Best Glamping near Cape May, NJ

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.

Campground overview: We visited here in the third week in April. This is a private campground located about 6 miles from Cape May Point and about 4 miles from the beaches. If you are looking at this area to camp- then you know this is an area of lots of history from the WWII lookout tower and lighthouse to the hawk watch observatory.and everything in between. You will not be bored here!

Lots of construction work was going on while we were here in preparation for their busy season which begins Memorial Day Weekend for the region. We were not bothered by this.

There is a small lake (with swimming area) that is stocked for fishing and the overall feel of this park is tranquil. There is a rec center, activity center, tennis courts, 3 pickle ball courts, playgrounds and pool to name a few things. This is off season so the campground did not have the usual KOA bustle and feel of a summer camp for adults.

Campsite : This is a well kept up park with plenty of wooded and shady sites that are a firm gravel and very level. Easy in and out of the park with our 40 feet of Rig. We had a premium pull thru site site with picnic table, grill, porch swing and patio table set along with a large concrete patio. (*note-placement of the sewer necessitated an extension to reach when we aligned our rig with the concrete patio.)

Activities close to park: In addition to the campground activities which are plentiful, the Cape May Bike trail is directly across the street. If you go right, you will be in a very active shopping center area in about 2.4 miles and if you go left you are on your way to the beaches in 4 miles.

The Cape May Ferry is only 4.4 miles away and could be a fun day trip because it will take you to Rebooth and you can explore Cape Henolpen State Park for the day . (We actually took our RV on the Ferry to our next campground) and that successful adventure will be documented at another time.

My take away for this campground is that it is a great location to explore the area and you even have the option of additional day trips in a way that you may not always get to experience....Ferry rides are fun!

Here is a great website that informs you of all the activities the area has to offer from Polar Plunges to wine and brewery trails.

https://capemaycountynj.gov/960/Points-of-Interest

Happy Camping! Pamela and Keith

  The 5th & last state on our East Coast trek is Delaware! 

 We took the ferry from Cape May & it was a novelty for us. We enjoyed it so much! 

  The state park is just a half mile on the left when you pull out.

   For Delaware I had my heart set on Cape Henlopen State Park. The sites go fast & I felt lucky to get the site I ended up with. When we got there we found out a water main broke& there was no water. Fortunately, we only went a day without. 

 There are cabins  & primitive sites with their own bath house. The water/electric sites are in rows A-F. We were in B 14.The sites are laid out at an angle, but some were a straight backin. The even A sites- you park your rig or car on the road in a straight line & you get a big wooded site. Not sure if these sites have electricity.

There's 2 dump stations on the way out. 

There's shower houses for E/F/T, the G loop& on the B loop road. They were clean. There's an asphalt trail leading through the main sites for bathroom access. It's clearly marked on the map, so keep it in mind when you pick a site.

 There are some pullthroughs that can take big rigs. The sites are not uniform, some larger, some smaller. Watch the site dimensions or you might not be able to fit your vehicle AND camper on the site. It HAS to all be on the asphalt behind the white line.

  There are combo toilet/showers which I'm not fond of. You're a tenter & want to go for your morning BM& all the doors are locked with people showering. :(  They're clean.

The camp store/ laundry is the building next to that. The playground is also right there.

 This was my husbands favorite campground on our trip. It was a very enjoyable place!

   This park has a LOT of activities: the beach, a nice nature center. Fort Miles for WW 2 history. Biking is hugely popular & they have bike rentals at the nature center if you forgot yours. You can climb a WW 2 watchtower. There's hiking trails, a fishing pier. So much to do.

Lots of good restaurants in the area also.

We had a great time there. Sorry we had to leave...

Great Location and close to Cape May City. 10 min drive to Washington Street Mall. Lots to do during the day. (Lighthouse, World War II Tower, Sunset Beach, Washington Street Mall, Cape May Trolley, Coffee Tyme - best frozen coffee in the world. Campsites were clean and right next to each other. Just had enough room to extend my awning out without hitting the nextdoor camper neighbor. Fire pits were a concrete half moon. Firewood was cheap $5 a bundle. WiFi was very fast and reliable. Digital TV Channels were about 1 channel but they had cable hookup with 80 analog channels.

This was our 5th and final trip to this campground. This time campground seemed to have LOTS OF little things that needed upkeep.

Positive - close to Cape May, nice pool

Negative - lots of airplane noise all day (due to local airport), nightly sites are slowly being turned into permanent sites. Lake seemed filled with algae on sides. Store was nice but not stocked as previous trips.

Very clean camp with all the amenities! Friendly and knowledgeable staff and plenty to do in the area!

This camp offers sites for everyone! There is Cabins, Spots for Tents, xxl RV’s, and more. Close to Ocean City, Assateague and the coolest little town Berlin!

There is a big pond to fish there with bass and bluegill lurking inside and a little camp store for all your basic needs!

Not a bad place for a family getaway or a stop along the way! Prices have gone up but that’s expected with glamping spots.

I stayed here when it was called Holly Shores. We had a "safari " tent, which was immaculate. It even had a separate bathroom with indoor plumbing. Campground is not far from a convenience store if needed. We met some seasonal people there as well. Fire rings were at each campground & everyone was friendly. I appreciated how clean the space was & it's close proximity to activities in Cape May.

