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Best Tent Camping near Washington, DC

594 Reviews

Tent campsites near Washington, District of Columbia offer a mix of established campgrounds and primitive sites along waterways and forested areas. Patapsco Valley State Park's Hilton Area provides tent-specific sites with fire rings and picnic tables, while the C&O Canal National Historical Park features multiple hiker-biker overnight campsites such as Swains Lock and Horsepen Branch along the historic towpath. These locations provide tent campers with natural settings within a relatively short drive from the capital.

Most tent campgrounds in the region feature basic amenities with varying levels of development. Sites typically include fire rings and picnic tables, though surface conditions range from crushed stone at Patapsco Valley to natural ground at the C&O Canal campsites. Water access varies significantly—Patapsco Valley offers drinking water and showers, while many C&O Canal sites have pumps with iodine-treated well water that reviewers note has a distinct taste. Portable toilets or vault toilets are standard at most locations, with more developed sites like Patapsco Valley providing shower facilities. Weather can significantly impact camping conditions, particularly at lower elevation sites that may experience flooding during heavy rain.

The tent camping experience near DC offers unique access to both natural areas and proximity to urban amenities. A visitor commented, "If I lived in Washington DC, this is where I would ride my bike to every weekend," regarding the Swains Lock campsite along the C&O Canal. Many sites provide river views, particularly along the Potomac, creating scenic settings for primitive tent camping. The C&O Canal sites are positioned directly off the towpath trail, making them ideal for hikers and cyclists but sometimes busy with day users. Tent campers should note that train noise affects some riverside campsites, while others like Swains Lock benefit from road access nearby (about 500 feet from parking), making them more accessible for those carrying heavier tent camping gear. Most sites operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so arriving early is recommended, especially during peak seasons.

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Best Tent Sites Near Washington, District of Columbia (25)

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Tent Camping Reviews near Washington, DC

594 Reviews of 25 Washington Campgrounds

  • Laura M.The Dyrt PRO User
    Nov. 11, 2023

    Greenbelt Park Campground — Greenbelt Park

    Beautiful campground, and great for visiting DC

    Beautiful campground, fairly large with 4 separate loops. Loop A is for organized groups/youth/scouts, Loop B is for tents and RVs under 30 ft, Loop C is for tents, and Loop D is for tents and RVs under 35 ft. No hookups at any of the sites.

    There’s a dump station and drinking water fill in loop C (sorry tenters who wanted to avoid RVs). The water fill was a little annoying in that there’s a handle you have to hold down the whole time, but we used a rock to prop the handle down. 

    The bathhouses are ok, happy to have free showers with hot running water. Faucets allow you to control the temperature and there’s continuous running water (no button to push). There’s only one large shower per bath house, and you only have a curtain (no door and no lock). Sites vary in levelness, some are fairly level and some are on a mini hill. Driveways are all very narrow. Most have too much tree cover for solar or starlink, but some sites are more open and you might be able to make it work. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Cost is $20/night, must reserve on recreation.gov, and you can do that when you arrive and pick a site (no service fee for this site)

    Cell service is pretty good for Verizon and ATT. 

    No alcohol allowed in the park. 

    GETTING TO DC: There’s normally a walking path from the campground to the metro station that takes you into DC (the green line takes you to the National Mall), but as of Oct 2023 the bridge is out due to a storm, and by the looks of it it’s been out a while and it doesn’t appear that it will be fixed soon. So what we did, since we don’t have a tow car, and just have our 26ft motorhome, is we packed up and drove to the Greenbelt station about 5 miles away, parked there for the day, and took the green line into town. The lot there is huge and open and free on weekends. Weekdays it’s about $5/day if you take the metro, and about $9 if you’re just parking there. The College Park station is closer but is apparently a parking garage (can’t confirm because we didn’t go to that station). This worked very well for us. You can pay for the metro with an app or get a card, either way it costs you $2 to buy the card, and then $2 each way on the train. Everyone over age 5 needs their own card, no sharing one card. The train ride from the Greenbelt station to the national mall is about 30 min. Get off at the Archives station to be in the center of all the sites.

  • Shari G.The Dyrt PRO User
    May. 4, 2018

    Greenbelt Park Campground — Greenbelt Park

    Quiet Oasis Surrounded by Chaos

    What a crazy, but well-placed spot for a campground! This mid-sized campground is just 2 miles from Washington D.C. area traffic, shopping centers, etc. Honestly, we didn't hear the traffic at night and just a bit when we woke up in the morning, but not loud enough to bother us. It's a great place to camp if you want to make a visit to D.C. very affordable, as it's located just 1.5 miles from the nearest Metro Station. You can leave your car behind and visit the sites on foot or bike.

