Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Alexandria Bay, NY

NYS may get tons of flack for its politics and politicians. However they're doing it all correct in their state parks. This park is amazing. The views of the ST. LAWRENCE River are amazing. You're around some of the best fishing in the country. We'll. Manicured campground. It's huge by the way. Tons of playgrounds and swimming. Always clean everything. Always friendly staff and campers. Inexpensive I mean really inexpensive. You're 10 min from Alexandria Bay. Boldt castle, singer castle, you can go on river cruises and view these beautiful islands and homes on them. Watch the cargo ships cruise the channel. Electric and water on many sites. Cottages cabins and primitive sites available. Hiking trails all over the park. There's a marina, boat launch and boat rentals. Docking. You can even day trip it use public grills and still enjoy everything the park has to offer. We have so much fun here. It's hard to pack and go home.

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.

Keewadyn sits along the St. Lawrence River in the Alexandria Bay Area. You can catch some pretty good views-Canada is literally across the way- but this felt a lot like camping in someone’s backyard. The whole park was wide open with barely any shade or trees. Granted, most are probably there to camp by the river and to partake in some of the area’s recreational opportunities, but I generally prefer to camp in more forested, secluded parks.

On the bright side, there is a lot to do in terms of recreation-boating, kayaking, white water rafting, wine tasting and exploring the local history. The park is safe and family oriented. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but maybe a good option for families with young children.

One of my favorite places to camp! The sites there are big!!! We usually get 2 sites and place as many as 5 tents between the 2 sites! Watch out for the skunks and raccoons on this island, they are huge from partaking in campers food! The park is very large, you can get in a few miles for a run or bike ride! Great price for camping! There is a boat launch for your own boat or you can rent a boat. The fishing on the St. Lawrence is awesome!!! Catch some perch and have a fish fry back at camp! If you fish near the boat rental there is a place to clean you fish! Perfect place to camp if you want to go to Alexandria Bay! Great shopping and great restaurants! Make sure you visit Bolt Castle! Happy Camping!

Another large, well maintained and facilitated campground. At least 200 sites with spaces for tents and RVs with electric. Reasonably spread out, some sites are relatively isolated and give the feeling of being in nature and in the woods/by the water while others are more or less in a field. I found the perfect site D10 tucked away at the end of a short driveway directly on the water with a little walk out to a small rocky outcropping perfect for catching the sunset or watching the boats and day go by. Bathrooms were decent and reasonably places, never being too far from anyway. Plenty of water was available throughout. The entire island itself is an interesting area and can be explored by bike to make for a great day of site seeing and local immersion. Alexandria Bay is not far away too and is essentially the only civilization you’ll find around, with plenty of bars restaurants and shops, as well as boat tours around the thousand islands are and to the Boldt Castle. The Boldt castle is an awesome adventure. For about $20 you get a boat ride over and can spend as little or as much time as you want on the island exploring the grounds and the buildings. The history of the building and in the building gives pretty good insight and background to what is and is on Wellesley Island, where you are staying.

We came to this campground after a week in Algonquin Provincial park in Canada and the contrast couldn't have been greater. Up north we stayed on a large, shady site in a radio free loop and everyone had canoes. In New York we had a cramped, open site and everyone seemed to have a motorboat on a trailer. Our neighbors across the road set up a movie screen . The overall feel was NOT "getting away from it all".
The facilities are good and there's a nice beach and well stocked General store, also a big boat ramp facility with some docks.
We chose this location because we were attending the Antique Boat Show in Clayton, 13 miles away, and this was the closest available. It suited us just fine for that.
Keep your stuff secure, there are brazen raccoons.

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.

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.