Laguna Seca Recreation Area

Camped here during the California Roots Reggae Festival. They had a three day deal that you had to book way in advance and they only offered overflow. I think it is irritating that even though I booked several months in advance, I didn’t get the option of booking a regular site. I would have preferred a regular site, and I would have been willing to pay for it.
The overflow is a gravel parking lot. You will not get a picnic table or a fire pit. I get it – it’s festival camping — but I thought it would at least be dirt not gravel — thick, chunky gravel with big rocks at that. We were tent camping, and we have some pretty thick padding, but it was still really uncomfortable, and I am used to tent camping, but this was pretty uncomfortable.
They give you a map, but the map doesn’t have the overflow on it at all. Finding a spigot for water was difficult. Seriously lacking signage in general. We kept getting lost.
The positives:
– If you are looking for a chill, party late at night vibe, you will get it. They will not be on your case about anything.
– You are allowed to make a fire if you bring your own fire pit. Should have done that.
– I’m not a racing person at all, so I thought the racetrack in the morning would be irritating, but it wasn’t. It was actually kind of neat to watch.
– Only like 10 minutes from everything, and really only about 5 minutes from starbucks, which was really helpful.

The race track looked awesome, the site was clean, and the campsites looked spacious.
The negatives though were the prices to camp. We were just passing through and looking for a simple camp ground. Not looking to pay 35 dollars to pop up a tent on an extremely windy hill. The tent sights were all on top of a hill and then wind was blowing. If your ok with the cost and its not windy I reccommend checking the place out. Pretty cool area.

My friends and I came here to spend the weekend while we ran the Spartan Beast to save money. The campsite is up the hill, past the race track. Driving in the camp area, there were already a lot of people set up with their tents. The individual areas are only separated by wooden stakes that says where one starts, but there was no problem at all knowing your boundaries. There was at least one wooden table with a bench per area, which we used to have dinner. The area that we had was more than big enough, being able to park two cars, set up two big tents, room for a camp fire, and more extra walking room.
We went in August and it got pretty cold at night, so bring ample warm clothing or extra blankets! The bathroom is a walk down the hill. It was really clean for a campsite, and the men’s had 4 shower stands, that had a push button style you had to keep pushing every couple of minutes to keep on. I suggest going early in the morning to avoid a line, and wear slippers for your protection. Hot water was available, which was a huge relief.
Overall, we had a good experience here and wouldn’t mind coming back!

Off of Highway 68 between Salinas and Monterey, Laguna Seca Recreation Area is a nice campground with water access, nice/​clean bathroom, free hot shower, picnic table and fire pits! Camping rate starts at $ 30 per night per site + advance reservation $ 5 per site. They take drive-​ins and are not too crowded when we went, but we usually like to have reserved sites to avoid the hassle of scrambling for a spot. There are racetrack and rifle/​pistol range on site, but it doesn’t get too noisy in the morning and at night. There’s also playground structure for the young kiddos, great for families.
The morning view on the hilltop is beautiful, and it does get windy at times. A good choice for camping as it is just a short drive from the Monterey Peninsula, Salinas Valley, Carmel Valley and Big Sur.

Outstanding RV camping. The staff is very friendly, making reservations is easy, and the views are fantastic. We got water and electric only, but it looked like there were some full hookups available. There were very few RVs there during Thanksgiving week. I was told by a staff member that there can be up to 120,000 people there during race days, so it’s best to check the race schedule between April and September.

What an exciting weekend. Friendly staff, great view points of the raceway, clean bathrooms and showers.
If you are looking for a nice camping spot, or a place to watch the races this is it.

I am in the middle of a big California road-​trip. Living in Louisiana now for the last seven years, I wanted to give my kids the classic CA experience by camping all up and down the coast from SD to SF. I decided to write this review because I have really gained a whole lot of info for this trip and wanted to contribute. anyway, on with the actual review…
I had picked Monterey as a way point when coming up from Santa Barbara and found a few potential camping spots. it was getting late (about 5pm) and I was in the truck with my wife and two young ones without a reservation. my only worries in life at this point are finding a place to cook some ribeyes and drink some pinot noir (and a place to sleep i suppose). I made my way to the intended memorial park location and found it to be very crowded and due to the dry conditions were not allowing fires. we found another spot about 10 mi away and checked that out… same deal. I was ready to break down and camp but decided to check out laguna seca real quick. great choice. it was a late-​june thursday night and we pretty much had our pick of camp sites. it was windy and yes the stakes required an axe to hammer in the ground but our tent went up and stayed up with ease. we got site 112r which overlooked the track and in the morning awoke to racing motorcycles. awesome for my kiddos. never saw a ranger or a no-​fire sign so we had a great fire and steak dinner. highly recommend this place!

