I’ve never done a list of our favorite campgrounds before, but now seems like a good time, with 5 years of RVing and a whole lot of campgrounds all over the US and Canada behind us. The whole family collaborated on the list, but I had the final say because it’s my blog.
Ranking campgrounds is tricky, largely because location inevitably gets mixed up in the whole thing. A thoughtfully designed, well-run campground in a so so location is going to have trouble competing with an okay campground in a spectacular location. So the final list feels a little arbitrary and unfair in places, but I did my best. And I think we came up with a list with a lot of diversity–lots of different regions, range of size and amenities offered, and a good mix of public and private campgrounds. The list is…sort of in order, in that the ones with the biggest consensus are at the top, but it’s not as strictly organized as the top travel memories list.
1. Glooscap Campground, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
Prime example of the location, location, location truism of campground rankings: Glooscap Campground is all about that amazing view (right next to our trailer!) of the Bay of Fundy (as well as access to a beach to walk along it). The people are friendly and the sites are spacious, too, but it’s also a relatively primitive experience with W/E hookups and only pit toilets. Great jumping off point for exploring Parrsboro and a lot of other great places in Nova Scotia (this was our base for getting to Joggins Fossil Cliffs, for example.
2. Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota
There are only four RV sites at the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota, so it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a campground (although there are also covered wagons to rent or you can pay to pitch a tent right on the prairie)…but it’s definitely one of the best RV camping experiences in the country. Once the homestead closes to the public in the evening, you and a handful of other campers will have the whole place to yourselves, and you’re free to explore the site as much as you want. The kids rode their bikes all over, stopping by to visit every baby animal they could find.
3. Atlantic Oaks in Eastham, Massachusetts
Location again! Atlantic Oaks has a great location in Eastham, MA, right by the Cape Cod National Seashore. The campsites themselves are pretty standard (and a little on the close side, as you’d expect for camping near the beach) and there aren’t a ton of fancy amenities or activities (that’s what the beach is for!), but it’s all very well run and there are nice touches like music piped into the private shower rooms. But most importantly, it’s in a great location near lots of beaches and directly on the bike path.
4. Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah, Georgia
HUGE sites, Spanish moss, nice hiking trails, and just a few minutes drive from Savannah. We’ve stayed here twice and would love to go again–the only issue is that those full hook up pull-through sites are super hard to get!
5. James Island County Park in Charleston, South Carolina
More really nice, spacious sites, a great county park with all kinds of activities like bike trails and a rock wall, and super convenient to Charleston, SC.
6. Cavendish Campground on Prince Edward Island
This is perhaps a surprising choice, because Cavendish Campground is the place where we had so much trouble getting into our site that we got the trailer stuck against a tree and had to unhitch and rehitch just so to extract it. It was very stressful. But other than that, it was a really fabulous campground. It’s right in Prince Edward Island National Park, and it has huge wooded sites and beach access. It also hosts a lot of great campfire programs in the evenings, and I have great memories of walking over to watch park workers dressed as trees lead everyone in a singalong.
7. Game Lodge Campground in Custer State Park, South Dakota
There’s a wealth of great campgrounds to choose from in the Black Hills, both in Custer State Park and in the surrounding areas, but we were very happy with Game Lodge. A lot of people love Blue Bell Campground, and I’m sure it’s also fabulous, but we appreciated that Game Lodge is close to the park entrance and convenient for getting all around the Black Hills (the drive into Rapid City is 25 minutes shorter from Game Lodge than Blue Bell, for example. Although Blue Bell does put you closer to Wind Cave and only slighter farther from Mount Rushmore) and that it’s the only campground in the park with a dump station. We chose it over highly rated private options purely because of price, but ended up loving our very spacious site, the friendly people, and the roster of evening activities.
8. Collier Memorial State Park in Klamath Falls, Oregon
We stayed here because of its proximity to Crater Lake National Park (about half an hour away), and we loved the nice, private sites and especially the open air logging museum right in the park–just a short walk from the campground past this lovely, impossibly clear creek.
9. Byrd’s Branch Campground in Elkin, North Carolina
We stayed here so long ago that we had our old trailer! At the time I said that this was the nicest campsite we’d ever had, and I’m not sure if I’d necessarily change my vote now–many, many campgrounds later. Huge sites, particularly for a private campground, and ours backed up to lots of woods and a lovely little creek. Byrd’s Branch is near the Blue Ridge Parkway and several hiking trails are accessible from the campground. Also, the camp store sells hand dipped ice cream! We’re planning on another stay this summer, and we made sure to request the same campsite again.
10. Bar Harbor KOA near Acadia National Park, Maine
The conventional wisdom about the Bar Harbor KOA is that if you can get an oceanfront site it’s amazing, and if you can’t it’s a fairly standard campground. As you can see, we scored an oceanfront site (by booking the first day we could), and it was, indeed pretty great. Great location for exploring Acadia National Park and full range of amenities like you expect at a KOA.
11. Mt. Lassen/Shingletown KOA near Lassen Volcanic National Park
This list was supposed to be a top 10, but I couldn’t decide what to leave out. The Mt. Lassen KOA is the perfect base camp for exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park, and it’s also an awesome campground to go back to afterwards. There’s so much to do there: movie nights and ice cream socials, pool, playground, and a fabulous and huge wooded area with all kinds of stuff to do. We were stayed here with extended family (for they also have great cabins) and the kids and their cousins spent hours playing back there.
So there are our 11 favorite campgrounds from our first 5 years….perhaps I’ll be back in another 5 with a few more.
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This is such a valuable list! Thank you.
Thanks! Very subjective, of course, but I think it’s definitely a good group of campgrounds 🙂
Although the whole list is great but I can’t wait to visit the Cavendish one. Also, this blog reminds me of mystay at a campground in Collin, hello https://g.page/r/CXazHLojMn2YEBM/. Although I never lived in that country but I loved the peacefulness during my stay.