Best Tent Camping near Matawan, NJ

Much more suited to RV Camping, but not terrible for a couple nights of tent camping

 Our 4rth state in our 5 state trip is New Jersey! We wanted to see Delaware Water Gap NRA & I found a campground by Newton called The Great Divide. This is a private campground. Very scenic with a small lake, a pond & surrounded by woods. This is also the most expensive campground on our trip at $96.11 a night.

     Lots to do for families- they have kayaks for camper use. Horseshoes, tether ball, volleyball, a pool, a playground, a dog park. There's a swimming beach.

 One strange thing is there's a lot of tent sites & they seemed popular. For the amount of tent/popup sites they only have 1 shower per loop. They are very clean & checked often, but they're used heavily during the weekend. I had better luck Sunday evening. A bench outside the bathroom would have been nice to sit & wait. 

 The rv sites were all full hookup on our loop.

   We came in on a Friday & found out this campground ROCKS!!! They have live bands every Friday & Saturday night during the warm months. This might explain the higher rates. Party on!

So pleasant to sleep near the blooming fields. Campsite is tucked in the woods with. Tent camping in peace and quiet with easy access to major roads and highways to explore central NJ

Clean, well spaced lots. Electric and water with every site. $30 gets you a tent site. We rented a paddle boat for $15 and cruised the lake. Will be back

Turkey Swamp is a great spot, a lot of different things to do. Fishing, Tent Camp, Van Camping, Open Field, BBQ, Kayaking, Canoeing. The list goes on. I’ve been here a few times, every time I’m here I barely touch my phone.

Paid a visit mid November. Hiked from the Batso Office to the Mullica River tent sites. Trail could get a tad sandy but it's well maintained. Would definitively come visit again and stay more than one night.

Here on business but didn’t pull the camper up, (from Texas) Tent camped for a couple of weeks. The place is beautiful, and the sites are very nice. They have put a lot of effort in over many years out here. Each site RV or Tent is well thought out. Bathrooms/showers are always very clean as well as the grounds. Would Absolutely recommend !!

Great Camp !!! One rustic place with many hiking trails to choose from. Camp also provides trucking of gear weather permitting. No vehicles allowed to drive through camp. Trading Post for treats and other items.

Many camp sites open to rent. Cabins - Leanto - Tent Sites. Check web site for pricing.

I was looking forward to a Worthington State Park campgrounds visit but that day they were all packed and I was suggested to Jenny Jump State. I enjoyed the overnight camp out with my kids and they had a blast. Nice size primitive tent site we had and was nice for beginner camping.

I did my first solo tent camping by the reservoir and it was perfect. There was so much to see and hiking trails in the campground and nearby. Bathrooms were clean and other campers were quiet making for a peaceful trip. Check in was pleasant but unfortunately, some things were closed due to covid restrictions. I will be back as often as I can and hopefully be able to rent a kayak.

It's a small state run campground for tent camping. All the sites have a ton of room to stretch out! (Room for fire/ grill pits) There are bathroom facilities which have showers. You can reserved a site or find an open one and set up camp. Park rangers routinely will check up on you to make sure things are going well, I’ve never had that experience before but they have been kind the 2 times I have been their.

My husband and I Tent camped in #34 with our dog. The space was reasonably priced, but we did have to pay an extra $5/day for our dog. However, we didn’t mind as it was so private we felt like we had the entire Park to ourselves. The bathroom/shower was only a few steps away which was convenient and clean. The only problem we encountered was that there wasn’t a store close by for ice or other essentials, although the main office does sell firewood. They close at 4pm, though, so be sure to get there before then!

I did not love Fla-Net as a place to go tent camping. The section for tents is rather small and kind of off to the side. Most of the campground was taken up by RV which were all parked really close to one another. It seemed like a decent place to go RV camping, but still not great. The campsite did not have the feel like it was in the woods. When you walk to the top of the hill, you realize the grounds are backed up to a store’s parking lot which had an odd feel to me. They did have a pool and playground which would be nice for kids and the bathroom had a shower in it which is always a plus.

I have been camping for many years but I chose Mahlon Dickerson for my first solo trip. Super easy to book. Easy to find on a gps and even if you lose service there are signs marking the reservation campground! Very clean and the area is beautiful. They have these 12x12 platforms to put your tent on. This was pretty cool especially since some of the sites are all gravel with surrounding dirt. The sites are very large and I suggest site 7. It is on a hill so have a hand truck or a few people to carry stuff. Trust me it is worth it and I think it’s the best tent site they have. There are showers on the rv side of the reservation you can use. Very cheap as well. $15/night on Memorial Day weekend! You won’t be disappointed! Make sure to visit Headley overlook and hike the awesome trials that surround the campsites!

Very friendly campers. Most of the residents are seasonal and glampers, but very friendly and like to party. We are tent campers and went at the end of the season. We had 5 tents one per-site which wasn’t ideal, but we were placed in front of the closed pool where we took all 5 sites and made one. At first I was mad but we made it work and we were the envy of everyone. Many year round campers have golf carts. The one downside, some of the year round RV sites look run down and are gross looking, we did hear they were going to do a clean out of those sites so hopefully it will look nicer. The actual tent sites are next to the road, which is a shame because we seem to always get the crap locations furthest from the bathrooms, this makes no sense when RV’s have bathrooms and tents are basic camping. Definitely recommend a stay though, the owners have great weekend events for adults and kids. We will be going back and making this our end of the year annual camping location!