Whether you're an RVer or tent camper, Bantam, CT is a great place to post up for the weekend—or longer. There's so much to see and do, from exhilarating hikes or bike rides to exploring the local dining and shopping. Get the dirt on all the best camping near Bantam. Browse campgrounds by amenities, site types, and more.
$25 / night
"Quiet woods atmosphere with trail’s. Wonderful place to camp. Very clean"
"We arrived at the parking lot of Onion Mountain Park at around 2 pm and proceeded to get our bags packed for the hike."
"Very peaceful overnight camping, no permit required. Small campsite, first come first served basis. Other posts claim you can park right the site, but you can not."
"We started our hike at the under-mountain trailhead, located right off route 41, and climbed up the mountain. Be prepared for steep inclines, and lots of rocks."
"The lean-to fit our small tens, and there is a picnic table. There's also a bear box near by. Room to camp your tent on the ground too if you wanted to or had more ppl along."
"We absolutely loved this little lean-to next to Bear Mountain. I'll make this review short, as we also stayed at the Brassie Brook lean-to which is located only about a mile apart from each other."
"We actually started this hike in by Race Brook Falls area, and ended it where the GPS coordinates are noted. See the map in my photos marked with yellow lines."
"We packed on our backpacks early in the morning and arrived there mid-afternoon. Very beautiful view, and an awesome spot! No fires allowed, however."
"Absolutely love this spot and highly recommend if you’re looking for a super private, true primitive camping experience."
"Each spot is easy to find off the trail. They also have bear boxes at each site!"
$45 - $55 / night
"Close to the city and civilization, yet large enough to have nice trails and creeks to feel away from it all. The camping sites are very different so it’s useful to go in person and select the area."
"There’s elevation gain, creeks, and open fields for stargazing. You have the options of a lean to here."
"Mountain Lakes park is a great place to camp within driving distance from NYC. A fun option available at Mountain lakes is to rent a yurt to camp in."
"A gorgeous piece of land that contains lakes, a lookout and Mt. Bailey, the highest point in Westchester County. A dirt road loops through the property with trails off and through it."
$43 - $45 / night
"We're happy to have this property on our platform. This site feature a fire-pit, wooded platform and picnic table. Check them out and leave them some love."
GuideFahnestock State Park, Carmel, NY
Busy Campground on Weekends!
This park has a nice open beach on Canopus Lake with a concession area and bathhouse, which we found to be quite clean! They even have boat rentals - or you can bring your own boat to launch! If you are into fishing, there is another lake and two ponds that our neighbor campers said were great for catching panfish - one fisherman said he had caught several bass weighing over 3 pounds!!
Weekends - this park is FULL! Make sure to reserve at least two weeks out. Weekdays? You should be in luck! We stayed in site number 1, and I found it to be just wooded enough. Almost all of the sites offered privacy.... Even when the campground was full. I do feel the campground bathhouse really needed more attention... while it had clearly been painted this past year, it was very “buggy” - and did not appear to have been thoroughly cleaned since spring... (yuck!).
PRODUCT REVIEW: As a ranger for Dyrt.com, sometimes I am offered the opportunity to test and review various products. At Fahnestock State Park in New York state, I reviewed my Gregory Maven 55L Women’s backpack (see accompanying video).
Weighing in at 3 pounds 6 ounces, the Gregory Maven was a nice mid-weight pack for me to take on my yearly 2 1/2 week Appalachian Trail hike.
Normally, I like to save the best for last when I do a review; however, this time I just can’t wait to spread the news about my favorite features! The Maven has a Matrix Ventilation System, which provides exceptional ventilation on the pack’s back panel. This kept my back from being its usual sweaty mess! The second feature that blew me away was how cool my water stayed in this backpack! With other packs, the water gets warmed up from heat radiating off the hiker’s back. This didn’t happen with my Gregory pack! Every pull off my water - from the beginning of the day until hours later - provided me with a refreshingly cool drink. I actually questioned other hikers with Gregory packs to see if I was the only one experiencing this - The other hikers, who had different Gregory models, confirmed that their backs and water were staying cooler too! Added bonus: I was able to pull out the hydration sleeve and use it as a daypack a few times!
The Maven’s pockets helped me keep my pack much more organized than in the past. It has a lower sleeping bag compartment, top pocket with separate zipper areas (one has a place to attach a car key!), side pockets, hip pockets, and even pockets on the shoulder harnesses! I can’t forget the front pocket, which held the rain fly!
The pack fit was great, but do be careful to check your sizing if you are looking at both the 45L and 55L. While I am a XS/S with the 55L, I would have been a S/M with the 45L.
I used this pack for 2 1/2 weeks backpacking over 200 miles on the Appalachian Trail through the states of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The Maven did an outstanding job keeping my possessions organized and dry as well as keeping me comfortable and happy on the trail! This will definitely be my pack of choice for future hikes!
TravelerThis was only my second camping trip ever (and first tent camping) so grain of salt here - We had a great time at Tolland. The site was spacious and equipped with a bear box, fire ring, and picnic table. The ground at the site was large gravel which was not great in the tent, but walking around it looks like most sites are more dirt and pine needles.
The swimming area is small but sandy, great for kids, and my daughter loved thethe campfire and nature talk given on Saturday night by park staff.
