Best Tent Camping near Absecon, NJ

Wharton Forest has several campgrounds.

We tent camped at Atsion in 2015: had flush toilets and was close to the checkin station/store as well as the beach on the lake. Some sites were right on the water and the sites were very big.

We wanted a more rustic experience and tent camped at Bodine campground in 2018. Our site was right on Wading River and we launched our kayaks right at the site! Our tent is has a full view of the sky and at night it was like a planetarium as we admired the sky from our cots. Pit toilets, pump water, fire ring, nice big site. Road in is sandy but it is the pine barrens. Although we were there on Friday the 13th, sadly neither Jason or the Jersey Devil stopped by for s’mores.

There were so many great things about this campground. It was beautiful and had so many different amenities including a little man made beach in the center of the campground. Our only issues were it was pretty pricey for tent camping (65 a night) and the mosquitos were INSANE! Also, a few of the showers were down, so it was difficult to get in there and everything cost extra. It was a quarter run shower. The location was perfect if you wanted to visit Cape May or go into Wildwood only 15 minutes away. I’d say it is perfect for RV’s, campers, or if you are renting a cabin for your family, but as a tent camp location it was a little extravagant for what we were looking for with our trip.

The boyfriend and I stayed for a weekend at one of the primitive tent sites. Our site was private and secluded. We had a great time.

A small koa but very nice, I stayed in a cabin for my MTB race weekend. Great! Pool is a tad small. Restrooms very clean and good looking tent sites.

We stayed here for 3 nights while visiting family In Philadelphia. It is a 20 minute ride into Philly and Uber was was quick and responsive.

*note- this does close for winter and reopens in April but call park for exact closure dates because they do change.

This is a nice KOA with full hook ups, tent sites,cabins, and even glamping cabins. There is a pool that is open Memorial Day- Labor Day. They also have a catch and release pond and we found a pickleball court at a nearby city park.

We did Chinatown and walked part of the Schuylkill River trail which we accessed by parking near Fairmount Park. This is a great area to explore with gorgeous views and easy access to the River trail. (There are rentals for everything here- kayaks/bikes etc)

IF we had a car with us- we would have considered taking the ferry from Camden’s Ferry Terminal next to Wiggins Park to Philly. (This is also near the Adventure Aquarium and the battleship New Jersey) Here is a link to information about the ferry-

https://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com/places/riverlink-ferry

This is a great location for exploring Philadelphia.

Happy Camping! Pamela and Keith

Our group stayed for an extended weekend trip at one of the primitive tent sites. It was awesome, and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, we had neighbors that were being obnoxiously loud for multiple hours past the "quiet time", but even that didn't ruin our trip. Bonus points for being driving distance to multiple locations that we could take our kayaks.

A beautiful camping area that is affordable, each site is very large, very clean and well maintained, bathrooms and showers 24/7. The camp ground area is very large and signed extremely well making finding your campsite easy. Bathrooms and showers can be a hike. If you can bring a portable toilet, I'd recommend that. $25 for a primitive tent site with fire pit that is very large area for a family or friends, and far from the road. We stayed at the site to kayak with our outdoor group called "A Good Paddling".

Tent site was fantastic, level, trees are well trimmed, but still with good coverage, sites are a nice size. Close enough to the bathroom and water options. Campground well appointed. Nice pool, clean showers, quarters for a shower. We paid $40 night in almost mid September. Its just faucets for water, no sinks for a dishwashing station. You are in a busier campground with lots of RVs, travel trailers and vacation rentals, so its not some peaceful small state campground. Only complaint really would be the folks who drove their golf  carts like maniacs. Some enforcement from management would be good there.

I arrived on a Tuesday a few days after they closed the pool, and by Wednesday I had the whole row of tent sites to myself. Maybe that's why it was so peaceful, but every night after my cacophonous conference in Philadelphia, I couldn't wait to turn down Timberlane Road and see that little KOA sign glowing in the darkness. In addition to the peaceful vibe, the people are friendly, the little office store has everything you forgot to pack, and if you look around the campground edges or follow the walking trail into the woods, you will find wonderful native plants like blueberry, viburnum, clethra, and meadow beauty.

