Best Glamping near Gilead, ME

This campground is just north of Errol, NH along the Magalloway River. The sites and facilities are well maintained and quite clean. The owners and staff are quite nice and really do a great job managing the campground. There are nice shaded sites along the river as well as a number of sites in a wide open field. Be sure to ask about the amount of shade (or lack there of) when you make your reservation. While being in the field in a climate controlled RV may not be a big deal, being in the sun from sunrise to sunset can be rough as a tent camper.

Sites have picnic tables, fire rings and are nicely spaced from one another. There is a bath house that is clean and a nice amenity, especially for the reasonable rate of $15/night for tent campers (almost unheard of at many private campgrounds). 

You can put your boat in upstream of the campground and paddle to the area or you can drive. We paddled from just upstream and continued on the following day. There are several grassy spots where you can slide your boat onto shore.

We stayed here during the COVID-19 pandemic and campgrounds were just starting to cautiously open up. There were some rules in place in order to ensure social distancing and reduce risk to ourselves and to the staff. Therefore a lot of the facilities and amenities were not available to us during our stay. No pavilion, arcade, playground, etc. 

But the point of our stay was just to get away, get outside and have some fresh air and new scenery. 

The waterfront site we had (site 38) was very nice, it's pretty spacious. The deck had furniture on it and a grill. The campground is well maintained, nice, clean. The furniture was in good shape, the grill was an older weber grill that worked great. Our site had a concrete fire pit, it looks like lots of them had a similar setup.

Waking up to the sound of the loons in the morning was wonderful. 

Our site was labeled as a 50 amp connection, but it wasn't, it was 30 amp. So double check that. Most of the waterfront sites are back in, and the only level part of the site is away from the deck and water. My wife wanted to get the camper up close to the deck so our area under the awning was close to that, which meant I had a lot more leveling to do. And when I say a lot, I mean my 5" drive on leveling blocks weren't enough and I had to put them on top of a 2x8 to level the camper out. 

The wifi actually was decent at this site - I'm surprised because 8 out of 10 campgrounds I go to that claim wifi, its slow and unusable. 

The firewood was kind of pricey. You get it for $6.50 a bundle if you buy at least 2 at a time. 

The first 2 nights there were really weird noises that woke us all up. The first night it sounded like a large Diesel engine or something was running in the distance. Kind of a low frequency sound that carried through the campsite and was hard to pinpoint. The second night, it sounded like an electrical short happening right across the street at a campsite. I was never able to figure out the source of these 2 events.

The Chocorua KOA is a great campground with super friendly staff, a variety of sites and lots of activities and things to do for everyone in the family.

We stayed with two other families on pull-through full hook-up sites 43, 45, and 47. Although we were on the main road, we really enjoyed these sites. They were wooded and in a central location close to the playgrounds, pavilion, beach and nature trails. Site 45 was pretty narrow but the other two sites had a bit more space so we mostly used 43 and 47 to hang out. We especially loved that the pull-through road behind our sites was not a main access road so we had a nice long stretch of road that was just for us. We played games and the kids road bikes without having to worry about cars driving through.

There are also a lot of really nice tent sites along the water, cabins, teepees, lodges and great areas for groups to camp. They are fairly strict with quiet hours so it is a very quiet campground at night.

The facilities are nice and clean. The pavilion and fire pit area are a nice place to gather with games and a mining station to enjoy. There are two playgrounds for little and big kids. The bathrooms are quite dated but clean. The pool is freezing cold so the kids didn’t swim much. The beach area is small and not deep enough to swim but the kids enjoyed playing in the sand and water. There are a lot of options for boat rentals- paddle boats, kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and row boats. There is a beautiful board walk that leads through the marsh to a system of short nature trails. We really enjoyed walking the trails though some need a lot of work due to fallen trees and overgrowth. There were also a lot of free activities for the kids like crafts, wagon rides and games with a full schedule of events. You really never have to leave this campground!

This is also an incredibly dog-friendly campground with a fun dog park, a special swimming pond just for dogs and doggie day care available. This is one of the most pet loving campgrounds we’ve ever camped in and our pup loved it!!

We had a great trip and will definitely be back!

A great family campground just South of Conway, NH. Close to groceries, the outlets, plenty of restaurants. Across the street to the North is the fabulous Rosie's Diner, a homey place with amazing food and home-baked bread. Seriously their toast and corned beef hash is awesome. Also just across the street from the entrance to the South is a Dollar General with just about anything a camper could want in a pinch, including beer and hot dogs.

