Best Campgrounds near Ellisburg, 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.

We needed a campground not too far off our route from Niagara Falls to NH and this was great. Very windy when we arrived. Our campsite 8 did not have a fire ring but others did. Right on water…can’t drive on path in front of the water sites so you are essentially on the water. Nice clean facilities.

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.

A great park on Sandy Pond and Lake Ontario.  Mostly Permanent sites with 6 transient sites overlooking the marina.  The park has a nice pool, pavilion, store and kids playground with a basketball court.  Great area for fishing, bass, trout, salmon and walleye.  Very clean and well maintained park.

This was our first time here, and we were looking forward to a relaxing visit. The sites were very large and well spaced out, with a beautiful fire ring. The bathrooms were clean. This campground got a 3/5 mainly because quiet hours are not enforced. Unfortunately, people were up blaring radios until approximately 3 am, being roudy. At approximately 2 am, someone decided it would be a good idea to do burnouts with their diesel truck, and went around the camp loop twice, doing just that. Vehicles were driving by the campsites all night long. This is naturally not entirely the campgrounds fault, but it was unfortunate to be misled by the campground rules. On a positive note, the campground is dog friendly, in certain areas, with proof of rabies vaccination, of course. Overall, I would say that this campground is geared more toward the RV and trailer crowd.

Tiny quiet campground right on duck lake. Water front sites available. Very friendly owner!

Yes, it’s true! You’ve hit the campground bathroom lottery here!

Let’s start off with the pros: bathrooms are great! Super modern and clean and hot, free showers! Very handicap accessible as well.

The whole campground is very well kept. Completely litter free and all the buildings and signs are modern and cool looking. Five stars all the way for the people running this place. They are doing an awesome job keeping it very fresh.

Maintenance/facilities: 5 stars

Camping sites:

I’ll start with the positive. It was a simple and easy, level site. And we had electric. So it was good.

The cons: There is zero privacy here. Virtually no trees or shrubs between sites and sites are close to each other. In the rolling meadow sites opt for the electric as the tent only sites are basically a sardine can of campers. I mean in one spot the tents were so close to each other I thought it was a group campsite but it was not. Like a group hostel room but with tents instead of bunks.

We were only here for 1 night passing through and it was great for that but I would not feel comfortable hanging outside at my site in quarters so close. Maybe I’m just weird because many people did. I can’t imagine spending any longer than 1-2 nights here. I would stay again but would check out other camp spots first. In our area 118 and 120 seemed to the best that backed up onto trees as opposed to just other sites.

Camping sites: 2 stars

Amenities: there’s a lot to do here. However I feel I must say you cannot reach the lakes from the rolling meadow campground without a car, bike or very long walk. You can see a bit of round lake through the trees but it really isn’t accessible. Expectations are the doom of any trip so just keep that in mind. You’re not going to bed with any sort of lake views or sounds near you. Also you can only swim at the beach which is pretty small and guarded by some pretty enthusiastic lifeguards taking the job pretty seriously. I guess you will appreciate it if you have little kids to me it was a turn off as I don’t prefer to feel like a fish in a bowl when I swim. But again this is just personal preference! Also there were a lot of rules at this tiny beach - more than I have seen at pretty much any other beach anywhere in the world. Mostly I assume the rules are there to protect the water which I can appreciate but don’t expect a relaxing lake vibe here. Lots of picnic tables and a perfect place to have a picnic and chill for a bit. Very clean beach bath area and I really appreciated the charging station with 4 covered outlets available and a charging counter. I didn’t use it but was impressed someone thought to add that in to the building plans.

With all the rules in place there is just one missing: No political propaganda of any type should be allowed at the campsites. We were almost blinded by idiocy each time we walked to the bathroom as we had to go past a full size Trump flag someone was flying in front of their site. Can’t even imagine the rage I would’ve felt if I had to camp next to that. Fortunately I found a cut through in the woods which I used to get around it on the way to the bathroom. Camping is where you go to get away from all of it! This is state owned land and they should not be allowing that sort of inflammatory full sized political flag in any area as it only raises the blood pressure instead of dropping it. You can’t bring your own SUP or kayak, face mask or list of any other things to the lake (rules) but you can have your heart attack inducing propaganda all over your site and in everyone else’s face - makes no sense.

