Best Cabin Camping near Shelter Island, NY

This was a last-minute booking for us and we were delighted with the beachside cottage, with enough amenities that mom and dad did not worry we had their cutie with us for "camping". She's too little for backpacking into the woods but finally got to stay overnight and help with the campfire!

Pros

• Modern facility with full kitchen accessories (coffee maker, plates, wine opener, can opener, silverware, pots, pans, cooking utensils, toaster, oven), sponge/dish liquid. Microwave.1
• Clean interior, clean campground
• modern cottage with propane fireplace, WiFi access, bathroom with shower, large screened in porch with bar height table and 4 chairs, deck with chaise lounges, two bedrooms (1 with 2 twin beds, 1 with full), coach, chairs, plenty of clean storage places and hooks. You have everything but bedding, food, drinks, and personal items.
• cottages far enough away from each other
• fire ring with Adirondack chairs
• dumpster and recycling within walking distance
• lots of bone dry firewood around for campfire
• walkable beach
• beautiful
• wildlife: deer, rabbits, turtles

Cons

• a bit pricey
• playground is driving distance not walking

I've never camped in Rhode Island, so I was curious to see what a state park campground had to offer. Rates are reasonable for state residents, but quite high if you are out-of-state, given the amenities. There are no hookups, but dump stations are available. Bathrooms have flush toilets and coin-operated showers. There's a small beach at the pond, a boat ramp, and proximity to wildlife refuges and the ocean. It's a HUGE campground, with 700 sites and 20 cabins. Canoes are available to rent.

There's a nice playground, a camp store, and a naturalists cabin. Trails are available for hiking and biking. The beach is sandy and there's a small parking lot there, but I suspect most people walk to it. No alcohol allowed. 

I didn't see more than a handful of level sites, with varying degrees of slope, but many are quite large. If you have an RV, plan to level; if you have a tent, be sure to bring good mattresses to protect you from the roots and rocks and orient your head to the uphill side. Most of the sites have some degree of visual separation from their neighbors, but there are places where it's hard to tell where one site ends and the next one starts. Site have fire rings and picnic tables, but if you plan to cook over the fire, bring your own grate or plan to use sticks and/or aluminum foil. 

If you don't have a tent, consider reserving one of their rustic cabins. These offer two sets of bunks (no mattresses) and a small porch with a picnic table and fire ring outside. Some are located along the pond.

3-4 bar cell phone coverage. No road traffic. East Beach is nearby, but parking fills early.

My husband and and I camped one night at this newly reopened park over the weekend in Long Island just to check it out and were pretty disappointed by the tent camping area. There are 69 tent/trailer sites(no hook ups). There is no distinguishing separation between each site nor a designated driveway for your car- you merely pull up on the grass. It's basically like camping in your local city park. People park wildly all over the place, which also makes it more difficult to determine which site is which by the number painted on the roadway. Each"site" has a picnic table and an barbecue grate on a post. There is one bath/shower house in the center of all of these sites with no path provided for folks to walk to and fro, so naturally people will walk right through your site randomly rather than around the road. While the bathroom building itself is in decent shape and has a large amount of toilet stalls and about five showers, the condition of women's room was absolutely ghastly inside.

At some point during the evening, a maintenance worker on a golf cart showed up with a mop and some cleaning supplies and cleaned the men's side of the building. I was so relieved when I saw him, but he seemed to neglect the women's side completely, so I resorted to using the men's facilities all night.

There are no fire pits on any of the sites, although I learned afterwards that they do allow you to bring your own metal fire pit as long as it is elevated off the ground. There are large dumpsters located throughout the camping area and a large trash bag is provided (if needed) at the camp office when you check in.

The highlight of Heckscher State Park is the newly constructed heated cottages located on the shore of Nichol's& Great South Bays.. There are currently 11 cottages--- with more under construction. There are cottages suited for two, four, and six people and range in price from$225-$285 per night during off peak seasons and$250- 320 per night during the peak seasons.

The cottages are fully furnished, with a full kitchen and large bathroom with a walk in shower. The cottages are a short walk from the beach and also include a fire pit with Adirondack chairs and an outdoor shower on the exterior each property. I do not have photos of the inside, but they do have them on the Reserve America website if you are interested.

While the cottages are lovely and their location is fabulous  they are quite pricey and  no TLC was spent in the$22 tent/rv camping area, other than a new registration office which is not yet completed as of this weekend. I do hope they invest some funding in the primitive area to add fire pits,more water spigots, clearer site markings and for the continued maintenance& upkeep of the bath/shower house.

