Select Safe, Comfortable, and Fun Camping Destinations

Tent camping should be a safe and enjoyable experience for both adults and children - but not all campgrounds are safe, peaceful, and fun places.To identify the best family-centered campgrounds, look for the nine features discussed below. You can assess these features by reading the park or campground home page, reading reviews posted by previous visitors and looking at images of the park posted by previous visitors. The popularity of a campground can be determined by looking at the number of sites that are still available for an upcoming weekend or holiday weekend.

Initial Considerations

Location

Before evaluating specific campgrounds, you must first decide where you want to go. In general, campgrounds located within 150 miles of your home make the best weekend escape destinations. You can easily drive to them Friday night after work and have plenty of time to set up camp before quiet hours begin. You’ll probably have a dozen or more - so learn as much as possible about each one by checking the internet and talking with friends.

Campgrounds located near popular tourist attractions make great vacation destinations. For example, a nice campground on the Florida Gulf Coast would be a great vacation destination. But these campgrounds fill quickly. So, you must plan early and reserve these sites several months ahead. 

Campgrounds located near major highway routes offer economical places to spend the night in route to another final destination. If your final destination is more than 400 miles from your home, plan to camp out overnight in a campground along tour travel route. Use maps and internet sites to find a large popular campground located 300 to 400 miles along your travel route. When you arrive, just set up the few essentials needed for a comfortable night's sleep so you can pack quickly the next morning and get an early start. But make reservations ahead because some may fill before you get there and others may require a two-night minimum stay on weekends.

Type of Campground

A second factor to consider before looking at specific campgrounds, is the “type” of campground you prefer. In my opinion, Federal campgrounds with more than 40 campsites make the best family tent camping destinations. These campgrounds, managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), are reasonably priced and offer good overnight security, campground hosts, large campsites, comfortable amenities, and lots of recreational opportunities. Most states have a few Federal campgrounds but they can be hard to find. The second best campground destinations are state park campgrounds. All states have them and they offer good safety and recreation - - but they tend to cost much more than Federal campgrounds.

If you can’t find a good federal or state campground near your destination, you may want to consider smaller Federal campgrounds, county parks, city parks, or privately owned campgrounds but proceed with caution. While many of these locally or privately managed campgrounds are safe and fun - a significant number are not. Investigate carefully before deciding to spend the night in one.

Important Family-Centered Campground Features

Safety

When comparing a specific campground with several possible choices in the area, the first feature to consider is safety. Most Federal and state managed campgrounds are safe, but a significant number are not. To assure reasonable safety from possible human, animal, and weather related dangers, select large (more than 40 campsites) and popular state and federal campgrounds.

Look for larger, more popular campgrounds with entrance control station, locked gate at night, at least one host or on-site manager for every 50 campsites, at least 20 other families in the campground, frequent security patrols, clean campsites, drivers obeying the 10 MPH speed limit, dogs on leashes at all times, enforced quiet hours after 10 P.M., posted after hours emergency phone numbers, and strong cell phone signal strength or a pay phone in the campground. Most state and large Federal campgrounds are safe but many county, municipal, and private campgrounds are not. Investigate carefully before spending the night in them. Don’t be misled by disgruntled reviewers who complain that park rangers hassled them - because those campers were probably making a lot of noise or doing something that could have possibly hurt other campers.

While small, remote, unsupervised campgrounds with less than 35 sites may not cost as much and will likely offer more private campsites, they should be avoided because they typically do not have flush toilets, showers, and security. Small, remote walk-up campgrounds that do not accept reservations, free campgrounds, campgrounds with no entrance station or gate, and campgrounds that have few reserved campsites frequently attract drunks, drug dealers, thieves, perverts, and other undesirable people.

Recreational opportuniTies

The second most important feature to consider, in my opinion, is recreational opportunities in and near the campground. A safe swimming pool or beach is important in the hot summer months. And be advised than many lakes in southern states are no longer safe for swimming because of alligators. Other desirable recreational opportunities include a nice fishing area, boat/canoe rentals, dirt or gravel trails for hiking and mountain biking, smooth surface trails for biking, large recreation fields, volleyball courts, horse shoe pits, playgrounds for children, nature centers, interpretative programs, children's activities, fishing piers, disc golf courses, zip lines, amusement parks, museums, concerts, festivals, sporting venues, charter fishing guides, golf courses, live theater, antique stores, shopping areas, and restaurants.

