Best Tent Camping near West Yellowstone, MT

This review is specific to tent camping which I don’t think is the focus of KOA locations.

For the good, the facilities we super clean and there were personal shower/bathroom rooms for use. The shower was great after a week of car camping.

The camp store had the basic and was convenient.

The location was very close to West Yellowstone and the west part of the park.

However, the tent camping left something to be desired. Our loop was around the back of the campground, with the basics of a fire ring and picnic table, it there was no tent pad and the ground was generally pretty sloped.

The tent sites overall were sort of fit into extra spaces and had little privacy.

This campground is just minutes away from West Yellowstone and the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. the camp was clean and well maintained. A great recommendation if your visiting Yellowstone National Park.

We stayed a week here, beautiful views and quiet. Our site was close to level and paved, 50amp,no sewer,shared water. Had some storms and high winds. Trash pick up daily at your site. There is a boat ramp and docks. Bath house looked good we did not use the showers. There is no dump station here. The park is about 15 miles from West Yellowstone. We enjoyed our stay.

LOUD campground with no help to quiet folks down. This is a largely tent campground and drunks until 2am can really mess up a trip. The tent site we had was right out in the hot sun with no shade or privacy. Ask for the wooded areas! It was a wonderful location with lots of wildlife and very clean! A bull elk tried to eat our clothes which was funny. A Bison stayed behind our tent the entire time too. The showers are not too far and very clean.

There is great boon docking outside of the organized campground area.  Follow your GPS to 44°35'52"N x 111°25'18"W.  At ~6,500 feet, the views of Lake Henry are amazing.  There are 15-20 spots suitable for RV's (of any length) plus campsites.  It's a great location, only about 20-30 minutes from West Yellowstone and the entrance to the national park.  We could have stayed here for days!  

5-bar coverage on Verizon.

Camping on the banks on the banks of the Warm River, which actually is quite cold, can’t get much better than this! There are several options here- tent camping in a tent only walk in area along the river banks and under some pretty good hammocking trees (best sites are #12, 13, 16, and 8 because they have some space from neighbors and are right on the river); RV sites with what looks like at least electric hook ups (best sites for river views and/or privacy are #2, 4, 6, 19); from what neighbors say is pretty good fishing; and an awesome alternative to camping at Mesa Falls if that campground is full. Walk down the road and cross the river to check out a protected area of the river where the fish are HUGE and you can stand with your toes in the river while you feed them bits of bread. The sites all have the usual picnic tables and firepits, with nice level tent pads, clean vault toilets, and firewood for sale from the campground host. The only two downsides are no showers and the campground is wedged between the road and the river, so there is quite a bit of road noise in the day which fortunately dies down once dark sets in. At that point the river covers the road noise (also helpful in the morning). The campground is close to a lot of hiking trails, but there are no trailheads in the campground (so I guess that makes three bummers). All in all, a cool place to camp.

Visited here June of 2019. It was first time in Yellowstone, so we didn’t know what to expect. This campsite has mixed RV and tent camping. The only downside is that campsites are very close together and some of the tent camp sites do flood (1”-4” of water) during rain as we saw during our visit. So if you are tent camping, check out your site carefully. Camp office staff was very friendly. The camp office sells firewood. There is a RV dump station at the marina across the street. The marina also sells fishing licenses and does kayak inspections (you have to have a sticker to use kayaks in Yellowstone waters). Big bison roam the campground as do an occasional bear, so use of the provided bear boxes and keeping your camp clean is highly recommended. Nice campground. Very crowded during summer.

The first clue of how large this campground is, is during check in. A whole row of agent's are checking campers in. Once you enter your loop however things become quiet. I stayed in a tent camping loop, where almost all campers were sleeping in their vehicles like me. The problem is, tent sites have on-loop parking, there is no driveway, so it was literally a string of parallel parked rigs on both sides of the road, and the road was sloped. Each site had a private bear locker for personal storage. Bathrooms have nice, enclosed large kitchen sink for meal clean up to prevent bear attracting smells at your site. This is a high altitude camp and was very cold (high 20s) at night. Great base for explaining Canyon country and Hayden Valley. Nearby lodge, shopping and groceries.

