Best Tent Camping near Essex, MA

we have tent camped here 4 Times. its so clean and beautiful

I haven’t been tent camping in years but this past weekend I stayed while attending the Levitate festival. I was very comfortable, the bathhouses were clean. Can’t wait to go back!

Facilities are very clean. The staff are great. We book a site every year. The tent sites are large and well maintained.

Nice RV campground with alot of seasonal residents. Plenty of tent sites. On site general store with grill. Fishing and swimming on property along with a club house.

My daughter and I were traveling from Buffalo NY to Maine and I got too tired to drive. we tent camp. the owners were very nice and allowed us to tent, and set up at night, and it was a very nice stay, but it’s definitely not very private and setup for campers. my daughter loved the pool.

Clean facilities, super quick access to the beach, friendly staff, sites are pretty close together with little separation between each other. RV & tent sites available. Our family loves both the ocean & camping so it is a win-win!

Need to make reservations before 2pm!! This campground is nice and calm with a lot of space and bathrooms. There are water hookups at tent sites. Didn’t have any issues, just it is a little expensive for someone from out of state. We paid $54 because we are from Ohio

I was so impressed by how well the grounds were kept and how clean the bathrooms were. The tent sites were large which was great as we had two tents at ours. The park is very dog friendly for camping as well as hiking. The trails were very well marked and really conveniently close by to the campsites.

Will definitely be returning!

I've used it twice just as a stopover between the coast and a vacation in VT, both times coming in dusk and leaving after dawn, using a tent site to van camp. Chosen because I travel with dogs. Didn't check out facilities other than bathrooms (clean and convenient). LIke it very much for the kind of use I need.

I would probably nitpick stay at this park again. The site we had paid for was not given to us. The shower in the bathroom did not provide hot/warm water until the end of my shower, and then the water would not turn off. Also, the lady camping beside us was tent camping, and she literally smoked weed the whole time she was there. We have children, and while she was there, you couldn’t do anything outside without smelling it. Overall, not the best campground.

I stayed one night here to experience Salem during Halloween at a tent site. Positives are access to Salem, Uber and Lyft are available though scarcer as the night gets later (10:30 pm), it is also on the trolley line if you need transportation during their business hours, great view for sunrise. Negatives are there is no privacy at the sites, everything is very open, fires must be off the ground, and the bathrooms are old and may not be stocked.

This campground is beautiful, the tent sites are set up right on the water. Other than loosing power twice due to mother nature its been a pretty good stay. They have a special beach for your dog if you're a puppy owner like me this is one of the only campgrounds that is very pet friendly. They also have free DVD rentals for those rainy days and some games up by the office if you have kids its also a wonderful campground.

Not far from Boston, making this a nice escape but also a pretty crowded day use park and campground. Excellent hiking, beach, wildlife-filled wetlands, girding, geology, forests, and water to enjoy. Pretty serious trail up and around some mountains, to a fire tower, ponds. There are at least three campground areas, one of which is on an island and has tent sites along the water. If possible, reserve those to ensure the best spots (the sunrise!), but all of the campground sites are nice.

The sites are well spaced with very few amenities. All sites have non-potable water spigots. The sites are wooded and relatively level. There are multiple restrooms with showers, although we didn't use them. There are some RV sites with hookups but not many.

We stayed for 4 days in a large site that had about 5 hours worth of good solar access using portable panels so we could park in the shade. Not many sites have an open canopy for solar. There are plenty of good tent sites!

First of all, the location is a little quirky and I think I only arrived once without a wrong turn! Watch the GPS carefully. That said, it’s very close to Hampton Beach and you can easily drive or bike over. The campground is parallel to US1, so there is some road traffic noise. Some of the tent sites overlook the marsh. The tent sites are definitely tighter than trailer sites. Some sites back up to each other and it takes a moment to understand where one ends and the next begins. 

I was here early in the season and placed in a seasonal site with water/electric. Site was level. Neighbors were friendly. The bathroom was a short walk away and spotless. I did notice that in the tent areas, the main bathrooms are supplemented with portable toilets. Sites are mostly wooded, which will offer nice relief from the heat. It's a nice base for exploring the area.

There’s a gated entry and turtle-speed limit that they take seriously. The pool was not yet open. There’s a small store onsite for ice and essentials. All the big box stores and a number of restaurants are nearby. For a change of pace from seafood, I picked up Shane's Texas Pit BBQ and brought it back to my site. 

You may request a reservation online, but you have to confirm and pay for it via the phone. You’ll need to arrive before 9pm to check in. Bring $10 for a cash deposit on the gate card. Only 1 vehicle and 1 camping unit (tent or trailer) allowed on a site.

Downside: They charge for showers, the amount and duration is unclear and the duration varies depending on which shower you choose! Given the rates they charge, this seems petty.