The camp itself has a store by the gatehouse well stocked with various items (bug spray, skillet, firewood, sunscreen, sodas) and souvenir Tees and Sweatshirts. There is another store on the beach with the candy, floats and toys. They also have charcoal in just the right size to grill on one of the available charcoal hibachis, scattered among the picnic tables on the beach.

The lake itself is unreal, with the mountains in the background it just feels incredibly peaceful and serene, keeping in mind I mostly visited around dawn and dusk and the Memorial Day clouds and rain kept it pretty low-key. I've seen photos of the beach on hot sunny days in summer and it looks packed with swimmers.

Sites were fairly standard- dirt floor with gravel packed in around the circle fire rings. We grilled right on the grate provided. Big picnic tables are provided on each site. All sites are wooded with plenty of trees to get a good tarp, and lots of options for hammock placement. Our site 1-32a was huge, and the driveway was a rather steep hill. Our site was not water view but we drove around that area to get a look and they are gorgeous.

While we were there there were tons of families around. Bicycles are a good idea since the gatehouse is a pretty good hike away from the camping areas, and you need to drop your trash off each night in the dumpsters that are located there. Showers were coin op. Hot, good pressure and about as clean as you could expect during mud season.

If you arrive between 1 and 8 pm, you check in at the office, but they have a slot for after-hours arrivals.

No pets are allowed here. Bring your bug spray, citronella candles and smoky firewood- the bugs here are no joke. But if you come prepared you can get by with minimal bites.

Stayed the last weekend in June and I was able to book the site 3 days prior. I was shocked there was still availability. Self check-in, no alcohol allowed and quiet hours start at 10:00 p.m. and fires out by 11:00 p.m. Who I believe to be the owners working in the store at the entrance were super friendly and helpful. My site wasn't the greatest (#32) as it seemed to be one of the few that was sort of out in the open and within view of numerous other sites. Not much seclusion but almost every other site seem to be more secluded. The riverfront sights looked absolutely beautiful and some had better/ easier access to the water then others. We had our travel trailer and it was easy to get it in and out and the dump station was conveniently located on the way out as well as the dumpster for trash. There are quite a few tent sites and our site was right near the clean bathroom and showers. We didn't eat there but there's also a pizza place at the entrance too. Everything is within walking distance.

Will go back again for sure but would look for a river front site next time!

A friend and I decided to camp here before a backpacking trip in the Whites, to cut down on morning-of driving time. Our site, #02 on Loop 2, was in very close proximity to all of the neighboring sites. We had children on several sides, and a rowdy group of adult men on another side. Quiet hours are supposed to start at 10:00pm, but our rowdy male neighbors were up, playing music, talking loudly, and singing, until midnight. Then, just when we thought they were ready to settle in, they turned on a headlamp aimed directly into our tent. We are both very experienced car campers and backcountry campers, but even we struggled to get any rest through all the noise and light. The staff drove by a few times in a golf cart but never stopped to encourage this group to quiet down or use a little etiquette/common sense with their headlamp use. It wouldn't have been so much of a problem if the sites weren't SO close to each other. I attached a photo to show just how closely all the sites are situated; that's my backpacking tent, for scale.

This is a great little campground on Rt 3 in Lincoln, convenient for exploring along the Kanc and Franconia Notch. Prices are amazingly competitive for sites with utilities, though most of the riverfront sites do not offer utilities. The north section has tent sites tucked back in the shade along the river, a great option for hot summer days. The rest of the north section is open and grassy, well-suited to those with larger rigs. The main section is more compact, but the sites along the river are sunnier, though they still do not have utilities. Wifi is available and good quality.

Although sites are near and often open to each other, the campground is quiet. There's a great playground for younger kids and ducks just waiting to be fed. The sky above is beautiful if you're in the north section or toward the river/middle area in the main section. There seems to be a mix of seasonal and intermittent campers. They offer a discount if you stay 7 nights. For more desirable sites, they require a longer stay. It's not ideal if you're camping with friends who are all driving up separately (carpool, folks!) because parking for extra vehicles is limited and you may need to park off-site. They don't offer online reservations and you need to submit a deposit to secure a reservation, so pick up the phone to call. It's worth the extra effort to make the call!

I've only stayed here late in the season, but I've enjoyed it both times with friendly staff. They have a cute little camp store and sell firewood on site and provide paper and kindling, a definite advantage if it's been wet! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the main bathroom, while clean, tends to be dark and crowded.