Searching for a place to camp with your dog near South Willington? Camping is an adventurous and unique way to escape the city—and you can bring along your furry friend. Each pet-friendly spot offers quick access to one or more of South Willington's most popular destinations.
Brialee Family Campground is located in the Northeast Corner of Connecticut, on 120 acres of beautiful grounds, surrounded by the Natchaug State Forest. A true country setting, with rolling hills, forest, and farms. Brialee was founded by Ed& Addie Specyalski in 1974, and is still being run by the Specyalski family today! With planned and supervised activities for all ages, staples like ceramics, bingo, free crafts, and live entertainment every weekend, and park amenities like a pond, pool, splash pad, and more. Brialee is proud of maintaining a family-run business that has a strong focus and dedication to family camping, and is built on referrals and positive feedback from camping families like you.
$25 - $150 / night
$14 - $35 / night
THE IDEAL GETAWAY: Charlie Brown Campground is located in the peaceful, pre-revolutionary town of Eastford, Connecticut. It is nestled among rolling hills, sleepy rivers and 12,000 plus acres of state park and forests. With miles of nature trails for horseback riding, biking, walking and some of the best fishing in the state, Charlie Brown Campground offers families an ideal getaway from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. GREAT LOCATION: Less than 40 miles from Hartford or Providence, Charlie Brown Campground is far enough to get away from it all but still right in your own back yard. This seasonal campground is well revered for its more than 30 landscaped and manicured acres and especially for its 85 grassy, over sized campsites that are perfect for family gatherings and can easily accommodate the largest RV or camper. FUNCTION HALL RENTAL: Our awesome Recreation Hall with its stone fireplace, new heating system and full kitchen facilities is now available to rent for various functions. Affordable, convenient, and a great place for your special event, the hall might be just right for you. CONVENIENCES: This picturesque campground may be full of country charm but it is still savvy enough to provide guests with wireless, high-speed internet, 16 channels of Direct TV cable and 30 or 50 AMP electrical service, arcade style video games and a large screen TV with full surround sound for watching movies or the big game or race. UNIQUELY SCENIC: With a leisurely drive from Charlie Brown Campground, over scenic byways and through quaint towns formed when the country was still young, you will soon find yourself amongst country fairs, rustic farms, historic landmarks and friendly locals. The swimming hole at CBC marks the head of the Natchaug River. This class IV drop pool river is just as thrilling for kayakers during the spring thaw as it is for the anglers, both young and old, when it slows down during warmer months becoming the second most heavily stocked Trophy Rivers in the state. LOCAL CHARM: Time seems to slow down as you stroll through the areas famous antiques district, visit museums or treat yourself and the kids to a farm fresh ice cream cone at one of the many roadside dairy stands. Just a little further off the beaten path you and your family can experience the New England tradition of crafting maple syrup. At a local sugar house, you can see and taste how sap is collected and then boiled down to make maple syrup and sugar. For another local treat, stop off at one of the areas' many apple orchards. Here you and your children can pick crisp juicy apples right off the trees, pick out a carving pumpkin and even go for a tractor or horse drawn hay ride as you sip on fresh-pressed apple cider. FUN or JUST RELAXING: Whatever your inclination might be, Charlie Brown Campground has many wonderful activities and special events to offer throughout the season. Great care is taken to ensure that there is an abundance of camping activities such as themed weekends, barbecues, moon bounces, pony rides, horseshoe tournaments, entertainment, etc. to choose from so that your stay will not only be fun and memorable, but will keep you coming back again and again.
$45 - $100 / night
Hammonasset Beach State Park is the largest of Connecticut’s shoreline parks. Two-mile beach, facilities for swimming, camping (third weekend in May to Columbus Day), picnicking, saltwater fishing, scuba diving, hiking and boating; concessions. Nature center and interpretive programs. Bicycle rentals available through Labor Day, rates begin at $10 per hour and range up to $75 per week, with discounts for children. Helmets provided free to use and are mandatory for riders 15 and younger. Note: Lifeguards on duty on Wednesday through Sunday. Pricing: Weekdays: free for CT vehicles; $15/out-of-state $7 after 4:00 pm. Weekends and holidays: free for CT vehicles; $22/out-of-state $7 after 4:00 pm William F. Miller Campground. 558 open sites. Concession, dumping station, bathrooms, showers. Saltwater swimming and fishing. Individual fireplaces not provided. No pets.
