Best Dog-Friendly Camping near New Orleans, LA

We stayed at Fontainebleau State Park when traveling to NOLA for Mardi Gras in late February, wanting a quiet place to retreat after a day of festivities. Fontainebleau did not disappoint in quiet, although the wetlands definitely extended all the way into our campsite. 

As tent campers, we chose one of the unimproved sites (94) as we did not need water and electric, and during Mardi Gras most of the campground was full as it was. We arrived after dark and found...a completely flooded site! While in part due to recent rains, one of the rangers told me that the campground was extremely wet most of the year. As it was already dark we elected not to try and carry our tent and sleeping gear over the soggy grounds to the one semi-dry tent pad, and just set up our bed in the car. Most of the sites in this area were equally wet, and another set of campers had rigged a zip-line to get their gear from the car over the flooded grounds to their dry spot. A trade-off for quiet and privacy, and a place of exploration for our kids.

The improved area of the campground was still largely wet with flooded areas, although the main hookup sites had the driest ground, and paved roads throughout for bike riding and walks on dry land.

The primitive sites are very open and would work well for church or scouting groups, although due to wide grassy areas and ever so slightly lower elevations, they were very flooded when we were there. The premium sites along the edge of the "new campground" seemed to have the least amount of flooding. They have electric and water hookups and offer a little more privacy than the center sites, but are smaller by comparison to the unimproved sites.

Aside from the wet grounds, this is a beautiful park, with a lot of hiking through wetlands, Spanish moss draping gracefully throughout, and a gorgeous view of Lake Pontchartrain. There is a very small beach, multiple playgrounds, and large pavilions, and the campground had some of the cleanest bathrooms I have experienced. We are a homeschool family and really enjoyed the ruins of the sugar mill and the historic markers to include in our teaching curriculum for the weekend. 

In addition to being only a 30 minute drive from New Orleans, this would be a wonderful park to come to just for the enjoyment of the scenery--provided you are in a camper or a van. Tent campers should be prepared for wet grounds, or make sure to have hammocks or tree tents available just in case!

This is a beautiful state park located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain ( 30 min north of New Orleans). The grounds are immaculate with huge Spanish moss covered Live Oaks throughout the park. There are plenty of campsites that will fit any style of camper from primitive to luxurious. We prefer primitive camping ourselves and found some nice quiet spots tucked into the trees away from all the RVs. There's a beach, splash pad, fishing pier, bike trails, hiking trails, and several playgrounds (one located within the campsites), so there is something for everyone.

We spent almost a week at the New Orleans West KOA in January while exploring the New Orleans area. It was a good base to work from, about 25 minutes from the downtown museums and convenient to places like Destrehan Plantation and Bayou Segnette State Park. There are plenty of good restaurants and shops in the area, too.

Campsites are crowded in next to each other and you cannot see the river because of the levee. On the plus side, a 10 minute walk will have you on the multi-use trail on top of the levee and that is a wonderful place for a walk, jog, or bike ride.

The staff was friendly and helpful. Everything worked at our campsite. I give this 4 stars instead of 5 only because it is so urban, crowded, and lacking a good view.