Best Tent Camping near Richmond, ME

BF and I wanted a last minute fall weekend getaway in Maine, and ended up at the Augusta-Gardiner KOA. Generally tough to accomplish during leaf-peeping season, but we worked it out. We stayed at site T5, which was wooded but pretty open. Size was decent enough.

Overall, I’d say sites T8, T9, T10 are best if you’re tent camping. While all tent sites are tightly spaced next to one another, these 3 provide the most shade and privacy of the bunch.

Owners are super nice, but the campground could use a little love. Bathrooms and amenities are a little tired. There’s potential though, and some really cute details, like a little fairy house and homemade, bear-carved benches around a KOA-community fire pit, that make the campground endearing. Also, there’s a bunch to do during prime season, particularly for the kiddies- pool, mini-golf, bounce house, playground and space to runaround.

There's a handful of private tent sites with picnic tables. Some tent sites have ocean views. The tents sites aren't accessible by car though, so you need to put all your camping equipment into a wagon and pull it to your site.

There's a small pavilion for campground-communal lobster/clam bakes. Showers, laundry, playground, and small camp store are all available.

I definitely like more backcountry camping, but this was the only available campground in the area. It was great for a one-night stay, but it was very busy and too touristy.

We went the last weekend they were open for the season (sometime in October) and it was a blast! Tent sites were spacious and had a decent amount of privacy. Electric and water hookups at tent sites. General store and amenities were clean and well taken care of! A lot of families around but it wasn’t distracting since the sites were private enough. Definitely recommend!

Spent 2 weeks in 40ft RV. Good utilities, amenities, bathrooms/showers. From tent camping to trailers and motorhomes, a very nice place to stay.

We have tent camped here for a week (if not twice) every summer for the last 5 years. Pond with rentals, pool, mini golf, daily activities, crafts....so family friendly. love the half moon and kitchen and bath sites.

We stayed one night on our way to Acadia and the tent sites were extremely small and very close together. Seems more of an RV spot

The staff/owners were very friendly and my tent site was right on the beach. The sunrise and sunset were absolutely gorgeous. The price was incredible given the proximity to the water. The only negative was that the RVs were pretty loud.

Basically this is a small independent RV park split between season RV campers and regular RV campers. The only reason for a tent camper to go is to take advantage of the laundry room and the nicely scrubbed showers. It’s 5 minutes from Skowhegan and a short 2 minutes from Kennebec Banks rest area on route 2.

There are about 5 tent sites– two of which are on a small point stretching into the confluence of the great Kennebec River and the small Wesserunsett River. 

The only two tent sites I would recommend are #50 & #51 on the point with # 51 being most desirable. I absolutely would not recommend any of the other tent sites for various reasons. I used site #51 and pitched my tent about 20ft from the Kennebec. At 6:45am  I saw two bald eagles patrolling the Kennebec. 

The RV sites that are interesting are the ones directly along the Kennebec. They are sites 39-45; 47A; 47B; 47C; 48; and, they park parallel to the river. Otherwise, it’s a very tight center filled with RV’s and very large motor homes. Sites # 52– 58 may look like they are water sites… but the water feature on the map is only a brushy swamp. 

The 2 showers are very good, clean and include a bench. There are 2 flush toilets also sparkling clean; but, they are some distance from The Point. The 24hour self-operated laundry is housed in a small, dedicated bungalow. There are 2-3 docks and canoes to use. 

At night, one can clearly hear the noise from route 2 just at the edge of the campground. The river amplifies the sound of cars passing by.

We tent camped at Saco/Old Orchard Beach KOA. The staff was very friendly and when I called to book the site, they assisted in helping us pick out the nicest campsite. This KOA is close to Old Orchard Beach, the city of Portland, and towns of Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, Wells and Kittery Outlets. We enjoy staying here and would highly recommend it to others.

We stayed here on our way from Boston to Acadia. This is a beautiful campground that caters to adults only. It feels very secluded but it's close to everything. The tent sites are pretty close to each other but we had no issues with noise. Bathhouse and bathrooms were very clean. I would definitely stay here again!

The check-in couple were awesome! Chatted for a while and made us feel welcomed. The campgrounds were very nice, and our tent site was the largest site on the grounds.

The loss of one star is the pricing. I guess the campgrounds were bought out by some corporate conglomerate last year, and the current pricing shows. We paid $75 for one night. There was water to the site, but no electricity.