Would I stay here again: Yes. But only for 1 night passing through. I felt too crowded to be there for any length of time. It was hard for me to relax outside.

Value was a 5 star because I had full electric for $30/night and there was plenty to do. I should note for kids this place is a goldmine! Great playgrounds everywhere and you can rent kayaks. And it’s great for bikes. And it was all very handicap accessible which I thought was very impressive. You can tell a lot of thought went into the facility side of park. If they cut out 1/4 of the camp sites it would be spacious and amazing. And the trumpeter is just a case of bad timing for me, not a permanent thing (although I do think they should ban that decoration of insanity at state run parks).

I'm not used to seeing so many druggies in a state park: they typically can't afford a state park. I pulled in and my site was free on both sides. Then a small car pulled in and a woman sat on the picnic table chain-smoking cigarettes. A little later a pick up truck showed up with three more people. A little later another vehicle showed up with more people. I think at one point there were at least five people, but you couldn't tell if it was a family or, some strange tribe. Well, they camped right under my window and proceeded to burn fallen sticks and branches and whatever they could find. They came and left a lot probably to get drugs.

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

@penalty shooters 2 said loved where we were this time. page 121. On these hot days, with a slope and a nice breeze.

We drove through here but didn’t stay. The non-electric sites were pretty much all on hilly areas, most would be impossible for an RV to get level, though there were a few that would have worked. 

We drove through the “bluffs” loop (electric sites), thinking it would be beautiful and look out on the water, but it was a nightmare for us, with huge RVs jam packed side by side like a parking lot. 

The lakeview loop was nicer, but still too many RVs all in a row. There are also cute cabins here for rent. 

When we were there the city was under a water advisory- all water had to be boiled before any kind of use. There was a dump station, and trash bins but no recycling (I’m disappointed in the lack of recycling at NY State campgrounds!) So, we moved on to Selkirk SP and stayed there instead.

This campground is 4 different loops- A loop is like the loop for people here for fishing, B loop is the mellower crowd, and C and D were our nightmares: mass chaos, children running amok, loud groups, no thanks. Apparently C and D are always booked and full, because people like that it’s closest to the beach trail, the playground, and the camp store. We chose a site in loop B and were happy with our choice. None of the sites at the campground have any privacy from your neighbor, you’re all sort of camped in a big circle. Sites 66 and 67 are the exception that we saw, they’re off together to the side and would be a good choice for two groups camping together. 

There are dumpsters here, and there’s recycling for redeemable bottles and cans only, with proceeds going to the campground’s rec center. That was the most recycling I’ve seen offered at a NY state park campground yet, at least it’s something. 

All sites are electric, some are 30 and some are 50amp. There’s a nice new dump station with several dumps and potable water. Good cell reception for both Verizon and ATT. NY State campgrounds require proof of rabies vaccinations for your dogs.

You completely match our Connections Game expectation and the variety of our Connections Game information.

We have been coming here for years. Nice large beach, swimming, fishing in Ontario or Sterling pond. Boat launch, or small boat launch in Sterling pond. The town has a small town charm, a couple of small shops, ice cream, mini golf, etc. It's worth the trip. Campground will also deliver wood to the site. One downside, NYS needs to upgrade electricity and make more sites electric. Lots of picnicking during the weekend.

Lovely weekend weather, curious creatures

A big park right on the St Lawrence. Sites are concrete and level. WiFi was ok. Washrooms were clean and adequate. From waterside sites you can see vessels on the seaway. There are a lot of rules!

Sites are large level concrete. You can watch ships on the seaway from the front

Great view. Nice windy not too much tho. Quiet camp ground, sites a little close

We stopped here for a night going from Niagara Falls area to upper vermont. All sites are a back in site yet it was long enough for us to stay hooked up. We had full hook up. The sites are tight like most RV parks. The office is at the 19th hole. There is a bar that serves food called Divots. They had prime rib on the menu yet Sundays they close early so we didn't get to eat there. 

There is a 12 hole golf coarse that surrounds the campground. 

There are a lot of seasonal campsites that have decks, nice furniture out at their spots. They all left Sunday afternoon yet the rigs stay there.

we paid #37.50 for a one night stay. That is a good price for full hook up.