Best Glamping near New Haven, CT

My family has been camping at Lake Waramaug for over 20 years. I can say most of what’s been said is true or partially so but whether it’s bad or good depends on your point of view. Note that we are a Scout family and my husband and son have camped many days well off the grid with only the gear and food in their backpacks. That skews our point of view. 

First off, Connecticut’s state campgrounds are not KOA’s. 

Do not expect top of the line activities that private campgrounds have.

What it does have are clean, large sites that are partially wooded and not out in the open. 

The lake is great for kayaking, paddle boarding, canoes and for fishing. Bring your own gear but kayak and canoe rentals are available. The swim area is marginal- best for little ones. 

This park is remote from all conveniences- pack it in or expect a drive. There have been several times I’ve driven to the Dunkin Donuts miles down the road for coffee but I find using a French press is more convenient. For takeout there’s the White Horse on 202. It’s ranked a top restaurant in the state - the food is good. 

Never have we had issues with wildlife besides squirrels and ducks. Leave no trace is important - it keeps the unwelcome wildlife out. 

There have been issues with the bathrooms off and on over the decades. It seems like they’ve finally fixed everything. Our trip of 7/27-28 showed everything was fine.

The only on-site services are firewood and ice sales. The little food shack is out of business. 

Yes, cell service is basically non-existent. Our trip this weekend was the first time we received more than 1 bar in 20 years. Actually we were a bit disappointed because this camp ground is a great place to disconnect and relax. Being forced to put away the devices is heaven in my mind. You can drive about 5+ minutes out and get cell service. Regarding rowdiness, of the 20+ times we’ve camped only twice was it a problem. 

Also, this place is not glamping. The area is rural, so cows do moo at 6am, and kids are up even earlier. If you like to sleep in skip and rent a B&B. 

Also if you want a better place to swim go to Mt.Tom state park about 10 minutes up the road. It’s a day use only park-no camping- but the lake is gorgeous and there are very few people there.

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. The area, as the name implies, is home to several lakes which can be used for various recreational purposes. There are also many hikes which can be trekked straight from the campgrounds which is always a huge plus in my mind. When we were there it was right after a rain storm and everything was a bit muddy and slippery. We will definitely be planning a trip back to Mountain Lakes when the weather gets nicer though!

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.

You just can’t go wrong  with a KOA campground. His place in Niantic Connecticut very close to downtown and the beach which they have a shuttle for. The staff is very friendly, courteous and knowledgeable of the area. Plenty activities for adults and kids and they are putting in a new swimming pool which will be up middle of July . They have spaces for 10 sites and up (I would call to see if you can fit if you have a larger rig ) very easy to get to write off I-95 even though you’re close to I-95, I could barely hear the traffic. I heard, crickets and birds before traffic. 

On our way to through Connecticut, we needed to stop for a night. This was on Long Island Sound and had walk-up sites available. $33 per night gets you a site with bath house/restroom close by but no hook-ups. There is a public "beach" nearby which is way different than our Florida ones. We had to walk under the railroad tracks through a tunnel to get there. Interesting but still a nice feature and probably the main attraction here. There was also a concession stand, nature center, picnic area and boat ramp here at this park. Since we were getting a walk-up site they let us drive around and pick our site from a list of available ones. Most of them were on the small side accommodating tents or pop-ups. We found one in the Osprey loop which was very shaded. The bath rooms were clean and up to date. Good for a night on our way to Rhode Island.

We booked for one week with intentions to book for another extra week

When we arrived we had a bit of trouble finding our site and asked someone on a golf cart passing to help they did and were very kind

Later that night we were told there were complaints of us trying to park our truck on a trailer spot though we were there for a tent sight

Then the next 3 days consistently staff would drive/ walk past our sight starting rudely they must have thought we were camping in the truck.

Though the complaints we enjoyed our stay so we decided to walk to the office and ask to extend our stay for just one more week and they very rudely stopped our sentence and said they only allow a 7 day booking

We did not see a single camper leave the entire time And most people lived there permanently

And the one time we asked for the laundry they told us we have a 2 hour window we booked for 10 am and they booked another lady for 11 am in conclusion she was also extremely rude and when we arrived to switch our clothes over she stood there watching us I felt very rushed and when we went to take clothes out of the dryer we found them tossed on the floor still half wet

Bathrooms were semi clean

Nice camp spot horribly rude people and staff