My friends brought us here, they are family of 4 they have booked tents and cabins over the last 4 years. It's a very large mostly RV park with tent sites mixed in. Mostly seasonal RV people, packed to the hilt. Very large campground, yet small sites, crowded tons of people. Horrible wifi, zero cell service, small swimming area crowded on lake. Great if you are looking for a seasonal spot in an RV community obsessed with American flags and you have a young family, there's a small crowded pool, playground, etc. Boring for my teen, too crowded for my liking. Lots of activities for familiesBring tons of deet-biting flies unbearable. Not my preferred camping getaway but aside from horrible internet and zero cell service, it's a nicely run campground if you are social, have an RV and young children.

Wharton State Forest has a few primitive campgrounds, which is what I'm looking for. I try to stay away from campgrounds with electrical hookups, because the sound of generators is not exactly the serenity of nature I'm looking for.

This is a review for GOSHEN POND campground, which you can reserve online. Goshen Pond isn't actually a pond, but actually just a very wide, slow moving section of the Mullica River. It's kayakable and canoe-able, but very shallow and swampy, so it doesn't make for good swimming. The Pine Barrens has a fascinating ecology - the ground is very sandy and nutrient-poor, which means that it suits fast-growing pines which live a short life and then die. The constant decay of trees in the area causes the copious amounts of rivers in Wharton State Forest to have a signature brown color. Just want to point it out - it's still clean and lovely, but not very clear.

The benefits to this Pine Barren ecology is that it makes for almost perfect camping. The ground is always very soft and sandy, which makes for comfortable sleeping. It's noticeably NOT rocky. It also means that there's always plenty of kindling available for collecting.

The GOSHEN POND camping area is great. Each campsite has room for 1-2 tents, and a fire ring. I personally prefer some privacy when I camp, and some of the sites offer this and some don't. There are some sites that the reservation site lists as RV sites, but they are rarely used by RVs and are actually the most secluded, so I would recommend them for tent camping as well. Site 3 is nice and private, and site 7 has the best view and easiest access to the pond. Avoid the sites in the center circuit of the map - they're very close together.

GOSHEN POND campground is connected to two equestrian trails, which make for great hiking. In your plans, keep in mind that Wharton State Forest is very flat, so you'll likely be able to cover a lot of ground much more quickly than you would on mountainous terrain.

There is a parking area, and the sites are variable distances from those areas. The RV sites will allow you to pull up directly to your campsite, but the rest of the tent sites are short walks away. You certainly don't need to plan for a backpacking adventure, but keep in mind that you won't have immediate access to your car.

There is a water pump near the parking area, and pit toilets. There are no flushing toilets, which I prefer at a campsite.

In review, the pros to GOSHEN POND are:

1. Soft, flat sleeping surfaces
2. Easy access to hiking trails and a kayakable "pond" that connects to the Mullica River system.
3. Plenty of kindling in the area.
4. Quiet and remote-feeling.
5. Some sites are very private.
6. Dogs allowed.
7. Water available.

Some downsides to GOSHEN POND:

1. No picnic table at any site, nor seating around the ring. I recommend bringing camp chairs and either a cooler to be a food prep surface or a folding table.
2. MOSQUITOS. Holy crap. Goshen Pond is nearly stagnant, so it is a breeding ground for mosquitos. I came back looking like a leper. I'm going back this weekend, and am investing in some 97% deet bug repellent and a mosquito net for my campsite.
3. Soot. Don't know what this is about, but at campsite 3, where I stayed the last time, there was a ton of soot in the soil, which just stuck to everything. You would wash yourself, and then be black with soot moments later. We eventually just succumbed to the soot and allowed ourselves to be dirty, but it was an annoyance. In the pictures, you can see the effect of it on my (normally) white dog.

Overall, I will definitely be returning to Goshen Pond and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a primitive campsite that truly feels like it's away from everything.