    Campground is pretty well maintained, though they recently had some tree damage that has a handful or so of the sites closed for awhile. Each site has a firepit and picnic table. There is a tent only campground as well as RV specific sites, and all are non-electric. The bathroom is relatively clean, but very old and needs some maintenance. There is one hot shower per bathhouse. Some sites have a good amount of privacy (perimeter sites) but the ones in the middle do not.

    As this campground is run by the NPS, they offer ranger programs and nighttime campfire talks. Hiking trails are nicely graded, but bikes are not allowed on them. We found some bike trails very close to the campground in a nice green space (Indian Creek Trail and Painted Creek Trail, part of the Anacostia Tributary TrailSystem). There is a small picnic area separate from the campground which has a small playground for the kiddos.

    Reservations are required for this campground, no more iron ranger on site as of 2018.

  • A
    Sep. 24, 2020

    Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area

    Nice Small Campsite Close to DC

    Nice small campsite in MD not too far from DC. One negative was that when it rains it really flushes through the grounds. We had a site on the lower end of the loop and our site was hard to set up as we arrived during a storm and it was very wet even after the rain died down. Another negative was after the storm for the next few days we heard trees falling nearby. Where we were hiking. 😬 The positives are as others have pointed out there is a huge park for kids- it’s not within walking distance for little kids but it’s a very short drive by the entrance to the park. There’s also another small park on the loop. The restrooms were central and well maintained. We found a small river and swimming hole at the bottom of the hill off to the side opposite the cabins/park. All sites had a picnic table and fire ring. Firewood available from camp host. Hiking poles would have been good for the trails when we had a kid in a pack on our back. Overall a nice close small campground.

  • D
    May. 22, 2023

    Little Bennett Campground

    Quiet sites with some activities

    We recently stayed the weekend here in loop A. 

    There are several good things that can be said about this campground. 

    Restricted- only people camping and visitors are allowed to use the facilities. Keeps things from being too crowded. 

    Good sized sites- My family of 4 was able to stretch out 2 tents, our 4 camping chairs, the provided picnic table, our car, and have plenty of room left over. 

    Limited activities on weekends- jumping pad/pillow, pedal carts, laser tag ($), ceramics ($), t-shirts ($), hikes, and more. Changes weekly. Details sent out at the beginning of the week. 

    Decent stocked camp store with reasonable prices. $10 for wood, 3.50 for 7 lbs of ice, $5 shakes, and lots more. 

    There are some clear downsides, too. 

    Only 1 bathhouse per loop. Pay attention to where your site is located. You might be in for quite a hike to go to the bathroom, which is inconvenient in the early morning hours. Loop E doesn't have a bathhouse (mostly reserved for RVs). The bathhouses have showers and somewhat warm water. 

    The tent pad is gravel. While this might help with drainage (I don't know), it makes it incredibly difficult to walk on and stake down your tent. 

    The camp store/activities are quite a good distance from some of the loops. It took me about 10 minutes to walk at a decent pace from the start of loop A to the camp store. From our site which was only not even close to the halfway point it would have added another 5 minutes. The spots really deep in would have easily been a 30 minute walk each way. So driving, especially with little kids, is unfortunately necessary in some instances, especially if you want to visit the playground/basketball/volleyball courts which are WAY down past loop E. 

    Activities are limited to certain times. When we arrived Friday the jumping pad was only open for an hour from 4 30 to 5 30. We arrived just before 4 30, so we unpacked a few things and took the kids to the jumping pad area (right next to loop A). It wasn't open and inflated until almost 4 50. You'd think because it was opened late they would keep it open later. Nope! Right at 5 30 a worker pulled up and shut things down much to the chagrin of the kids. Why they can't have it running more often is beyond me. 1 hour on Friday was clearly not enough, especially when opened late. Maybe 2-3 hours on Friday and 5-6 on Saturday. 

    They should consider having time for younger kids on the jumping pad, who are bounced off by the older kids. On Saturday there were at least 40 kids, some pre-teens/teenagers from girl scouts. My 4 year old was having trouble staying on the pad because "it is too bouncy". Kids come and go as it stays open longer, but little kids have trouble keeping up. 

    The pedal carts were a good idea in practice, but have 2 faults. 1. They are EXTREMELY hard to pedal. I tried two carts, one was totally stuck on an incline and the second barely made it around the track. I have no idea why they are so difficult to use. 2. There are no tandem carts. The only ones using the carts while I was there were little kids who couldn't use the jumping pad. I had my daughter on my lap while on the cart, but it was awkward to use this way. Either having a two seater or side car would have worked out better. Based on the condition of the other carts in the shed, only a few appeared usable. 

