Best Campgrounds near Beachwood, NJ

As a returning traveler to Spacious Skies Campgrounds – Country Oaks in Dorothy, New Jersey, I continue to be impressed by the peaceful atmosphere, well-maintained facilities, and welcoming hospitality, even during the winter months. The sites are spacious with full hookups that easily accommodate larger RVs, making it an ideal spot for both short and extended stays.

One of the highlights of staying at this campground is the exceptional service, and much of that is thanks to the wonderful host, Sadie. From the moment you arrive, she greets you with warmth and enthusiasm, making you feel like a valued guest rather than just another traveler passing through. Her attentiveness and dedication to ensuring every guest has a comfortable and enjoyable stay truly set this campground apart. Whether you have a question about your site, need assistance with hookups, or are looking for local recommendations, Sadie is always ready to help with a kind and welcoming attitude that makes you feel right at home.

Even in the colder months, this campground remains a quiet and relaxing escape. The grounds are clean and well-kept, with easy access to nearby nature spots for peaceful walks and exploration. The staff, led by Sadie’s incredible hospitality, ensures that guests feel safe, comfortable, and well cared for throughout their stay.

Winter camping here has its own charm, offering crisp air and a serene environment perfect for unwinding. Whether you’re looking for a peaceful retreat or a base for exploring the area, Spacious Skies Country Oaks provides a great experience year-round. With hosts like Sadie making sure everything runs smoothly, it’s no surprise that I keep coming back.

After such consistently wonderful experiences, we are thrilled to take the next step and plan to purchase a seasonal site in the near future. We can’t wait to make Spacious Skies Country Oaks our home away from home!

General: Smallish (64-site) county park campground. There are also three cabins. As soon as you turn off the main road to the park, all roads are dirt, which was a bit surprising. They were well-maintained and in dry weather, not a problem, but probably not if it was rainy. The campground is in five loops with the bathhouse located in the D Loop. 

Site Quality: Sites in Loops B-E all have pull-thru driveways. Sites are all level, very generous in size, and reasonably spaced apart for privacy. A lantern hook, picnic table, and fire ring complete each site. As mentioned, all roads and camper pads are dirt. There are some ADA sites but the only thing distinguishing them from others is their proximity to the bathroom. 

Bath/Shower House: Very clean. Soap and paper towels are provided. The only thing missing were hooks or shelves for toiletries but there was a large bench that could be used. Since it is located in the D Loop it would have been helpful to have pathways leading from the other loops. Did not use the shower so cannot comment. 

Activities/Amenities: There is a lake with a boat dock and a small boardwalk. Kayaking/Canoeing, fishing, and swimming. In the summer, canoe, kayak, paddle boats, and row boats are available for rental. Several short (longest one is 2.5 miles) hiking trails that are fairly well-marked but can be a bit confusing at times. Some sections of the trails were muddy due to swamps and bogs but passable. There is also a fitness trail. There is an archery range and a council ring (campfire). There is a dump station and laundry facility with brand-new washers and dryers (however, you need to pay using an app on your phone). The office is open until 9 pm and sells ice, firewood, and bait. There are age-appropriate playgrounds both in the campground and by the office. 

There are not a lot of camping opportunities in NJ, and this was a nice one. The campground was only about 20% occupied when we were there at the end of April, so our stay was a quiet one.

Website says no tents any more

The physical facilities are in good condition and are well maintained. The park is very big and is located inside and urban area.

The campsite appears to be designed as a disbursed camping design. However, there is not enough trees and folage to provide any privacy.

The camping area is located on a loop road I would estimate to be about a mile long. There is one restroom/shower house. Some campsites are close but our site was a 1/1 mile away.

The strangest thing is that hunting is allowed in the state park except on Sundays. There was a sign near our camp site saying don't shoot here because there is a city street 40 yards away. However they don't seem to mind if you shoot towards the camp sites.

Other campers near us were LOUD and stayed up well past the quiet time. They were annoying!!

Was my very first time camping out, went with my pups and my sons and did the van camping. The spot I had was very well shaded and pretty quiet. The only thing I wasn't big on was how far the trails are, would have to actually drive to it and park in a limited parking area. Due to weather didn't take the risk so am unable to give an opinion on it, but something to remember for the next trip. Only 30-35 min off the parkway, so nice and convenient.

