Best RV Parks & Resorts near Portsmouth, NH

We stayed here for a week, our site was large with full hookups and the area was very clean, some sites in other sections are closer together. There are lots of seasonal campers so if you don’t like that atmosphere this is probably not the place for you. It’s a great base for sightseeing. This is a Thousand Trails Campground and we have had a wide range of experiences with these campgrounds. This is one of the nicer ones.

We have stayed at Bayley's a lot over the years and have watched it grow into an RV Resort. 

If you're looking for all the bells and whistles, full amenities and location to town this is it. I saw a few other reviews noting the noise levels, I think this comes with the territory of staying at an RV Resort. It is family friendly, kids ride their bikes around the campground and you can hear your neighbors. 

Depending on your site location you may get more privacy than if you stay in the big rig sites. The wooded sites tend to be more private and less loud. Staying by any of the pools will be louder. The adults only area can get loud in the summer with music during the day. 

We stay on the event weekends, rent a golf cart and sit in the hot tubs for the duration of our stay and it couldn't be better.

Lots of good things to say about the campground. Slow river runs by the property, big pine trees throughout, store with reasonable prices, electric and water at all the sites we saw plus for those that want it, sewer hookups. It is also only a mile from the highway. We were happy to find it and it was the other reviewed that convinced us that this was a nice stopping point on the way to Acadia NP. Owner was great, showed us our campground and ready bacon for our slot. This campground also supports long term camping and those trailers seem to be mostly in the center area. We didn't use the shirts as our trailer is self contained, but we did walk into the bathrooms and they were spotless. There are kids games and a putt-putt course.

More of a festival than an RV resort. Extremely crowded, close sites, and heavy car traffic in walking and bike areas. Sun night was way quieter than Fri and Sat night. Park has great amenities, and well run but just be prepared for large groups, loud music and managed chaos. Not big rig friendly not overnight friendly. Trolley access to the beach area was great and people are friendly. Safe travels.

We visited Cozy Pond for the first time a few weeks ago. Nice-sized wooded sites. Quiet. Nice pool. Full hook-ups. Adult bingo and hay rides. We liked it so much we are going back again this weekend!

I only stayed one night because I couldn’t find a spot anywhere close to 95 . The campground is huge and the spaces are very tight ,not to mention $148 for a full hook up pull thru site that my 42 ft 5w barley fit. I would not go back .

We've stayed at Tidewater a number of times including short stays as we were looking for a house in the area. The short version of this review is that it is a very, very nice campground and we strongly recommend it. 

It's hard to believe that this has been in business as long as it has. I grew up spending summers at a campground in Maine that is just about as old. I've gone back there a couple of times to revisit old memories. What a mistake. That place has not aged well. On the other hand Tidewater is almost immaculate: Clean bathrooms, very well maintained grounds, nice pool and more. There's always someone working to keep things in great condition. 

Maybe my favorite part of Tidewater is Theresa, the owner and manager. She's friendly, helpful and very easy to work with. She even remembers me when I come in after months away. 

On the other hand...: Maybe you'd better find some other place to stay if you don't like rules. You know-- the kind of rules that basically remind you not to be a selfish jerk. No dogs, because so many people don't seem to care about bothering neighbors when their dog barks. A very strict(and slow) speed limit throughout the campground, to try and keep kids from getting run over. If you like to get drunk and noisy, again I'd urge you to go somewhere else. We've stayed at countless(literally; I have no idea) campgrounds and RV parks all across the country. The parks with firm, fair rules-- like Tidewater-- are so much more enjoyable than the parks that are poorly run, and where the management clearly just cares about renting every site, no matter how people behave. 

So look at the rules on the Tidewater site. To me they seem logical and reasonable. But I've seen negative reviews by people who feel they can do whatever they please, no matter how it affects those around them. I don't know about you, but to me that's pretty annoying. 

By the way, I've seen reviews claiming that there are a lot of permanent residents here.  I haven't seen that.  There are certainly a number of units that have been there for years, but as far as I know they're seasonal visitors who just like the place.  This is definitely Nothing like a trailer park, which is what the "permanent resident" description sounds like.

Tidewater is in a great location, just off a major highway but far enough away so you don't hear anything. Very close to Hampton and Hampton Beach, and almost as close to Portsmouth. Read between the lines of the negative reviews. And keep in mind that Good Sam rates Tidewater highly. It's a great place to stay.

The camping is a large open area (no shade) with RVs lined up. There are full hook-ups and if you plan to only use the bathroom and shower in your RV it is likely fine. The showers are horrific. There are two different shower rooms, with two showers each. While we were there one whole room was labeled “out of order”. In the other, only one of the coin operated showers was working. So, only one shower for the entire campground. The shower area was FILLED with with bugs and spiders. We unfortunately had to kill one spider that was dangling from the ceiling into the shower we were trying to use. The kids screamed the whole time.

The lake water was deemed to high in bacteria to swim in while we were there, but the natives were swimming anyway, so we did too. The beach was nice and if it wasn’t for the bacteria concern we’d have enjoyed it even more. (Bacteria is why we didn’t skip the shower.)

The view was gorgeous.

Great seasonal RV park with enough tent sites to satisfy demand. Steps from Short Sands Beach and within ear-shot of the animals in York’s Wild Kingdom. Truly a unique experience.

The owner is nice and helpful, but this is not an rv park, it is a parking lot of rvs, we are so close together that we can hear (feel) the children playing in the camper next to us. Wit appears that this caters to contract workers that choose an rv versus hotel or apartment. In order to get into a spot, cars must move as there is no place to put a car except in front and many here have two,

We chose this campground because it was close to Portland– a city where we love hanging out at great breweries, shopping, and eating at some of the country’s best restaurants. The close proximity to Portland is one of the pluses of this campground. But, it turned out we weren’t crazy about this campground and probably would not be back. 

Campsites for transients and big-rig sites are in the front portion of the park; whereas, the seasonals are along the spring/pond in the back section. There are tons of site types to choose from depending on your amperage, sewer, and cable needs. Our site was a back-in full hook-up, 50-amp site that was o.k. It was level and long enough to fit our 45’ RV. The pad was gravel and the patio was grass with a firepit and picnic table. The utilities were in the far back of the site so make sure you have long enough hoses. Since we hung over the back of our site and our wet and electric bays are towards the back of our RV, we were able to reach the utilities without extensions. 

As the name implies, there is a spring on the property which is fairly large and open to paddling (no motorized boats) and swimming. There are lots of rules about where you can swim (i.e., only within 75 feet of the shore, no swimming to island, no dogs, no diving offshore, etc.). You can fish in the pond (catch and release only). Visitor fees seemed quite high at $8/day use and $15/overnight but I’m sure it helps keep the number of people down. 

Amenities include volleyball/basketball/pickle ball, a swim beach, playground, recreation hall, snack bar, horseshoes, a community bonfire area, and dog run. There is no charge to borrow sporting equipment which is nice (volleyballs, basketballs, etc). The store sells camping supplies, ice, groceries, ice cream, and t-shirts. There is a pretty active events calendar (of which we did not participate) with games (cards, bingo, etc.), themed weekends, and entertainment. 

Overall, the campground has an old, run-down appearance and a dusty dirty feel to it. The seasonal sites are pretty junky with lots of stuff spread out around each camper. I was really glad we were in a transient site away from the seasonals because it was a little quieter as a lot of the seasonals were outside playing loud music and got a little rowdy. We love the Portland area and will return but not to this campground– there are plenty more in the area a little farther away from downtown.