    Clear signs are needed. Lots of cars were going the wrong way down loop A. The road is barely big enough for 1 car, so having to accommodate 2 is even more problematic, especially with kids walking around. There were at least 10 cars going the wrong way in the loop. 

    The limit of 2 cars per site isn't enforced. A few sites had 3 cars, which fit ok. A pack of cub scouts were hiking a few of the trials, so a few sites had 4 or 5 cars. The sites were not big enough to fit that many cars plus camping equipment, so they started taking up the road. This made it hard to maneuver, especially with little kids running about in the road unsupervised. 

    All in all it was a great campground and I truly do appreciate the staff trying to provide a few things for families to do. With a few considerations and improvements, this campground could easily be a 5-star location.

  • C
    Aug. 26, 2019

    Little Bennett Campground

    Lovely campground, nice hiking with kids

    We spent several nights here with kids aged 5-12 and will definitely come back. We live in Montgomery County and this is a nice camping get away close to home. We stayed in Loop E, where the majority of the campsites were set back a bit off the road, well spaced, and nicely shaded. We took a couple of walks through Loop A, and this seemed to be the case for those sites as well. We were a group of 5 and used 2 4-person tents. The tent sites all have a tent pad (great drainage during a downpour!) but the tent pad isn’t big enough for two tents. So beware if you intend to use two tents that most, but not all, of the tent sites seem to have a patch of level ground where a 2nd tent can be pitched. On Saturday there were fun activities for the kids all day (pedal cars, crafts, water balloon baseball, laser tag, to name a few from memory), with some activities also on Friday evening and Sunday morning. A fee is charged for some of these (laser tag and craft supplies) but most are free. There is a small arcade-style game room (with free wifi in the building) where we passed a rainy morning. Air hockey, table soccer, and a small basketball game could be played for free, but pool and the video games required $.25-1.00 per game. We used perhaps 5 miles in total of the hiking trails, doing loops down to the creek and back. They were all manageable for a 5-year old and the kids enjoyed playing in the stream in warm weather. We did see poison ivy at the edges of some trails. There is some distant ambient noise from 270 and overhead air traffic, but nothing too bad. If coming with kids, I would recommend bringing a playground ball and/or basketball so you can use the gaga pit or basketball courts even when no games are organized by camp staff. Also note that there was no ice in the camp store for the duration of our stay, but ice can be bought at the Liberty gas station and the small Clarksburg Grocery, both about a mile from the campground.

    Update after also staying in Loop A several times: I might just be imagining it, but the tent pads seem bigger in Loop A. We we able to jigsaw our two 4-person tents and a single on the pad in site 6. Poison ivy noticed in the site, camp staff brought us gloves to take care of it and a free bundle of firewood by way of apology.

  • Sean M.The Dyrt PRO User
    Apr. 22, 2020

    Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area

    Great Small Campground - Cool Cabinso

    This is a small gem of a state park campground, one of only two is the massive Patapsco Valley State Park. It’s a bit odd getting here through a suburban neighborhood, but the Hilton area is great. It seem like this area is, possibly unintentionally, geared toward children. There is a massive playground, nature play space, sensory trail, and a small nature center. There are a lot of easy, but beautiful hikes.

    The campground is on the smaller side. You get a fire pit and cooking crate, and a picnic table. The crushed stone at the sites isn’t comfortable for tents, and they won’t let you pitch it on the ground, so bring extra pads and alternative ways to secure the tent to the ground. There are helpful and friendly camp hosts always on duty. The bathhouse is nothing special, but it’s well maintained and clean. The best part of this campground are the neat mini cabins. Small one room cabins that have electricity and heat. They are a nice touch for those that want to camp, but not completely “rough it.” We found everything reasonably priced.

    Remember: no alcohol or firewood can be brought into the park. Firewood can only be purchased on site due to harmful insects. But the money goes toward the parks volunteer program.

    This is a very nice small campground that is great for kids!

