If you're looking for a place to pitch your tent in Idaho, look no further. You can find tent campsites at RV parks and campgrounds, and even places to boondock for free. You're sure to find the perfect campsite for your Idaho tent camping excursion.
CLOSED FOR 2024
Green Bay Campground features 11 designated sites with picnic tables and fire rings, vault toilets, and a swimming beach.
Redfish Inlet Trailhead
$28 - $43 / night
Dry Camping - no hookups - first come first served
$15 / night
Traveler
Good site for rv camping but if you're tent camping there are probably better options depending on what you're looking for. The tent sites are super close together and there is alot of highway noise. If you're looking for a quick site with amenities this is good though. It has shade and thats a huge plus.
Traveler
Tent camped on RV spot. All spots have a leveled sand square for tents. Trees offered shade. No privacy due to layout. Tent spots appear to offer more privacy. However, be warned that the access road for tent sites is steep and bumpy. Pit toilets with no other amenities. Camp host is friendly enough. Camp is so close to the day use area. Perfect to go swim or paddle board.
Legend
This campground is an oasis in the middle of the desert. It gets hot here in the summer. It has RV and camper parking along the Reservoir and a few tent sites. There is a big park/picnic area with several picnic tables and a designated swimming area. There is a boat launch right next to it so boating access from the campground is excellent! Great for families with RV's and campers, less great for tent camping.
Ranger
The tent sites are very close together and are right near to a road.
The RV sites are decent with a bbq and a bench. There are spots to have a bonfire, but it won’t be on your site if you have a RV.
There’s a cute bridge that separates the RV camping from the tent camping with various day use areas. There is a park that’s across the field from the RV cites with a playground and bonfire spot.
Legend
Camping on the banks on the banks of the Warm River, which actually is quite cold, can’t get much better than this! There are several options here- tent camping in a tent only walk in area along the river banks and under some pretty good hammocking trees (best sites are #12, 13, 16, and 8 because they have some space from neighbors and are right on the river); RV sites with what looks like at least electric hook ups (best sites for river views and/or privacy are #2, 4, 6, 19); from what neighbors say is pretty good fishing; and an awesome alternative to camping at Mesa Falls if that campground is full. Walk down the road and cross the river to check out a protected area of the river where the fish are HUGE and you can stand with your toes in the river while you feed them bits of bread. The sites all have the usual picnic tables and firepits, with nice level tent pads, clean vault toilets, and firewood for sale from the campground host. The only two downsides are no showers and the campground is wedged between the road and the river, so there is quite a bit of road noise in the day which fortunately dies down once dark sets in. At that point the river covers the road noise (also helpful in the morning). The campground is close to a lot of hiking trails, but there are no trailheads in the campground (so I guess that makes three bummers). All in all, a cool place to camp.
Legend
Grandjean has several campsites, some on the river, some not. Some of the sites would accommodate smaller truck bed campers and maybe trailer campers. We tent camp and needed the 4-wheel drive to get to the end of the road. I didn't see any RV sites, there might be one or two around but its unlikely that there would be hookups of any kind. There might be a restroom off the main road on the way toward Grandjean but there were none close to any of the campsites around us. I would describe this as remote car camping. Established tent sites and fire pits, beautiful scenery, privacy and not a lot of extras. The Sawtooth Lodge is up the road and does offer RV space, tent camping and cabins. I am speaking of the rustic camping sites between Highway 21 and the Sawtooth Lodge.
Ranger
We stayed at Mary’s once and that’s all we will ever stay. The site #7 was right on the river, and just too close to #6 & #8...Yes they did have showers and bathrooms and that’s the 2nd star but the tent campsites super narrow. Now I don’t know how the RV sites are but the tent sites below were nothing to really brag about to friends and family. As we saw people float down the river, we were not allowed to get into the river from our campsite which was right in the river. Let’s just say We’ve been there, done it, and no need to return..
Guide
This is probably one of the fanciest camping sites I’ve ever been too. Definitely not as “in nature” as I’m used to but still a really cool experience. I paid 38 for one night for me and my 2 dogs. They had lots of social areas around and lots of variety between RVs, tent sites, and cabins but the tent camping sites were pretty tightly packed together. I like to sit out and read with my lanterns by the fire once the sun goes down and I ended up having to move into my tent to read because the site next to me was too bright from my lanterns and I felt bad. Other than that, they had an adorable gift shop and frozen yogurt night was happening during my visit. There are bathrooms with showers available. And a store to purchase anything and everything you may need from shampoo to firewood to food to cook as well as souvenirs. All together great experience and I would definitely camp again!
