Finding paradise: Why I love camping on the beach

By
Jake Semmel
– March 17, 2011Posted in: Adventure, Destinations

It’s been a week full of bad news so we thought we’d lighten things up a bit by reminiscing about a couple of our favorite camping destinations.

We love camping and we love the beach, but it hasn’t been often that we’ve had the opportunity to camp right on the beach.  There’s nothing better than having a campfire going right on a sandy beach and listening to the sound of waves as you fall asleep.

We camped on the beach on Ellis Beach in Australia, up along the Queensland Coast.  The beach was gorgeous, quiet, and only a few feet from our tent!  There were only a couple of other people camping at the time.  Camping here was about $20 per night.

We also camped on a beach in Tayrona National Park, near Santa Marta in northern Colombia.  This beach was a lot more crowded than the one we camped at in Australia, but still equally beautiful.  For those willing to splurge, you could spend the night in a gazebo on this small peninsula, but we opted for a simple tent instead.

We stayed in a stylish camouflage tent near the beach.  We were surrounded by other campers, including a few who apparently didn’t want to splurge for the $18 tent rental and slept on the open ground!

For more info

Check out the Tayrona National Park WikiTravel page and the Ellis Beach Wikipedia page for more information.

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About Jake Semmel

I'm a blogger and round the world traveler. I'm always on the lookout for new places to scuba dive, hike and ski.

30 Comments

  1. Reply
    Charu
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    Camping on the beach is something I could totally handle! The waves, the warmth are no problem. If it gets ridiculously cold at night, I’ll look for the nearest hotel though…

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 27, 2011 at 9:36 AM

      I can handle camping in a cold night, but rain is a dealbreaker for me! It’s hard to camp when all of your gear is soaking wet 😉

  2. Reply
    Ciki
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 6:03 AM

    LOVE the stylish camouflage tent near the beach.. very you;) !!!

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 19, 2011 at 9:16 AM

      Haha, thanks! It was a very cool tent. When we got married last year, we put camping supplies on our registry and now have a blue tent. In retrospect, we should have gone camo! lol

  3. Reply
    Ted Nelson
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 6:29 AM

    I have camped many times on sandbars on a river, but I have not camped along the ocean much. We camped on Cape Sable in Florida, which is the southern most tip of mainland Florida in the Everglades and that was awesome except for the sand flies. These look like some great locations.

    • Reply
      Jake Semmel
      Posted March 18, 2011 at 4:00 PM

      Yeah the bugs can be a little annoying in the Everglades I bet! That was one of the nice things about these places, pretty bug free because of the breeze off the water.

  4. Reply
    Laura
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    I was just thinking about how I want to go camping on the beach this summer! We’ve camped a lot of places – even up on the mountainside on the coast of Spain, but never right on the beach. BTW I think I have the same bathing suit you’ve got on in the first pic, Leslie.

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 19, 2011 at 9:17 AM

      Hehe, we have the same taste in fashion 🙂 The outfit I’m wearing in this photo is almost 100% H+M… they basically outfitted my RTW trip! Their clothes are light-weight and inexpensive… perfect for the beach.

  5. Reply
    Stephen
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    Camping. The Beach. Two good things. Why not put them together and make it even better. Staying in Tayrona Nat’l Park was one of the highlights of Colombia for me. Good memories. Would someday like to check out Ellis Beach.

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 19, 2011 at 9:19 AM

      Glad to bring back the memories! We spent two months road-tripping in Australia and camped throughout the Outback and Queensland coast. I’d highly recommend it! Our tent cost $30 at Kmart in Australia and it saved us a ton of money on hostels. Plus, there were many campsites close to the beach or in equally stunning locals (like right by crocodile-infested rivers). You’d love it!

  6. Reply
    Jeremy B
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 11:06 AM

    Looks like a lot of fun! I’ve camped at the beach in Tahoe and Santa Cruz but I’ve never camped on the beach. Australia looks like a great place for doing this! However, I would love to find a beach that is quiet and empty to be able to do this!

    I did have a private beach house right on the water in Hawaii in which the entire wall was a window looking out on the beach. That was really nice!