Looking for a trip to the Jersey shore (near Stone Harbor, Avalon, Wildwood, Cape May, & more) - look no further than Shellbay Camping Resort. Great sites for camping with electric and water, seasonal sites with water, electric and sewer hookups and extremely well maintained grounds, paved roads, with family friendly rules to ensure enjoyment by all. Enjoy evenings by a campfire and days by the pool or at the beach. The family owned campground makes you feel a home away from home from May - October 1.

Stayed in a drive through, patio site with full hook-ups. It was situated on a corner spot. A lot of RV, golf cart, bike, and people traffic due to the location. With all that said, the other campers were pretty respectful.

The sites were clean. Plenty of dumpsters for trash. Can’t comment on the bathrooms and bathhouses as they were closed due to covid-19. Much of the other amenities were all pretty much closed too.

The beaches are about a 10min drive, but the town is very bike friendly. A lot to explore in Cape May, and this is a great spot.

My husband and I went camping here a few years back. It's such a great place because it's near the beach, it has nice picnic spots and playground areas for children. There is a learning center where you can see different sea creatures. There is a fishing pier, it's close to outlet shopping and restaurants if you need a change. There are lots of walking and biking trails. There is a ferry that will take you to Cape May but you want to explore that area . There is also a fort where you can walk around and see a tank and some other neat things. You definitely won't be bored on this trip trust me!!

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.

We went in Mid-October as a weekend shakedown trip for our new camper. As NJ locals were looking to test out this campground near the shore. While the campground has its perks, we were put off by the behavior of the seasonal campers. Overall, we will not be returning.

Pros

• Super friendly and helpful staff
• Clean facilities
• Proximity to Cape May \ Wildwood
• Activities for kids

Cons

• The golf carts were the absolute worst, people don’t obey the speed limit on these things (and there are a lot of them whizzing around...) Many were driven by underage kids (against rules, but clearly not enforced). Carts also frequently blasted inappropriate music.
• Unsupervised kids that misbehaved
• Our car and camper were egged (see point above) other non-seasonal campers around us were egged as well
• Very small camper spots
• Seasonal campers

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.

We stayed at site q4 which was significantly unlevel. The lots are paved And it had a lot of gulleys that I will try to demonstrate through pics. It leaned towards the hookups plus the gulleys. It was so bad that we had to rehitch and move more towards the center of the already small lot. Lots of birds pooping on us fro the bushes/trees. Also the place is over run with teenagers and the quiet hours are not enforced. Neighbors were up until 2 am talking and could hear it since the site was so close together plus someone was yelling “woo” for quite a while around the same time. The pro is the location situated between cape May and wildwood. The kids liked the lake but for some reason the slides were closed. Q04 is by the pool and we kept smelling my the dump station. It is also across From a garage that sounded like a compressor running all day and night.

Okay, so a lot of people love this park but I just didn’t. It wasn’t close enough to beach to walk really. There was some shade but not much. The sites were very close together with a few exceptions. There were no-see-ums (little bugs) biting and no bug spray seemed to help. Loop A is the only road out of the campground so every car had to pass our site (A09). Don’t stay on A loop.

The pluses though are the bike trails which were paved, flat, and extensive. The historical Fort was cool to walk through. The downtown Lewes area is cute but masks were required even outdoors in public and it was hot. There is a ferry that goes over to Cape May, NJ. I’ve done that in the past and it’s fun! It’s close to Rehoboth Beach with every amenity you could ask for; shopping, restaurants, entertainment of all kinds, breweries and wineries. I might consider going again in the spring or fall when it’s not so hot.

We started camping for the first time in 2020 and were extremely new.  We jumped right into the Class A and went to Castaways for the first trip.  While there we had many problems with the Class A.  Not mechanical problems but "never having camped" problems.  The staff at Castaways bent over backwards to help us out the entire weekend.  Never did I see a frown or " here they go again" face but always asking if there is anything else they could do for us.  Because of them we have fallen in love with camping or glamping as we know it.  We made several trips to Castaways last year and in 2021 our first inaugural trip was there again. We had no problems this year but it is very reassuring to know that if we need help we can ask.  The staff remembered us from last year (hopefully that is a good thing) and we will definitely go back.  Thank you Castaways for giving us the "Love of Camping" .

This campground is very tight, the campsites are on top of each other, and it is filled with kids and very loud teens. The quiet hours are disrespected and it reminded me of dorm living...screaming, blaring music, etc.

The amenities are nice if you want lots of activities for your kids...the swimming pool is nice. The store is nice, and the grille was good. The lake was warm and the kids loved it but I didn't care for murky "lake" water. To me it was more of a large pond, not a lake. The slides they advertise were only operating one out of the five days we were there. There is mini-golf but we didn't play so I can't review it. They do have laundry facilities (we did not use them), bath houses (didn't use them either), and a "fishing" lake that I never saw anyone fish at and it was more like a murky tiny pond, not a lake.

There are MANY seasonal sites there, which is neither good for bad, but lots of semi-permanent residents.

Besides being on top of our neighbors, the actual site was nice. It had a nice firepit, a picnic table, a slab patio area and there were trees for shade. We happened to be on the main road in/out of the campsite so there was TONS of traffic.

The roads were narrow and difficult to navigate around the facility with a 5th wheel in tow.

Staff was great...helpful and kind.

The location was central to Wildwoods and to Cape May (about 10-15 minute drive from both)