Dauphin Island Campground

Reviewed Jun. 21, 2022

Always love it

We camped for 3 days in a tent. There is power and water even the tent sites. I loved the path/boardwalk to the beach. The beach is beautiful white sand and is not crowded at all. The areas around the beach are not developed so you get a more natural view. There are lots of nature trails that are connected to the campground. There is an aquarium, a fort, and the ferry to Fort Morgan within walking distance from the campground.

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Month of VisitJune

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Michael P.

Reviewed Apr. 16, 2022

Beach front camping

Very nice and we'll kept campground with trails to beach and bird watching clean bathroom and showers and a play ground

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Month of VisitMarch

Simon C.

Reviewed Apr. 5, 2022

Great for Teardrop

Nice campground with a variety of sites. Some with sewer and some more private than others. Ours was very secluded and shady but was on the smaller size. It would be hard to park a larger camper there.

Only one bath house but it’s clean. Also have laundry facilities.

Walking distance to the beach, nature trails, and historic Fort Gaines, the site of the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay.

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Month of VisitApril

Greg J.

Reviewed Jan. 23, 2022

Dauphin Island

Nature enthusiasts

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Month of VisitJanuary

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Greg J.

Reviewed Jan. 23, 2022

Dauphin Island

Very nice campground. Beach access within walking distance. WiFi is almost nonexistent. But the sunsets at the beach are amazing.

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Month of VisitJanuary

John W.

Reviewed Nov. 17, 2021

Shady Campground

Lots of trees to keep the heat moderate. Lots of great beach fun a short walk inside the campground. I would say it’s one of our favorite places to go on the beach because it isn’t commercialized on the island. Bring bug spray

Month of VisitOctober

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Stephanie R.

Scout

Reviewed Nov. 15, 2021

We really loved it

Our RV site was wonderfully shaded and a very short walk to a beautiful and quiet beach! Lots to do on this little island, it was quite a surprise how much we enjoyed our stay there. Friendly staff! Way not techie with reservations, they don’t need to be ;)

Month of VisitJuly

Bryan

Reviewed Sep. 7, 2021

Great Campground

We have a pop up camper and because of this we were worried about not having a lot of shade. The great thing about this park is that it has shade all around because it pretty much is on the side of the woods. There were some tighter sites to back into but, nothing terrible. The beach was only a 10 to 15 minute walk away!!! The only downside to camping here is there isn’t any grocery stores on the island.

Month of VisitSeptember

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Faeze B.

Scout

Reviewed Jul. 25, 2021

No tent

No tent, no car stay

Month of VisitJuly

Jess&Tony

Reviewed Jun. 24, 2021

Great stay!

We stayed here for 4 days and had a great time! Short walk to the beach, Ft Gaines, ferry and more. The restrooms, showers and laundry facilities were very clean and most sites have full hookups. Small store on site and staff was friendly! The island is very pedestrian and bicycle friendly with wide sidewalks everywhere. Would definitely come back!

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Month of VisitJune

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Brannon

Reviewed Jun. 17, 2021

No tens or RTT's?

I called to make reservations for September 21 for a5 days and she said that they are not offering tent camping at this time. Not even a overland trailer (Turtleback with a RTT), it has to be a RV only.

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Benjamin K.

Reviewed Jun. 14, 2021

Great Island camping

Fun place to be.!!! Campsites are just a short walk to the beach. The staff is very friendly and will be happy to help with any questions you might have. Bath house is cleaned every morning and showers were pretty warm. The campground has different sections depending on what size Rv you have. Full hookups on many sites. Water/electric on others. Pet friendly as long as you pick up behind them. The Ferry is on one side of campground….Sea lab and Fort Gaines on the other. The of the best features about the island is you can ride your bicycle from one end of the island to the other. Get up early to get some great pics of the sunrise.!!!

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Month of VisitMay

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Nicole C.

