Best Campgrounds in New Jersey

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.

It was cold so we asked to be put close to bathrooms so we could leave camper winterized. They accommodated us nicely. The park is better looking toward the back but the sites are kind of crowded together and bare.

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!!

I went there very often as a kid with my mom and her husband my grandparents met Wonder earful friends had a blast it was such fun going there for weeks at a time ine time went for a whole month it's good to see it still looks the same

I arrived on a Tuesday a few days after they closed the pool, and by Wednesday I had the whole row of tent sites to myself. Maybe that's why it was so peaceful, but every night after my cacophonous conference in Philadelphia, I couldn't wait to turn down Timberlane Road and see that little KOA sign glowing in the darkness. In addition to the peaceful vibe, the people are friendly, the little office store has everything you forgot to pack, and if you look around the campground edges or follow the walking trail into the woods, you will find wonderful native plants like blueberry, viburnum, clethra, and meadow beauty.

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.

Stokes State Forest is a beautiful park with a lot of different trails to check out, though some of them are difficult to access due to parking. The camping areas are split between two different entrances. If you’re in Lake Ocquitunk, like I was, you don’t enter at the main entrance, you have to go past the main entrance about another mile on rt. 15 N. and enter by the YMCA. All the other camping areas are near the main entrance by the forest office. The campsites themselves are a little too close together in some spots with little coverage or privacy. There is a day parking area which is only accessible going through the main entrance by the forest office— if you visit during the week park entrance is free, but on the weekend fees can be a bit steep. I wasn’t super happy with my campsite as I wasn’t able to physically have my car on the site like I thought. I had to park in a small lot above my campsite and carry my belongings down a short slope to the site. I like to car-camp so this was a bit of a let down having my car separate from my actual campsite.

The bathrooms were nice and had flush toilets, but the showers were out of service during my time. Bathrooms are extremely spaced out so you will have to walk a far distance unless you strategically choose a site next to one. I drove through the other campsite and only saw 1 set of bathrooms that had toilets and showers per campground, not including the outhouses I saw for those in the small cabins.

If you’re looking for a place to be a recluse, this is not the campsite to go. Being it’s along the Delaware water gap it attracts a lot of people, especially in summer. During the day you can hear music, smell fires, see people tubing on the water, or pass by people doing day picnics near the forest office. I went in the middle of the week and all the campsite in my area were filled up. I’m normally used to having campgrounds to myself when I go since I do during off times so this was a bit of a surprise. WiFi is very spotty— I was essentially out of range the entirety of my stay. Trails are nice and well marked, and there is no fee to enter if you drive all the way down to the day area parking at the end of Old Mine Rd. Bathrooms were decently clean and had flush toilets. Showers had hot water and nice ventilation. Overall it was a nice campsite, but too busy for my liking.

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 .

My familiy an I stayed at Ocean City Campground for a weekend get away. The staff was was very friendliy and the campstore/snack stand was impressive. The campground has a nice pool and covered area. They also had organized activities. The site we had was nice, It was level and well kept as were all the other sites we saw. The sights do seem a little on the smaller side though. Cell service with AT&T was good overall. This campground is about a 15 minute drive from Ocean City. There are plenty of stores close by as well.

Doing this review because a lot of them feel extremely outdated, so here we go. 

Access: There are two ways to get to your campsite, boating and the great 3 mile trek. Starting with the hike, the path is not the best, filled with a ton of rocks placed by the lands-men. It makes the hike extremely difficult which could have been avoided. Moreover, theres a few points on the trail where you’re walking side by side from a highway, crossing driveways, passing construction zones, and past fencing. Extremely awkward and takes you out of the hiking experience immediately. Not ideal especially since you have to pay to camp on the site. I was extremely dissatisfied. Boating may be more worth it to avoid these downfalls and get your moneys worth. 

Amenities: There are two water pumps. One at the beginning of the camp site and one at the end. They tend to get far if you plan on camping further into the campsite so I would plan ahead. The primitive restrooms aren’t maintained at all but if you’re there more for the"outdoorsy" experienced not a huge downfall. Most of the campsites have access to a picnic table and fire ring which is a huge plus. 

Overall: For starters, the water is beautiful and clean, although there is no swimming, swim at your own risk and don’t get caught? I had a wonderful time at this location, the sites were big enough for play and privacy. The water was clean and provided a lovely view in the morning and it was quiet and dark as expected by sundown. But this site just missed with the awful trail of three miles. Although there were service roads throughout the campsite, visitors were not able to use them. The necessary carry in and out for 3 miles is a huge downfall. Moreover, the hike itself along highways, across roads, and down strategically places pebbles and rocks were a huge miss and made it extremely difficult and slippery. I highly recommend boating as hiking will probably make the experience a lot more sour than wanted. It shouldn’t be a"choose between the two" considering you’re paying but what can you do… pick boating if you really want to see it for yourself.

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.