The Dyrt – find campgrounds for tents, RVs, cabins, glamping and more.
Open in App

Best Tent Camping near South Weymouth, MA

611 Reviews

Coastal state parks and nature reserves within 30 miles of South Weymouth, Massachusetts offer tent camping options ranging from primitive walk-in sites to established tent campgrounds. Boston Harbor Islands State Park Campground in Hingham provides tent-only camping on several islands including Peddocks, Lovells, Grape, and Bumpkin, with sites operating from June through Labor Day weekend. Sandy Neck Beach Park Primitive Campsites on Cape Cod features backcountry tent camping with sites located 3-4 miles from the trailhead. Cape Ann Camp Site in Gloucester offers wooded tent campsites from May 15 to October 15, while Washburn Island Campsites in Waquoit Bay Reserve provides boat-access tent camping from mid-May through Columbus Day.

Most tent campgrounds in the region require advance planning and reservations. Boston Harbor Islands tent sites fill quickly, with reservations opening six months in advance. Campers must take ferries from either Long Wharf in Boston or Hingham to reach the island campsites. Sandy Neck's primitive tent sites are first-come, first-served and require a challenging hike through sand. Tent sites typically include fire rings or pits where permitted, and most have picnic tables. Facilities vary significantly, with some locations offering composting toilets while others have modern bathhouses with pay showers. Water availability differs by location, with many primitive sites requiring campers to bring their own drinking water or arrange for delivery.

Tent campers at Cape Ann report well-spaced sites surrounded by trees that provide good privacy. According to reviews, the tent sites offer more seclusion than the RV areas, with clean facilities including bathrooms and 25-cent showers. At Sandy Neck Beach Park, one camper noted that the primitive tent sites are "tucked away from the beach a bit into the brush which provides a nice relief from the wind." Boston Harbor Islands campers appreciate the opportunity to explore historic forts, rocky shorelines, and trails during the day, with ferry service allowing visits to multiple islands. Washburn Island receives praise for its quiet waterfront tent sites, with visitors reporting that shoulder season camping in May, September, and October offers less competition for sites and more solitude.

Map showing campgrounds near South Weymouth, MassachusettsExplore the Map

Best Tent Sites Near South Weymouth, Massachusetts (9)

Show More
Showing results 1-9 of 9 campgrounds

2025 Detourist Giveaway

Presented byToyota Trucks

Review Campgrounds. Win Prizes.

Enter to Win

South Weymouth Contest

Enter to Win

Recent Tent Camping Photos near South Weymouth, MA

23 Photos of 9 South Weymouth Campgrounds

Tent Camping Reviews near South Weymouth, MA

611 Reviews of 9 South Weymouth Campgrounds

  • Jean C.The Dyrt PRO User
    Mar. 2, 2021

    Fearing Pond Campground — Myles Standish State Forest

    Wooded sites near a pond

    There are 2 Fearing Pond loops at Myles Standish State Forest, the H & I loops. The H loop entrance is closer to the Charge Pond loops and is higher above pond. This loop is better suited to the larger trailers/tents with more space to drive around a loop , but some spots have slopes. The I loop's best feature is a small beach that is easily accessible from all sites. They've done a lot of site restoration and the fact that it didn't open in 2020 helped. In spite of that, many of the sites have awkward approaches and there is a large parking lot closer to the bathroom. There are no hookups, but there is a dump station available. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided.

    The forest has miles of biking trails, ponds for swimming, fishing, and boating, and even cranberry bogs to explore (though harvest is late in the camping season and this section is not open at that time).

    Cell phone coverage is poor to absent in the forest, so download maps for offline use prior to your arrival.

    Plymouth is nearby for a any forgotten provisions and for sightseeing. Erickson's ice cream cafe is near the entrance if you need a treat!

  • Jean C.The Dyrt PRO User
    Nov. 27, 2020

    Scusset Beach State Reservation

    Coastal campground open late in season

    Scusset Beach offers an extended camping season, although the extended season is restricted to self-contained units as the restrooms are turned off.  Also, there are only 5 designated tent sites during the peak season, so if you want to tent camp here, you'd best make a reservation well in advance.. You cannot reserve an RV site for a just a tent, though if you have a trailer, you may also have a tent on the site. The 5 tent sites have their own fire pits, but the RV sites must use a community fire pit, though in mid-November, just before the campground closed for the season, RVers used the firepit at a tent site that provided some additional protection from the wind.

    The RV sites have paved parking pads and picnic tables, but the area to the side of the parking pads sometimes slopes away, so it's less usable for chairs, etc.  In the 2020 camping season, every other campsite was closed (thus the picnic tables across the entrance of the parking pad). Some of the sites, 32 34, 36, are along the back of the campground closer to the trees/scrub, and so have some degree of privacy and protection as compared to the others in the wide open park.

