Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Norwalk, CT

I grew up in Long Beach. If you’re looking for a spot to camp so you can surf, this is perfect! It’s basically a parking lot, but it’s steps away from some of the greatest waves on the east coast. Showers are clean, there’s a dog park nearby, and the island is very bikable to get around.

benefits: allows dogs childrens playground beach programs like movie nights throughout the summer

The actual beach isn't too nice; not soft sand, broken shells, and cigarettes. However, the campgrounds have nice facilities like a shop, good showers, a playground, and volleyball courts. Be noted PETS ARE NOT ALLOWED in the summer. We were not aware of this.

This is a nice family friendly campground that makes for easy trips. There are a variety of sites available, from open field sites to more wooded and private areas. The campground also has a lake for swimming,trails for hiking, and some nice quiet areas for fishing. Well maintained bathrooms, with available showers, are also spread throughout the grounds. Not pet friendly unfortunately.

   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!!

Campsite allows dogs, however, the beach does not. They have a small dog run on the other side of the large beach parking lot. Very clean, friendly employees.

This park is about 6 minutes away from our home. It's a small park. It's great if you have little ones. Dogs are welcome.There's a large dog run so the fur babies will have a great time too. Staff is super nice. Bathrooms are just okay. Sites are close and very buggy but "tis the season". We didn't explore the trails but heard they were good.

Camp on grass! Lovely trees. Everyone is nice. Hiking trails are beautiful. Dog friendly. Clean bathrooms

Very dog friendly-- I found the trails pretty confusing- we went in circles a lot which was confusing and frustrating. But it was a beautiful park!

This date run campground is grey for a few reasons, the biggest being : the beach! We enjoy the good size, clean, grassy campsites and the open space. The kids can ride their bikes all over the park safely and the bathrooms are clean. Only down fall- sometimes there are loud late nights, and dogs are not allowed. We love this beach and look forward to our stay every year

So it's about a mile to three miles to the closest campsites on the western side. Very secluded, and peaceful weekend by the water. Make sure to get a reservation if you're going in between march 15 and labor day. The only disappointments were that there are no campfires allowed and no dogs, but it's very understandable why. The park and is protected which is the only reason it has stayed beautiful all this time, so let's not stop now!

We purposefully chose a drive in spot close to home to try out our dogs in a tent for the first time. The site was lovely with a nice sized fire pit and grill. It was hidden back so gave us some privacy from the neighbors. We were only there one night and it’s not probably somewhere I’d stay more than that. The dense woods made for mosquito heaven. The biggest issue is we had incredibly noisy neighbors and despite the fact there are “quiet hours” we didn’t have a single park ranger or official enforce them. These people were yelling, screaming, blasting music until nearly 3am. There was no way to contact anyone either as the numbers provided were to the offices that were closed.

My wife, 14 month old, two dogs and I did an overnight trip on site 77n on a Wednesday evening. We had a very nice time. The site was mostly clean other than small camping detritus. We had a good amount of space between us and the other sites and we had no disturbances other than our son wanting to play all night.

The site had one picnic table, a stand up coal grill, and a fire ring with drop down grill. There were a good number of dumpsters around the camping park and a bathroom building with a shower stall in the respective rooms and a hot water sink on the outside.

My only complaint is that the check in time is on the late side (5pm) and the check out was a bit early (10am).

With Covid/social distancing requirements, many sites are closed so it’s extra quiet and spread out. I stayed at site 6 with my seven year-old daughter from Tue-Thur. Site was close to bathroom but secluded enough to feel safe. It wasn’t wooded so almost no shade during day. Sites 7, 8, and 9 next to us were closed for social distancing. Camp grounds were clean and well maintained. Friendly staff. Dog friendly. Not much to do with kids besides beach during day.

Beach is across the street from camp grounds....2 min drive. Very nice complex with new concession stand and bathrooms. Got very crowded after 10a and water is murky in certain areas, not much space to spread out and swim. Didn’t feel comfortable in water with so many people at times but we went during heat wave so that most likely played a part.

Beautiful Connecticut beach sits just steps away from your campsite. Well kept showers and bathrooms are abundant and the camp store has the majority of what you need. You can ride your bike from your site to the playground, store, beach, local ice cream shop, coffee shop, or our family favorite, meig’s point nature center. We make it a point to spend at least a week here every summer!

Where can I begin the place is great it's perfect for teaching scouts of all ages how to take and prepare for the wilderness survival badges place is clean it has running water has a porta potty and festival you don't have to worry because the state of Connecticut d e e p it's just a phone call away it does have some cell service but you got a gift towards the building I believe there's a repeater or a satellite relay in the building I'm not sure. all in all: 10 out of 10

Wonderful weekend visit in the off season. Site was level, pretty spacious and easy to back into. Campsites are located close enough to the beach/marsh. Multiple playgrounds for the kids although they were closed due to Covid. No sewers sites that I could tell, and water was off because we were a week shy of the season opening. Needed to move to dump station prior to leaving (2 night visit) and had to drive to fill the fresh water tank once while there. Nice neighbors. Dog friendly. People obeyed the quiet hours. I have not one complaint. There were hiking trails and geocaching on site. 4 stars bc no sewer at the campsite and we like full hook ups and honestly I’m guessing this is a county rule but the playgrounds could’ve been open. Outside and socially distanced after dealing with Covid for a whole year and most local parks and playgrounds being open since last May... that was upsetting. All in all we had a great weekend. Close to the LI aquarium as well! Many stores and a golf course near by too!

I've been camping here since I was a child and i have nothing but fond memories of this campground and state park. The camp ground employees are attentive, conscientious, and friendly. Quiet rule strictly enforced, summer movies and programs for children, the nature center at Meigs Point is still one of the highlights of our visit each time. (Especially with the new building and renovations!) I write this review hoping that you will treat this wonderful park with respect and love as I do. Take nothing but pictures, Leave NOTHING but footprints. Always pick up after yourselves. Thank you and enjoy this Connecticut treasure!

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.