Reviewed Mar. 22, 2021

Nice quiet campground, lots of Snow-birds

Lots of magnolia trees, great walking paths in wildlife protected areas with turtles and tons of birds, bathrooms, laundry room, small park for kids to play, and a very nice beach about 100 yards away. It's a snow bird community during the winter months. Great taco place and amazing bakery in town. Was about $50 a night

Jenny W.

Reviewed Jan. 18, 2021

The Campground is a little rough, but the beaches are amazing

The actual campground is not great - it definitely could use some TLC. We had a beach back in spot, which is only a beach view in theory as the brush and forest was so thick that it blocked the view. However it was a short and pleasant walk to the beach and that is the whole reason to stay here. The sand is white and the water is blue, it is absolutely stunning.

Wendy T.

Ranger

Reviewed Dec. 19, 2020

Easy access

Our trip was cut short due to an accident but the park was very pleasant. Lots of trees, camp store, and a small club house. Very close the the ferry across the bay for a day trip and walking distance to Fort Gains for some interesting history.

Joseph C.

Reviewed Dec. 3, 2020

Review

Um it was ok, staff were great, campground definitely not well kept, beach access was really good, beach was really nice, for me personally the ferry noise and vibration was enough to keep me from returning, and we were in the back near the beach access and could hear the captain talking on the radios, hear the engines rumbling at 5:30 every morning and all day long.

Deborah P.

Reviewed Jun. 21, 2020

Beach time

Great park if you want to camp next to the beach! A short walk and dog friendly! Bath houses were great! No campfires ☹️, but a great place!

The School for Y.

Reviewed Mar. 14, 2020

A little pricey but great location

The campground is popular with nice services and a great location. Make sure to call ahead if you want a space.

Lee D.

Reviewed Feb. 29, 2020

Direct beach access

It is all in your perspective, but we prefer a bit of privacy and separation with foliage between sites, and if you do as well, I would recommend you choose a tent site. Most back up to the wooded bird sanctuary (watch out for bird poop!) However, if these sites were full they would not have much privacy, but we were the only ones for the first night and there was only one other camper in this loop the second night. The RV sites have zero privacy, however! Some of these sites back directly on to the road. It seemed to me that there are many returnee snowbirds who stay here so they don’t seem to mind. When we were there, there was a snowbird arts and crafts display. If you do choose an RV site, I would recommend Site 15-21. BUT, you do not have the option of reserving a specific site; it is assigned to you upon arrival. After reading other reviews, I dreaded the laborious check-in process, but it did not take very long. Also, driving up to the window to let them know you were leaving is all there was to the check-out process.

The bathhouse was immaculate, regardless of the time of day. There is a sign prohibiting pets from being in the bathhouse, but some disregarded this rule. In fact, there almost seemed to be as many dogs as people here! The laundry room looked nice and had a television but has limited hours(closed at 8 pm).

There is an approximately mile-long walkable beach with access directly from the campground; if you head east, you will get to Fort Gaines and if you head west, you will eventually reach private property and cannot go any further on the beach. There were nice sunsets for the two nights we were there. The Mobile Bay ferry terminal is also directly across the street from the campground; yes, you will hear the whistle!

A small town with shops and restaurants is about two miles away and there is a wide bike/pedestrian path. Although we enjoyed our time here, I likely would not return as there are nicer beaches and other places to explore!

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Month of VisitFebruary

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Nate H.

Reviewed Oct. 13, 2019

One of the best beaches I’ve ever been to

This campground is a hidden gem for those looking for a beach campground. There were less than 10 people at anytime on the beach the 4 days we were down here. The beach is a 5 minute walk or 2 minute bike ride from the tent sights and extremely secluded. You can walk to the beach or directly into an enormous bird sanctuary that has literally hundreds of species of birds. Bathrooms and facilities were clean, well kept and plentiful. I would like to come back to this campground with our pop-up instead of roof top tent just to have some AC at night. There is also a historical battle sight/fort and aquarium all within walking or bike riding distance. There are also numerous outstanding seafood restaurants nearby. Had arguably the best crab legs I’ve ever had in my entire life down here.