    The campground is on the north shore of the Cape Code canal and provides access to a sandy beach, a jetty, and the Cape Cod Canal Trail for biking and walking. There's a nice playground for youth. You can fish from the shore or jetty, No need to cross the bridge to the Cape. Plymouth is also nearby to explore.

  • Our Greight Escape ..
    Oct. 27, 2020

    Bourne Scenic Park

    Wonderful campground!

    We stayed here for a season and loved it! The staff from the front desk to the front gate are incredibly friendly and welcoming!

    Pros-

    Front office is open late (9pm)

    Offers wood, ice, fire starters, hoses and adapter cap for gray water drain.

    Country Store

    Ice Cream

    Amazing views of the canal.

    Bike path along the canal, easy access.

    Lots of playgrounds for different ages

    Bounce pad (in-ground)

    Pool

    Stair access to canal bike path.

    Dump station

    Inexpensive to have visitors\

    Located near so much! Walmart, Market Basket, Target all within 15min.  

    Cons-

    No on site drainage for black water (grey takes an adapter). You will need a poop tote.

    Lots of tight spaces

    Anyone can pay to access canal, so they can access any campsite even without staying there. 

    Highway noise.

    BRIDGE TRAFFIC- if you know you know.

  • Ashlee L.
    Jul. 2, 2018

    North of Highland Camping Area

    Absolutely wonderful and quiet

    This is by far one of the best campgrounds I’ve stayed at so far. North of Highland Camping area definitely caters to tent campers – the roads are not big enough for large trailers or RVs, and they have no electric or sewage hookups anywhere in the park. This campground has been owned by the same family since the 1950s.

    We arrived around 10 am on a Saturday morning, and even though it was the weekend before July 4th, there were still several sites available for walk-ins (they have more than 250 sites). The desk clerk was one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, and extremely helpful – he walked us through picking the best site available by asking us what our preferences were (did we want to be near the restrooms, close to the beach path, what size tent did we have, etc). He even gave us tips on getting beach fire permits. The price for the site was reasonable for the area.

    The campground itself is gorgeous – it’s within the pine barren forest near Head of the Meadow beach, completely surrounded by Cape Cod National Seashore land. All of the sites are shaded, and they are decently sized with picnic tables. There is also a ½ mile walking path that leads directly to Head of the Meadow beach; if you go to the town beach side, walk-ins are free!

    There are several restrooms centrally located to the main camping loops, plus one building that houses the coin-op showers, the camp store, a rec hall, and even an adults-only quiet room w/ electronic charging stations. The restrooms were very clean and well maintained, and even had soap and paper towels, which is rare in campgrounds. Each restroom building also had outdoor showers for rinsing off.

    The owners are VERY strict on their quiet hours policy (1030pm – 730am), and they are very restrictive on some noises during the day as well – pets, motorcycles, and portable generators are not allowed in this campground at all. This is exactly the kind of camping experience I’m looking for, as I’ve had some bad experiences the last year or so with other campgrounds attracting loud partiers.

    Overall, this was one of my favorite camping experiences and I will definitely be back!

    Pros: Wonderfully helpful staff, reasonably priced, very quiet and relaxing, clean and well-maintained facilities, great location, beautiful.

    Cons: If I had to pick any cons, it would be that the roads throughout the campground are in kind of rough shape and could use more signage (a lot are one-way and sometimes hard to distinguish from campsite parking spots). I had no problem in my SUV, but it might be a little rougher driving on them in a compact car. Also, no fires are allowed in the campground itself due to fire restrictions, but you can easily get beach fire permits to have one on the beach. That’s all I can think of – this campground was great!

  • Migdalia G.
    May. 29, 2019

    Lorraine Park Campground — Harold Parker State Forest

    Nice Wooded Campground in Awesome Area

    We stayed at Harold Parker State Forest Campground during Memorial Day Weekend. Reservation through Reserve America was a breeze. Check in till 9:00 pm was convenient. Checkout by 11:00 am but we paid for an additional night to be able to leave at night the day we checked out. Totally worth it!

    Nice large campsites. The sites’ privacy is very diverse. You could be tucked away from everyone or closer together depending on the site you choose but they are all pretty decent in size. All sites have water which is a plus. All have a fire pit/box, charcoal bbq and a picnic table. Most of them are drive in. 

    Quiet hours from 10 am to 7 am. No alcohol allowed (although I didn’t see an actual enforcement of this rule and guess it’ll happen only if people act out). Rangers are constantly patrolling. Felt pretty safe at night. You can’t bring wood. Bundles are $5 each and it burns really well. 

    Lots of biking/hiking/walking trails, a nice small pond/beach, boat access, a few basketball courts, a volleyball court and a common huge fire pit added to the fun. A ranger ran a program to teach about the area fauna which was pretty interesting for kids and adults alike. 

