The campground itself is descent, typical so cal desert camping, but it ts literally only one mile off the freeway so if you want to feel like "you are getting away from it all" this is definitly not the place. The inner loop is basically like a large group campground. There is NO privacy between the campgrounds that back each other. My real complaint has to do with the campground guests who thought staying up until 3 am screaming profanities at each other was an ideal vacation. My husband and I ended up packing up everything at 3am and heading home because we couldn't sleep at all with all the noise. No exaggeration, they were still going strong when we drove out. Did we seek help from the campground or sheriff whose number was posted on the ranger station? Of course, only to be told that the marine base Camp Pendleton is responsible for the site and won't respond to noise complaints. What a waste of money.

I haven't been camping since I was a kid myself. I wanted to take my sons (hubby's idea of camping is no room service) and maybe see if they enjoyed it. I rented a tent trailer and headed off.......
We all enjoyed the campground, was VERY clean, the boys enjoyed the wildlife (rabbits, ground squirrels, birds), and the bathrooms were clean along with the showers.
Since its a State Park, we could go to San Clemente to boogie board and swim or to Doheny Beach at no entrance charge. Then go back to the campground for the rest of the evening. Was pretty quiet, concidering I rented a TENT trailer, I felt very safe there, security came around couple times that I saw, and our neighbors were very conciderate to the rules and kept things down after 11pm. I would recommend this campground anytime. Infact I just bought a tent trailer and the kids and I are taking DAD camping to San Meteo in a couple of weeks!!
P.S. I made reservations through the State Park 800 number. She was very helpful since I didn't know the campground at all.

Nearly every year my family camps out at one of the local campsites here in California and many friends join us as well. We have been to San Mateo Campground (SMC) before and this time (August 2006) is a return visit. We camp for 3 nights each time. The campground is well kept, very clean with lots of shade on most campsites. Although SMC is well secluded, one thing that we find very convenient is the closeness to civilization. A short trip of 1.5 mi and you're in San Clemente with plenty of shopping, restaurants and beaches. This all sounds real good but I must warn you of soething I feel is deceptive in the posted cost for the campsites. Two years ago we paid $25 per site per night. This year we paid $27.50. Not a bad increase, but although they claim 3 cars per campsite, they now charge $10 per day for each car after the first. That's an extra $20 per day per site! That almost doubles the cost for the campsites and this was not the case when we were here two years ago. Nowhere in their literature is this spelled out. We have 4 adult children and 9 grandchildren. Add our friends and we easily use all the spaces. Some friends just come and visit for the day and it's another $10, we expected this, but not for the 3 allowed overnight cars. Be warned. If you want to pay 47.50 per night per site, this is a great place, but for the price we're going somewhere else next year.