Best Campgrounds near Camden, ME

\We recently stayed at what I can only describe as the worst private campground in Maine. From the moment we arrived, we sensed the place was run more like a fiefdom than a welcoming campground. The woman in charge—a cantankerous witch—made it clear early on that customer service wasn’t part of the package. 

Things went downhill fast when a group of bikers set up right next to our site and fired up a gas generator that echoed. When I politely asked how long they planned to run it, I was told—in the true spirit of American hospitality—that“in America, we’re allowed to do whatever the f*** we want, that they were on vacay, and that it would only get louder from here.” 

Apparently, they were right. When I brought the issue to the owner, hoping for some kind of help or enforcement of basic quiet hours, she basically told us tough luck. The bikers had paid over$500 for their spots, and if we didn’t like it, we were welcome to leave. No refund. No solution. Just aggressive indifference. In desperation, we relocated to a more remote, forested site—quieter, yes, but also swarming with mosquitoes all night and not at all what we paid for. Again, no refund. Not even a partial one. Just a shrug and an attitude.

This place is a racket—overpriced, poorly managed, and apparently tailored to the loudest, most entitled guests with the deepest wallets. If you’re hoping for peace, nature, or even basic respect as a customer, camp literally anywhere else.

We have a tiny trailer that fits in a tent site. But when reserving online, being unfamiliar with the campground, we were prompted to enter the total length of trailer + vehicle. That put us in loop C with huge RVs much closer together than the other loops. That being said, we still got to stay in Acadia. The site was adequate and not as close to the neighbors as I feared. We didn’t have reliable cell service. The shuttle bus takes 50 minutes to get to Bar Harbor, by car it’s closer to 30. There was really nothing to do at the campground except camp -no hikes or trails directly there. Showers were ~2 miles away, open 4-7 pm and $1.50 for 2 minutes of water. We stayed 7 nights, most people were there 1-3. Several sites were open each night in our loop.

It's well provisioned with clean free hot showers, it tends to have some availability of some kind even quite last minute in the season which is nice. There's a lot of full season campers. A downside is this is a significantly noisy and busy campsite, every single day there are golf carts coming and going, mowing, weed whacking, children up until late. It felt dangerous driving my trailer in because small children kept whizzing by on bikes and scooters, not stopping even as I was backing my trailer in, kids were throwing trash on the ground. If you're not a busy family person, it doesn't feel very relaxed and my headphones got a lot of use.

Prices are significantly more expensive than marked on here, most people come with large vehicles and do sewage outlets so the shower bathroom can be far if you need it. You pay a premium to be in the region during the season but it will run at least 1700 a month, which is more than enough for a full apartment- and I'm getting a small grass spot with electricity and water, nothing else. For convenience to the island and more affordable groceries in Ellsworth it is well situated.

Lamoine State Park is a great option if you want to be close to Acadia but away from the crowds.

There are both tent and rv sites, which are intermingled in the campground. There is a bath house with showers and flush toilets. The toilet area was clean and was maintained on a regular basis. There are multiple vault toilets around the campground.

The sites are in rows, from the top of the campground down to the water. Sites at the top are grassier with more sun, and the sites near the water have more shade. Many sites are not flat and require significant leveling if in an rv. Some sites have more buffer than others, but in general I would not say that there is great privacy between sites.
The sites on the water all have beautiful views. There is no power/sewer/water at any of the sites. There are water faucets around the campground, and a dump station near the entrance.

The park has a day use area and a public boat launch. You could launch a kayak from the park. The day use are is lovely, as is the launch area. The staff at the park were friendly and helpful.

You are about 30 minutes to Acadia, 20 to Ellsworth and 30 to Blue Hill. It is a convenient location that is outside of the crowds. The Lamoine Beach is a 5 minute drive away and is a nice place to walk.