Best Cabin Camping near Norwalk, CT

This was a last-minute booking for us and we were delighted with the beachside cottage, with enough amenities that mom and dad did not worry we had their cutie with us for "camping". She's too little for backpacking into the woods but finally got to stay overnight and help with the campfire!

Pros

• Modern facility with full kitchen accessories (coffee maker, plates, wine opener, can opener, silverware, pots, pans, cooking utensils, toaster, oven), sponge/dish liquid. Microwave.1
• Clean interior, clean campground
• modern cottage with propane fireplace, WiFi access, bathroom with shower, large screened in porch with bar height table and 4 chairs, deck with chaise lounges, two bedrooms (1 with 2 twin beds, 1 with full), coach, chairs, plenty of clean storage places and hooks. You have everything but bedding, food, drinks, and personal items.
• cottages far enough away from each other
• fire ring with Adirondack chairs
• dumpster and recycling within walking distance
• lots of bone dry firewood around for campfire
• walkable beach
• beautiful
• wildlife: deer, rabbits, turtles

Cons

• a bit pricey
• playground is driving distance not walking

My husband and and I camped one night at this newly reopened park over the weekend in Long Island just to check it out and were pretty disappointed by the tent camping area. There are 69 tent/trailer sites(no hook ups). There is no distinguishing separation between each site nor a designated driveway for your car- you merely pull up on the grass. It's basically like camping in your local city park. People park wildly all over the place, which also makes it more difficult to determine which site is which by the number painted on the roadway. Each"site" has a picnic table and an barbecue grate on a post. There is one bath/shower house in the center of all of these sites with no path provided for folks to walk to and fro, so naturally people will walk right through your site randomly rather than around the road. While the bathroom building itself is in decent shape and has a large amount of toilet stalls and about five showers, the condition of women's room was absolutely ghastly inside.

At some point during the evening, a maintenance worker on a golf cart showed up with a mop and some cleaning supplies and cleaned the men's side of the building. I was so relieved when I saw him, but he seemed to neglect the women's side completely, so I resorted to using the men's facilities all night.

There are no fire pits on any of the sites, although I learned afterwards that they do allow you to bring your own metal fire pit as long as it is elevated off the ground. There are large dumpsters located throughout the camping area and a large trash bag is provided (if needed) at the camp office when you check in.

The highlight of Heckscher State Park is the newly constructed heated cottages located on the shore of Nichol's& Great South Bays.. There are currently 11 cottages--- with more under construction. There are cottages suited for two, four, and six people and range in price from$225-$285 per night during off peak seasons and$250- 320 per night during the peak seasons.

The cottages are fully furnished, with a full kitchen and large bathroom with a walk in shower. The cottages are a short walk from the beach and also include a fire pit with Adirondack chairs and an outdoor shower on the exterior each property. I do not have photos of the inside, but they do have them on the Reserve America website if you are interested.

While the cottages are lovely and their location is fabulous  they are quite pricey and  no TLC was spent in the$22 tent/rv camping area, other than a new registration office which is not yet completed as of this weekend. I do hope they invest some funding in the primitive area to add fire pits,more water spigots, clearer site markings and for the continued maintenance& upkeep of the bath/shower house.

* I emailed the parks departement about the issues mentioned above about the camping area and received this reply:

I am sorry that you are upset with the conditions in our recently opened campgrounds. We have replaced all of the picnic tables. Although, they may look old because they are weathered since these picnic tables were put together during the Winter, however, they are brand new. All of the barbeques are also new and were installed during the Winter. We have changed and modernized the light fixtures and we will be replacing the rusted doors that you mentioned. There are also plans to install a playground within the campground beginning this Fall and we are looking for other improvements and additions to the campgrounds. As you probably noticed there is a new building under construction, at the entrance to the campgrounds, and it will serve as a check-in area, as well as, additional comfort stations, including family restrooms. Your suggestion of fire pits is a good one and the Park Managers will evaluate the feasibility of installing these. Lastly, I have spoken to the Park Manager who will review the cleaning operation to ensure the restrooms are appropriately maintained. I apologize for our employee not cleaning the women's room. Again, I am sorry for your negative experience but we are continuing to make improvements to the campgrounds.

