Best Glamping near Alexandria Bay, NY

We stayed at Swan Bay Resort in Alexandria Bay, NY, for our last trip this year. Spoiler alert… we had a great stay! 

This is a great park. It’s an easy mile from I-81 and just 10-minutes drive to Alexandria Bay downtown. The staff was great— friendly and helpful. Our waterfront pull-IN site was a level concrete pad and gravel with FHU and everything worked great. Oh, and the best part was our view of the St. Lawrence River with passing ocean liners and lots of migrating birds. 

The park has 2 swimming pools, a tiki bar, a food truck, and nice communal hang-out areas. There’s a marina with pontoon boat rentals. They put on Octoberfest during our stay which featured a live band and food and craft vendors. 

There are plenty of restaurants and stores nearby. Adjacent to the entrance is a self-service car wash with bay large enough for motorhomes. 

I have nothing bad to say about this place and encourage you to visit when you can.

Unfortunately when we arrived at southwick the rangers & staff had all gone home so we were unable to get a map or check in. We went to our camp site & there were people playing very loud music until about 12am, no rangers around the say anything about quiet hours so I had to. Sites are on top of eachother & there’s no boarders inbetween, fine for some people but not for me. After it rained one night our site & others around us were completely flooded. The beach area & bathhouses we’re nice though so that helped the stay not be a complete wash

Overall, our trip to this campground on an island was awesome! The sunsets were spectacular and our site was literally just steps from Lake Ontario. All sites are full hook up. Wifi is available and fairly good. Trash is picked up from your site between 8-10am each day. Staff was VERY nice and helpful. Most sites are spacious enough though you can see your neighbor. Fire pits are behind the camper pad so you can see others at their fire pits but most were spread out and I didn't hear the neighbors conversations. Being right on the lake and on the west facing side allowed for the prevailing winds to be felt. One night we couldn't sit outside due to the high winds. The Midge gnats were horrible for about a day and a half. They were around all week and I understand this was the time of year for them but the one day, you could not walk outside without being swarmed. In fact, I took pics of the swarm up above the trees. I've never seen anything like it before! We went out to eat the night they were so bad you couldn't cook, eat, or sit outside. There is a store with limited supplies, a "cafe" that served food but hours were not regular, a nice pool though too chilly in mid June to use. You can rent a golf cart which isn't really needed but fun. The opposite side of the island near the marina (not a full service marina just docks for your boat if you bring one)  and sunrise view had more spacious sites and you could access the lake easier. I don't think swimming is allowed though in the lake. The interior sites not on the water were okay, but a bit close in areas. The campground was not full most of the week we were there but began filling up by the weekend. There is a winery that does tastings on Friday afternoon and evenings which was fun. The closest towns are Watertown to the east which has any store you could need (Walmart, Lowes, etc.),  Henderson Harbor (not much there), Sagett's Harbor (cute but small with a couple cool restaurants though skip the brewery as they had no local beer and the food was just okay), Cape Vincent (cool lighthouse and small downtown), and Clayton which is about a 50 min. drive. We loved Clayton. Eat at Bellas on the St. Lawrence River! There is fishing at the island and a lot was being caught but most of it was small fish. Our friends went Go Karting somewhere close by. There are a few state parks that had great hiking trails and scenery. We had a lot of down time just relaxing while taking in the beautiful view. I'd happily go again!

There is TONS of beach to explore at this little State Park in New York. I used to visit here as a kid years ago because my grandparents owned a cottage on the lake. Since they sold it, visiting Southwick is the next best thing. Lake Ontario is an amazing lake to be on and the water is pretty warm in the summer time. the waves don't get too big, so it is very safe for kids. Southwick itself has great camping spots right next to the beach. It is a little pricey if you only want to visit for the day, $8, but you can get a tent spot for $18 which is comparable to other state parks. Showers are available, and there are some short trails that are good for running or probably cross country skiing in the winter. There is also a sizable playground near the beach that is great for the kids.

Swan Bay Resort is exactly that. All of there sites are on slabs,neat and clean hook ups. There is riverviews from just about every site which is nice and then there are sites right on the river, the river sites do face west , so you do get beautiful sunsets. Check-in was smooth and the staff was very helpful. There are plenty of bathrooms and washing machines are in all of them. They offer boat, kayak, and paddle board rentals. They have 2 pools and a tiki bar on site. They looked beautiful but they were crowded and nobody was practicing social distancing , and for me we are still in the unknown with covid so we stayed away. No judging at all just a personal preference call. The shop was mostly chatchskis and except for the normal staple items sewer hoses and stuff of that nature. There is a supermarket that is walkable which was nice. Now for the downside and it's only 1 , this place is a bit pricey. What I spent here for 2 nights I could have stayed a week at a KOA, so I did pay for those beautiful river sunsets.

I’ll start by saying Swan Bay is a busy, family-oriented campground. We arrived on a weekend and it was pretty busy but loved it during the week when everybody left and things were quieter. Our site (#38) was a Passport America site so we got a great nightly rate of $42 which is half of the regular nightly rate. Our site was a “standard site” near the pool, boat launch, activities, and Tiki Bar which surprised us because sites close to activities are usually desired and not discounted. Campsite costs depends on whether you get a waterfront (which is $95/night even in the off-season), water view, pull thru, or standard site. Most sites do not have shade but they added a new section that does have some old mature trees and sporadic shade. All the sites are the same in that they have paved parking areas with gravel in front, pavers for a patio and full hook-up. Some of the newer sites now have a bit of shade from trees. There are lots of rental park models and cottages close to the pool and Tiki Bar. Within walking distance is a Price Chopper Grocery, Dollar General, gas station, and wine and liquor store.  

There is a free boat launch and boat slips (not sure if they are free) for guests. I was hoping to spend a bit of time on my paddleboard but soon realized it is very windy here and found very few windows to paddle. Our neighbor (who has camped here seasonally for the last four years) mentioned that he lost three awnings to the wind. So, don’t leave your awning out when you leave your camper and beware of winds if you want to be on the water. Check-in was quick and easy. The park is gated so you get a gate card to enter the park. You also get a BOGO card to use at the Tiki Bar which has specials during the week (like margarita Monday, bucket of beer, bloody Mary’s, etc.). The pool and Tiki Bar were not very busy when we were there. There is a second pool but it was not open yet for the season. In between the pools is a community fire pit with nice Adirondack chairs which is pretty cool. The playground is awesome and huge with lots of cool features for kids to explore. The dog park is very nice and a decent size to throw a ball for your dog. It also has potable water for drinking, which, for some reason, did not work during our stay. There are gobs of activities for kids and adults. Plenty of rentals too – ranging from boats, kayaks, golf carts, etc. 

A couple of the downsides of this park are the price (unless you get a discount like we did), sites don’t have much privacy, the park gets crowded and noisy, and there was lots of noise from the construction work within the park they were doing. If you are in the back of the park, you get some road noise from Route 12 and the refrigerated truck at the neighboring Price Chopper. Overall, we loved this park during the slow season and during the week when there were not kids running around and adults playing loud music and drinking constantly.