Cabin Creek Campground is a nice small pleasant 16 site campground sitting in a mature pine and Douglas Fir forest.  The site is 22 miles from West Yellowstone and the park.  Campground is right next to the highway which makes for some road noise, but it settles down at night.  Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring.  Campground has a vault toilet and water, trash service and recycling is available.  Sites are nice and roomy with plenty of flat ground for your tent.  One site is Accessible. If you want to go hiking, the 6 mile Cabin Creek Trail begins at the campground.

This campground is in the Earthquake lake geologic area.  The area was forever changed by the 1959, 7.5 magnitude earthquake.  Earthquake Scarp Interpretive Area is located just adjacent to campground.  You can learn more about the earthquake by stopping at the interpretive sites along the highway or checking out Earthquake Lake Visitor Center which is 5 miles down the highway

There is great boon docking by Lake Henry.  Follow your GPS to 44°36'52"N x 111°25'18"W.  With space for 15-20 campsites suitable for RV's (of any length) or tent camping, you'll be treated to epic views.  Ample fishing, natures walks, sitting on the (rocky) beach, or staging for Yellowstone (it's a short 20-30 min drive to West Yellowstone), the location and views are epic.  Good coverage, with 5-bars (boosted) on Verizon.  We'll be back!

Just outside the west entrance of Yellowstone, the campsite was pretty awesome with the walk in reservation we made. We wanted to snag a campsite inside the park but it was full. We came across a few tent sites just around West Yellowstone, with rain in the forecast and a long tiring drive, we drove past KOA and made a quick u-turn. They had tent availability, free showers and laundry facilities that we desperately needed.

The site itself was close to restrooms and was a small but cute layout, however, the dirt was too soft for gusty winds, we were right under a street lamp and we were so close to the entrance that we could hear all conversations and cars that drove in and out of the park.

The showers and restrooms were nice and clean. A little pricy for what we would usually pay for a no hookup tent site but at the end it gave us exactly what we needed.

First of all do not expect any internet connection.

After that enjoy good sites, clean bathrooms, and excellent fire pits.

This campground is 14 miles from West Yellowstone-- or "West". Generally in the park you will double the mileage given for time of travel. So, 14 miles away from West means it will take you 30 minutes unless there is a bison jam, etc.

Once you arrive (and if you think of it while making a reservation) you can request a loop. Tent campers prefer the G & H loops while RV people gather in the others. It's worth trying to state a preference. The H loop is nearest the Madison River. Both G & H are largely shaded although this is not true for 292, 272, 273, 274. 

276-286 are best in G loop. There really are no bad sites in Loops G & H other than the four above.

For the past decade I have camped in Madison each June.

Wildlife tip: If you want to see wildlife in YNP visit the park in late May to mid June--- otherwise the mammals go up into the high country for the hot days of summer and effectively vanish for most visitors. In the Lamar Valley they'll stay through June.

Located about 25 minutes from West Yellowstone off of HWY 20, this campground is a great jumping off point to explore Yellowstone park.  There are other campsites including a couple KOAs located closer, but they're busier with campsites closer together and fewer trees and minimal shade.  This is set back far enough from the highway that it's very quiet with ample space between campsites.  Some sites have electrical hookups.  Ours didn't but the weather was perfect and we didn't need AC at all.

We did have a campers nearby who showed up the last two days of our 5 days full of boys who were a bit noisy early in the morning (before 730a), but we didn't really mind.  There was a spigot to fill our water tanks in the loop we stayed, but we filled up from the area host who has a hose for that purpose before we wen to the site.  Due to the location in the loop, you have to go all the way around the loop before you get to the spigot, so it was good we filled up before we went to the loop.