Sincerely, George Gorman Regional Director New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

I will check back later this year to see if anything was changed and report back.

I camped here solo on Friday and Saturday over the Labor Day weekend. Overall my experience was positive.

Camping Sites

Each camping site has a picnic table and barbeque grill. The sites are designated by printing on the roads and do not have clear boundaries between them. My site had good shade coverage and was free of rocks and other hazards. 

I had enough space that I didn't feel like I was intruding on my neighbors and vice-versa. That said, there aren't clear paths to the restroom building so it's not uncommon for people to cut through the edges of sites to get there. In my experience I (and others I saw) tried not to go right through the middle people's setups to do so.

If you're looking for privacy, the sites at the rear seemed to be less-densely packed, even though every site was occupied. Quiet hours are generally adhered to but not enforced - there were some campers that had noise running later.

Amenities

The restroom building is in the middle of the campground and was clean and had plenty of stalls.

Potable water is available at regular intervals, about at the corners of each group of four campsites.

Cell phone reception is limited - I had data but it was very slow which led to my phone's battery draining quickly.

Access

A car is an absolute must for this part - the entrance is directly off of Southern State Parkway with no pedestrian access. Train stations are nearby so you could take the train most of the way and rent a car from there.

Hammonasset Beach State Park Campground is huge, family-friendly, and has direct beach access from the campground. There is no lifeguard on duty at the campground beach but lifeguards patrol the beach a mile or so north within the park. Smaller (car-top) boats can be launched from this area as well.

The campsites do NOT include a fire pit (or grill). You must bring your own or there are fire tub rentals available at the campground store.

The park includes a Nature Center complete with exhibits and activities, and hiking trails. Bald eagles can be seen on the nature reserve.

Expect long lines at the state park entrance fee station on the weekend if the weather is nice.

I tented here while doing a river stream reconstruction project in southern Connecticut.

To start, access to the river was great, though no swimming was allowed because of an algae bloom. The shorter hiking trails in the area were really beautiful.

Site 32 and the upper loop was not great though. The sites were super close together and the boundary lines were unclear, so my neighbors ended up using my fire ring to secure their tent. The picnic table seemed to be shared between sites and had boards missing, so it was challenging to use when available.

Overall, folks seemed to be there in larger groups for celebrations so things were loud well past midnight, which was challenging given how close each site was. I realize this is very time specific but there was no management presence around quiet time, and this happened both evenings I was there, so I got the sense that quiet times didn’t really apply.

The location was great especially for folks closer to the major metro areas, but I’ll be looking elsewhere if I’m ever in the area again.

   I had a hankering for East Coast seafood, so I picked Hammonesett Beach State Park for Connecticut. Our 2nd state of 5.

    Hammonesett Beach has a huge campground. They divide the loops with names. I unfortunately chose Pequot. This loop has THE WORST bathrooms/showers on the South side of the campground. Looks like they were built in 1950s with rotten wood siding. Dirty. The showers were outside the bathroom- there was a bench & hooks OUTSIDE! We found out all the other loops had modern bathhouses.

 My first impression of this campground is it's loud, crazy busy & there's traffic noise from the beach road. I actually liked it! This is a fun campground for families. There were kids on bikes, scooters, skateboards,roller blades. Watch your speed! They don't always watch out for your car.

  I found out most people stay through Sunday & leave on Monday. There were still lots of campers left. Lots of tent campers. 

   I chose site 14 on the Pequot Loop because I thought I would have a view of one of the ponds. There was tall vegetation, so that was out.

 The sites on the other side of the loop were right by the main beach road. Noisy during the day, but quiet at night. 

  There are some sites with shade, but most are sunny. 

   There's no electricity at most of the sites. Our site was full sun(yay for the solar panel!). On Beach Road in the campground there's 2 rows of full hookup sites, but they go FAST! I tried.

NO PETS! Including dogs.

   No WiFi, but there's cell service. At least 5 dump stations. 

 The beach was popular. 

  There was a stream running from a pond that kids were playing in. 

 They have a beautiful Nature Center. A couple of easy hikes through one of the preserves.

  This was a good base camp for the area. Gillette Castle & other state parks are within driving distance. Connecticut is a beautiful state!!