AutoCamp - Russian River, CA

5/10/24 - Written by Rebecca Leimbach - All images are copyrighted, please do not use them without my permission.

To celebrate our one year anniversary, Olivier and I decided to go to AutoCamp. I’ve seen posts about it on Instagram and wanted to see if it was worth the hype. After visiting, I can confirm it is definitely worth the hype. First of all, the campground is beautiful. Second, the staff is very nice. Third, everyone was very chill and super relaxed. Fourth, as someone who spent their younger years camping, this is the only way my 50 year old body wants to camp. The campsite is located in Guerneville, CA, or adjacent. Guerneville has a really cool downtown and a bunch of restaurants to choose from. We visited Dawn Ranch for dinner one night and Olivier had to drag me out kicking and screaming because I loved the decor so much. I would definitely recommend checking it out. We also had dinner at Boon (right in downtown), I’m not exaggerating, it was phenomenal. We also spent an entire day on the river. We rented kayaks and I fought for my life for a solid 3 hours. I didn’t bring my camera for that excursion, mostly because if it fell in the river, I would have cried. All joking aside, the river is beautiful and I love that we kayaked it. We rented through this company, it’s who AutoCamp recommended: R2T2 river rentals.

When you enter the property, this is the first building you see. It’s where you check in, there’s a communal area with a cool fire pit, a lounge and the bathrooms for the guests who stay in the tents.

We decided to go with a tent or the airstream, and I loved it! You share the communal bathroom in the building I showed above. The bathrooms are very clean. I say that as someone who is a clean freak, I was really happy about that. Obviously, the only draw back is if you have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, you have to walk to it. The airstreams have bathrooms in them, that’s something to consider when booking. We didn’t have a problem. Each tent comes with a fire pit to cook on, you do have to purchase the special wood to use. We didn’t use it, but I saw a lot of other people did. I prefer eating out on vacation, but that’s just me.

The bathroom is great, I never felt grossed out. It was very clean and well stocked.

I asked if we could see the inside of one of the airstreams and they happily let us. I really want to go to their Zion location. When we do (manifesting it), I want to stay in one of their airstreams.

Do yourself a favor and visit an AutoCamp, you will not regret it. We loved it.

On our way back home, we decided to check out Jenner, it reminded me of Ireland, though I’ve never actually been to Ireland, it’s what I picture Ireland to look like. We also stopped in the cutest little village, called Duncan Mills and had breakfast at Cape Fear Cafe, it was very good and the people who work there are nice.

Quick recap:

• AutoCamp is awesome! Whether you stay in their tents or an airstream, you will love it. The only real difference is the bathroom situation, make your decision based on that.

• Check out Downtown Guerneville, they have a bunch of cool restaurants, Boon was awesome, can’t recommend enough.

• Spend the day kayaking on the river. Call ahead to reserve one, we ended up only being able to rent singles, I would have liked a double kayak at certain points when I was exhausted and contemplated quitting.

• We had breakfast at Baked on the River one morning, it was delicious. They make their own bread and I ate 47 pounds of it, the staff is very nice.

• There is a Safeway just down the street from the campsite in the even you forget anything, or if your like me and your allergies debilitate you and you need local honey.

• If you have time, also visit Duncan Mills, it’s such a sweet little village.