Ranger
The Gilmore Loop Campground is one of a handful of campgrounds in Farragut State Park. It is a large campground boasting 91 rv/tent sites. There are several ADA sites as well as the most amenities I have ever seen in a campground. Even tho you could spend days exploring and playing in Farragut State Park, there are quite a few things to do outside of the park also.
Some amenities for this campground include:
RV/Tent Camping - (Some are ADA)
Onsite Tables/Fire Pits/Water/Electricity on all and Sewer on some
Nice and Clean Flush Restrooms and Showers
Firewood for sale onsite by the hosts and a well stocked General Store/Visitor Center in park
Payphones and extra Parking
Dump stations for RVs
Extensive Day Use Facilities - (Including 3 professional disc golf courses and a large Lake for a $5 fee)
Boat launch/Swimming/Fishing
Museum and Historical Sites
Loads of Hiking/Biking/Horse Trails
Some amenities close to this campground include:
Bayview - (A small lake town about 5 min to the East)
Silverwood Theme Park - (About a 10 min drive to the West)
Coeur'd Alene and Sandpoint - (Both 33 min drives to the South and North respectively)
The negatives for Gilmore are all subjective. I personally prefer a much more secluded campground, I can see this place being packed during the on-season. The sites are closer than I like, tho I have seen much closer sites elsewhere. The tent pads are gravel filled squares, I Like the feel of the ground under me while camping and these will necessitate a mat/airbed. Overall I love this place as a day use, and see myself camping here soon.
Traveler
We’ve stayed here a couple times now. It is a nice place. It is a little run down though. The car, tent camping is great. You have your own plot under trees. If you tent camp is the rest of the camp ground you will need a pad under your tent. I ground is pretty course gravel with up to 1.25” sharp stones. Firewood is free though.
Legend
This was our first attempt to find a place to land in the Idaho Falls Area. Located about 10 miles south of Idaho Falls, it is a relatively new 12-unit RV Park (although they list prices for tent sites). When we arrived, there were two open spots but no apparent host or staff on-site. Sites are close to each other in typical RV Park fashion. There were some nice shade trees but they really did not provide much privacy/ separation between sites. The office was closed and you needed a code to access the restroom which we could see no way of obtaining. There were only large RVs camped there even though there are supposedly tent sites (without a code to the bathroom and nowhere that I could see to pitch a tent, I don’t see tenters staying there). There was some road noise and a chain link fence surrounded the campground. Nothing scenic about it. We moved on.
TravelerThis is a great little private campground in the Wolf Lodge Bay, and their added free amenities made this campground a really fun alternative to the usual state park/national forest campsites I go to more often. The swimming pool was well kept, and we really enjoyed using the free canoes. They had a lot of decent looking free firewood, but we were camping during a fire ban and weren't able to use it. (This, of course, is no fault of the campground. But if we camp there again it will be nice to have free firewood!)
We originally booked tent site 3, which I cannot recommend as it had no shade or privacy, but the attendant was very kind and let us switch to a shadier site for free. I think this was tent site 4 or 5, which were much better. Tent site seven looked really nice as well and I would recommend that one. But if we go back we will definitely be booking the island tent site 201, it looked to be the best one of all.
Traveler
State run Site. Save money with the Idaho State Parks Pass.
RV and tent camping fishing and boating. I have stayed here numerous times. Cell service spotty but can be achieved. Wildlife can be viewed from inside RV. As stated before can get windy at times.
Very close to other places to visit; Yellowstone NP, Mesa Falls, Harriman State Park, Earthquake Lake, Big Spring, really to many to list.
Guide
I don’t like to leave bad reviews where I have not stayed. But, any review of a place should start with customer service.
I emailed this KOA requesting a tent say. I half-hour later I received an email back saying there were two sites but that I needed to call to reserve. I called promptly spoke to a person named Judy, her demeanor was less than encouraging. I relayed to her what the email had said and she barked at me and said we don’t send emails concerning availability. I said but I have one right here saying that you do have two tent sites. She said maybe we do have two tent sites but we don’t take emails, then she promptly slam the phone down and hung up on me. I emailed back and explain the situation at which point I was told sorry all tent sites are now unavailable.
Times like this I wonder, was it me? But I also realize that the year 2020, social distancing, pandemic, is also causing a rush on outdoor tent sites. There is stress all around. But, common courtesy should always prevail when you are customer facing.
