Safeway - Carmel by the Sea | Wild Camping

September 25th, 2023 by rebeccagoulet

Very safe and quiet spot. Nice to have bathrooms 24/7. Other campers were there as well.

August 19th, 2023 by notify.dl

Nice, quiet, and dark. be quiet and respectful. a few other cars and RVs. no issues. 24 hour bathroom is nice.

August 15th, 2023 by m.searle

Was worried when I read that people received tickets here especially as we're not a stealthy campervan, but decided to risk staying for 1 night anyway. Arrived late, kept quiet, and woke up with no ticket. Phew. Right next to highway 1 so we can set right off for Big Sur.

June 16th, 2023 by marvintrochu

Good for one night, free restrooms, Starbucks and a Safeway, not super quiet

June 3rd, 2023 by ai.kricke

It is just a parking lot. Couple of more campers were parked there for the night. It isn’t super quiet but fine for one night. Good if you want to go to Big Sur, because you can’t really park at Highway 1 overnight. You can get a coffee in the morning from Starbucks and use their toilet as well.

April 19th, 2023 by kirstie.ca

We came in late with our van and left early. Didn't have any issues. Safeway is open 24h and has bathrooms next to their starbucks counter which is nice.

February 1st, 2023 by vitaaleandro

Slept one night here,a rlly friendly cashier said it was ok to o overnight there but at 8am someone knocked on our door and said us to get out there. Btw, it was really quiet.

October 30th, 2022 by d

Read reviews about the $48 ticket in the other location, but decided it was weight the risk as rv parks around here are $50 and up. But I stayed overnight on Sunday night along with 4 other rvs and vans, the Safeway is open 24 hours so it didn’t feel like the van stuck out. And no knocks and no ticket!

September 18th, 2022 by b2p

Good place, quiet, clean, safe, nice 24h safeway with starbucks and toilet

September 12th, 2022 by luisa.teichert

I wouldn’t recommend staying here. We stayed one night and in the morning we found a $48 ticket because we stayed longer then 90min even though they were no signs which told you that.

August 26th, 2022 by Ylime

Spent one night here. Quite a few other car campers. Felt safe and close access to the bathrooms was nice. They were pretty clean, but weirdly the sinks are outside the bathrooms.

August 8th, 2022 by joycestel

As described. Quiet during night. Felt safe despite of some homeless around. Saveway open 24h. Starbucks inside and across the parking

August 5th, 2022 by bardinnaomi

Good stop for a night, no one bothered us, if you drive to the left of Safeway (when facing it) you have another parking lot that is slightly more discreet (it’s their delivery side) we slept « hidden » after the recycling bin, not as close of the highway like this and less customer parking!

Not ideal but clearly the only free spot near Monterey :)

August 3rd, 2022 by victorrussellyt

This spot is in a safeway parking lot right off the Pacific Coast Highway. There was two other vans already there.
I got here late at night and was as inconspicuous as possible. I had no issues with people or anything like that.
There is some road noise being right next to the 1. The safeway has a deli, starbucks inside, and bathrooms.
Super convenient spot considering its location off the 1.
Definitely be lowkey if you’re going to come here and stay the night.

August 2nd, 2022 by spamawayok

Decent location. Clean and felt safe. There were a couple other overnighters blasting music -_- but moved away from them and under shade from the street lights and was fine

July 30th, 2022 by gatherer

Quiet and scattered collection of smaller and larger rigs on a summer Friday night, no issues with owners or locals

July 27th, 2022 by brandon

Great spot, some traffic throughout the night but manageable. Safeway is open all night for bathroom breaks. 5 others slept the night, 3 in RV’s that all parked in the centre of the parking lot, one with slides out… that kind of behaviour is bound to bring heat eventually… especially considering there is a starbucks in the lot which attracts police in the early AM.

July 24th, 2022 by morrisonfinn99

super chill spot with other campers nearby. felt very safe and no one bothers you. parking away from the safeway towards the starbucks is ideal because you wont have cars surrounding you in the morning. nice cheap-ish local coffee shop there too(not starbucks)

July 5th, 2022 by Kristina

The Safeway lot doesn’t have any signs regarding overnight parking. I ended up sleeping here two nights in a row - leaving by 8 am and coming back around 8 pm each night. I wasn’t bothered, felt totally safe. Definitely a place we shouldn’t abuse and be as stealth as possible.

June 24th, 2022 by dah

First attempted the spot south of here in Carmel Highlands. After screwing up my Google maps and ending up at Big Sur- turned around and by the time we got to the spot there was a Class C in it already. There was also a sign posted that read “ No stopping any time”. We proceeded this Safeway Parking lot about 5-10 min north of the first spot attempt right off HWY 1. Spent the night here with others in their vans/cars/campers. No issues.

June 17th, 2022 by dosenv_

We overnight at parking lot there where other vans no problem It was very quiet

May 10th, 2022 by valerygibson2

We arrived at 9 pm, we parked close to he Safeway on the side of the trees. No problem, there was another van on the parking lot.

April 20th, 2022 by undes4fantastiks

This place is permanently closed.

April 20th, 2022 by undes4fantastiks

slept here Tuesday April 19 and had a parking violation paper on the morning.

April 19th, 2022 by Jagna z bagna

Big parking. We noticed no "no overnight" signs, stayed there in 27ft RV. No problem, some other cars also on a parking lot.

April 18th, 2022 by The Lost Leopards

This place is permanently closed.

March 22nd, 2022 by me

Worked great for us. No issues. Quiet and felt safe.

March 22nd, 2022 by forbesmicki

Hey, to the red Solis that stayed overnight in Safeway parking lot in carmel… I don’t think it’s cool to pop your popup like you are camping. Sorry, but the obviousness of sleeping there, may ruin it for others. Being from the area, there are so few places to sleep for free… I would hate to have this place closed down. Thank you for understanding! Nice place to quietly slip n and slip out. Shopping at Safeway or other shops in complex recommended.

March 22nd, 2022 by 3weltreisen.de

many signs "no overnight parking", so it is not allowed

November 25th, 2021 by dido5.7

Seems like an okay parking lot to spend the night. It’s probably not explicitly allowed, but plenty of other folks here spending the night. No problems.

Please be respectful! This isn’t a campground. Don’t run your generators, don’t put out your slides, don’t pop your tops, clean up any garbage, don’t dump greywater, etc. The locals don’t appreciate that as it makes the parking lot feel like a campground. If you need to have your slides out or run a genny, please get a campsite to help keep spots like this available for the rest of us!

October 29th, 2021 by sanfranciscojenny

Spent one night car camping here. Lots of other overnighters here as well, so I felt quite safe. I parked away from where they clustered together in the dark area because I figured they’d be getting an early start, which would be noisy. Plenty of places to choose from. Just pay attention to the traffic flow for the Safeway as that’s what you’ll be hearing all night.

October 16th, 2021 by 8kilosurledos

As it say, huge parking here perfect for one.M night, very quiet and wifi available for free

July 12th, 2021 by Az95833

Huge parking lot with some dark areas . Slept one night . Zero issues . Safeway open 24hrs .