We did 2 weekday nights with our dog and 19’ RV in Aug ‘24.

The dog friendly sites are limited & not the sites with lake access. It will also cost an extra $5/night.

Check in was confusing as it is across the street & closes promptly at 4pm. (Not at the recreation area where we pulled in first)

Site 34 was close to the road with regular traffic noise & car headlights even shined in the camper at night. There is also a fair amount of plane traffic from a small local airport…and several other campers were running generators so it was not exactly quite camping.

Bathrooms are the typical old nj state park set up- it does the job but it’s seen better days. Dump station works well with trash & recycling drop off next to it. The roads are soft sand and can get rough after a rain storm.

If you are looking to kayak or canoe on the lake it has a ramp to drop in. That is the main attraction here & there is a beach on the other side of the lake.

Overall- nothing too special It’s not a site I would return to unless we could get water front, but dogs are not allowed there - so we won’t be rushing back because of that & the proximity to the road .

I went there in late June and it was my first time camping. The campsite was clean overall. Staff were friendly and helpful.

There was no platform, so you need to set up the tent on the ground. Most of the sites were not on grass but just dirt ground.

Going camping in a forecast during summer time might not be the best idea. There were many bugs and many of them got in my tent as I forgot to zip the door after setting it up.

The bathroom (shower room?) was reasonably clean, but I have only been to this camp site, so there is no comparison. One of the restroom has broken lights.

There is little to no signal inside the park. But once you drive out, you will have some signal. The campsite is close to a Walmart and a few other restaurants, which is good.

Pros: 50 AMP, sewer & water hookup Nice amenities

Cons: Sand sites Overpriced Tight site & hard to get in/out for big rigs

We stayed at Adventure Bound Tall Pines in Elmer, New Jersey, for Memorial Day weekend for a quick getaway. Despite reserving and paying for a“Premium” site, it fell far short. But there were still a few things we liked… 

THINGS I LIKED: 

1. Super-friendly staff, especially Allie, who was courteous and seemed to try to make things right 

2. Lots of mature shade trees 

3. DJ at the pool Saturday and Sunday and live band Saturday evening 

4. Close proximity to Delsea Drive-in Theatre and Cohenzick Zoo 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH: 

1. I reserved and paid-in-full for a premium site which listed 50-amp service and a concrete pad. Nope. Only 30-amp service and no concrete pad. When I called the office, assuming there must’ve been a mistake, I was told by two different staff members that their website is“wonky.” I wouldn’t mind as much, but this weekend was 90-degrees each day and humid, so it would’ve been good to have air conditioning. 

2. The entire park was dirty sand with weeds growing everywhere 

3. This place is not big-rig friendly, difficult to navigate some of the turns in our 45’ motorhome and taking scratches from tree branches that should be trimmed 

4. I paid$432 for 3-nights and feel like I was taken 

WOULD WE COME BACK? 

Nope. I’m sticking with campgrounds that give you what you paid for.

pros

pull through

friendly front desk

clean showers and toilet

free cable

great lounge

close to Long Beach Island and Atlantic city

well kept area

nice pool and playground

right off the parkway- easy to get to and easy to go places

Cons

small unshaded campsites

I liked it and would go back

My family and I stayed here this weekend. The campground is now known as Atlantic Shore Pines. This place is very close to Bass River State Park with lots of hiking and outdoor activities. Restaurants and stores in Tuckerton are just a few minutes away. This campground is about 20 minutes from LBI, and 35 minutes from Ocean City. The site we had was a pull through and very spacious. The whole place was quiet and clean. The staff was very friendly and helpful. AT&T cell service was great. We will definitely stay here again.

Extremely rude manager who will charge you for anything he can. Artie has zero people skills! If you give a card or deposit, expect to get excess charges. Poor Verizon connection, no wifi in some areas.

Came the weekend before the real Halloween, and the grounds were pretty deserted. We rented a golf cart and did some of the activities like painting and playing bingo. It was a cooler bit. It was still a very nice weekend for october. We enjoyed the grounds they are beautiful with the pools, lake, and ocean. It has a great store with basically everything you could need. The arcade left a lot to be desired and could use some more things. We took a hayride around the park, which was fun. Would Def go back!!

