Best RV Parks & Resorts near Bristol, CT

Pelton Pond - Clarence Fahnestock State Park Campground: (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good (70 yr olds in 17’ trailer). I rate based on desire for at least a moderate wilderness type experience w at least some camp site privacy. Overall Rating: Some spots: 4 , Some grouped spots: 2 Price 2023: $23 Usage during visit: Light Site Privacy: Some sites good. Some very poor. Site Spacing: Some sites good. Some very poor. Site surface: Grass/dirt/mud Reservations: Required Campground Noise: Quiet at our spot. Road Noise: Pretty load at our spot Through Traffic in campground: None Electric Hookup: No Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: No Potable Water Available: Yes. At bathrooms and hand pumps Generators: Allowed Bathroom: Very old and very clean. Flush toilets. Heated. Showers: Very old and very clean. Heated Pull Throughs: Some Cell Service (AT&T): 3to 4 bars Setting: Spread out through a deciduous forest Weather: 50s high Bugs: None Solar: Food in some sites. Host: Did not see a host Rig size: 40’ max. Careful which site you choose. Sites: Pictures are of some of the more private sites which can have a trailer. Some sites are grouped in open areas. These lack privacy.

This place is off Route 9 in Connecticut on the east side of the Connecticut River (major RT 9 highway is on west side). You need to cross the river via bridge to Goodspeed Opera house and past to get to the RV campground. Nearby attractions are Gillette Castle and Goodspeed Opera. The campground itself is realy nice. Cable TV at most sites. Only electric 30 or 50A, and water; but there are a few dumpstations around in the camp. Very peaceful. There are activities on Friday and Saturday (like Bingo). Great store with extended hours. The camp staff will help you with anything. Really long or tall RV will need to stay close to the front of the campground, as typical older campground is not designed for 40 foot long or 10 foot high campers.

Well organized campground with both water front back in sites as well as large pull throughs. Pull through sites also have lots of space between them so you don't feel like you are on top of the neighbors. Sites and roads are a pea gravel material and each site has large grassy areas around it. It was a quiet area with ponds and creeks and a generally relaxing setting. It has a clean playground and well maintained pool as well as some walking paths, large grassy areas, pavilion and volleyball court. All sites but one (#67) are full hook up. Some seasonal sites but all were tasteful and not trashy looking. We enjoyed the shade trees on our site (#3) and noticed many sites had similar trees, but the owner keeps them trimmed to not interfere when parking on your site. There is also a creek area for dog swimming. Our two labs loved it! Local kayaking areas and about 30 min to Foxwoods Casino, even closer to Mohegan Sun. Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium are also not too far. Nearby (5min drive) is also a fun looking place for mini golf. Will definitely be back!

The campground is older, and the roads/driveways need work. For those looking for newer facilities, this isn't the place. There are no 50 amp sites. The rec hall and the bath houses are old, but we don't mind the old fashioned spots at times. Reminds me of camping as a kid. There are a lot of activities for the kids and adults. Shuffleboard, bocci ball, fishing, bingo, playground, pit luck dinners, etc. There is wifi available.

There are a lot of seasonal campers which can sometimes feel like you're intruding on their space. There is a page of rules to follow, the seasonals ignore them.

There is no black water hookup, only gray water. You have to have them clean out the black or dump on the way out.

Just ok. This is a small family run operation. We stayed 3 nights and that was plenty. We basically used this campground as a base to get out and explore the surrounding area, so in that sense, it was fine. They only had a couple spots open as the entire campground was basically full of long stay campers and cabins. The shower house was in the main home of the owner/operators, which was at times odd (you could hear them talking, cooking etc, so it kind of felt like you were intruding). No sewer hookups . At Check-in they said their son would come to our site and remotely pump our tanks before we left, but that never happened and we didn’t even bother to make a big deal about it. As we were pulling out they apologized saying he came by but we weren’t there 🤷🏻‍♀️ The cabin “resident” next to us had loud dogs that barked at anything that moved outside, so that didn’t make for a peaceful stay. The sites were set up a little weird with the hookups not where it made sense to park. If you had a big rig (40 ft+), I don’t think it would be easy to figure out a solution. We had to wiggle ours around to get in a position to hook our electric up. In a pinch this campground would work, but this is definitely not a campground that I’d recommend for a longer stay. Cell coverage was ok for us to work (att & Verizon).