Mendocino Fence Rd | Informal Campsite

January 26th, 2024 by courageousface43

stayed a little ways east of the white fence, but on the same side of the road. parking was very close to the street, but mostly quiet after 9pm. There's a nice public restroom nearby, but it doesn't open until later in the morning -like 9am. Overall good experience. Stayed 1 night.

November 30th, 2023 by alivelyocell55

This is a great place to sleep for the night. we stayed in front of the jam and jelly store. the guy working there was cool about it and we even bought a couple jellies. Frank's Pizza up the road and a block over was great. the guy working in the toy store a few buildings down showed us the old safe from when the building was a bank. Fantastic place to sleep for s night. wish we could stay longer. 10/10

November 6th, 2023 by j1994

Note: bathrooms close at sunset and don't open back up until the information center opens (can check hours online). The side you park on is a white fence with a lot of walking trails out to the cliffs and the other is a strip of bars, restaurants, boutiques so there are other bathroom options available if you solicit their business, I'm sure

September 16th, 2023 by rebeccagoulet

Nice spot, noisy until 10. Not level, the asphalt doesn’t continue to the edge and there are holes. Otherwise, pretty great and felt safe.

August 13th, 2023 by chad.slagle33

Great place to stay while in Mendocino. Bar across the street, great food around the corner. Please don’t set up a campsite here! This is street parking, get in keep to yourself and be quite and respectful so this spot doesn’t get shut down. Plenty of spots to park and a green space for dogs. Bathrooms were clean.

July 5th, 2023 by hannah.neil19

This was an awesome spot. Right across from the main strip and there are very clean public restrooms and water fountains. Couple of vans each night. The town is pretty quite after 8 pm and most things close up by then. As long as you’re chill, I don’t think you will have any issue.

July 1st, 2023 by katiebassett88

A lot of sketchy people, yelling and letting their dogs go bananas. Tried to stay here because the town is so cute but didn't feel safe.

June 30th, 2023 by merkelnflorida

Great parking spot on the ocean with a beautiful view.

June 5th, 2023 by sleigh622

Quiet place against the white fence. As long as you don't set up camp, start BBQing out the back, etc....this place will stay available for everyone. There were a lot of vans all along the fence. Beautiful view of the ocean. Stores closed up around 5 or 6 pm, so it feels more secluded. Just keep the store side of your windows blocked and you'll forget you're in a town!

June 2nd, 2023 by sharpsusan

right by the cliff side trails and downtown Mendocino. ***to keep this spot open we all need to be chill and low-key***

we went to the lot in the nearby Mendocino headlands state park during the day when we were cooking or otherwise looking like van dwellers and pulled up here after dinner to sleep. there are restrooms over at the park, so it's a good place to chill during the day.

May 25th, 2023 by CJ

What a sweet spot. I stayed 2 nights but moved my spot along this road. Fantastic view. I hope others don’t mess this up for us. There’s a farmers market on Tues or weds (sorry- I can’t remember!).

May 16th, 2023 by tracksaroundtheworld.de

Sorry, but we don’t understand the happiness with these spot. It is just street parking. We were not happy with it and searched for another one. We did a clearer pic for everyone who would see the surrounding.

May 12th, 2023 by personage.august

This is a very chill spot, and let's keep it like that.

Mendo white fence 4ever

April 2nd, 2023 by Bincent

Cute seaside parking spot along a fence, with shops all along the street!

April 2nd, 2023 by Bincent

Unbelievable. Stayed here for the night, looking at the ocean, no issues. If there’s a better spot out there than this I can’t wait to find it

November 4th, 2022 by sydneykirby1999

I stayed on a Friday night, and there were many others sleeping here as well. I parked further down the road, across from what seemed like an empty lot. The bathrooms were super clean, and there's nice walking trails. It was very quiet and peaceful most the time, but some locals must be upset that this spot is used. Twice, at 8:30 and after I'd gone to bed at 10, someone drove down the whole road with their horn on. Other than that, nobody bothered me or seemed to care.

October 14th, 2022 by cocoshin

Nice place to boondock for a night or two. The town is very quaint. The bathrooms are open again, but they are closed overnight so be prepared for that. Some spots along the fence have some tilt to them. Look for the flat spots. This is a nice place to keep it nice and be respectful to locals!

September 9th, 2022 by Wind and Whim

we parked a little closer to the end (near Woodward St.) There were a couple of other vehicles as well. No problems, quiet.

August 17th, 2022 by msquick1

An absolutely lovely space to overnight. The town is lovely.

I watched them remove the fencing around the public bathroom in front of the bathroom.

July 28th, 2022 by happyhippieig

Dope spot in a tiny town. Saw one cop but he didn’t say anything to me with my jeep back open, bed visible. There’s a couple rv’s along the road too. The bathrooms/water are fenced off and “closed for construction” but luckily I filled up this morning(: little local bar on this road, I parked down more to avoid the chatter. I also sleep w a sound machine on my speaker ~ it’s a vibe. Haha ps great view and this town cute as heck (it’s too dark to take a pick of how I’m parked) 3-4 bars of cell service but maybe if you catch the book store in the day you can take their wifi password for night time.