Pros:
Location, location location, easy to reserve, great views, free showers. The camp was serene in the evening. The shooting range is a good one. We stayed here for a festival 7 miles away.
Cons:
Racing noise 8 am to 5pm weekends
Windy, need to stake your tent

First off, good looking out, previous Unilocal reviewers for the tip on the hard ground and the need for a hammer to get tent stakes in the ground. You weren’t joking!
Laguna Seca was our polyester walled home for MDW, as we were in town for the Caliroots Festival just a short drive up to the Monterey Fairgrounds. This is a unique area to camp, as it land that is literally used for other forms of recreation, notably the shooting range and race track. It was rad to hear the guns firing at the shooting range in the morning, kind of like the rooster crow, but instead of a crow, it’s a pow-​pow! Same goes for the growling engines of the cars looping the raceway.
Anyway, our camp site was in the RV area and on the outlying area of the campgrounds. From our site, we had a straight shot view of the shooting range. It was cool to be kind of at the edge of one of the hillsides, offering up sweeping super gorgeous 360 views of Salinas Valley, however it’s important to note that if your camp site is not located more towards the center of the grounds, away from the edges, you will have little to no protection from the wind on windy days.
What does this mean? You better have your tent set-​up and stake securing skills down pat. Otherwise, your tent will be at risk to get swept away like a child’s balloon, as evidenced by the sad, slanting condition of neighboring tents around us.
The ground is very hard, so if you don’t have something substantial to hammer the stakes in, you’re kinda SOL. It’s gorgeous up here, but on cold days/​nights, expect a good wind chill overnight. So, be prepared for it and dress for cold. Each camp site includes a picnic bench, fire pit with grill, and an RV hookup for water and power, which you can make use of by charging your iPhone and using the semi-​warmish water to clean up dishes, etc.
I also love that they have recycle bins on site next to the rubbish cans. The restrooms were overall pretty clean, especially for a sold-​out campsite, and if one stall was out of paper, most of the others still had some, so that never was an issue. They even had hand soap dispensers for hand washing.
The showers are the push button type that you have to continue to push every 2 – 3 minutes to keep on. It was warmish but not impressive warm/​hot, definitely decent for a campsite. However, the one thing that kind of grossed me out was how, if enough girls took showers, their collective shedding strands, etc. would clog up the shower drains. Each shower stall shared the same floor and drains across the board, so everyone kind of waded in each others water from the ankle down. Yuck, I know. Tried not to think about it and instead proceeded to attempt the quickest showers of my life so I could dry my feet from the smut.
So, be sure you bring flip flops to keep your feet off the floor at a minimum, and/​or try to be one of the first to shower, before the drains get janked up. Other than that, it’s a solid place to camp, nice staff at the front office and easy check-​in/​check-​out process. I’d like to come back here to do some shooting and/​or racing at some point.

We are Monterey County residents. We come to Laguna Seca for the Mountain Bike races and activities. Primo :)

Pew pew pew!
Love the shooting range. It is my favorite outdoor range (so far) because:
– it is cheap
– there are plenty of lanes (and plenty of space between them)
– the rangemasters aren’t jerks
– the shooting area is insulated (makes a big difference on your ears!)
Also, the reactive steel targets are super fun (and shaped like delicious animals).

Camping site:
If you are looking for a place to camp with a tent, look elsewhere. The place maybe fine for RVs, but it is very windy, and you will need to secure your tent with stakes which is impossible in some of the sites. We had to tie our tents to our cars to prevent them from flying.
The site is just on top of the Laguna Seca racetrack, which means it is noisy from 9am to 5pm (if you are a fan of racing, it may not be a problem for you). Lots of traffic, cars and trailer going in and out.
The place is on a hill, so you cannot play ball games and each camp area (there are 3), has only one bathroom with running water.
I think the fact that the place was half empty on Memorial Day weekend speaks for itself.

Coasted down the corkscrew on my bicycle, top speed 41mph. whoohooo!
Thanks for hosting the Twilight bike events!
Video:

Wonderful recreational opportunities for all ages.
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I recently went to the Laguna Seca shooting range. It’s pretty decent for being the only real range in Monterey. It’s a pretty standard outdoor pistol and rifle with about 20 lanes. They also allow shotguns. Prices are reasonable, especially when compared to indoor ranges in the area. Plus you don’t have to buy overpriced ammo. They also include a free target with the range fee.
Minus one star cause the marshall working there didn’t seem too alert. He called an open range while a person was still on their way back, which wasn’t a big deal cause everyone else could see him.
PS– The restroom do have hot water, you just have to let the water go for about a minute before it gets there. Restrooms (at least the women’s) were also pretty clean for a gun range.

CAMPED OUT AND HAD THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE EVER. There are bathrooms here the water is COLD (burrrrr) but the views are great. The hillside, the stars, campfire, smores, all made for such a wonderful time. It’s neat that there such an awesome place right next to the raceway. I recommend camping out here.