Best Tent Camping near Raritan, NJ
Searching for a tent campsite near Raritan? Find the best tent camping sites near Raritan. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Raritan's most popular destinations.
Searching for a tent campsite near Raritan? Find the best tent camping sites near Raritan. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Raritan's most popular destinations.
Welcome to Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook Unit! There are a variety of cultural and recreational opportunities available at the park including history tours, living history demonstrations, hiking, birding, kayaking, camping, swimming, and biking. Sandy Hook is known for its beautiful beaches, the Fort Hancock and Sandy Hook Proving Ground National Historic Landmark, and the country's oldest continuing working lighthouse.
Lifeguards are on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day at five ocean beaches. Please swim only at guarded beaches and only when lifeguards are on duty. When wading, be aware of sudden drop-offs. If you can't swim, don't go in. Surf fishing is permitted at all beaches except when lifeguards are on duty. Fishing beach and "M" lot are prime spots. Please stick to the posted signs for closures, as they do occur throughout the summer months for endangered shorebird nesting. For a great way to see Sandy Hook by bicycle, the seven-mile long multi-use path starts at the park entrance and loops around Fort Hancock. It is shared by walkers, bicyclists and in-line skaters. Bike rentals are also available throughout the summer. Hiking trails begin at the Sandy Hook Visitor Center and at Area M near Nine Gun Battery. Walking ocean beaches is permitted but in spring and summer shorebird nesting season closes some areas. Sandy Hook is a prime spot for birding. Try Plum Island, the Spermaceti Cove boardwalk, the Horseshoe Cove salt marsh, North Pond or the fields at Fort Hancock. Non-motorized, car-top boats can be launched from Beach Area C and Horseshoe Cove. Horseshoe Cove is popular with recreational boaters. Landing on beach with a motorized boat is prohibited. Surfing is allowed on beaches B and C. Windsurfing and kite-boarding is best on the bay across from Beach Area C. Kayak and paddleboard rentals are also available at C beach throughout the summer. Enjoy a blanket picnic on the beach. The North Beach Observation Deck has tables and a view of New York Harbor. Grilling outside of the campground is permitted only at Guardian Park in Fort Hancock. The Visitor Center is located in the Keeper's Quarters adjacent to the lighthouse. Free Lighthouse tours with a ranger are offered seasonally. Climbers must be at least 48 inches tall to climb. Visit www.nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/index.htm for more information on ranger led programs and hours of operation. Please visit www.nps.gov/gate for more information about any of the above.
Gateway National Recreation Area exists within one of the most urbanized areas of the country, covering 26,000 acres of New Jersey and three New York City boroughs. Among the urban environment, the park boasts grasslands, woodlands, sand dunes, beaches, ponds, salt marshes and forests.
Twin Lights New Jersey Historic Site - Situated 200 feet above sea level atop the Navesink Highlands, Twin Lights has stood as a sentinel over the treacherous coastal waters of northern New Jersey since 1828. Named Navesink Lightstation, it became known as the "Twin Lights of Highlands" to those who used its mighty beacons to navigate. The lighthouse tower, museum, gift shop, and other buildings are open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., September through May. Mount Mitchill Monmouth County Scenic Overlook - At 266 feet, this overlook in Atlantic Highlands sits on the highest natural elevation on the Atlantic seaboard (excluding islands) from Maine to the Yucatan providing beautiful views of Sandy Hook, Sandy Hook Bay, Raritan Bay and the New York skyline. Hartshorne Woods Mounmouth County Park - A hilly, forested 787-acre site overlooking the Navesink River, this park is among the highest elevations along the Atlantic Coast and features prominently in area history as a former coastal defense site. Known for its challenging trail system and scenic views, Hartshorne Woods is a popular park for area hikers, bicyclists and outdoor enthusiasts. Holmdel Monmouth County Park - Holmdel Park is one of Monmouth County's most popular locations for active recreation and nature appreciation. Acquired by the Monmouth County Park System in 1962, just shy of one million visitors enjoy this 565-acre site yearly. This park features a historic farm, an arboretum, fishing, picnic areas, 4 tennis courts, 2 playgrounds, ice skating, sledding and 10 miles of trails - including a 1/2 mile paved loop linking the Pond View and Forest Edge areas of the park with group picnic facilities and playgrounds.