$20 - $45 / night
West Thompson Lake Campground is located near the wooded shoreline of its namesake lake in northeastern Connecticut. The natural setting surrounding West Thompson Lake can be enjoyed year round. Visitors come to the lake for camping, fishing, boating, kayaking and hiking.
West Thompson Lake provides great boating, kayaking, canoeing and fishing opportunities. It has an excellent population of warm-water fish, including bass and small panfish. A boat ramp is located near the campground for easy access to the water. The Thompson Section of the Quinebaug River Water Trail offers a leisurely three-hour outing for paddlers who are comfortable with moving water. The trail has no rapids or portages and meanders through extensive wildlife habitats. An 18-hole disc golf course is located on the lakeshore and is free to the public. This challenging course is known for its long drives and scenic views of the lake and dam.
The campground is nestled in a forest of Eastern white pine, Northern red oak and Shagbark hickory. Shade is abundant throughout the campground, and autumn leaves put on a beautiful show. An overlook at the dam offers pleasing panoramic views for sightseers and photographers.
$20 / night
Strawberry Park is a 160 acre campground nestled in the heart of southeastern Connecticut, in a region of lakes, streams and ocean beaches, conveniently located near all the major points of interest, and only 5 miles off I-395 or 15 miles from I-95. Strawberry Park offers a wide variety of campsites, ranging from open lawns, wooded and shaded sites, some close to the facilities, while others are more secluded.
Scout
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. It’s up the yellow or blue trail depending on which one you take. However, it’s not a long walk to the parking area from the campsite.
Legend
We generally only stay in KOAs or similar RV parks when we need showers, laundry, or a dump station. This one was in a convenient location plus many campgrounds had not yet opened for the year when we were there. It had rained for a few days before our arrival and that did not help our first impression as we drove on the rutted and muddy road to our site. There was a sign that improvements are underway, but I am not sure what those planned improvements are and when they will be implemented.
On the plus side:
*Friendly and helpful staff. Not sure why when we are given a map an employee escorts us to our site but that is a KOA thing. Later an employee asked if I wanted help carrying our clothes to the laundry.
* Warm showers (but it did take a while for the water to get warm)
*Brand new pool that was uncovered but it was way too cold in April to use*Sites were spaced a decent amount of space apart (although there is little physical separation). This was helped by the fact that there was no one on either side of us during our stay.
*In season, there are many activities to occupy families (pool, playground, mini golf, daily firetruck rides, complimentary shuttle into the town of Niantic); however, we could not take advantage of most of these.
*Reasonably priced laundry, although the washing machines were smal, and it took two to do what should have been one load. However, the dryers give you 60 minutes so although it took longer to dry, I only had to use one.
On the negative side:
*Unmaintained roadways. The main one was once paved but has not been maintained; others were dirt (and mud after a rain)
*High price for what we received. Not sure if we received an off-season rate but at $87 per night for a water/electric site and not being able to take advantage of amenities seemed high.
*Allowing political flags to be displayed at sites. I understand that on private property, this can be allowed at the owner's discretion, but this was offensive to us.
Again, this is not our preferred type of camping. Initially, I struggled to give this two stars but once the rain stopped, our stay improved somewhat.
Scout
Quiet (besides occasional plane overhead) lots of trees, spacious sites, clean and modern bathrooms and showers, nice friendly helpful staff.
Legend
General: HUGE state park with over 700 sites. It does not fully open for the season until May 1 and when we were there in mid-April, only two sections, Fish Camp and Mills Camp were open. The Ranger station is staffed 24 hours a day, with a ranger on site until 11 pm. You need to show your pass to get inside the gate leading to the campsites. There are no hookups in any site (as far as I could tell). Sites are designated for tents, small trailers, large trailers, and RVs. As with other RI state parks, non-residents pay double the price of residents which kind of ticks me off (I don't mind a nominal upcharge but double is excessive IMO).
Site Quality: The site numbers throughout the park are painted on rocks but the sites themselves are not very clearly defined. There is no designated camping pad. Our site (114) had a water view but was not level. It was large enough for us to park horizontally and make it work for one night. Some sites had excessive roots and also were not level. Some picnic tables have been replaced with new ones, but others badly need it.