Very large KOA. Had a tent site next to the creek/pond. Very quiet at night. Check in was a breeze. Camp store appeared to be well stocked. Bathrooms were spotless, large and well appointed. Showers are not on a timer. Note there are 2 KOAs in West Yellowstone. They're only a couple of minutes apart but your navigation may lead you to the wrong one. "Mountainside" is the one you're looking for.

This campground is about 10-15 minutes from the west entrance of the national park. Once you enter the park you still have a ways to travel before you reach the junction for the ring road. So it's better to stay at a campsite in the park if you want to maximize your time for sightseeing. The KOA could be used as a home base for visiting the national park but it will entail a lot of driving. This campground is best as an overnight before entering the park, or as a base to explore the town of West Yellowstone and it's attractions, or to partake of the countless activities in the Targhee National forest.

My daughter(5) and I are tenters. We love the KOA campsites for their amenities and generally above primitive camping features. This KOA at Mountainside does not have a lot of Kids stuff to do like a lot of other places. Of course all my reviews will hold the buildings KOA as the standard bear for camping with kids. But getting back to Mountainside, it only has a playground, but the staff is really really good. We were in tent site number one which they said was unlevel, but it was fine. It backed right up to the stream that gave an incredible calming sound all night long. There were two fire pits and electrical. It is spread out, lots of tent spaces, the bathroom facilities were excellent. 

 The store was well stocked, and not overly priced. They have a pizza place that I have heard was excellent, but we did not try it.

I continue to be impressed with the KOA experience (with the exception of the West Yellowstone KOA). 

Madison Campground is a huge campground with 278 site, needless to say you will not be camping alone here, or with much privacy. The campground is set amongst lodge pole pines. While this is a large campground the sites are decently sized and not right on top of each other, but close. We had a quiet stay, but with the size of this campground your odds of that one loud group or family being near will be quiet high. Allow yourself plenty of time to check-in, as the process will be quite slow if numerous campers show up at the same time. The campground appears to have two heated restrooms per loop, with a dish washing station at them. You will not have to throw out much trash during your visit, the campground has a large recycling area, including compost. You can recycle type 1& 2 plastic, cardboard, aluminum& steel cans, glass bottles and camp stove fuel bottles. The campground roads are all paved as are the parking pads. Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. Bear food lockers are located through out the campground, but you might need to share with fellow campers as each site does not have their own. Of the 278 site, 62 are tent only and there are 3 group sites. Cost to camp is$28 per night. The price is a little steep, but this campground has the advantage of being fairly centrally located to most of the top attractions in the park, plus you are only 15 miles away from West Yellowstone where you can stock up on everything you might need.

Nice campground right on a lake and close to the west entrance to Yellowstone Smallish state park (44 sites plus several cabins) right on Henry’s Lake. Located 16 miles from West Yellowstone, MT (and the west entrance to Yellowstone NP), it is a nice quiet place to camp but with easy access to the park. We camped here for three nights and our site (35) had a view of the water but in my opinion, Site 33 is the best as you have an unobstructed view of the lake. We reserved our site in March for July and are glad we did as the campground was full. Sites are either electric and water or electric with access to water. The bath/shower house in the Blue Dun Loop was new and immaculate (I dropped my soap in the shower and had no qualms about picking it up and using!) However, they are still working out the kinks and there was a sign warning that there may not be hot water; I had one hot shower and one cold one! I saw single kayaks near the dock which I assume were available for rentals although we did not inquire further. I highly recommend a day trip to Upper Mesa Falls (your camping tag will give you access with no additional fee) and/or Earthquake Lake. We did both in one day. Lots of families with kids and apart from the rude campers next to us who arrived at 1:00 am running their diesel engine for 45 minutes while they set up, it was very quiet after dark. I would give this campground 5 stars except for lack of privacy between sites and not a lot of shade and it was HOT in July.