Recreation.gov refund and cancellation policy: Change and Cancellation Policies and Fees Camping / Day Use: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation (including campsites, cabins, lookouts, group facilities, etc.). The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount. You can cancel or change reservations through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Late Cancellations Overnight and Day Use Facilities: Late cancellations are those cancelled between 12:01 a.m. (Eastern) on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival. Individual Campsites: If a customer cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival they will be charged a $10.00 service fee and will also forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a single night's reservation will forfeit the entire use fee but no cancellation fee will apply. Refunds Customers must request refunds no later than 14 days after the scheduled departure date. Recreation.gov will not grant refund requests after 14 days of departure. Refunds for Bankcard Purchases: Refunds for bank card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank card. Refunds for Check or Cash Purchases: Refunds for Recreation.gov payments made by check or money order, and cash payments at selected campgrounds will be issued a check refund. A refund will be processed within 30 days of receipt and approval. Please Note: Refund requests made during or after departure can only be processed when approved by the facility management staff based upon local policy. Refunds for Emergency Closures: In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team will attempt to notify users and offer alternate dates (as appropriate). If this is not possible, reservations will be cancelled and all fees paid will be refunded. Reservation fees for free tickets are non-refundable in the event of an emergency closure. No-Shows Camping / Day Use: A camping no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Reserved campsites and group overnight facilities will be held until check-out time on the day following your scheduled arrival. Group day-use facilities will be held until check-in time on your scheduled arrival date. If a customer does not arrive at the campground or group facility by check-out time the day after arrival or does not cancel the reservation by the times listed under "Late Cancellations" above, the customer may be assessed a $20.00 service fee and forfeit use fees.
$30 - $150 / night
STARTING FEB 2024 - CLOSED TEMPORARILY FOR IMPROVEMENTS. SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS.
Washington Crossing State Park is the site of General George Washington’s historic 1776 Christmas night crossing of the icy Delaware River. For almost ten hours, boats and ferries moved continuously back and forth carrying men, horses and cannon to the Jersey side. By midnight a strong storm had developed, hurling sleet, hail and snow at the rebel army. Landing at Johnson’s Ferry, the Continental Army still faced an arduous nine mile march to Trenton as the storm continued with a vengeance. Reaching Trenton in the early morning of December 26th, the American Army surrounded, defeated and captured over 900 Hessian mercenaries and secured a morale boosting victory of immeasurable proportions.
Group campsites: Four group campsites are located in the Phillips Farm area of the park. Each site contains picnic tables, fire rings and a composting toilet. These are designated as primitive campsites with no water or electric utilities available on site. Total combined capacity of all four sites: 115. We highly recommend that group leaders carefully estimate their group size so not to overestimate as refunds cannot be made.
$50 - $100 / night
This campground boasts a spectacular view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the longest vehicle suspension span in the United States. When it opened in 1964, it was the longest span in the world for 17 years. It connects Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island. Not far from the campground is an overlook area which features a vantage point to view the Statue of Liberty NM, the Manhattan Skyline and various forts and batteries in the New York Harbor region. Fortification tours are available on site. Connecting to the bike path, near the campground, is a NYC Parks and Recreation boardwalk where bike rentals and food concessions are available offsite.
Surf fishing at the beach is available for campers with a fishing license (see DEC for details). In addition, campers can attend a ranger-led tour of the historic structures. In the summer months, campers may enjoy walking/sunbathing (no Lifeguard on duty) on the beach at Fort Wadsworth. Swimming where lifeguards are on duty, is available at Gateway NRA- Great Kills Beach or NYC Parks and Recreation beaches. Bird watching, kayaking, biking and playground areas are all located within the Staten Island Unit of Gateway (Fort Wadsworth, Miller Field and Great Kills Park sites).
Thousands of years ago, glacial activity created a morainal hilltop, that is Fort Wadsworth Overlook. Located at the Narrows in New York Harbor, visitors can look out at the hills of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn and eastern Staten Island. Part of Gateway National Recreation Area, Staten Island Unit, has various topographic features, such as hills, fields, maritime forest and dunes, as well as beaches.
Alice Austin House, Snug Harbor, Staten Island Zoo, and Staten Island Museum are all within a 10 mile or less radius.
Changes & Cancellations Recreation.gov refund and cancellation policy: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies
$30 / night
$35 - $50 / night
ORGANIZED GROUP TENTING: This rustic area is open year round and has a maximum capacity of 220 people. Groups must call the reservation system to reserve a site.
To reserve a group tent campsite, call 888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757), Monday to Saturday, 7:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. except on the Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day holidays.
$28 / night
This is not one of those resort campgrounds. It has minimal amenities. However, if you are looking to tent camp at a great location, it’s perfect. The tent camping area is separate so no loud noises from RVs. The sites are spacious and separated by trees so you really feel connected to nature. I love hearing the wolves and being so close to great hiking trails. Highly recommended. It’s my favorite drive-in tent campground in NJ.
We did a weekend trip with just adults, tent camping. It was quite muddy so we moved our set up into the grass field, we reserved the majority of the sites in this location so it worked well. The RV spots seem nice and large. The bathrooms were nice and clean, showers were nice. There are a few bath houses that make the large camp ground have easy access to the bathrooms which I appreciated. The tent sites are on dirt and not stone which we enjoyed, I hate stone under my tent. The general store had everything plus, and very reasonably priced. The camp ground has a very large golf disc course and they seem to have tournaments. They sell disc golf things in the store as well. This course is huge and brings in groups who play for the day. They do allow golf carts we saw gas and powered. Nice and quite. We had a great time and it’s on our list as a successful tent camping location for us. The owners are AWESOME!
Very clean campground, clean bathrooms and showers. However, if you're tent camping the bathrooms are FAR and I highly doubt no one has ever peed outside at night instead of navigating through the night to them.
