Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Southport, ME

This was a nicely shaded and quiet park, even with kids running around. There was a nice pool for the kiddos, as well as kayaks and water toys for the pond, which looks like a lake. Great sized dog parks - 2 connected to each other. People are super nice. Sites are pretty close together.

Staff super nice. Wifi not great and we have starlink - lots of obstruction so if you need uninterrupted access I’d check with the front desk to see if there are clearer areas for your satellite. Laundry was a bit of a trek from our site, but not a huge deal. Overall pleasant stay, though!

This is a rockstar of a campsite.  They have everything you need, minus an ATM.  There is a general store with the normal gear.  They have a pool and hot tub.  There is a small, but very well-kept dog park.  On top of all that there is pinball, Pac-Man, and pool table!  But, if you want to stick with the normal stuff, they also have basketball courts, badminton courts, horseshoes, and tons more.

There is a trolly that will take you to the city for $2, but if you have a bicycle it is a quick 15-minute ride to the beach.  

The city itself is super fun with lots of rides, good food, and you can even learn how to surf!

Winslow Park and Campground is a busy 100 campsite and park run by the town of Freeport, ME.

We stayed in site #1 and were pleasantly surprised to not have any neighbors that night, which meant our site seemed larger than it ordinarily would have. The sites are small- similar to what you would find in an RV park. They are large enough to fit long class A and large tow vehicles into, but not much room is left between you and your neighbors, and there are few if any trees separating the sites.

There are warm showers, but we did not find them to be very clean. Regardless, we did enjoy our stay at Winslow. There was a concert going on when we arrived, but the park was less busy when everyone left for the night. The sunrise over the bay view we had was absolutely incredible- we loved our waterfront view and it was definitely the best park about this site.

At $50, this was also one of the more expensive sites we’ve stayed at. The view was definitely worth the price, but I don’t know if I would stay again simply because the RV park feel isn’t really our favorite aesthetic.

Either way, we appreciated the proximity to Freeport and the amenities and view at the time!

Of note: we visited the House of Hounds on Sniffspot the next morning so our dog could run and play- that ended up being one of our favorite things we have done on this trip. Omar has a beautiful open field that he lets people bring their dogs to play in and it was absolutely divine- especially since our guy doesn’t love other dogs so we can’t rely on dog parks for exercise. He enjoyed having the whole field to himself!

I have a love– hate relationship with KOA campgrounds. They tend to be overpriced and not consistent. You will find one that has nice sites at a decent price. Then, there are the others which are complete opposite. This KOA is on my good side.  There are lots of site choices, cabins, yurts, and tent sites to choose from.  The location is good as it is about 10-15 minutes far from the town of Freeport(home to L.L. Bean and tons of outlet stores), the pretty coastal town of South Freeport, four craft breweries and a cidery, and Bradbury Mountain State Park. The owners and work campers are very friendly and the super welcoming. Normally I am not concerned how nice people are but they go out of their way to make sure you get all the discounts you can and put you in a site that you prefer. 

We have stayed here a few times and are always impressed how well-cared for the grounds are and how and clean the common areas, bathrooms, and pool are. The grass is always cut, weeds trimmed, fire pits cleaned and there is no trash lying on the ground. There are lots of seasonal sites but they are in the back portion of the park with the transients being in the front. The park has nice super long 50 amp FHU pull-thrus in the front of the park which will fit any length RV and tow vehicle. Some of these sites are “buddy” sites with a shared patio, but are so wide that even if you don’t know your neighbors, it would not be a bother because you are far enough apart. The only downside to these pull thrus is there is no shade. We tend to be there in cooler months so shade is not a problem. However, the rest of the campground has a very park-like feel with over 50 acres there is plenty of room to roam and even a short nature trail through a wooded area. Many sites backup against the woods or are in wooded areas so keep that in mind when making your reservation. We give this park two thumbs up for their dog park which is ten times the size of the average KOA dog park. My lab had plenty of room to run and chase a ball and there were never any other dogs there which was nice. Plus, it was clean and free of dog poop! Normally, there are plenty of activities like s’mores by the fire, crafts, pony rides (yes, they have their own ponies on site), ice cream social, hay rides but this year they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t use those amenities anyway so that wasn’t a problem but can see that would be fun activities for kids. We were in a buddy sites with our friends and liked the shared patio. Since we were in the open area, we were able to get both satellite with our roof-mounted dome and some over-the-air channels from Portland which is about 45 minutes away. All of our hook-ups were in an accessible place but we were also in a long pull thru and could position the RV in the site accordingly. 

Some of the cons for this park are the lack of cable, so-so wifi, and the dusty gravel roads and pot holes. There are a few restrooms buildings scattered around the park which may not be close depending on what site you are in.

We chose this campground because it was close to a festival we wanted to check out. Upon arrival we could not find the office. We had to stop a camper who was walking and ask her where the office was. The workers were less than helpful. To many seasonal campers. The sites were to close. The owners were dog breed prejudice. There was a whole paper full of rules if you brought a pet. We are big dog lovers of all breeds and took offense to them being so against certain breeds even being on there property. I will say that the bathrooms were very clean and seemed new.