Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Gateway National Recreation Area

Dog-Friendly Camping Reviews near Gateway National Recreation Area

346 Reviews of 34 Gateway National Recreation Area Campgrounds

• 

  Mackenzie B.

  Guide

  Aug. 4, 2018

  Nickerson Beach Park Campground

  surfers dream

  I grew up in Long Beach. If you’re looking for a spot to camp so you can surf, this is perfect! It’s basically a parking lot, but it’s steps away from some of the greatest waves on the east coast. Showers are clean, there’s a dog park nearby, and the island is very bikable to get around.

  benefits: allows dogs childrens playground beach programs like movie nights throughout the summer

• D

  Dave B.

  Guide

  May. 5, 2024

  Tip Tam Camping Resort

  Nice place to visit

  My family and I stayed at Tip Tam this weekend. The owners and staff were very friendly and accommodating. The camp store was great also. As it is very early in the season the pools were not yet open but appear to be very nice. There are alot of activities with in the campground as well that were impressive. Just from walking around I saw the two pools, an RC track, bocci, shuffle and board. They did have organized activities set up as well. There is also a pavillion in the middile of the campground with a Ms Pacman/Galaga classic arcard game, as well as a small library and soda machine. AT&T cell service was good. Te site are very close together, and you can hear your neighbors easily. There is not currently a dog park, but the owner told me that they were going to be constructing one in the future. There is a Monmouth County dog park under five minutes away that is huge. There are many close by food options and stores as well.

  Read More
• 

  Jeff W.

  Traveler

  Oct. 29, 2018

  Mahlon Dickerson Reservation

  Quiet County Park with Large Sites

  Located in the Skylands of New Jersey, Mahlon Dickerson Campgound is a perfect place to spend a few nights or a couple of weeks. The campsites are paved and mostly level. They are wooded and large. Water and electric hookups and a dump station. Convenient for hiking and exploring, it's also only a 20 minute drive to a large mall in Rockaway.

• 

  Caitlin F.

  Traveler

  Jul. 11, 2021

  Butterfly Camping Resort

  Great for families!

  My husband and I came to this campground for a quick weekend getaway with our dogs. We had a great time!

  The campground was very well taken care of. The sites had good tree coverage and we didn’t feel like we were right on top of the next site. There was tons of stuff to do. There’s a pond to fish, trails to walk/bike, basketball, sand volleyball, the list goes on and on. Both nights we were there, there were events being put on (a tractor ride, kickball, and a pool movie night). There was also a dog park which was very nice!

  The staff was extremely kind and helpful and took great care of us!

  Overall I highly recommend this campground, very family friendly. We’ll be going back!

  Read More
• 

  Jen W.

  Scout

  Jun. 16, 2021

  Butterfly Camping Resort

  Will be back!

  This was our first trip to Butterfly and we will be back! Large playground and lots of activities for the kids. Site was large, and had trees and shrubs separating the sites (we had stayed on 105A). Friendly staff and clean bathrooms. Fishing lake is on the smaller side, but people were catching fish. Definitely in our top 5 New Jersey Campgrounds.

• 

  Amber A.

  Ranger

  Jul. 31, 2016

  Camp Gateway- Brooklyn NY - CLOSED — Gateway National Recreation Area

  Ok if you don’t have another choice

  The park itself is lovely and close to some other green areas. The nice thing about this campsite is that it’s so close to NYC. The bad thing about this campsite is that it’s so close to NYC. If you live in NYC this is a good, cheap, super quick escape accessible by public transport. If you’re visiting the area I’d recommend staying in Manhattan/Queens in an AirBNB for the full NYC experience or heading to Long Island, Pennsylvania, “Upstate” New York, or New Jersey for a better nature camping experience. For what it is, this site is a nice green little oasis. It’s National Park Service land and they try really hard to keep things clean and working well with so much traffic. Bring earplus for the airport traffic and the noisy neighbors. Tent sites are pretty and wooded, but there is also a TON of concrete from an old WW2 airfield.

  Read More
• 

  Matt S.

  Legend

  May. 27, 2024

  Adventure Bound Camping (Tall Pines)

  Deceiving Website

  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.

  Read More
• 

  Cynthia K.

  Legend

  Aug. 30, 2024

  Turkey Swamp Park

  My favorite!

     We stayed in New Jersey for our 5th campground on the East Coast: Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold. This is a County park.

   Near some Revolutionary War battlefields.

   I really liked this park! They have 2283 acres. A 17 acre lake. Some hiking trails & a nice campground! The sites are all pullthrough. There's lots of vegetation for "privacy". We had a site on the perimeter, which are forest views. Only problem is none of the roads are paved. All are packed sand. We could tell it rained recently because of the muddy tracks. Fortunately it didn't rain while we were there!

    Shower/bathrooms are clean, but dated. They're checked regularly. The bath house is for the entire campground. 3 out of the 4 women's were working. There's a shared dressing area. 

  There's a laundry that doesn't take quarters. EPay. 

  There's a nice playground in the campground.

   They have 3 cabins for rent, with forest views.

   The lake has fishing & boat rentals. No gas motors. There's no swimming at the lake. Cell service was fair.. No WiFi. 

  They have an archery range. 

      This was my favorite campground on our trip! I really enjoyed camping here! There's a rustic retro quality to the place. I adored the campsites & I didn't see any really bad ones.

  Read More
• 

  Mark M.

  Scout

  Aug. 22, 2023

  Panther Lake Camping Resort

  DISASTER

  I travel the country racing road bicycles(at Augusta, GA now for the Master's Nationals) and the last 10 weeks or so have stayed at 5-6 other RV Campgrounds...at ALL the other RV places they drove me to my site, helped me back in,(I have a 2022 Tundra and a 30' pull behind), provided great Wi-Fi service, cell phone reception was great even in the KOA in the mountains in VA 2 days ago, picnic tables were clean, no bugs or mosquitos to speak off, sites well marked, and all were quiet, this one was relatively quiet as it's a park of 98% permanent sites with cabins, RV's that look like they haven't been moved in years, and other "permanent" type looking sites so adults/families had small fires and were outside until maybe 10:30 which kept me awake...so it's a New Jersey summer camp/place to stay for adults and families with movies at night and bands and tennis courts, and pools, etc. it's NOT for a 1-3 night stay when driving through and all one wants to do is chill and get to sleep early!! No one offered to drive me to my site and it was a MAZE of very small 1 lane roads and the few sites they had for 1-2-3 night guests were impossible to see with the small signs and #'s covered with moss and black mold...so I had to call them and they finally took me to my site...as soon as I got out to detach my camper I got attacked by mosquitos and it was impossible to let my dogs outside my camper and we all got bite a lot, especially when re-attaching it days later...the picnic table was covered in mold and moss, not habitable, there was NO Wi-Fi!! I have NEVER been to a RV park with no Wi-Fi...cell phone reception was terrible, half the time didn't work...and I have never encountered this before but one needed to put in their security code when leaving?? I am not from the region and had no other place to stay as it was 7:30 on a Fri night...every day I left at dawn and didn't come back until almost dark...never so glad to leave a RV park!!

  Read More