I had full at&t service. Nice double playground.
the tent sites are very close together, and when we stayed the RV campers get really rowdy at night past quiet hours (10pm) which sucked having our 7 year old with us trying to sleep. RVers with golf carts would periodically drive by too.
Overall not bad, but won't stay again. Okay as a tent camper if you're passing through for a night, and so so for those with young children, but if you want the real camping experience I don't recommend It's really geared more toward rvers
I tent camped with my niece here in early July. We booked a campsite at the far end of the loop by the lake, which looked to be the right spot for some privacy, but a longer walk to the bathroom and water spigot.
The campsites included a picnic table and fire ring, and flat ground for tents.
The late was closed for swimming (lifeguard shortage at the time) but there were lots of smaller spots to tuck into for fishing and just relaxing.
By the main swimming are there are canoe and kayak rentals as well.
We did one loop hike which was mostly in the woods with a brief stop with a lake view. The better activities were around the lake.
This campground was perfect for our weekend. The tent sites more in the open field area (
Staff was pleasant. Tent sites were not marked at all. No real clear boundaries of any of the tent sites. Took a awhile to figure out where our site was supposed to be. Other tent campers who arrived had the same issue. Bath house was relatively close and clean. Camp store at office has almost everything you need for camping.
Much more suited to RV Camping, but not terrible for a couple nights of tent camping
Great campground secluded tent sites.
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.
Tent camping near the water - great for Jersey Shore adventures. Make sure to check out the lighthouses nearby!!
Tent camped July 1st. Clean bathrooms. Sites are a little too close together. Noisy with highway traffic. Well maintained though. Ticks galore.
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
Private, clean sites, washrooms were clean, staff was awesome, can't say enough about this campground. Cabin/tent sites separated from RV sites.
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.
We found this KOA to be okay. Some amenities need upgrades for the price. Staff very friendly and helpful. I don’t love the gravel pad tent sites. Some sites are much more private than others.
Tent sites are big, clean, and with some shade. Bathrooms are clean and spacious. Check in was quick and the lady at the office was pleasant. Dogs are allowed, but there are rules. Follow them and you’ll be fine.
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 !!
Been camping here for 4 seasons. The management is very helpful and willing to help with even the smallest of requests. Great for RV and tent camping. There’s a pond stocked with 2-3 types of fresh water fish. They offer seasonal camping and a game room with a small general store.
My husband, friend, and I tent camped here last weekend and we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. Long story short, I spent several days looking for a close-by camp site for us to stay at as it was our first time tent camping. I stumbled upon this campground and reserved a space with electric and water. Upon arrival, the people at the office were friendly. We got to our space (83) and we noticed we were placed right in the middle of a bunch of RVs, which was not what we had envisioned. I took a walk with my dog and saw the primitive sites tucked in the back of the grounds. I immediately went to the office to ask to move to a primitive site and they allowed us to move without any issues. We ended up setting up camp at site 31 - which was spacious enough for two large tents and very private.
Pros: primitive sites are very private, friendly staff, clean grounds.
Cons: only one bathroom and it’s very far from the primitive sites, E/W sites are between RVs.
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.
We've tent camped here three or four times. It's a quiet wooded campground (not all spots, but most). Easy to get to, and friendly family ownership. They also have trailer hookups with electric and water and while not that remote (close to the River Towns in NJ) it feels remote when you are in the wooded spots.
We would recommend it... Two adults and one lazy bulldog.
There are two camping areas at Worthington State Forest - one area is tent only and the other area, separated by 3 group sites, has sites suitable for RVs and campervans. There are no hookups at any of the sites. Alcohol is not allowed. Facilities include plentiful single use bathrooms and showers.
Site 10 is a spacious, private tent site. Sites 36 and 37 are close together but would be great waterfront campervan sites. Many tent sites are wooded. Ticks and rattlesnakes are present in the area. Additionally, store food properly as this is bear country.
Activities include water sports on the Delaware River as well as hiking. We formed a loop hike by combining the Douglas Trail (1.7 miles), a stretch of the Appalachian Trail, and the Garvey Springs Trail (1.2 miles). This route will climb about 1200 feet past Laurel Falls to a backpacker Appalachian Trail campsite, and onward along Kittatinny Ridge to Sunfish Pond - a 44 acre glacial lake designated as a World Heritage Site - before descending back down.
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.
Pros: The Tent sites are The Best Thing about this Place, They are alot more Private and spacious. Cons: They Nickel and dime you for Everything Always Packed with seasonare ls and The Rv sites aandre terrible, Packed on top of Each other Restrooms and showers are Terrible. very Noisy good if you want to Party
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.
My husband and I brought our kids and nephew to Camp Taylor. We did tent camping for the weekend and we had a blast. The camping site we originally had booked was rather small, the front desk was cordial and able to accommodate us by moving us to a bigger site. We had running water and an electric outlet. Our neighbors were quiet and respectful, the grounds are well maintained and staff is great!
Tent camping near Raritan, New Jersey, offers a variety of scenic spots where nature lovers can enjoy the great outdoors while experiencing the tranquility of the region.
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Raritan, NJ is Round Valley State Park Campground with a 4.6-star rating from 24 reviews.
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