My husband grew up tent camping, I grew up vacationing in cabins and hotels. When we started dating, he introduced me to the art of sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground. What can I say I was in love, and it wasn’t that bad. Once we were married with kids we continued our camping trips but included air matresses into our packing list because backaches are not fun for anyone. Flash-forward to this month when we were introduced to the best of both worlds, “Glamping!”
Glamping is camping but in style! It is truly the comfort of a cabin, Yurt, or upgraded canvas tent with all the amenities you love of the great outdoors. 
El Capitan Canyon just north of Santa Barbara has this amazing campground with views of the surrounding mountains and gorgeous Pacific. You can literally camp here year-round and there are so many reasons to love this way to vacation, here are a few of what we experienced!
Comfort Our family of five stayed in a Creekside Queen cabin which had a queen bed, kitchenette, bathroom with shower, and a small table inside. Also, perfect for my 3 kids was the loft accessible by a ladder with twin mattresses, pillows, sheets and blankets. The cabin has heat and hot water which was perfect for our January weekend! You can sleep with all the shades and blinds open and wake to nature, have the windows open to smell the fresh mountain air, but rest your body on a cozy bed!
There is a porch with chairs to enjoy the outdoor surroundings. For peace of mind with the kids running around, hikers and bikers, the canyon is car free! Drive up to your site to unload and pack up, but then park your car in a lot away from it all. It makes for a safe area with extra quiet!
Just like traditional camping, a picnic table and fire pit in each site perfect for bbqing dogs and making S’mores.
Space Just like having a “campsite” at a traditional campground, each cabin has it’s space around it for the kids to move about, there are rocks to climb, and creeks to explore (be care of poison oak).
Bonus Amenities If the cabins alone weren’t enough, visit the Canyon Market & Deli for shopping, food to bbq, drinks, and anything you may have left at home! You can pre-order dinner kits as well. Want to be cooked for, you can do that there too with their breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu and can you believe, pizza! Even more, a heated pool year-round for kids and kids at heart!
Bikes Being just right under the freeway from El Capitan State Beach, grab a bike and ride over, or just stroll around the campground, free of charge with your reservation. We would have loved to do this, but since they don’t have bikes for little ones, we didn’t want to leave me 7 year out, next time for sure!
Beach One of our most favorite camping spots in the Monterey Bay area is on the beach, we love that option in the summer and early fall months. El Capitan Canyon is a short 10 minute walk to the Pacific Ocean where you can spend the day or a romantic evening!
Options Whether you’re looking for romance, a family trip, or a group retreat there is something for everyone. Our cabin was perfect for a family, there are bunk cabins, Yurts (with electricity), and canvas tents for kids that can be used in a group trip or guys getaway. 
And of course there’s top of the line cabins with amazing views, full kitchen’s, sunken tubs, outdoor showers fit for a honeymoon or anniversary.
So many times have we driven past this exact spot off Hwy 101 and little did we know the gem within! Our first home together as a couple was an in-laws cabin on some property that wasn’t much bigger than this one, and laid out very similarly.
The lovely memories we had there were brought back to life sealed the deal that we’d be back and very soon!
Our stay was hosted, all opinions our own.
what a beautiful place,thats my kind of camping for sure,,wish I lived close so I could go
Looks relaxing and fun!
What a great place to go Camping! My kind of camping with the extra’s!
That’s totally up our alley! I love the way it was set up and the kids must have love the loft area! BTW, cute family pic you got at the cabin. We’ll have to look that place up for a future glamping trip – maybe even in a few month!
I’d love to stay in a yurt with my son. One day, I’d like to live in a yurt or other small space between the mountains and the ocean.
But for now, my son and I like to be out in nature together so this would be nice.
This looks so fun! I’d totally road trip it up there, thanks for sharing!
I’m getting ready to book 3 nights for next week. Can you tell me whereabouts on the property was your cabin and did you enjoy the location? Your area around the cabin looks more green than a lot of pictures I have seen (maybe due to time of year). Were you near the pool & playground? We are also a family of 5 and looking at the creekside queen cabins.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
We were creekside and a short walk to the store. We traveled in January and to get to the pool/playground we would have needed to get in the car and drive to it. We didn’t use the pool and chose to walk to the beach across the highway (you walk underneath). We enjoyed the entire stay and would go back!