Traveler
Plenty of space here with a beautiful lake view. Mountains on all sides of you. Very little tree coverage. Some rodent holes surrounding the tent site. Tent faired well and wind was not a serious issue by any means. There was fire ring already made at the tent site we chose. Few others camping in RVs but plenty of space/privacy between them. 45 minutes from Old Faithful and Yellowstone
Scout
I worked at Priest Lake State Park as a residential biologist for the summer of 2016. It was an amazing experience! I had access to parts of the park not allowed to campers. The staff are all very friendly and nice to work with. The hand- scooped homemade ice cream is worth it alone! Kayaking up the thoroughfare to the upper lake is a great workout with some amazing and beautiful scenery and animals along the way. You will see lots of moose, and sometimes black bears. If you take the short hike to Moose lake, there is excellent rainbow trout fishing, and gorgeous scenery as well. Hunt lake trail is a beautiful trail to hike, but not for beginners. Priest Lake itself is a little chilly when first getting in to swim, but is very refreshing in the mountain heat. There are many good places to pick huckleberries all over the area! The campgrounds at the Indian Creek unit, which is where the headquarters and store are located, are very clean. There are plenty of RV and tent camping sites and 5 cabins available to rent. All cabins sleep different numbers of people, ranging from 5 to 9, the moose cabin being the largest and nicest. The cabins have no bathrooms or kitchens but boast fire rings and are right across from communal park bathrooms and showers. The lion head unit on the upper lake is about 12 miles up the road from Indian Creek turning into gravel about 8 miles up right before moose lake. It has a few smaller camper sites and many tent sites available. There is a maintenance shed along with a small ranger booth which also serves as a small store with ice and other foods and small supplies. There are first aid kits and radios available at all campground ranger booths. Priest lake has amazing fishing for rainbow trout, Mackinaw (lake trout), smallmouth bass, and Pike minnow (as the main species). The nearest town, Coolin, UD, is about 12 miles down the road. It is a small town with a store, a diner and a bar/ restaurant. The diner and restaurant have decent staple foods for what they have to offer. The store is fairly small but generally has most of the foods and supplies needed for restocking your camping food or obtaining the odds and ends you may have forgotten or overlooked at home. All around it is a beautiful place to visit with friendly staff and locals and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking an unforgettable family camping experience.
Scout
It is a private secluded location but over priced for tent camping. It made for a nice base camp. The dogs were allowed to be off leash which was real nice. They do not allow pit bulls or Rottweilers but ironic that the camp hosts have a Rottweiler. It was not crowded. The nice hike to the summit to view both lakes was worth going up. Other than the $30/night for tent camping it was okay. Had it been $15 a night I would have given the site a 5 star.
Traveler
Our group stayed in the cabin, but hoping to come back for tent camping in warmer months
Ranger
We spend on night there in July on our way to Boulder Colorado. Being an RV resort but tent camping we were a bit concerned about being placed between big RV. But for tent camping we were told we could install wherever we wanted in one of 2 very large grass fields. We end up being the only tent in that field; a few tents were in the second field. As indicated by its name there were many trees which was also greatly appreciated for the shade. The only con was that it was relatively close to the high way so noisy at night.
Scout
Well cared for, easy access, fishing, green grass for day use and tent camping, private dock, wonderful folks!
Guide
Was looking for a tent site close to Coeur d‘Alene and found this park. The tent sites are on a grassy area by the creek. Unfortunately, ground is very uneven and the interstate with heavy truck traffic is right next to it. Felt like the traffic was going through my tent. Park is packed with RVs and families and there is no privacy whatsoever. Otherwise very well taken care off with little shop and nice clean restrooms/showers.
Guide
Work outing so a great place for a large group with multiple options for tent camping. Great fishing and hiking.
TravelerFriendly staff, free canoes to take out on the lake, clean restrooms and kitchen area, nice relatively private tent camping spot.
Scout
The campground was very nice. The only negative is the ground and grass areas are pitted with holes from gophers. If tent camping bring a good ground cover to put tent on
Legend
This is a small tent camping campground right off Highway 55 and across the highway from the Payette River. Lots of shade trees. No amenities.
Scout
On a motorcycle trip through Idaho and this place met my needs. It is close to town but no noise from the highway. It was walking distance to grocery store and gas station. Check in was fast and rates are reasonable for tent site. I had a site with power and water. It was close to the bath house. Overall, a great place for a nights stay on the road.
Traveler
We were riding the Idaho BDR (Backcountry Discovery Route) and needed a place to camp near Pierce. There aren't many options that are accessible for our Support Truck but found Deyo Reservoir as a welcome spot. The West sites are very open and close to each other and are what you see first. I kinda stumbled down to the East Campground which is more for Truck/Tent camping and is wooded and cooler (it was 95 degrees when we rode in). Typical for Idaho the sites were nicely spaced, well maintained (it is hosted) and the Vault Toilet was very clean.
Idaho offers a stunning backdrop for tent camping, with diverse landscapes ranging from serene lakes to rugged mountains. Whether you're seeking solitude or adventure, there's a perfect spot waiting for you.
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