Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Harkers Island, NC

Dog-Friendly Camping Reviews near Harkers Island, NC

275 Reviews of 42 Harkers Island Campgrounds

• T

  Trey H.

  Traveler

  Jun. 26, 2018

  South Core Banks -- Beach Camping — Cape Lookout National Seashore

  Nothing short of AMAZING

  Short ferry ride from Harker’s Island. Prettiest water I’ve seen in NC, can be compared to the Caribbean! Fresh water and restrooms on island. Camp anywhere 100ft from buildings. Trees for shade, privacy, protection from wind more central on the island. The light house is beautiful! Wild horses just across the water on Shackleford Banks, which can also be camped- minus all the amenities.

• 

  Kasey M.

  Ranger

  Aug. 19, 2020

  Whispering Pines Campground

  Nice Campground

  Nice campground well-kept pool, and laundry facility. The playground closed due to COVID but has a dog park and fishing ponds with bass. The biggest downfall to this facility is that the nice campsites are only reserved for seasonal or year-round campers. Anyone there for days - weeks stay get a full-sun site which some can be pretty small ours was a decent size. It's also overrun by feral cats so if you're allergic, bring meds. They offer cable, and you can pay for WiFi.

• R

  Rebecca F.

  Traveler

  Aug. 11, 2025

  New Bern KOA Holiday

  Our first trip in the camper

  Our first trip in our new to us camper and found the campground very nice. The bathhouses were the cleanest and best equipped. Some shade. Nice dog park. Plenty of amenities.

• S

  Sara M.

  Guide

  May. 16, 2024

  Dixon Landing RV Resort

  Waterfront, secluded, nature, sunsets... what more can you ask for?

  We found Dixon Landing in their initial opening phase and it is lightly booked at this point (they even have openings for the upcoming summer holidays). This is a very secluded campground right on the wide Goose Creek/Neuse River, with access to the ocean varying from 25-50 miles. 

  Every RV site is pull-through with both “waterfront” and “water view” (more of a view of the marsh along the river) sites. Site layout is long, very wide(you have to actually walk over to talk to neighbors) and mostly level side-to-side. Front-to-back was easily compensated with blocks. The road in and the sites are a combination of compacted sand and grass that drained well after a storm. Many sites have shade or afternoon shade. The electric pedestal was new and tall, making it easy to connect the surge protector, and topped with a solar light. 

  Hosts Steve and Joan were themselves RV’rs and park details reflect their experience. Since they are in their opening season they currently offer basic services with electric/water, a dump site(no water) and free on-site pump-out service, picnic tables, firepits, a dog park, kayaks, and a fishing pond for kids(C&R). More services are in the planning or permitting stage. Today they offer a bathroom and just got permits for the full bathhouse. Fiber-optic cable should be run to their area this year. We were amazed at how many TV channels we picked up just on antennae. Verizon, ATT and Sprint service are known to be good. They will have an ice machine, laundry, and a pier eventually. 

  Today you will go to enjoy the absolute quiet, waking up to sunrise glinting off the wide river in every window, fishing from the banks, land and sea wildlife, gorgeous sunsets over the river, and hearing whip-or-wills serenade after sunset. 

  It was about 90 minutes (including 2 ferry rides) to reach the Cape Lookout National Park and lighthouse.  The ferry dropped us off for 2 hours to walk the beach, hike and view the wild horses on Harker’s Island. Gary’s, the local seafood restaurant, was a find! So good we ate there twice. I’m already looking at the calendar to go back.

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• T

  Tod S.

  Legend

  Dec. 10, 2022

  Ocracoke Campground — Cape Hatteras National Seashore

  Big sites, some are pretty private

  Paved, level parking pad on sandy grass sites tucked between the dunes and vegetation in Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the outer banks by of North Carolina. No hookups, but water and dump are across the street, and generators are allowed.

• J

  Jen B.

  Guide

  Aug. 20, 2020

  New Bern KOA Holiday

  Beautiful campground

  This was a very nice, well maintained campground. The staff were extremely polite and helpful. We stayed from Aug 11-14, 2020. The pool was nice on a hot humid day. They have gem mining. You buy the bags of dirt in the camp store. The bathhouses are all very new due to a recent hurricane and they were kept clean. The dock/pier was picture perfect as the sunset over the Neuse river. The playground and jump pad looked like they would be a lot of fun but were closed due to Covid 19 restrictions. They had horseshoes and Gaga-ball that were open. They had 2 fenced in dog parks and a dog washing station. We chose this campground for it’s location near historical downtown New Bern and we would definitely recommend it to others. They have RV sites, tent sites and cabins.

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• P

  Phillip Y.

  Scout

  Jun. 9, 2024

  Dogwood Family Campground

  Gravel parking lot

  Full timers and long term on business campers beware! This campground has nothing to offer. The owners of this 1 year old campground are very strict with their rules and regulations. They are very nice in person and when checking in but soon you will find yourself receiving passive aggressive emails from them about rule violation they’ve spotted on the 6 or more cameras throughout the park. They have a very strict leash law here but offer no dog run/park area for your K-9 to play. They claim a dog park is on the list of things to come, but the second half of a drain field will come first. There are no amenities here, other than a very small fishing pond and some poorly maintained walking trails at the rear of the campground that have piles of post construction material scattered about. The campground is on well water and very brown in color so I would not drink or cook with it. Over half of the sites have your living side of the RV facing west and there is not a tree in sight, so in the summer be prepared to bake in the sun. The entire campground is gravel parking lot with 10 foot slivers of grass between each site and god forbid don’t let Sean the owner see you put anything(rug, vehicle, etc…) on his beloved grass. I gave this campground 2 stars… 1 for being dark and quiet at night and the other star for the free and decent wifi. So if you don’t want spied on via cameras, harassed, a dusty rig and a place for Fido to play, I would suggest going 8 miles down the road to an awesome campground called Whispering pines you and your dog will be much happier!

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• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  Feb. 26, 2025

  Cedar Island Ranch

  As close as you can get to the ferry!

  We stayed here six years ago and when I knew we’d be returning to the area, I tried to find it on The Dyrt but it wasn’t there (and I could not remember the name). When we were there in 2018, the campground was in transition and our stay was less than optimal, so I figured maybe it was no longer there. I was surprised when we arrived at the ferry terminal to see it was there, open, and looking quite improved. I stopped in at the office to speak to the owner/manager and she was very surprised to find it was not on the Dyrt’s map so I’m glad that now that I finally had a chance to post my review, it had been added! 

  There are 60 sites, including walk-in tent sites, back-in W/E, pull-thru W/E, and FHU pull-thru sites. The prices range from $20-$75. You cannot get any closer to the Cedar Island-Ocracoke ferry terminal from this campground. There is also a motel. The bathrooms are much improved since the last time we were there and there are hot water showers. 

  Activities/Amenities: Playground, dog park, horseback riding, SUP rentals, beach volleyball, community fire pit, boat ramp, dump station, post office. 

  Had we known this campground was still here, we would have stayed!

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• 

  Karla G.

  Scout

  Apr. 15, 2023

  Dogwood Family Campground

  Relax and unwind

  This spot is close to everything without being on top of it all! Kid friendly, pet friendly, and very clean! All of the lots are level making for an easy setup! This is nice because you can get to enjoying your time away from home quickly! The owners, Lisa& Shawn are very hands on with this campground making sure that everyone is comfortable and feels at home while staying here! We originally booked 3 nights and added an additional night because we weren’t quite ready for our stay to end! This place is truly a hidden gem!! We will definitely be back!