Best Tent Camping near Rockland, 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 reserved a site with a water view (all the waterfront tent sites were already reserved). The tent platform was nice (they provided the nails for anchoring the tent corners. By using platforms, they have allowed many more tent sites where terrain would have made it impossible. Our site had electric (a potable water standpipe was across the street).

Restrooms were very clean and there was plenty of hot water for the coin operated showers.

Wifi is great at the Gathering Place 24/7. Very intermittent at the tent site—but we’re camping so not an issue. Gathering place had hot coffee and fresh baked goods in the am—but get there early as croissants and scones sold out quickly!

The shuttle was not operating when we were there (June 2021) but once operations return to normal, there is a shuttle to Acadia. The location is great—both to visit the park and for access to Bar Harbor. Camping is so reasonable that we felt eating out for dinner every other night was justifiable, given the cost of hotels in the area.

There is a kayak launch and floating dock. But be very aware of tide schedule!

The owners are fabulous and friendly. Clean sites as well as facilities. Beautiful pool!! Tent site had a simple lean to that helped tremendously.

We tent camped here, facilities were nice but sites were close to each other. Huge bonus for beautiful stars and hearing the waves crash and bouy bells at night! Several nice hikes in Acadia for all experience levels.

This is the location to be if you want to be close it it all in Acadia. A short drive to Bar Harbor, with many of the big attractions nearby. Make reservations either online (super easy and fast) or by phone (be patient and expect to be on hold) if you are going anytime between May and September. I wasn't able to get a tent site so I pitched my rent on a gravel RV drive. It looked like tent sites had gravel tent pads, so you might want a good tent footprint cloth (or double up a tarp). Nice flush toilets (with outlets that that tweets and teens will be charging their phones on), with pay showers about a half miles outside the campground. All sites had fire pits and picnic tables.

Spent 2 nights here and loved every minute of it. From the amazing sunsets, to the nice tent sites, Bar Harbor KOA impressed us. Quick check-in, free delivery for firewood, hot water for showering.

Very nice camp ground. Big place with plenty of sites. All different types of sites. Electric, No electric, Water, sewer hook up or really nice tent sites in the woods. All amenities and a pool.

This is a great place to tent/camp if you’re looking for Acadia adventures. They also provide electrical outlets to charge equipment and phones as well as decently clean showers and bathrooms. Downside: usually very crowded.

Check out one of my vlogs featuring the campsite: https://youtu.be/Y_81vS7zE1c

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.