Bath/Shower house: The one in Fish Camp was adequate and clean. There is hot water, but you need to run it for a while before you get any. There was no garbage receptacle, and the toilet paper is so thin, that you can see through it. Showers are $.75 to get it started for the first three minutes. After that, the amount per minute increases to $1, $1.25, $1.50, and so forth. Machines take up to 22 quarters. There is a change machine at the Ranger Station. I did not use the shower so I cannot comment on how well they work.
Activities/Amenities: There is a camp store that offers wood, ice, coffee, basic groceries, propane, and canoe rentals. It was open with limited hours during our stay. Fishing, boating, swimming - all in season. Even though the park was only about 10% occupied, there was a strong Ranger presence. He circled our small loop three times just before check-out time and wanted to make sure we were leaving not a minute past the designated time.
This was just an overnight stay for us in a convenient location but there is no way I would stay at the height of the season!
Scout
We love camping at Odetah. Clean facilities. Great staff. New pool and hot tub. Will definitely come back
Traveler
Campground is a bit crowded with sites close together. The facilities were clean but quite old. There are some nice hiking trails along the river.
Scout
We booked last minute (2 hours before we arrived) and were met with the friendliest staff ready to help us at 7:30PM and get us checked in. Perfect spot if you don’t mind a 40 minute ride over to The Big E fair which is what brought us out to this part of MA. The restaurant was so nice, and to my surprise more than accommodating as I have celiac, they really went above and beyond. We will definitely be back next summer for a longer stay.
Ranger
I don’t mind paying a little extra some places because of being out of state, but paying $54 a night for not even any hookups when MA residents pay $17 is insane.
Scout
Needed a place to stay for 2 nights , My wife and I were going to show at the Garde Theater. Which was walking distance from the boat yard.
Had a bite to eat at the Blue Duck, it was fine. Saw the show and walk back to the boat yard.
The next day we took the ferry to Block Island which was also walking distance from the boat yard. Block Island a must see. Took the 5 pm ferry back.
Had dinner at a Thai restaurant which was 5 minutes walking and it was great.
Sunday we went and visited Fort Trumbull which is also walking distance away. Very nice place to visit and learn.
Also took a tour of the Coast Guard Ship at Fort Trumbull.
Head home around 12 pm stopped a Logee's Greenhouse on the way home.
All and All it was a great get away weekend.
Thank You Crocker Boat Yard!
ScoutSecure and convenient location. Site can be a bit loud but calms down during the evening . Bathrooms were clean and the pool was amazing. Definitely going back!
Traveler
Updates
Note that some of the photos submitted to this site were taken in areas that were NOT IN the Park. Also the Park is NOT under new ownership.
Legend
Wawaloam Campground in Rhode Island was our 3rd state & campground on our East Coast trip. Not a lot of choices in Rhode Island, but we liked this camp ground in a rural wooded area.
This is kid heaven. Families laughing & enjoying themselves. Besides the pool they have a splash pad, a water slide, mini golf, a nice pond for fishing. The playground is nice. The grounds are well taken care of. The bathroom& showers were checked often. The showers are now free!
In wooded, rural Rhode Island, but an easy day trip to Newport.
Legend
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!!
Scout
JUNE 30,2024 my husband & I were seasonals at waters edge campground Lebanon Connecticuit gave them a 30 day notice we were leaving this place wasnt for us just awful the owners are just money hungey thieves they told us they were keeping our deposit wich we expected because it says non refundable deposit so okay fine but we paid for the whole season its open april15 to october15 gave a 30 day notice left june 30 they refused to give us back the money for july ,august,september,to october 15 they ket 750 plus 2500 dollars told us were not getting our money back So iam sure they rented the site thats double dipping so fair warning I dont want this to happen to anyone else they will Rob you blind oh and they broke our ice maker when they dewinterized our trailer and never owned up to it came down to my floor in camper soaked with water from my freezer and didnr bother to clean tthe mess and said it must have been broken nefore so they are also dirty liars I didnt want to even give a one star rating but had to put somethin i give the a big fat 0
Traveler
Very clean campground with a big pool and pond to fish at. There always easy to make accommodations and it’s always a good time with the family there
ScoutEasy access to the boatyard at night; pulled in, picked a spot and all good.
Enjoyed the pool.
