Best Glamping near Amherst, NH

Tucked away in what feels like the middle of nowhere New Hampshire is it's largest state park. Bear Brook is full of trails, ponds and a fairly large campground. This extremely family-friendly campground comes equip with trails, play structures, camp store, beach, and even a small baseball diamond. The sites are fairly large and if you need some privacy, reserve site 12. There is a great trail that is around Beaver Pond, roughly 2-3 miles with plenty of opportunities for dogs to swim, yeah for dog friendly! This campground is beautiful, quiet in places and has everything you need for a great weekend away!

My first time experiencing a park in the New Hampshire Park system. We went down with a group. Pawtuckaway State Park offers a variety of landscapes, with something to do and see for everyone. The park includes a large family beach on the lake. There are many opportunities for hiking, with trails leading to many special points of interest, including a mountaintop fire tower; an extensive marsh where beavers, deer, and great blue herons may be seen.

The park lines the shore of beautiful Pawtuckaway Lake.  The 192 sites are wooded and many provide views of the lake.  Each campsite has an open fire ring, picnic table, flat areas for a tent, and a parking space. The bathhouses are equipped with running water, flush toilets, and 24 hour showers.  There are no hook-ups at any of the campsites. The park also has a camp store where canoe and kayaks are available, as well as a plublic canoe and kayak launch. Five cabins are available; each sleeps six people, has electricity, and includes a fire ring and picnic table. Pets are not allowed in the campground or beach area of the park.

This small state forest campground in north/central Massachusetts is just up the hill from Damon Pond. I suggest downloading maps before you head out because cell service is iffy in the area.  

Sites are largely level, around a small, bisected loop with towering pines. Most of the sites are best suited to tents and small trailers (think teardrops and pop-ups), but a couple of sites can accommodate slightly larger units. They are level and there's not a lot of brush between sites, so not much privacy either. I liked site 3 for a bit more privacy ; it's also one of the 3 sites designated for an RV. Site 11 is larger and can accommodate a larger unit.

There is a large yurt suitable for 10 people. The yurt does offer electricity, but there are no hookups nor a dump station at the campground. There are flush toilets, but no showers. The small bathroom was under renovation autumn 2020. There is a dishwashing sink. 

There are hiking trails in the area and, of course, swimming at the small pond. A nearby roadside waterfall offers another picnic area opportunity. For a longer hike, you can hike to and from Pearl Lake State Park. Fishing, mountain biking, and geocaching are other activities available. There's a parking lot closer to the beach or it's an easy walk from the campground.

If you are from out of state, check fees carefully. In 2020 MA increased fees significantly in light of the pandemic. Prices are steep for what you get if you are out of state.

Lovely wooded campground where you can swim, hike, kayak, bike, canoe, fish, boulder, geocache and explore to your heart's content. Generally large and level sites, many with water access, Make your reservation well in advance if you're planning to visit during peak season or if you want a prime waterfront site. Sites on Horse Island will cost you $5 more than those on Big Island, but many of the sites are directly on the water, making it easy to slip your boat into the lake from your site. There's a campers only boat launch on Horse Island. Much of the lake is better suited to paddle craft rather than motor boats due to it's shallow nature and rocks. The an expansive beach as well, a camp store and boat rentals.

I've had a weekend when my neighbors were playing loud music all afternoon and stumbled drunk through my campsite after dark and other weekends when it was hard to tell there was anyone around.

Driving around this past weekend I did notice that some of the sites had damp spots; site 71 was the worst with deep mud on the long approach. Site 73 is near the bath house, but it has a long approach that provides a little privacy and it's higher than the surrounding sites with water access. Sites in the 3-15 range are waterfront, but they're higher off the water. Site 43-45 are great. Those along the southern edge of Horse Island offer a more level entry. Roads are narrow and many of the site entrances are narrow with rock/tree obstructions in places that may make backing in more of a challenge to thsoe with trailers or RVs. No hookups.

The bath houses are tired, but they offer free showers. Would love to see them renovated and brightened up. Big Island also has cabins available. Phone coverage is poor (Verizon); can usually get texts out. If you want to geocache, download the info for offline use!

