, of course, but the wind was so strong I had a hard time sleeping through my worries.
Pro-tip: Check the wind report before you go and make sure you secure your tent with stakes.
3. Enjoy the beach
One of the best parts of camping here was having access to the beach; our campsite was located just steps away!
We went to the beach the first day we arrived, playing in the sand all day, making sandcastles, and flying kites.
We also visited the beach the morning before we packed up our campsite. Right after breakfast at camp, we walked over to the beach and found we were a few of the only people enjoying the shoreline in the early morning. It was beautiful.
If you happen to visit on one of the windy days, make sure you bring a beach tent or shade to block the wind, or find a picnic table with a built-in windbreaker
4. Keep an eye out for seabirds along the Bird Walk
Take the 0.7 mile Cheney Creek Trail out to the Bird Walk Coastal Access Loop Trail, a 1.3 mile ADA accessible walk through marshlands and seasonal ponds.
The marshland is the habitat of many migrant and endangered birds. Bring your binoculars and see what you can spot.
5. Explore Bodega Bay
Drive off the Doran Regional Park peninsula to see what else the Bodega Bay area has to offer.
This coastal town is full of kid-friendly outdoor activities, like more Sonoma Coast beaches, miles of coastal hiking trails, hills full of farmland, delicious seafood restaurants galore, and many references to the movie The Birds, since it was filmed here many years ago. Our favorite places to visit while camping are:
- Bodega Head Trail – A 1.7 mile loop that features beautiful wildflowers, high rocky cliffs, whale sightings (January-May), vast ocean views, and lots of wind!
- Campbell Cove Beach – Located on the way to Bodega Head, this sheltered cove is perfect for kids. See the fishermen and women going crabbing and clamming.
- Goat cheese tour at Patti’s Farm Stay – Meet the working goats at Patti’s goat farm in the hills of Bodega Bay.
- Local restaurants- Click here for our favorite Bodega Bay eating spots.
Antiracist Travel Considerations
History Corner:
The Coast Miwok people have lived in these lands for over 12,000 years in permanent villages, experiencing extreme loss of over 90% of the population after contact with European settlers, due to the missions, sickness, and colonization. The Coast Miwok of Marin represents Miwok bands of Marin and Sonoma Counties purchased 25.9 acres of their ancestral homeland in nearby Nicasio in 2023. Learn more about their amazing history here.
Our experience
We met many BIPOC families on the beaches, fishing, and at the campsite. The campers in the RV area were mostly white families. Other campers and campground staff were friendly and helpful.
Learn More
1. Learn more about the Coast Miwok and donate here
2. Read a BIPOC children’s book about clamming (give it a try in Bodega Bay!)
3. Ask your kids about who they see camping, and who they don’t see. How can we make it more accessible to families like ours?
When I traveled to Bodega Bay in the past, it was hard to see its beauty beyond the line of giant RVs trying to drive west from the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the people we met in Bodega Bay were retired white folks in RVs, too. Bodega Bay never felt like a place young families would visit.
Curiosity got the best of me, and an opportunity to snag a campsite at Doran Beach, so we decided to give it a chance anyway. Once we got past the RV’s, reached the beautiful beach, and began to explore the surrounding area, we started to see younger families of color venturing into the outdoors with us.
Once you see past the multitude of RVs, it is apparent why so many people trek up to Bodega Bay on the weekends – it is absolutely stunning.
The Sonoma Coast is rugged, green, lush, marshy, sandy, windy, and beautiful. We loved hiking, eating, and sunbathing our way through Bodega Bay, and enjoyed camping in Doran Regional Park so we could walk to our favorite family activity – going to the beach!
I definitely recommend you bring extra quarters. But who carries cash with them anymore? Especially change?
Have you ever been caught without enough cash to enjoy something with your kids? How did you break the news to your kids? Share in the comments below.
Puerto Rican & Indigenous mama of two. Bay Area native. Salsa dancer. Backpacker. Doula. Angel (she/her/hers) is a co-founding member of the Beautiful Brown Adventures team. She has traveled to over 30 countries and loves to explore the world with her two daughters & partner - one ice cream shop at a time.
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