ScoutAbsolutely love this spot and highly recommend if you’re looking for a super private, true primitive camping experience. You have to park at the entrance and hike in about 1.5-2 miles with everything on your back to get to the spots. Once you get there, theres quite a few sites to choose from and each offer quite a bit or privacy. It’s completely free and it usually isn’t too busy since most people don’t like having to carry all their stuff in that far. You will be in the heart of the forest/woods so definitely make sure to be prepared. We had some scares with coyotes and bears in the past but never anything crazy. They give you a semi-flat area for a tent, a fire pit and grill rack, one picnic table, and a bear box you would be sharing with other campers nearby
ScoutShawangunk was SUCH a nice place to stay. So many good things - though a few things to keep in mind when you're booking, too.
I definitely recommend trying to get the walk-in (meaning you can't drive to them) sites (8-15) because they're just a little bit more set back and kind of wonderfully wooded all around. 8 & 9 seemed like the star sites, because they're up and away a little bit more than 10-15.
Here goes:
The Good:
The just okay:
Overall we really did love staying here. It was pretty empty and we were able to have two cars in the parking spots (usually you can only have one in the assigned spot) without putting anyone out. It was full of friendly people and my dog had an awesome time romping through the leaves and people watching. Definitely recommend this site if you're hiking or climbing in the area!
GuideCamped here on a Friday night in Site 16, yet another campground recommended in“Best Tent Camping: New England.” Overall I was not impressed. The campsites are right next to each other and are marked with posts. The sites are so close that the posts are marked with the site number on both sides which tells me that there has been confusion in the past.
The sites along the creek mostly have worn paths to walk to it but it’s nothing impressive and I wouldn’t want to eat fish that came out of it. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, some have the kind where the top flips over and others have the moveable grate that goes up and down. There is a large dumpster in the campground and several porta-potties. The old outhouses have been permanently closed and locked shut. My campsite had a lot of trash in it, old tent stakes, plastic bottle caps, plastic fork, broken glass, etc. Not good.
Some of the people there were camping in a group and were blasting music. I didn’t see a single park ranger the entire night so I’m not sure how often they police it. Someone in a pickup truck came into the campground, did a u-turn, and sped out at 30 mph which was really annoying and unsafe.
Across the street from the campground is a trail to Chapman Falls, which will take less than 10 minutes to hike to, but it’s a pretty waterfall despite all the foam and garbage around it.
This is a pretty basic campground and is nothing special. Out of all the sites I think 22 looked the best, it is more isolated and you can hear the waterfalls from it, which would be relaxing. The downside is that it’s right next to the entrance and road so you’ll get car headlights at night.
I woke in the morning to a gray sky and hundreds of birds singing– it was my favorite part of the trip. I delayed getting up to enjoy the moment. I also didn’t see any ticks but I’m sure there are plenty based on other reviews.
I’ve always thought that if states were condiments Connecticut would be mayonnaise– relatively unremarkable and bland. This campground fits that description perfectly.
GuideWe stayed here in August 2020.
This is a really interesting campground that's situated on a hill overlooking Rudd Pond in Taconic State Park. Almost all of the sites have platforms to pitch your tent on, although there are a couple of flatter spots without platforms (although they still have a slope.)
There's space near the platform that is flat-ish with a picnic and a fire pit. Some of these are better than others, ours was not that flat, but we made it work. You get a pretty decent view of Rudd Pond, and the sunsets are pretty. There is also a trailhead at the end of the campground that connects to the other trails in Taconic State Park. There's a swimming beach and during non-covid times, boat rentals.
The campsites are pretty close together, so if the campground is full, you are rather close to your neighbors. It was close to half full when we were there, and it still felt like a fairly noisy campground, even after quiet hours.
My one complaint in these covid times is that compared to the NY-DEC campground we stayed at, I felt that the safety measures were less adhered to here. They had signs asking people to wear masks in the bathroom building, but far fewer people were. I also didn't see the staff do any cleaning of the restrooms while we were there - the paper towels ran out at one point and I had to flag the staff down to get them to go take care of that.
Still, I thought it was a really cute place to stay, and I think we would stay here again.
TravelerThe camp is set up in a “blank slate, parking lot” type style, with a big field, center for tent camping or to be used for sports or other activities. There’s a “lazy river” at one side and a small RV village on the other, and tent sites with water or dry tent camping. Restrooms are available with hot and cold running water, showers and toilets.
GuideThis is basic dry camping it is fun but there is no electric or water at the sites o LU in the bathhouse. So if you get a site close the the bathhouse you will have water close by and electricity close. Otherwise it’s dry camping.. the platform sites are great it makes it real easy to set up a tent because of the platform that the tent goes on and the lake is ok. The kids don’t like swimming with fish so we didn’t spend much time at the lake
GuideThis is a very nice modern campground with great access to amazing hiking and climbing in the area! About half the sites are walk-in and half the sites are drive-up.
Pros:
Very minor cons:
Tent camping near Bantam, Connecticut offers a variety of scenic spots where nature lovers can unwind and enjoy the great outdoors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Bantam, CT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Bantam, CT is Windmill Hill - Connecticut White Memorial Campground with a 5-star rating from 1 review.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Bantam, CT?
TheDyrt.com has all 29 tent camping locations near Bantam, CT, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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