I would have given this campground 5 stars except we had an experience with a creepy homeless dude that wouldn’t leave us alone. The campground did have him arrested and taken off sight. And my only other complaint would be the check-in/departure process being super slow due to paper files and no technology to expedite the process. I would most certainly recommend checking this place out if you are looking for an affordable beach getaway!

I would have given this

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Lori H.

Reviewed Aug. 12, 2019

Beautiful Island

Dauphin Island is an amazing place! The island is not very large, but has lots to do. There are several good restaurants, ice cream shops, a great seafood market called Skinners, where you can order fresh seafood from the steamer (we ordered crab legs twice during our stay 😋), parks, bike paths across the entire island, great fishing, a bird sanctuary, an Estuarium (similar to an aquarium), and beautiful white sand beaches, just to name a few!

We stayed at the Dauphin Island Campground in the tent area on site 8. The check in process was fairly time consuming , as it is all written out by hand. Check out is the same way, and they don’t take online reservations. The people in the office are amazing though, so it was ok!

The campground map is not accurate for site selection. We were first given site 5, which looked great on the map, but was not great for our rooftop tent. Also, there is no way to see the ocean from ANY site, so don’t think you’ll have ocean view. On the map I thought we might be able to have a glimpse of the Gulf, but not so. Site 8 was perfect for us, nice shady spot with view of the trees in the bird sanctuary. All tent sites have water and electric hookups. They do not allow anything to be hung from trees, including hammocks, so bring hammock stand if you plan to use them.

The RV sites are all pretty close to each other. The row nearest the bay has water views, but is also next to the road and auto ferry. Several long time residents stay at this campground, Possibly seasonal.

The restrooms/bathhouse was immaculate! They have a designated cleaning at 9-9:30 daily, and they were in excellent shape. There’s also laundry facilities on site. There’s a camp store, and a fish cleaning station, and playground as well.

Beach access is in the back of the campground near the tent sites, we took our bikes and that was the best way to get there. It took us less than a minute to be on the beach. The beach was fairly empty and that’s what we loved the most! Like having our own private beach. Take a cart to haul your chairs, umbrella, etc, or plan on packing it on your back like we did. The people who were fishing were catching fish the whole time, so if you enjoy fishing, this is a great spot.

We absolutely LOVED Dauphin Island, and will definitely return, but if we come back in the summer, we will bring the pop up tent so we can have A/C, as it is blazing hot!

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Joe & Monica J.

Reviewed Apr. 3, 2019

Nice beach access

But, the RV section was very cramped. We were shocked by how close everyone was. Check-in, even with paying in advance, took forever since it is all done manually (i.e., handwriting EVERYTHING). No technology to speak of...even on-line reservations are non-existent. Staff was nice and accommodating, and bath house was new and clean. We only stayed a weekend. There's no way we would stay any longer than that being squeezed in there like sardines. If that doesn't bother you, then it's a great place to stay.

Donna H.

Reviewed Jul. 21, 2018

Great campsite right beside the beach

We camped a week in the tent sites. Very clean. Great bathrooms. Great staff. 24 hour access to the beach, which is just a short stroll away. Good hiking trails. I would highly recommend and we will go again!

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Kaitlin T.

Reviewed Jul. 7, 2018

Simple

Clead water, nice bathrooms, lovely family spot

Month of VisitMarch

Aaron S.

Reviewed Sep. 30, 2016

Easy beach access

You are a ten minute walk from the beach through part of the bird sanctuary. The campsites are large, big enough to fit a 10 person tent. Each has an electric hook up. A great place to visit.

Ethan K.

Reviewed Sep. 29, 2016

Great for birding and beaching!

Anyone interested in birding should definitely take a trip to Dauphin Island. Everyone is very friendly and theres a great beach as well to relax and go for a swim. Definitely was very hot when we went in April so make sure to bring lots of water and sunscreen.

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David S.

Reviewed Sep. 12, 2016

Great place to be!

This is a very nice park, split between an RV section and a camping section. Firepits available, a playground for kiddies, basic bathrooms, and a short walk to the beach!

What more could you need?

Shelly S.