Best Tent Camping near Townsend, DE

Sites are full hook up with about 5 tent sites.

All are pretty much level.

Close to shopping if needed.

Nice drive on sites for tent camping. A few well managed trails. A little heave on the rules(must use the wood they sell, clotheslines must come down overnight.

Two thumbs up on this small campground with spacious, wooded sites!

We stayed here on a Thursday when the campground was almost empty, but there was a reservations list that showed the campground would be full for the Columbus Day weekend. We have good luck walking up to campgrounds during the week, but we look ahead to weekends and make reservations.

Spacious, Wooded Sites

- Lots of shade and trees on large sites and space between sites make this a pleasant campground.

• Parking pads on the electric loop are asphalt.

• There's very finely crushed rock on the non-electric loop. This includes the parking pad and tent pad.

• There are 8 camper cabins, 4 on each loop. There are beds for 4 or 6 people, and the cabins have air conditioning, a ceiling fan and electricity. These are a nice alternative to camping in a tent.

• Bathrooms are located in the middle of each loop, and there are spigots on the loops with potable water.

Small Park But Many Activities

• Canoe/kayak launch between sites 46 and 48. The walk to Tuckahoe Creek from the parking area is very short, and the creek leads to Tuckahoe Lake (no gasoline motors) with more of the creek on the other side of the lake.

• Fishing

• 20 miles of hiking trails are also open for biking and horseback riding.

• Archery range

• Disc golf

• Hunting - as a hiker, I am extremely wary of hiking in parks at a time when hunting is allowed.

A small koa but very nice, I stayed in a cabin for my MTB race weekend. Great! Pool is a tad small. Restrooms very clean and good looking tent sites.

Adorable little campground! Close to the tourist spots in Lancaster. Great views. Clean, friendly, and would definetly recommend! Clean bathrooms, laundry facilities, full hook ups for RVs, lovely tent sites, great playground for kids.

This was our first visit to this park and we really loved it. We stayed in a tent site which included a fire ring and picnic table, and we had two tents and plenty of space for everything. While we were there, I believe all of the cabins were full and some other tent sites reserved, but the grounds were still very quiet and peaceful. The bathrooms and showers were modern and very clean and looked to be only a brief, flat walk from most of the sites/cabins in the loop. The loops were smaller than I expected, but that wasn't a bad thing. There is also a large sink on one side of the bathhouse which was nice for cleaning up after cooking. AT&T phone service was slow but available. While in the area, we also visited WorkHorse Farm for a tour, First Fruits Orchard for PYO blueberries, and Denton Station antique mall.

My husband and I have stayed at Elk Neck twice. It’s a great campground with lots of different loops to choose sites from. The bath houses are very clean, and the folks responsible for their upkeep are great. There are sinks for washing dishes outside the bathhouses, making cooking cleanup very convenient (especially if your site is close by, like ours). I can’t speak for the camper/RV sites, as we tent camp. But overall our experiences at Elk Neck have been consistently great.

We do Lums Pond at least twice a year if we can get reservations.

Sites are big and all were redone in the last few years with concrete pads, 30 amp service and full sewer. There are some equestrian and tent sites as well.

Lots of boating (electric motors only) and kayaking on the pond and a decent amount of hiking. There’s an off leash dog park, equestrian center and boat ramp. Book early because it fills up fast!

My son absolutely loved this place. There’s anything and everything you could think of available to keep everyone busy. A water park, volley ball field, playgrounds, amphitheater, nature center, nature trails, and boat rentals at the lake.

It is a huge park, with secluded spots available for tent camping, cabins, and regular open spaces for camping rvs with electric hook up. Staff was friendly, campgrounds were well kept. It can get a little crowded but it’s worth it to stay. If you don’t like crowds, I suggest coming during the week days!

As others have said, sites are tight, only one bathhouse…which was dirty and outdated. There are a ton of people, including tent sites, sharing one bath house. They do have porta pots but they are gross!! Lots of sand and flys. Also beware of the squirrels! They will eat through anything, including outdoor storage containers to get to food. They will destroy your things.

We did however enjoy the kayaks and the water park which we thought were very enjoyable for the kids. They also had great trails if you enjoy running!

We had stayed in this canpground about 5 years ago and we loved it. We returned this year with my 12 and 14 year olds and a 12 year old friend. The kids were bored. The only improvements in the 5 years is they took out tent sites and replaced them with cabin rentals. The go carts are old. The air pillow was flat. They took out the pool table. Hardly any games in the game room. We were very disappointed. They really need to ass something new to make it.more teen-friendly.

I arrived on a Tuesday a few days after they closed the pool, and by Wednesday I had the whole row of tent sites to myself. Maybe that's why it was so peaceful, but every night after my cacophonous conference in Philadelphia, I couldn't wait to turn down Timberlane Road and see that little KOA sign glowing in the darkness. In addition to the peaceful vibe, the people are friendly, the little office store has everything you forgot to pack, and if you look around the campground edges or follow the walking trail into the woods, you will find wonderful native plants like blueberry, viburnum, clethra, and meadow beauty.

