If you’re looking for an RV park near Boston, you’ll probably hear about two choices: one is Minuteman Campground, which we stayed at and liked a lot several years ago, and the other is Normandy Farms, which we stayed at the for the first time this summer:
After I tell you about Normandy Farms, I’ll take a look at the two side by side and talk about why you might pick one over the other: two great but very different campgrounds.
Normandy Farms is the sort of lively, old-fashioned camping resort that I wish we had somewhere close to me: perfectly manicured grounds, kids running all over the place, endless activities and amenities. We talked a lot about how we’d like to come back sometime later in the season (we were there just before schools got out in Massachusetts, so they didn’t have a full slate of scheduled activities until the week after we left) and plan on spending a lot more time actually at the campground instead of out seeing other things in the area.
Location
Normandy Farms is in Foxborough, Massachusetts, about 30 miles outside of Boston. Foxborough is the town where the Patriots play, but if you’re not here for football, there’s not a ton of other stuff to do in the immediate area (though there is plenty in the way of shopping and restaurants near by). It’s actually closer to Providence, RI than to Boston (just over 20 miles), and it’s a reasonable distance from Cape Cod (under an hour to the bridge) for day trips, too.
We went into Boston three times, and, honestly, there’s not really a super easy or fast way to do it. The drive into the city might take you 40 minutes or it might take you over an hour, depending on traffic, and then you have to figure out parking once you’re there. We drove in to meet a friend for dinner one night and found street parking no problem (this was actually in Brookline, not Boston proper) and another day we drove to the Museum of Fine Arts because we knew they had on-site parking (it was easy, but not cheap).
Public transportation is another option. Normandy Farms’ website suggests taking the T from either Riverside or Quincy, but involve a pretty substantial drive just to get to the subway. We decided to drive to the much closer Mansfield station and take the commuter rail into the city:
The station is just a ten minute drive from the campground, and the commuter rail is easy and pleasant…but it was very pricy for our family of six. It was $10.50 each way for everyone except Abe (kids under 12 ride free with a paying adult, so if you have all young kids things get a lot cheaper fast), plus we paid for subway fare once we were in the city. I found it much less stressful than driving, but it would have been too expensive to do more than once.
Booking and Arrival
Even though we were there during the shoulder season, and even though it’s a very big campground, Normandy Farms stayed pretty packed while we were there. It was, of course, an exceptionally busy camping season. We booked back in September 2020 and didn’t have any trouble getting a good site back then. We paid $555 for six nights for a “premium” site, which I thought wasn’t terrible for east coast resort camping with six people.
We got to Normandy Farms on the night of our terrible, shaky drive on (it would turn out) bad tires, and I was very happy to be getting to somewhere nice, with easy access, and easy to get into sites. They didn’t escort us to our site, but they did e-mail very specific directions beforehand, so we had no trouble finding it.
Campsites
We were in a premium site very close to the main pools and clubhouse. Our site was a gravel pull-through, as are most of the sites. Not a ton of separation between sites, but they’re laid out in a kind of staggered way so that you’re not staring into the windows of your neighbor even though they’re fairly close to you.
There are around 400 sites altogether, most of them full hook up pull throughs. They also have tent sites and cabins. There are some trees for shade and privacy, but in most sites you’ll be fairly open to your neighbors. Fire rings and picnic tables with every site.
Activities and Amenities
This is where Normandy Farms really shines. It has everything. Dog park. Disc golf. Four pools (one inside). Huge “recreation lodge.” Softball fields. Bike park. RC track. Big camp store. Fishing pond. Snack bar. Tons of activities in season. Etc.
This kind of stuff is often wasted on us because we plan such a full itinerary on most trips. My big regret about Normandy Farms is that we somehow failed to check out the ginormous recreation lodge until after the rainy day we spent hanging out in the trailer. They have two big lofts; one for all ages and one for adults only, both stocked with comfy seating and lots of books and games:
It was totally empty when we did run by to check it out, but I suspect it’s a different story if you’re smart enough to go there during bad weather.
The dog park is interesting in that it has unattended dog runs where you can leave your dog for the day while you go off exploring. I’m a little mystified by these, because I can’t imagine my own dogs being happier in one of those runs than in our trailer, and I’d be nervous leaving them there where strangers could go up to them any time. Maybe they’re good for people who are tent camping? I don’t know. Anyway, those are there! They also offer a service where someone will come and walk your dog during the day for an extra fee.
The bike park looked really cool, but, alas–we didn’t have bikes with us on this trip:
I was kind of excited about the snack bar before we got here, so it was a disappointment to discover that it was only open on weekends while we were there. This meant we could only go there on our very last night. So we did, and it was very crowded. We waited a long time. I suspect they were short staffed, like pretty much everywhere. Anyway, the food was fine, but in retrospect we would have just run out for takeout, and it would have been faster and better food.
Bathhouses and laundry were all nice and meticulously maintained.
Here are a few of the other fancy things:
Minuteman vs. Normandy Farms
You can read my Minuteman review here. Basically, we liked both campgrounds and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either of them. Minuteman definitely has a more rustic feel and a more wooded setting. It has a good array of basic amenities like pool and playground, but it doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as Normandy Farms. In exchange for this, it’s a good bit cheaper; you’ll likely save at least $20/night at Minuteman over Normandy Farms. So you might want to save the money if you’re not planning to take advantage of all the activities at Normandy Farms and are looking more for a base camp.
Location-wise, both are more or less equally inconvenient to downtown Boston. Either one is about 40 minutes away if you’re lucky. Either one has public transportation options nearby. They are on different sides of the city, though, so that might affect your decision. Minuteman is convenient to some historic sites like the Revolutionary War stuff in Lexington and Concord and the Lowell National Historic Site. Normandy Farms is closer to Providence and to Cape Cod.
So I’m not really making a recommendation of one over the other; it just depends on what you’re looking for!
Next up I’ll talk about the assorted stuff we did while staying at Normandy Farms. It was a little all over the place.
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We recently went to Normandy farms for Mother’s Day we have been going to Normandy for close to 20 years it’s awesome! Amenities are great and grounds are beautiful. But that’s not unique lots of campgrounds are pretty but this is where they stand out!! We rented a golf cart that had a mechanical glitch in the operation resulting in the golf cart accelerating when we pressed the stop pedal resulting in a crash into the neighbors new car and leaving a dent. When we reported it they immediately sent a team of men down to check it out. Trying repeatedly to make it do it again to no avail , they said they would have to talk with someone higher up. They returned with a different golf cart and told us they would reimburse the neighbor’s car.
We cannot say enough for their kindness and understanding. Several people had witnessed the accident. We highly recommend this quality campground.
Elizabeth Hodgman
That’s great–I think you can always tell more about a campground based on how they respond when something goes wrong than when everything goes right!