January cottage stays available July 1

As of Thursday afternoon, a number of rooms were still available in December in dorm-style cottages at Crystal Cove State Park, said Crystal Cove Alliance founder Laura Davick. The alliance is a nonprofit group that is managing park concessions.

The 13 renovated historic cottages, which will open to the public at the end of the month, have been a sellout hit since overnight rentals first were offered in April. Reservations for late June through October sold out within hours of being offered, and in early May the same thing happened with rentals in November.

December reservations opened Thursday. Davick said about 75% of them were made online, which enabled people to book half of the individual cottage rentals for the month within one minute of when reservations opened. By afternoon, about 50 room nights were left in the dorm-style cottages.

More rentals, covering the month of January, will be available on July 1. There are no waiting lists. For information or to make a reservation, call (800) 444-PARK or visit www.parks.ca.gov online.