This is a good free state forest with maybe 10 (or less) designated tent-camping sites, and designated areas for deer hunting. Each campsite features a picnic table or two, and a fire pit, plus one bundle of firewood. The ground is dirt covered with woodchips and sometimes evergreen needles -- pretty easy to sleep in a tent. There are a couple portapotties in the camping area, which are a few feet from one campsite, or a few blocks from another. There is one water pump. And there are plenty of hiking trails in the state forest, complete with mushrooms, and deer-hunting-stands.

RV camping is not encouraged. Horseriding is encouraged. And you may regret not brining mosquito repellent. The blood-suckers are relentless.

My only beef is that it's a legitimate campground, which means, neighbors. But the neighbors aren't unreasonably close, so it's actually pretty good.

Two loops. One has a few sites with electric and some cabins. Potable water is available in several places on each loop. The bathhouses are rebuilt recently and are very nice. Some walk in tent sites. There are lots of long scenic hiking trails down to Deer creek and to the Susquehanna River. There’s a great bike trail to the Conowingo dam which is a nice place to visit, and a great place to see lots of eagles. There are amazing wildflowers on that trail. You can bike to the trail from the campground. All downhill. So be ready for the climb back up. One trail has two amazing specimen trees. There’s a working, renovated mill and home at the river also.

First the positives: 

• The free splash pad is perfect for younger kids and felt great on a hot summer day.
• Boat rentals were cheap and perfectly adequate. The area of the reservoir where you can travel is limited, but fun to cruise around in an hour or so.
• There are quite a few playgrounds in the area.
• I did not get to try the disc golf course, but a few holes look particularly fun.
• Snack Bar was great; decent food and the screened-in porch overlooking the water is awesome. And can't beat the convenience.
• Bathrooms were reasonably clean and did the job.

My one primary gripe about the campground is the layout of the tent sites, which are not particularly well shaded, were a bit cramped, and felt like an afterthought to the numerous RV sites. There were some primitive sites that looked more wooded, but less organized. I might try those next time.

We took out 1st trip to Tuckahoe over the 4th of July weekend. We really liked the park, but beware, the sites can be small! I watched people with 25+ footers struggle to back into the sites. We booked site 21, blind. The web site does not say site 21 is extremely small. We have a 25' camper, and it barely fit, length and with were an issue. The firepit was about 3-4 feet from our door. No camp fires as it was not safe. The canopy was directly over the pit!! It also rained pretty hard one day, and since we couldn't put the mat in front of the door, there was water & mud right when you stepped out. I could not move the pit because it was cemented in. If you go to Tuckahoe don't reserve site 21 unless you're tent camping!!! Other that that issue, it wasn't a bad visit, there's lots to do. We made a list of sites we'd fit in and still have room to use the firepit and our stuff. Going to book future trips!

We had a great tent site that was large and fit two small families comfortably. A small little path from our site led to the bathrooms/washrooms. We were able to enjoy a beekeeper chat at the small amphitheater near the entrance of the loop. There are a few trails from the campground that you can take to Deer Creek, Susquehanna River or the Rock Run historic area. Take the Deer Creek Trail (2.1 miles loop) to Deer Creek River which was perfect for the kids to swim and play around in. We also saw some folks tubing and kayaking down. The Susquehanna River was a great fishing spot. And last don't miss out on viewing the Rock Run gristmill which at times you can watch the waterwheel & corn-grinding operating. Both of which you can get to by taking Deer Creek Trail to Farm Road Trail then connecting to the Susquehanna Ridge Trail. If you're unable to hike, then you can drive to all three sights. Also hang your trash up high from the trash pandas. 

*Playground at the entrance of Loop.

We stayed here for 3 nights while visiting family In Philadelphia. It is a 20 minute ride into Philly and Uber was was quick and responsive.

*note- this does close for winter and reopens in April but call park for exact closure dates because they do change.

This is a nice KOA with full hook ups, tent sites,cabins, and even glamping cabins. There is a pool that is open Memorial Day- Labor Day. They also have a catch and release pond and we found a pickleball court at a nearby city park.

We did Chinatown and walked part of the Schuylkill River trail which we accessed by parking near Fairmount Park. This is a great area to explore with gorgeous views and easy access to the River trail. (There are rentals for everything here- kayaks/bikes etc)

IF we had a car with us- we would have considered taking the ferry from Camden’s Ferry Terminal next to Wiggins Park to Philly. (This is also near the Adventure Aquarium and the battleship New Jersey) Here is a link to information about the ferry-

https://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com/places/riverlink-ferry

This is a great location for exploring Philadelphia.

Happy Camping! Pamela and Keith