Best Glamping near Waterville, ME

Great campground. Bigger than we expected. Our site looked right over the water. Direct access to Maine's rocky shore. Everything you need to be comfortable including hot showers and bathrooms cleaned three times a day. A basic rec room, playground, beautiful gardens, clean sites. Rvs are so close together and some seasonal snobs, but also tent sites some drive up and some walk to more private/dispersed. Small store friendly staff. Some sites have a wooden deck for picnic area overlooking water. Laundry, wifi, made it an easy week. We had rain and wind a couple nights, tarp went over tent as not permitted in trees. Just fine. We will definitely be coming back.

We discovered this campsite in 2020 and just returned from our third year in a row camping here with 2 kids. We have only tented, but hope to bring a small camper next year. There is a small arcade, store, and 24/7 laundry. Bathrooms/showers are clean and not very busy as most guests are in RVs. Activities started up again this year, with events such as kids’ crafts, a kids vs adults water gun fight, cornhole competition, and a DJ for an evening of dancing - just on the weekend we were there. We love the proximity to the lake with easy access for kayaking and swimming. New ownership this year resulted in some updates, as well as the addition of glamping tents near the beach. The sites are a decent size and the campground is fairly quiet at night.

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.

Boothbay Harbor is a cute coastal Maine town and Shore Hills Campground is a great location for visiting the downtown and other Maine towns like Wiscasset and Easy Boothbay. Shore Hills has a wide variety of sites that can accommodate everything from the biggest size RV to tents. The great thing about this campground is that there is a such a large selection of sites that you pretty much can get what you want. 

Some of their 30-amp waterfront sites come with great views. They also have some sites tucked in the woods that are super wide with huge patios and lots of privacy between you and your neighbor and great for families or large gatherings. The 50-amp full hook-up sites towards the front of the park are closer together with not as much privacy and near the road so you get some of that noise. The last we time we stayed there we were in a long pull-thru in the front which was$59/night. Our site had a wooden deck with a picnic table on it. The deck was nice but I had to be careful where I parked so my steps cleared the porch. Each site has its own garbage can which I super convenient. Hook-ups at our site worked fine and were well-placed and easy to connect to. The wifi was a joke and we got frustrated and gave up. Not sure if it is any better in other areas of the park but it seems to be a common complaint that they tend not to fix. On the other hand, the cable had lots of channels and a great HD picture. The roads to our site were easy to navigate with our 45’ RV and tow car but the check-in area near the office is very small and tight and at times, it was very backed up and RV’s were out on the main road. During certain times of the year, the park offers a shuttle service to and from downtown which is nice because parking can be expensive(from$7-$20). There are free parking spots downtown but they are few and far between and limited to 2-4 hours. 

The park has a short trail across to an island which our dog loved to run around on and jump in the water. The tides are crazy in Maine so be careful if you use the boat launch that you don’t get stuck on a mud flat when the 9-11’ tide disappears. Nearby is the Ovens Mouth Preserve which has great hiking and nice water views and is just one of many nature preserves in the area which all are very nice, well-marked, well-maintained, and dog-friendly. 

You have to stop at Bet’s Fish Fry for the best fried fish and chips you have ever had. Bring a beer or two and enjoy eating your food on the picnic tables in the nearby park. Another good place to visit is the Boothbay Craft Brewery Company which has good beer and pizza. They also have a small RV park but the sites are pretty close together. Pinkhams Gourmet Market has a nice selection of prepared items, meats, seafood, and gourmet items but for fresh lobster we head down to the waterfront to Atlantic Edge Lobster.

If you want to visit the Phippsburg area of Maine, your camping options are pretty limited. We chose Meadowbrook Camping Area for the simple fact we wanted to explore that particular area of Maine. The campground has a mix of sites from tent sites tucked away in the woods to large RV sites in the open. We camped in a 45’ RV and wanted a 50 amps full hook-up site severely limited our choices. We were assigned a pull thru that had such a steep incline we determined it best to actually back into the site so we didn’t bottom out trying to get up the hill. The site was unlevel and we were always on a bit of an incline. Our coach is pretty sensitive when it comes to leveling so this may not be a problem with other units or towables. The site and driveway were gravel and we had a decent picnic table and fire pit.

There are a fair amount of seasonals that have lots of junk around their campers and some sites are pretty unsightly. The restrooms were really old and not very clean. The office is a little run down and the maintenance shop behind it was unsightly with lots of equipment and stuff lying around. Needless to say, our first impressions of the campground were not that good. They tout themselves on the fact that they have fresh lobster on-site and will cook and deliver them to your site. But one look at the dirty water in the tank and we decided to head to the local lobster dock and wrangle up some fresh ones from the clean ocean water. They have a poolside café with a pretty all-day extensive menu. We didn’t eat there but it seemed to be pretty busy as it looked like lots of orders were always being. Our campsite was right next to the pool, café, and arcade area so we had a view of all the action. At least our patio side was not facing that busy area. There was an open karaoke night around a community fire pit that was very popular and everyone was having a great time. 

People here were very nice and overall it was an o.k. stay. We choose this campground because it was the only one in the area we wanted to explore.