  • Napunani
    Jun. 24, 2022

    Little Bennett Campground

    Nice County Park

    PROS 

    Very nice small Montgomery County Park 

    No reservation fee to make on-line reservations 

    Reserved 137 days prior to arriving 

    Entrance gate required entry code Instructed by staff via gate phone to proceed to campsite as check-in at camp store is at dead end with insufficient turning space for pickup towing 28ft bumper pull; complete check-in after camper was unhooked at site

     Great night sky viewing as no lights what so ever in camping loops except for toilet/shower buildings 

    Lots of vegetation between sites providing privacy from neighbors 

    Site#D69 shady 

    Very quiet campground 

    Site#D69 level side-to-side but we were forced to greatly elevate front of trailer to level front-to-back 

    Site#D69 gravel parking pad 

    Wooden/metal picnic table that was moveable 

    Metal fire pit with cooking grate 

    Toilet/shower facility very clean 

    3 washers and 3 dryers, along with folding tables in the basement of the check-in building. Accepted credit card for $1.75/load 

    Harper’s Ferry National Historical park 35 miles from Park 

    Walmart and Wegman’s 5 miles from Park 

    CONS 

    Out-of-state campers pay higher camping fee than Maryland residents,$66/night 

    No senior or veteran discount 

    Trees falling on Park power lines caused power outage for hours 

    No toilet/shower facility in FHU loop so had to hike to facilities in Loops B & E

    No camp host 

    No ranger patrolling thru campsite 

    No WIFI 

    1 bar Verizon

  • Kristy R.
    Nov. 13, 2020

    Cherry Hill Park

    Great Family Fun

    Great camping amenities, soft cushioned sites, with power and water close by. DO NOT GET BASIC TENT SITES AS THEY ARE NEXT TO HIGHWAYS AND VERY NOISY!!! Premium tent sites would be a better choice. My grandchildren live it there. We will return to a premium tent site soon.

  • Margaret D.
    May. 3, 2023

    Lake Fairfax Campground

    Comfortable sites

    Campground has mostly level gravel lots with fire rings, picnic tables. No water at site. Bath house is reasonably clean. Dump station is adequate.

Guide to Washington

Tent camping near Washington, District of Columbia offers a refreshing escape into nature, with several well-reviewed spots that cater to outdoor enthusiasts.

Tent campers should check out Leesylvania State Park Campground

  • Enjoy the scenic views along the Potomac River at Leesylvania State Park Campground, where families often gather for picnics and outdoor fun.
  • This campground features essential amenities like drinking water and picnic tables, making it a convenient choice for a relaxing getaway.
  • With access types including boat-in and hike-in, adventure awaits just a short distance from the city.

Tent campers like these nearby activities

  • Caledon State Park Campground offers a beautiful hiking experience with a campsite right by the Potomac River, perfect for those who enjoy nature walks and stunning sunsets.
  • For a unique experience, check out Goodwill Cabin — Prince William Forest Park, where you can explore rustic cabins and engage in various outdoor activities like hiking and wildlife observation.
  • Matoaka Beach Cottages provides beach access and a peaceful atmosphere, ideal for swimming and relaxing by the water.

Explore local attractions near tent camping spots

Frequently Asked Questions

What activities are available at campgrounds near Washington DC?

DC-area campgrounds offer diverse recreation opportunities. At Marble Quarry Hiker-biker Overnight Campsite along the C&O Towpath, you'll enjoy cycling, hiking, and wildlife viewing. Caledon State Park Campground provides 2.5 miles of groomed gravel trails ideal for day hiking. Many campgrounds along the Potomac offer fishing opportunities, while some parks feature playgrounds for children. Biking the historic C&O Canal towpath is particularly popular, allowing campers to connect multiple camping areas while enjoying scenic river views.

Where are the best tent camping sites near Washington DC?

For tent camping near DC, Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area offers a small, peaceful campground with tent sites nestled in a wooded setting, though lower sites can get wet during rain. Another excellent option is Swains Lock Hiker-biker Overnight Campsite along the C&O Canal, which uniquely offers nearby parking (space for about 8 vehicles) and beautiful Potomac River views. The walk to sites is manageable, making it accessible for those who prefer some amenities without deep backcountry hiking.

Are there any group camping options in Washington DC area?

Marsden Tract Group Campsite along the George Washington Memorial Parkway is an excellent option for group camping near DC. This hike-in site offers reservable spaces with water access and toilet facilities. Calvert Cliffs State Park Youth Group Camping provides another option specifically designed for organized youth groups. For larger parties seeking more amenities, Campsites at Watkins Regional Park offers drive-in access with reservable sites, water, and toilet facilities suitable for groups.

What amenities are available at full hookup campsites near Washington DC?

Full hookup options near DC are limited, as many nearby campgrounds are more primitive in nature. Horsepen Branch Hiker-biker Overnight Campsite offers basic amenities including water pumps (non-potable), fire rings, grills, and picnic tables, but no hookups. For more developed camping, Leesylvania State Park Campground near Woodbridge provides drive-in access with water and toilet facilities. Most campgrounds in the immediate DC area focus on tent camping rather than RV accommodations with full hookups. For complete hookups, you'll generally need to venture further from the city center.

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