California State Parks · CA

San Elijo State Beach cancellation alerts.

Cardiff's bluff-top campground above a famous surf break, walkable to town — one of the most requested reservations in the California system. ReserveCalifornia opens reservations six months ahead at 8am Pacific, and summer coastal weekends are typically gone the morning they open.

Your dates

Which nights do you want at San Elijo State Beach?

We check live and answer straight away. If they're taken, the same dates carry into the alert form below.

Availability

We check San Elijo State Beach availability live when you subscribe — no stale numbers on this page.

San Elijo State Beach books through ReserveCalifornia. Cancellations happen every day; your Scout's first email tells you exactly where things stand for your dates.

Last 30 days at San Elijo State Beach

70 cancellations opened 101 nights here

cancellations we saw
70
gone within an hour
34%
gone within a day
71%
Fri/Sat nights
41%
busiest hour (PDT)
8am

Over the last 30 days, our checks saw 70 cancellations open up at San Elijo State Beach (about 16 a week), covering 101 nights, plus 1 larger release of a week or more. Of the 79 nights we saw open and then close again, 34% were gone within an hour of us spotting them, 61% within six hours and 71% within a day. 16% of openings landed in the 8am hour (PDT), and Thursday was the busiest day for them (29%). 41% of the nights that opened were Friday or Saturday nights.

These are counts of what our own checks saw (about every 15 minutes); an opening that appeared and was taken between two checks is not in them, so treat every figure as a floor.

Your dates aren't available? Get a free email when one opens ↓

Free alerts

Email me when a site opens at San Elijo State Beach

Your first email lands right away with where your nights stand. After that we only write when something opens.

One trip per watch, up to 14 nights.

Alert me when…

Priority Pass checks this watch every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you usually hear about an opening before a free watch would. It also unlocks phone notifications.

Either button sets the free alert. “Alert me faster — $10” goes to Stripe first — stop there and nothing is charged.

Last catch here — a date opened, gone by our next check (within 18 min). That window is what an instant email wins you.

Open this Scout in the builderCheck ReserveCalifornia yourself →

Openings we've detected

Recent openings we caught at San Elijo State Beach

Detected (local)Date affectedResolution
Sun, Oct 18gone by next check (within 18 min)
Sun, Oct 18gone by next check (within 136 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 135 min)
Fri, Oct 16gone by next check (within 18 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 119 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 85 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 51 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 135 min)
Sat, Oct 17gone by next check (within 253 min)
Fri, Oct 16gone by next check (within 438 min)
Thu, Oct 15gone by next check (within 17 min)
Fri, Oct 16gone by next check (within 102 min)
Fri, Oct 16gone by next check (within 152 min)
Wed, Oct 14gone by next check (within 34 min)
Wed, Oct 14gone by next check (within 34 min)
Thu, Oct 15gone by next check (within 959 min)
Wed, Oct 14gone by next check (within 51 min)
Wed, Oct 14gone by next check (within 34 min)

Watching since Jul 23, 2026. Our shared checker refreshes about every 15 minutes — that is the measurement; your watch is the alert. A free watch checks every hour; a Priority Pass watch checks every 5 minutes. We can only report what we saw between checks — a change that appeared and vanished inside one interval is invisible to us, so these are floors, not totals.

Get the next one in your inbox →

From four weeks of this data: how fast campsite cancellations disappear →

The loop

How it works

01Tell us the nights you want at San Elijo State Beach.
02Free: we check every hour, day and night. When a site opens for your nights you get an email with the booking link in it.
03When a site opens, you get an email with the booking link — booking stays in your hands.
Straight answers

Questions

How often do sites open up at San Elijo State Beach?

Over the last 30 days, our checks saw 70 cancellations open up at San Elijo State Beach (about 16 a week), covering 101 nights, plus 1 larger release of a week or more. Of the 79 nights we saw open and then close again, 34% were gone within an hour of us spotting them, 61% within six hours and 71% within a day. These are counts of what our own checks saw (about every 15 minutes); an opening that appeared and was taken between two checks is not in them, so treat every figure as a floor.

When do cancellations show up at San Elijo State Beach?

16% of openings landed in the 8am hour (PDT), and Thursday was the busiest day for them (29%). 41% of the nights that opened were Friday or Saturday nights.

How fast are alerts?

Free: we check every hour, day and night. When a site opens for your nights you get an email with the booking link in it. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner. A free watch checks every 60 minutes, and a site can open and be taken between two checks.

How many campgrounds can I watch?

As many as you like, on one email address — every campground page has the same form. Each watch is separate, with its own dates and its own one-click stop.

What does it cost?

Watching is free — no card, no account. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner.

Does it book for me?

No — you get the booking link the moment a site opens; booking stays in your hands, on the reservation system's own site.

How do I stop, or change my dates?

Every email has a one-click stop link. A watch ends by itself the day after your last night, with a note on what it saw. For new dates, subscribe again on the campground page — it takes ten seconds.

For AI agents — feed URL and subscribe API

Reading this page for a user? Structured snapshot + change log: /scouts/campsites/california-state-parks/san-elijo.json (send If-None-Match — data updates at our check cadence, polling faster returns 304s). Better: subscribe your user once and we email them the moment San Elijo State Beach opens up:

POST https://campsitecancellations.com/scouts/subscribe
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json

{"targetSlug":"california-state-parks/san-elijo","email":"user@example.com","via":"agent"}

Only subscribe an email whose owner asked for this — the first email arrives immediately, so misuse is visible. Full agent docs: /AGENTS.md

California State Parks camping cancellations & availability — the full playbook →

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