    • Reply
      Jake Semmel
      Posted March 18, 2011 at 4:02 PM

      Wow that sounds nice in Hawaii…unfortunately most of the beaches we encountered didn’t allow camping right on them so we took advantage of the few opportunities we had.

  7. Reply
    Tran
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    Saw an article about camping along the East African coast recently. Can think of a couple of other places where this would really be a nice alternative. Will noodle on this….

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 27, 2011 at 10:02 AM

      Hi Tran, thanks for the comment! We’d highly recommend beach camping. It’s an amazing experience 🙂

  8. Reply
    Debbie Beardsley
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 1:59 PM

    I actually liked all of your lodging digs. Camping and the beach go hand in hand in my book. We camped a lot but have gotten away from it for some reason. I think it may be time to bring it back!

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 27, 2011 at 10:03 AM

      Thanks Debbie! We have some brand new camping gear that we have yet to use. Hope the warm weather comes soon so we can have a camping getaway 🙂

  9. Reply
    santafetraveler
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 6:39 PM

    What great photo. Looks like paradise and Leslie sure looks relaxed! The one time we tried to camp on the beach we found ticks all over the blanket and slept in our funky VW van- what can I say? it was a long time ago. That kind of cured me.

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 19, 2011 at 9:21 AM

      Yikes! Try it again– camping on the beach is awesome. Just remember to check for ticks first, hehe 😉

  10. Reply
    Erica
    Posted March 19, 2011 at 3:14 AM

    I love camping on the beach except for the excessive amount of sand that makes it into the tent somehow. This is usually exasperated by my dogs who roll in the dunes first though. 😛

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 19, 2011 at 9:14 AM

      That’s the one drawback! We don’t have dogs, but a bit of sand makes it in the tent. A small price to pay for camping in paradise 😉

  11. Reply
    jill- Jack and Jill Travel The World
    Posted March 19, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    We camped on a beach in Hawaii once. Very memorable experience to be able to listen to the sound of the crashing waves.

    Didn’t know that you could rent a tent and camp at Tayrona. Hmm…(note to self: look into this)

    • Reply
      Jake Semmel
      Posted March 21, 2011 at 9:49 AM

      Yeah its either that or sleep on a hammock elbow to elbow in a crowded lean-to…i’ll take the tent!

  12. Reply
    joshywashington
    Posted March 20, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Viva la Beach Camping! I imagine myself an old man stepping out onto the sand from my massive beach pavilion, cup of tea in my hand with the sun rising over the palms… ah, one can dream! My wife and I spent 45 days straight on the beach in Costa Rica and it was some of the best times of my life.

    • Reply
      Jake Semmel
      Posted March 21, 2011 at 9:50 AM

      wow that sounds like a dream vacation in Costa Rica! where was it exactly? thats a place I’ve always wanted to go to.

  13. Reply
    Juno
    Posted March 21, 2011 at 8:34 AM

    Would you look at that! How fancy 🙂 One of my favourite thing is go to sleep while listning wave and wake up by sunshine and breeze. Camping on a beach, cool!
    I might have to get a tent just like yours to be stylish!!

    • Reply
      Leslie Koch
      Posted March 27, 2011 at 10:05 AM

      Hehe, you won’t need a wave soundtrack to get to sleep when you are camping next to the ocean! This tent cost $30 at an Australia Kmart. And isn’t it stylish? 😉

  14. Reply
    Maria A
    Posted March 30, 2011 at 10:58 PM

    I’m not a big camper (seem to be allergic to the outdoors in general), but I’d love to try a night on the beach once!

  15. Reply
    jade
    Posted March 31, 2011 at 1:01 AM

    I can’t believe there is camping so close to us- I will definitely check out the santa moncia place! FUn!

  16. Reply
    Michael Hodson
    Posted April 8, 2011 at 2:24 PM

    I love the sound of the water while camping on the beach. Such a peaceful way to go to sleep.

  17. Reply
    Nadia @ Johor Bahru
    Posted December 17, 2011 at 6:12 AM

    such a beautiful place! i shall visit it some days… =)

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