    Bathrooms were fairly clean although small and showers were free! Some sites were right in front of a lovely pond and there were many group sites available as well. 

    The location is pretty good. Salem, Andover, Boston Are accesible while staying here. Close proximity to Richardson Ice Cream which you CANT miss if you decide to stay.  They have cheap but amazing ice cream, mini golf and battling cages which was entertaining for my whole crew. 

    It rained a lot during one night of our stay and the site (301) did not flooded at all. All sites seemed in pretty good shape the morning after as well. 

    Beautiful and will recommend to families with small kids, groups and couples too.

  • d
    Aug. 19, 2025

    Cape Ann Camp Site

    25 cents for a shower

    The aerial photos of this place are very deceiving. This camp ground is the foreground of the main house which, is situated on the top of the hill. The sites are all dirt. There is no concrete pads. There is no WIFI. There is no sewer hook up however, near the street there is a "dump station."  The camp ground is run down and unmaintained. Our site had a fire ring which, was filled with ash. Our first night we woke up to a trailer filled with smoke because, someone near by had a fire in 92 degree heat. Most campers are full time residents. There is no sight of them during the day light hours but, at night they are up and about on bikes and mingling with each other. 

    25 cents per 5 minute hot shower is offered in the public restroom. Some shady people immediate started to hover near the public restroom once we drove up the hill to use the public restrooms. For $70/nite for a view it's not worth it. I was glad to leave- very creepy.

  • Sable W.
    May. 16, 2018

    Lorraine Park Campground — Harold Parker State Forest

    Spacious, Quiet, Clean and Conveniently Located

    Five friends and I decided to compete in Questival, which came to Boston for May 11-12, 2018. There aren't many campgrounds open in Massachusetts this early in the season, but Harold Parker State Forest was! I snagged a group campsite since we'd have four tents. We had to set up after dark, so we wound up congregating in one corner of the group site. When we woke up we could see just how HUGE the group site was! We had 4 two-person tents; you could easily fit 3x that number of tents. PLENTY of flat ground to set up on, and we were far enough back from the road that we never heard or saw other campers arriving, even though we know most other Questival competitors stayed at this campground. It was about a 5 minute walk to the bathrooms and showers, and potable water was available right on the site. Even though it was early in the season and not very leafy, we could only occasionally see our neighbors' headlamps. There were 4 or 5 fire pits, 5 large picnic tables, and 3 driveways that could fit two cars each. Great value for the cost! We were pleased with the privacy, space, cleanliness, and amenities.

  • Jean C.The Dyrt PRO User
    Mar. 2, 2021

    Barretts Pond Campground — Myles Standish State Forest

    Small campground near a small pond at Myles Standish

    This campsite loop at Myles Standish State Forest is closest to the headquarters and borders a small pond with beach. In addition to tent/RV sites, there are 3 yurts available with bunks. Sites that appear to be near the pond are pond view rather than pondside. Approaches to Yurt JC and J5, J 26, J27 are sloped. J14 is a little awkward. J33 is probably among the largest and nicest with a pond view. The sites aren't as large as those in the Charge Pond loops, but it's a smaller campground.

    The loop has flush toilets and showers. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided. Cell phone coverage throughout the forest is poor to absent; download maps for offline use if you want to be sure to know where you are or find directions. There are miles of bike trails and ponds for fishing, swimming, and boating. There's a larger beach and picnic area at College Pond.

  • Anna C.
    Jun. 11, 2019

    Sandy Neck Beach Park Primitive Campsites

    Backcountry Camping at Cape Cod

    This is a really cool option for those interested in visiting Cape Cod and also backpacking. The park has 5 dispersed sites located 3-4 miles from the trailhead with picnic tables and an outhouse. The hike in to the sites can be particularly difficult because it requires trekking through sand without any sun coverage and with all of your gear. It’s also a bit of a gamble because the sites are not reservable ahead of time. In order to secure a spot, you must show up at the park headquarters where sites are handed out on a first come first served basis. A nice amenity is that the park staff will send someone to the sites to deliver 5 gallons of water for free as well as firewood for a small fee so you don’t have to carry those resources. The sites are tucked away from the beach a bit into the brush which provides a nice relief from the wind. Fires are permitted at the beach and I was lucky to witness a really beautiful beach sunset. I did not encounter too many bugs during my time of visit but I’ve been warned that it can get quite buggy in mid to late summer. Overall, this is a 5 star primitive spot for me because it’s secluded, requires a bit of leg work and has a great view.