July 6th, 2022 by evedes54

Wonderful views and very cute little sea town. That being said there were around 8 vans parked there and a local said in the morning « people here take this side of the street as a campground. It’s not. » looking straight at us in the eyes, so it didn’t really feel too welcoming… If you say try to make yourself small, pack in pack out and don’t hang out outside of your van because you will be looked at by the people, not in a good way!

June 20th, 2022 by Julie and Tom Thompson

Excellent spot as described in the reviews. Ocean view with Main Street shops. Very quiet at night. We could hear the crashing of waves on shore. A number of walking trails. Mendocino is such a quaint town. Highly recommend.

June 9th, 2022 by luis.pflamminger

Great spot as previously described. The town is lovely, with many small shops to stroll through and a great coastal trail. They had a little Farmer‘s Market when we visited on a Friday morning.
There was a group of people meeting at the bus stop in the morning, but they didn’t bother us.

May 10th, 2022 by ace4van

Great spot in one of my favourite town on the coast. The view is unbeatable, with great hiking trails. I parked further west along the fence. No one bothered me. Very quiet night

March 13th, 2022 by Bret

Excellent spot and just as described.
I would only add that you are only a block away from the fire station and they utilize a kick-ass siren for emergencies. Last night it went off and scared the beejeezus out of us. I’m sure it is rare, but nice to know ahead of time.

March 2nd, 2022 by lauramichelles

A little stretch of parking along with the white fencing across from quaint shops. You can hear the sounds of the ocean waters crashing on the rocks. There are many walking trails right here in addition to walking through the beautiful town. Dogs on leash are welcome. Excellent Verizon & TMobile. We're going to stay tonight, possibly two. 🤞

Successfully stayed two nights. We would not recommend pushing it beyond that to ensure this area stays available.

December 17th, 2021 by abbynormal359

as described no one bothered me. and there were several others there as well.

November 18th, 2021 by lidybosker

Tried the Spa, but fully booked. As it was already late decided to check this Fence-place. Parked at the end of the fence near dogpark and beach-entry. Hopefully it will stay as quiet as it is now.

October 27th, 2021 by brian.c.riley11

Stayed here last night. Great quiet spot on the edge of town with an amazing view over the bay. Easy walk to restaurants, public bathroom, and a nice morning walk along the cliff trail. No signs about overnight parking and no one bothered me.

August 27th, 2021 by sandy.jeglum

We had a great night at this location. parked further down the white fence with a view of the ocean. Beautiful town and trails to walk on. The garbage / recycling trucks do come early on Friday morning, just fyi.

August 24th, 2021 by felix1.crawfurd

what would be a great spot ruined by a sketchy crowd. 2/3 guys off their face on something seem to hang around all night tried to sell us drugs. Each to their own but not for us. Maybe we were just unlucky.

July 14th, 2021 by alfonsollamas

Super cool spot. Lots of other vans parked with us. Shopped at Harvest Market in the evening and it has better selection than any of the chain stores we tried in bigger cities along the coast. Next morning had an amazing breakfast at Good Life Cafe and walked along the trail along the cliffs by the ocean. Awesome town.

July 13th, 2021 by /blogs/132540

Beautiful spot with ocean views and very little traffic at night. Big park here for dogs and it even has beach access!

July 6th, 2021 by Vando

unbeatable vibes. this spot was easy, right next to public restroom and stunning walking trails along the headlands. 2 or 3 kinds of hummingbirds if you’re into that. i fell in love with the seaside town. great food, bookstore, spa. just a couple of chatty folks at the bus stop late into the night is the only imperfection.

July 3rd, 2021 by huiweichen

Stayed one night without any issue. Parked in front of Mendocino Hotel. Great location!

June 19th, 2021 by teal.bowden

We were super surprised by this spot, a great quiet place, and we slept perfectly without any disturbances. You can see the ocean from here too! This entire stretch of road next to the white fence seems fair game for overnight parking. We drove to the end of the fence and found about 10 other vans parked down there parked along the side of the road. Didn’t have any problems parking our 24’ shuttle bus. It felt safe and quaint. Perfect walking distance to all the main street shops, we had a great local beer and vegan dinner at Pattersons!

June 4th, 2021 by sweetmarybus

Perfect place for a stopover, very quiet and peaceful, except for the homeless guy playing guitar at 6:30 am... he was pretty good though so I’ll let him off :)
There’s parking all along the street further down too (after the bus stop on the same side), so plenty of space. It’s was fairly quiet in Mendocino when we were there and it was nice to walk around town and along the coast.
Thanks for sharing this spot!

May 22nd, 2021 by kimberlymakris

This site is a excellent! Park next to white fence that has a small park like setting next to it. A bus stop separates the no parking side to this spot where there are zero signs. Bathroom is 40 feet away and maintained meticulously. Views of coast and very quiet all night. Town is adorable and has tasty pizza and several choices for coffee and breakfast!
Full bars of att cellular.