* I emailed the parks departement about the issues mentioned above about the camping area and received this reply:

I am sorry that you are upset with the conditions in our recently opened campgrounds. We have replaced all of the picnic tables. Although, they may look old because they are weathered since these picnic tables were put together during the Winter, however, they are brand new. All of the barbeques are also new and were installed during the Winter. We have changed and modernized the light fixtures and we will be replacing the rusted doors that you mentioned. There are also plans to install a playground within the campground beginning this Fall and we are looking for other improvements and additions to the campgrounds. As you probably noticed there is a new building under construction, at the entrance to the campgrounds, and it will serve as a check-in area, as well as, additional comfort stations, including family restrooms. Your suggestion of fire pits is a good one and the Park Managers will evaluate the feasibility of installing these. Lastly, I have spoken to the Park Manager who will review the cleaning operation to ensure the restrooms are appropriately maintained. I apologize for our employee not cleaning the women's room. Again, I am sorry for your negative experience but we are continuing to make improvements to the campgrounds.

Sincerely, George Gorman Regional Director New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

I will check back later this year to see if anything was changed and report back.

Didn’t quite feel like camping, but it was still a lovely weekend away at the Mystic KOA. We decided to head down to check out the aquarium and stayed at a deluxe cabin. It was cute and clean and furnished with linens, cookware, utensils, kitchen essentials, keurig coffee maker/pods, and full-sized fridge. Only complaint was an odd, musty smell we couldn’t quite figure out.

The grounds are large with vast amounts of space. Be forewarned that it’s right off of 95, and the sound definitely carries. Trees are sparse in areas, but the sunsets were a nice trade off. Amenities seemed nice from what we could tell - cool outdoor movie screen, pools and playground, though we certainly didn’t get to enjoy these things in February.

Getaway is fabulous! My first glamping experience was a winner! Machimoodus is one of the newest outposts just outside Boston and NYC. My bf and I went during one of the snowiest weekends all winter, but it was completely worth it!

First of all, the huge picture window in the cabin is AMAZING. It is just so rejuvenating waking up to freshly fallen snow on the trees - corny I know, but 100% accurate. The cabin was beautiful and rustic, and outfitted with cookware, dishes, a Bluetooth capable radio, essentials like coffee for purchase, books and a shovel for the snow.

Since the outpost was new, the fire pit was brand new, and despite the snow, we were able to cook on it. Very easy to use.

Only critiques would be the lackluster water pressure in the shower and how icy the walkway leading up from the driveway got in the cold weather. The water pressure was a small price to pay, however, and the icy walkway is resolved easily enough wearing micro-spikes.

I can’t recommend enough. It can be a pricy excursion, but the outposts are established in very beautiful settings. I cannot wait to check out more!

I camped here solo on Friday and Saturday over the Labor Day weekend. Overall my experience was positive.

Camping Sites

Each camping site has a picnic table and barbeque grill. The sites are designated by printing on the roads and do not have clear boundaries between them. My site had good shade coverage and was free of rocks and other hazards. 

I had enough space that I didn't feel like I was intruding on my neighbors and vice-versa. That said, there aren't clear paths to the restroom building so it's not uncommon for people to cut through the edges of sites to get there. In my experience I (and others I saw) tried not to go right through the middle people's setups to do so.

If you're looking for privacy, the sites at the rear seemed to be less-densely packed, even though every site was occupied. Quiet hours are generally adhered to but not enforced - there were some campers that had noise running later.

Amenities

The restroom building is in the middle of the campground and was clean and had plenty of stalls.

Potable water is available at regular intervals, about at the corners of each group of four campsites.

Cell phone reception is limited - I had data but it was very slow which led to my phone's battery draining quickly.

Access

A car is an absolute must for this part - the entrance is directly off of Southern State Parkway with no pedestrian access. Train stations are nearby so you could take the train most of the way and rent a car from there.

I’ve lived in CT all my life but never used the Rocky Neck State Park Campground until now.

The campgrounds are named after water fowl: Crane, Egret, Osprey, Heron etc...We stayed in Egret. We camped at site #4 (sunny) then moved to #38 (shady).

Both spots were quiet, music low and people minded their business. Equal mix of RVs big and small as well as many tents.

Bathhouses and toilets were not as cleaned as I would have liked but passable. Coronavirus social distancing required.

Sites include one paved parking spot (ours was very muddy) a fire pit and a picnic table. No water or electric hookup. Wi-fi not available at this campground. Fire wood is sold at camp office. There is no store in park - no ice either.

A lot of you children. Short walk to Rock Neck beach. Nature Center has movies on weekends for kids.

Anyone with kayaks can’t easily get to boat launch. It’s 4-5 miles by car at 4 mile river boat launch. See photos.