The Batona Campground in Wharton State Forest is a small campground best suited for tent campers. It can get busy (and rowdy) on weekends. The road into the campground is sand.

A water pump provides fresh water but is not available in the winter. There's at least two pit toilets in the campground - don't expect luxury.  Bears frequent this campground so be bear aware and practice proper food storage. 

Best part about the campground is that it's right on the 50 mile Batona Trail so it's a great stop-over assuming you've made reservations. No first-come first-serve. Site 6 is one of the more private sites as it's tucked into the back corner.

Located just due south of Abington and north of Cheltenham right outside of Philly, Alverthorpe Private Park is a hidden gem tucked into the forested wilds in what is surprisingly an otherwise densely populated leafy tree-lined shady suburban area. One moment you are slowly passing stately homes in pristine residential surroundings and the very next, you’ll pull into this nicely shielded protected neighborhood park that offers up tons of recreational opportunities, in addition to a nice plot of shaded land perfect for suburban tent camping bliss – although you’ll need to be a resident in order to camp here, which was a major bummer to learn. 

As for the park itself, don’t follow your GPS if you intend to find this place, as you’ll have to enter on the south side of the park, which has the only main entrance. Here, you’ll pass a little check-in kiosk, where depending upon why you are there, as there could be many reasons, the nice older gentleman will point you in the right direction. From here you will turn left and find ample parking for your vehicle (although to be clear, this is not a spot for RVs or 5th Wheelers). If you are coming here to camp, you’ll have a bit of a hike for about a 1/3 mile, where you’ll want to follow the walkway towards the lake, after which a nice 18 hole golf course will be on your right. Once at the lake, you’ll see the group shelter where there is a super-cool 4-sided chimney perfect for late night marshmallow roasting or for BBQing. 

Just up the hill to the left and behind the shelter is where you’ll make your way to the actual campground. Careful, because up until this point, making your way to the campground has been pretty easy as you will have walked on nice wide paved sidewalks, perfect for hiking in or pulling your gear behind you, but at this stage, you’ll have to maneuver some uneven quasi steep steps before finally making it to the campground area. Once you’ve arrived, you’ll have your pick of about a dozen ill-kept sites and a fairly nasty shelter that is definitely in need of not only upkeep and basic sanitation, but likely would benefit from some much-needed repairs. All of the sites either have an in-ground firepits and standing grills, or there are enough spread around where you can easily use the ones not being used throughout the tenting community. There was one running spigot of water up here, but it was so gross we didn’t use it. There’s also a nice access point to the lake from here where you could easily go for a nice walk or even tow your kayak behind you. 

As for Alverthorpe itself, this is a magnificent well taken care of park, so I was surprised to see that the campground area didn’t receive the same level of TLC. If that doesn’t bother you, then you’ll be happy here as the whole place, as previously mentioned, is tucked behind a little suburban outcrop so it is extremely quiet. Here’s a lineup of all the amenities you’ll find: baseball field, basketball court, fishing, football field, grills, lake, mini-golf, pavilions and shelters, kid’s playground, restrooms, tennis courts, walking and biking trails and a swimming pool. To make a reservation to camp here, you’ll have to call the main office and the cost is $15 per night ... and again, don't forget to either be a resident or get one to vouch for you! 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) While this residential park packs a lot of entertainment options, when it comes to camping, there isn’t much. So I would definitely encourage you to bring EVERYTHING you might need to have a great experience – from chairs, tables, BBQ and even a brush and rake!; (2) After a good day of packing in a lot of activities, you might want to head out and enjoy a bite to eat or a couple of drinks – if so, you’re in luck as there are some really great spots just a short drive east of here, wherein I would recommend: Iron Hill Brewery, Hollywood Tavern and Gaul& Co. Malt House in Rockledge; (3) If you need any groceries, there’s a Giant Food Stores that has pretty much everything covered; and (4) Should you want to explore more of the surrounding nature offerings, I would suggest checking out Briar Bush Nature Center where there’s some great trail hiking as well as Morris Arboretum & Gardens, which is just beautiful. 

Happy Camping!