Walked to Fort Trumbull.
Recommend Crockers.
Traveler
Dyrt says $17-$54 went through all the hoops to book one for tonight said $17 per night went to check out expecting a few extra fees, $58.50.....that's over the max advertised....DYRT YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH AND DELETE BAD ENTRIES. YOU ARE A DISSAPOINTMENT.
ScoutWe were here on an extremely hot and humid couple days. It was great to have electric and water hookups. Also being able to use their pool with our grandchildren was great. They were very accommodating with all our questions and needs. No trees but its a boat yeard. And very interesting to watch the goings on at a boat yard
Traveler
The best activities for children and adults, great amenities, clean restrooms, Awesome pool thanks to ASHTON, Thanks so much.
Legend
We stayed at Mystic KOA in North Stonington, Connecticut, to be tourists in Mystic. Spoiler alert… we had a great stay!
This campground is just 15-minutes from Mystic and about an hour’s drive to Newport, Rhode Island. It’s just a few minutes from I-95 and so close to Mystic Aquarium, downtown Mystic, Mystic Seaport, and all the local spots.
It’s a well-maintained campground with 2 pools(though the larger one was closed for maintenance during our stay), lots of play areas and daily activities for little ones, and a cool“pub truck” for adult drinks. Our site(#408) was about 85’ long with plenty of room for our 45’ motorhome and toad(and then some!). It was level and gravel with a nice fire ring and picnic table. The hookups worked fine with 50-amp electric and decent water pressure. Cable TV had nearly 50-channels, but the wi-fi didn’t quite reach our part of the park.
Due to a family issue, we needed to leave about a day-and-a-half early. We called the office as a courtesy to let them know as we were pulling out and received a partial credit for a night’s stay on our credit card. Didn’t even ask, they just did it. Thanks Mystic KOA!
We’ll definitely be back. This is a great place to stay when visiting the coastal Connecticut/Rhode Island area.
Scout
I booked site 5 for the week. Great experience! Quiet woods atmosphere with trail’s. Wonderful place to camp. Very clean
Scout
ee
ScoutStayed for a week mid-July; during the week had almost an entire loop to ourselves which was wonderful - it felt like having the entire park to ourselves. Things picked up on Friday/Saturday but overall we lucked out with no neighbors who were disrespectful of the quiet hours (10p - 7a). Bathrooms, dumpsters, and portapotties are plentiful, but not always well maintained. Staff are seen frequently throughout the park and are very willing to be helpful when asked - our site had a few Yellowjacket nests and they took care of them for us almost immediately when asked. It’s worth investigating the various sites ahead of time - there are a number of sections much more likely to be busy than others, and lots of low-lying sites that show signs of easily being washed out in anything more than a moderate rain. With multiple great east coast beaches minutes away (as well as conveniences like fuel/stores) we will definitely be back.
Traveler
We had our very first camping experience with our new camper at this campground and it was everything we could have imagined and more. It’s a beautiful campground, the gentleman and his family who own it are sooooo nice and they helped us a lot when it came to learning how to properly use our camper. All the fellow campers that we met were extremely nice. It’s a quiet campground, located right on a river. My children spent hours in it playing and fishing. Looking forward to returning.
Scout
This was our families first time staying at Brialee Campground. The cabin was absolutely beautiful and clean. The staff were friendly and helpful. The activities were great and kept my grand children busy. Swimming and the lake were fun. I cannot say enough wonderful things. We had such a great time I booked my reservations for Next July 2025 before I left.
A special thank you to Sherri for the personal tour and showing us the ropes! She is the best.
The D'Avanzo Family
ScoutLarge campground with 3 pools, many amenities and scheduled activities
Scout
Great privately owned family campground. The pool, splash pad, live music and activities for the kids were great!
AT&T service had only one bar. Couldn’t stream but worked for calls and texts. Campground WiFi was strong but as expected struggled to keep up on this busy 4th of July.
Discovering pet-friendly camping options near South Willington, Connecticut, opens up a world of adventure for you and your furry companions. With several well-reviewed campgrounds in the area, you can enjoy the great outdoors without leaving your pets behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near South Willington, CT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near South Willington, CT is Brialee Family Campground with a 4.6-star rating from 14 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 120 dog-friendly camping locations near South Willington, CT, with real photos and reviews from campers.