Guide to South Weymouth

Tent camping near South Weymouth, Massachusetts offers coastal and woodland options with varied hiking conditions. Most sites require a 3-4 mile trek through sand, forest paths, or boat access. Summer temperatures average 75-85°F during day and 60-65°F at night, with frequent coastal breezes that can cool evening temperatures significantly.

What to do

Explore historic forts: Boston Harbor Islands State Park Campground provides access to military fortifications. "The island is beautiful and has an old fort to explore as well as a lot of Rocky shoreline and trails. You can build bon fires and see gorgeous sunsets," notes a camper at Boston Harbor Islands State Park Campground.

Island hopping: Ferry services connect multiple camping islands. "During the day you can take small ferries to a variety of other islands to go swimming or explore. This is a great adventure for kids," shares a visitor who stayed in the yurts at Boston Harbor Islands.

Beach swimming: Sandy Neck Beach Park offers ocean access with varying tides. "Beach down the street was big, beautiful and low tide was unexpected as you could walk for ever," reports a camper who visited Cape Ann Camp Site.

Wildlife viewing: Watch for local animals in their natural habitats. "Very nice folks, great sites with A LOT of space between them. Spectacular views and wild turkeys, deer, etc.," reports one Cape Ann camper.

What campers like

Seclusion from crowds: Island camping provides isolation even in busy seasons. "Small island with 10 camp site (one group) all with views of the water very quiet at night. Fire pits at each site with wood on sale at the ranger hut," notes a visitor to Washburn Island Campsites.

Wooded tent areas: Many sites offer tree coverage for shade and privacy. "The tent sites are nice and wooded. All size RVs and tents are welcome," explains a camper at Cape Ann Camp Site. Another mentions, "We had a nice perfectly level site in a beautiful wooded area."

Seasonal camping benefits: Shoulder seasons offer increased availability. "Campsites can be reserved 6 months in advance so it is tough to get one during the summer months but great camping in May, September, and October as well," says a Washburn Island visitor who found most sites empty during late May.

Boulder features: Natural rock formations add character to some sites. "The camp ground is full of beautiful boulders and fire pits. We were tent camping and were very happy with our site," reports a Cape Ann camper.

What you should know

Water availability: Bring your own or arrange delivery at primitive sites. "If you want to grill, bring your own charcoal, otherwise bring a stove or bring food that doesn't need to be cooked. You may scavenge wood to build fires below the high tide line only," advises a visitor to Boston Harbor Islands State Park Campground.

Toilet facilities: Options range from composting to none. "1 composting toilet," notes a Washburn Island camper, while Boston Harbor Islands has "a composting toilet and water from a tap nearby."

Pay showers: Many facilities require quarters. "Showers require payment with quarters. I don't know how many quarters it takes because I don't carry change. So I washed my hair in the sink," explains a Cape Ann camper.

Reservation timelines: Book well ahead for summer dates. "These sites book quickly, so you should try to book 7 months to the day in advance. That said, you can also look for last minute openings," advises a Boston Harbor Islands visitor.

Tips for camping with families

Educational opportunities: Select sites with environmental programs. "We went camping here with our SpiralScout Circle, kids aged 4-8. The group site is super close to parking and yet the terrain is rugged enough that it always felt like we were really in the woods," shares a visitor at Camp Nihan Education Center.

Nearby swimming options: Look for guarded beaches. "The camp is also adjacent to Breakheart Reservation, which had a great shallow pond with life guard on duty as well as bike trails and a range of different hikes," mentions a Camp Nihan camper.

Transport challenges: Pack light when ferry access is required. "Pack as lightly as possible and plan to carry or wheel it to your site. If you have a folding wagon, you may appreciate having it to carry items on and off the ferry and to your site," advises a Boston Harbor Islands camper.

Junior Ranger programs: National Park Service activities engage children. "While you're out on the islands, take time to explore one of the others...earn a Junior Ranger badge from the National Park Service, fly a kite, or go for a swim or kayak," suggests a Boston Harbor Islands visitor.

Tips from RVers

Self-contained requirements: Some beaches require onboard facilities. "You need a sandy neck ORV pass and a self contained camper (toilet) to camp here, but it's very worth it," explains a visitor at Sandy Neck Beach Park Primitive Campsites.

Pad conditions: Most campgrounds have natural surfaces. "The sites are all dirt. There is no concrete pads," notes a Cape Ann camper.

Wind protection: Position RVs strategically in coastal locations. "Right on the water, relaxing and sunny most of the time! Campfires allowed at night, and pets are allowed," shares a Sandy Neck camper who also noted one visit was "great weather but VERY windy."

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near South Weymouth, MA?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near South Weymouth, MA is Boston Harbor Islands State Park Campground with a 4-star rating from 8 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near South Weymouth, MA?

TheDyrt.com has all 9 tent camping locations near South Weymouth, MA, with real photos and reviews from campers.

Keep Exploring