After months of delays, El Capitán State Beach is now open to visitors and is accepting camping reservations.

As of July, the popular camping spot is open for day use. Reservations are also available for the upper area, the middle section and the group campsites.

Kate Wilson, a chief planner for California State Parks, said the lower campground, Loop A, is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

Work crews are still occasionally doing construction in the area, and staff did not want reservations to interfere with their work.

“We just needed to be more nimble, because once we put it on reservation, it can fill up for long lengths of time,” Wilson said. “And we needed to be able to go into certain sites with only a couple of days of notice.”

Even though the park began accepting campers a couple of weeks ago, Wilson said that the staff wanted to give the site a buffer before opening it up to reservations.

Wilson said the sewage and water systems have not been used much in almost two years, and staff decided to slowly reopen.

El Capitán State Beach had announced it would close in December 2024, with plans to reopen in January 2026.

Wilson said the construction was delayed due to environmental constraints, including wildlife that moved into the area.

“We didn’t finish this creek work by this date, and now this protected species can’t be disturbed until a couple months from now,” she said. “So, there was a number of times that we had to push the timeline back due to those biological constraints.”

Construction at the campsite included a new bridge to the beach, an ADA-compliant trail and a new kiosk for staff at the entry point. The new kiosk will now have staff restrooms and high-speed internet.

Crews also widened and rehabilitated the pedestrian paths.

In addition to El Capitán, Wilson said that Refugio State Beach and Gaviota State Park are fully open to the public and accepting reservations.

“We’re really excited to have the public back,” Wilson said. “We know that folks were missing their opportunity to be at El Cap. So it’s nice to see people there again, and it’s nice to be offering a little bit more of an improved experience for them.”