If you are used to camping with pets, you'll need to visit outside of peak season as they are not allowed in the campground Memorial Day to Columbus Day and never on the beach.

It has a longer season than many campgrounds in New Hampshire, running to the end of October, and you can generally get a site last minute if you're waiting on the weather and don't need/want a water site. Its proximity to Boston makes it great for a quick getaway.

The HanscomField Fam Camp is a wooded recreational camp for military families and retirees, as well as for RV camping for active duty military on temporary orders. The campground offers RV sites, some with hookups, as well as more walk-in secluded tent sites as well as one yurt tent. The campground is peaceful and quiet, although adjacent to a very busy AFB. Proximity to the base provides access to the base exchange and other facilities, but the quiet location is a recreational retreat centered around several indoor and outdoor gathering spaces such as basketball and outdoor sports, and an indoor game and recreation room complete with crafts supplies for the kiddos and tourism info for the lical area. In the immediate vicinity are the villages of Lexington and Concord as well as the Minute Man National Park and Walden Pond, so the campground makes a great basecamp for exploration of the area’s rich culture and history. You are also not too far from Cambridge, and can easily access Boston from there if you like.

There are several clean modern bath houses, with hot showers and flush toilets. The office staff is very helpful and friendly!

Dogs are welcome too.

Pros: The campground itself is well kept up with, store was great, has plenty of room at the pool, bathrooms are in tip-top shape with free hot showers, Friendly staff & reasonably priced little cafe with decent breakfast ✔️ Cons: The campsite itself was squished in between two other sites so closely that we could hear others in their tent whispering during quiet hours, lol, no trees in between sites whatsoever where we were. You have to pay per device for internet. There were a lot of dogs barking, like a lot, all day off & on and all throughout the night, off and on. Pro & Con: the camper right across from our site @ midnight got into a screaming match with security and he was belligerent, woke my family & lots of other campers up. It took a long time to get back to sleep because he was slamming stuff around on his site & a lot of different dogs, i think including his own, were barking at him. I’m a runner that gets up at sunrise usually every morning. I was disappointed about being so tired the next day. I went to a manager following my morning run & he said they were asked to leave and they will be leaving prior to check out time that day. Manager apologized & asked that we don’t leave. He was very polite & accomodating. Saturday night was MUCH quieter. We poked around the whole campground and found a couple other sites that were a little more spaced out. We will definitely give it another shot next summer.

Love the facilities. Clean, well maintained, private bathrooms/showers. Store is best I have ever seen. Well stocked with everything you could need. Stayed in cabin and tented, as well. Only negative is that there transient RV sites seem crowded, and many are out in open area. I prefer trees, but this wont keep us away from trying out RV sites this year.

Our kids enjoy coming up and spending time with their camp friends. It’s very peaceful up here and I find that it is very much my happy place. The views outside our camper window is amazing. We’re surrounding be trees and it’s breathtaking when surrounded by freshly fallen snow. I’m recovering from surgery for thyroid cancer and it’s definately helped my mood and healing. Something about nature.

My first review. It’s more just a stream of thoughts from checking in to our departure:

First impression: easy to find, check in was easy. Keycard access to get on site (hand it in when checking out. Don’t use the drop box. $50 lost fee). Store is well supplied. (Marked up obviously) Ice is $2.50

Owners and many on site openly displaying many pro-trump/“LGB” signs.

Our site was down at the bottom of the hill near Daniel’s Lake. Site was rocky and sandy. We were basically in a space cut out next to the road and felt pretty exposed. Neighbors are all around and the campground fills up during the weekend. During the week it’s pretty quiet.

Pool was nice when it wasn’t too crowded. Noise isn’t too bad. They do plan and host activities and events for the weekends.

We stayed a week. I don’t know if I would go back because I know there are campgrounds that I prefer over this one. The bugs, the sandy rocky side of the road site, crowded political environment isn’t what I look for and would probably pass and go elsewhere. My preference.

The bathhouses are probably the best maintained of any campground I’ve stayed at. They’re cleaned multiple time a day.

There were a bunch of families and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. So I guess if you enjoy that type of campground, this one is for you!