Each family has specific interests that determine which campgrounds will have the “best” activities. Eva especially likes campgrounds with good fishing areas, and I prefer family-focused campgrounds that offer a variety of children’s activities, including a good place to swim. I especially like campgrounds that attract families with small children that our grandson can play with. Other families look for campgrounds with flat terrain, paved roads, and smooth bike trails so they can ride their bikes around the park. Families with power boats want to find campgrounds that are located on large lakes where they can ski, swim, and fish. Yet other families look for small lakes and rivers where they can canoe or kayak. Golfing families prefer campgrounds located near good golf courses. And other families look for campgrounds located near good mountain bike, ATV, or equestrian trails.

Campsite features

Campsite quality is the third factor we consider. Individual sites should be large - with at least 900 square feet of usable grass, dirt, or crushed stone surface. Furthermore, they should be level, dispersed, and shady Ideally, each campsite should have an elevated crushed-stone tent pad to avoid flooding in rainy weather. Campsites should also have clearly defined boundary lines, at least 20-foot vegetated buffer zones between adjacent campsites, and several trees for providing afternoon shade and hanging hammocks, tarps, and clotheslines. In addition, a good campsite should have a sturdy picnic table that can be moved by two adults, a pedestal grill for cooking, and a fire ring. If there is no pedestal grill, the fire ring should have an adjustable height cooking grate. The site should have potable water nearby. Electrical outlets and Wi-Fi at each site are nice extras that can now be found in many campgrounds.

Campground Amenities

Campground amenities is another important feature to consider. Look for paved roads and parking pads near each campsite, clean and spacious bathrooms with hot water, sinks with adjacent countertops, flush toilets, showers, potable water spigots located near each campsite, electrical outlets for recharging cell phones and other electronic devises, grey water disposal stations, clean garbage disposal/ recycle area, Laundromat, WiFi reception area, and TV viewing room.

Campground Maintenance

Bathrooms and other buildings should be cleaned at least daily and in good repair. Grass should be cut every week, and understory buffer vegetation should be trimmed back at least 3 feet from campsites, roads & trails to reduce habitat for rodents, animal scavengers & snakes. Leaves and other debris should be raked or blown away from campsites, trails & public use areas. Procedures should be used to control mosquitoes, ticks, spiders, wasps & other insects. Garbage area should be clean and large enough to handle weekend garbage, and should be picked up every week. Procedures should be used to reduce problems caused by potentially destructive or dangerous animal scavengers (squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, bears). And, dead trees near campsites should be removed quickly.

Availability of Supplies

Another important feature is the availability of ice, good firewood, propane, charcoal, basic groceries, and other camp supplies. Availability of supplies is most important for multi-day base camps than for overnight camps. Gasoline for your car is also important if your campground is located in a remote location. A few large campgrounds have good camp stores that sell all of these items, but many campgrounds do not. So when planning a trip, investigate the availability of supplies. If the campground web site mentions a camp store, call and ask what supplies are available there. If few supplies are available ask about local Dollar General, Walmart, grocery, and convenient stores. Also search the internet for nearby stores. Good firewood may be especially difficult to find. so if you want to have a campfire, look for local firewood vendors. Some grocery, convenience, home improvement, and farm supply stores have very good firewood.

Cost

The final feature to consider is the cost of a campsite for one night and also for one week. As a general rule most campsites in state and federal parks cost less than $35 per night — much less than hotel rooms. Campgrounds located near popular tourist attractions may cost more but they will still be at least $50 per night less than a good motel room in the same area - and the cost of a good campsite for one week will be at least $350 less than the cost of a good motel room. For example, we recently, spent 5 nights camping near Pensacola Beach Florida in the Gulf Islands National Lakeshore for $65 while nearby hotel rooms would have cost us at least $750.

Federal properties offer many free and low-cost campsites but many of these low cost campgrounds are small, remote, and unsupervised. For safety sake, don’t try to stay in one. Instead, only stay in large, safe, supervised campgrounds. Large, safe campgrounds with comfortable bathrooms, resident managers or hosts, and good security typically cost about $20 per night but this fee is reduced 50% for seniors with an annual or lifetime pass.

State park campgrounds typically charge $30 to $50 per night but they usually offer more safety and amenities. Some states, such as Wisconsin, base camping fees on the campground popularity. Popular campgrounds such as Peninsula charge higher camping fees while less popular campgrounds charge less.

Private campground fees vary considerably based upon, cleanliness, amenities, location, and popularity but you should expect to pay at least $30 per night in most of them. We usually avoid them but sometimes, they are the best camping destination in the area.

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