Our tent site was on a slope, and completely flooded the fire ring when it rained. The fire ring was also missing the grilling grate so we couldn’t cook on it. Most of the showers in the bath houses were broken and you have to pay for them so bring your quarters! All the drink machines were busted and the mosquitos were absolutely unbearable. I contacted the company office and they basically said too bad, so sad. The sites are right on top of one another with hardly any space between. Won’t be back! The fire department drives around at 7am selling hoagies through a mega phone. Still unsure how I feel about that, but that’s up to you to decide! Cape May is just so busy so they really don’t care about your quality of stay. But we will definitely be trying somewhere else next time.

Atlantic Blueberry has a lot to offer campers from seasonal sites to large pull through sites for RV's as well as sites for tent camping. Located in Port Republic not far from Brigantine & Atlantic City. The park has a nice size pool as well as a kiddie pool. There is also a playground for the kids, camp store with some basic supplies as well as some planned activities on the weekends. We spent a month here while visiting family and while it was pretty busy on the weekends the weekdays were pretty quiet. The staff were very pleasant, accommodating and helpful. We would definitely stay here again. The only reason I gave only 4 stars is the description on there website does not make it clear what the difference is between premium & deluxe hookups. We thought we had booked a fhu site but are only able to dispose of our grey water. The black tank must be pumped out for an additional charge. Otherwise we would stay here again if we could get a site with full sewer hookup.

We are annual visitors to Yogi Jellystone in Elmer, NJ by virtue of location, as it is close to home and a convenient spot for several people in our x-large camping crew.

The pro's: This campground is well-designed with spots that can make most campers happy. There are wooded tent sites, field sites, full plug-in RV sites, and RVs and cabins for rent. There is a sizable splash park and pool with giant inflatable water. They have recreational activities for kids and families from ice-cream parties to bingo to hayrides to movies on a giant screen in the rally field. There is something for almost everyone.

The con's: It is our "per night" most expensive camping trip each year and runs us close to $165 for a weekend with a site with water and electric. This might seem reasonable for families who enjoy all the bells and whistles and activities but we are just looking for a place to gather with our camping friends and we rarely indulge in the activities. The other con is that someone akin to a "campground bouncer" (that is really a thing) will harass and threaten you and your group throughout the night for even so much as laughter and guitar playing after quiet hours. My group makes a concerted effort (and succeeds) in booking a large area away from most other campers. Regardless of the distance we create, they shut us down every year. But we are a resilient group and it sometimes takes until the wee hours until we truly shut down.

A pro: They haven't kicked us out yet.

5 Stars / Labor Day Weekend 

We stayed at Holly Acres Campground in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, for Labor Day weekend. We’re so glad we did! 

Our site(#A28) was a level pull-thru with 50-amp electric, water, sewer, wifi, and cable. It was roomy, shady, and easy to pull in and out. The hook-ups were all well-maintained and worked fine. We had plenty of room to fit our car too. The site included a picnic table and fire ring. 

The gated campground was clean and well-maintained. The swimming pool was inviting. The store was a bit small and date, but stocked with basic essentials like supplies, fire wood, and snacks. Most of the neighboring RVs were nice and in good shape. The park has bath facilities, a dump station on the way out, and a fishing pond. 

This park is just a few minutes from the Garden State Parkway and close to Atlantic City, Brigantine, Historic Smithville, and Absecon— all within 30-minutes drive-time. You can visit casinos, the Absecon Lighthouse, and several beach towns without going far. 

For Labor Day weekend, the staff walked around Jezel, a friendly horse, and hosted a BBQ in their pavilion. 

This is a nice campground with plenty to do nearby. We can’t wait to go back!

Fun for the whole family. Lots to do and the beautiful beaches of Cape May, New Jersey are a short 10 minute drive. The different types of camping/glamping experiences exceeded my expectations. We enjoyed the Deer Crossing Teepee which had far more luxuries than any other glamping I have done. Highly recommend this campground resort.