Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Wrightsville Beach, NC

A campground that you quickly feel at home.  Level spacious sites, most with a good shade tree, allows for a quick set up.  To find the campground you have to pay attention and this is both a blessing and a challenge.  The campground is convenient to downtown Wilmington and a short drive to Wrightsville Beach.  Plenty of shopping and other entertainment nearby if the weather doesn't cooperate. The park is clean the showers are hot and the pressure is good.

This is a relaxing, natural campground. Many bird songs at sunrise and Whip poor will calls at sunset every night. We have dogs and there are nice places to walk along the pond, and grass areas all around the campground. The dog park is nice for some off leash time. The facilities are great with a store, laundry, and clean restrooms and showers. A very nice pool is available, but with Sunset beach, and Ocean Isle beach just minutes away we have gone there daily. I am fascinated by Bird Island that is a nature preserve and reachable from Sunset beach, this is a day trip we are looking forward to taking the dogs on. Calabash is another town we have visited and it is a gem. We didn’t expect to want anything but seafood but the Peruvian restaurants’ line out the door was intriguing and we ended up there for a late lunch and loved it. My partner is an avid fisherman and had a great day fishing on a Hurricane charter out of Calabash.

I hesitate to give it five stars because of my particular campsite. It was difficult to get into because of the trees, especially since I had a full sized truck. I had to back up, pull forward, back up, pull forward, etc., the first time I pulled in. I love trees, but taking one out would be a lot better for the campsite where I was. 

With that said, the campsite did have many good things going for it. It had a sheltered picnic table with a light, a charging station, and power outlets. However, if you are planning to run a cord between the power outlet and your tent on the tent pad, you need something long than twenty-five feet. I didn’t realize how far away the power was going to be, so I had to go to a store in town to get another extension cord. The site is sandy and level. The tent pad was also sandy and fairly level. If you are going to set up a tent on the tent pad, I suggest making sure it is not too big of a tent. My 8’ x 7’ tent fit, but larger tents may have a problem if there are tie-outs. 

Another problem with my tent site is that it was so close to the bath house, which may not seem to be a problem to most. However, the lights on the bath house are on all night, and they light up the area as if it were a ball field. The bath house itself is really nice—one of the cleanest and well-kept bath houses I have used in my camping experiences. They are individual toilet/shower combos and can only be accessed via a code. However, the water pressure in the shower is so weak it would barely wet a frog’s back(slight exaggeration, but it was still VERY disappointingly weak). The bath house is handicap accessible and has a ramp. 

Another problem I experienced was the noise. If it wasn’t the barking dog, it was what sounded like a garbage truck at 4:00 in the morning. There was also road noise from Market Street. 

The reason most people come here is because of its proximity to Wrightsville Beach and other attractions, but there are things to do at the campground. There is a swimming pool, a playground, a beach volleyball court, and more. It also provides information about tours, and I believe it also has kayak rentals. 

Overall, I would recommend this campground, but I believe it is better suited for RV campers rather than tent campers.

We stayed here for 2 weeks in September 2019. We don’t have kids, so we didn’t need amenities to entertain them. There is no pool, or playground, but there is a large area to walk your pets. Yes, they are PET FRIENDLY.
It’s not a large RV campground, with only 34 back-in sites. You do have FULL HOOKUPS. The owner is very friendly and is easy to work with. He keeps the grounds neat and the showers and restrooms clean. You are only 10 minutes to Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle Beach. Also, North Myrtle Beach is only 25 minutes away. They close December 15th, until sometime in spring.
If you are just trying to get a place in the area and don’t need a lot of campground amenities, I would recommend this place to you. We’ll definitely be going back.

Very nice Roomy Sites. Convient to Wilmington Downtown, Wilmington Beaches, Highway & Airport. Clean well maintained. Friendly Accomodating Staff. Love the Palm Trees throughout. Pet and Kid Friendly.... Please Spay or Neuter Both lol. Big Negative for us was the POOR WIFI. STAFF TRIED TO GET IT RUNNING IN OUR AREA BUT ALTHOUGH CONNECTED, VIRTUALLY USELESS TO VIDEO. RELIED STRICTLY ON OUR CELL PHONE CONNECTION.

Carolina beach state park is one of my favorite places to go in North Carolina. Not only does it have an awesome campground, but it's right near one of the best beaches I've ever been to. The sites are nice and secluded, just how I like them. Most of the sites are tent sites, but they have a few full hookup sites for RVs and some cabins to rent too. All of the sites have picnic tables, fire rings, and drinking water.

Within the park, there are tons of hiking trails through a really beautiful area. I hear the fishing is also really good within the park, but I've never done it myself. The only downside is you can't swim within the park, because the currents can get dangerous. The beach is only like 5 minutes away though, so not really a big deal.

As for the beach, it's my favorite one to go to in the states. I like it because it's not really touristy like the outer banks or myrtle beach. Not a whole lot of people come to it, so it's always pretty secluded and clean. In July, the water temperature is perfect, the waves are nice, and it's great all around.

Awesome spot in NC.

Loved camping here. Our campsite was tucked behind the first dunes, which we thought would keep us out of the wind... until the wind changed direction. Lots of blowing sand, a gritty dinner, but I still loved camping here. Note that although it is dog-friendly, you can't bring dogs on the ferry. So, only dog-friendly if you are taking your own boat out.

Loved this campground. Easy to drive to and navigate and each campsite has their own path to the restrooms. There was plenty of space between other campsites, but there were no rowdy groups so wouldn’t have mattered. The sugar loaf trail is our favorite! Dog friendly too!!

We camped here Wed through Sat for my son's fall break. We arrived on Wed afternoon around 4pm. I was wearing leggings and the mosquitos literally landed on my leggings and bit me through them. I didn't even know that could happen. I should have left the campsite then and gone to Walmart, 17 min away, and bought enough bug spray and candles for the weekend but we set up the campsite instead. We just got back so camped the first week in October, site 17. For the four days, I had two citronella candles, one on the picnic table and one near our camping chairs, a thermocell fogger in the tent (ran for about an hour before we went in to go to sleep)  and then two bottles of 40% deet spray...one for our car when we came back to the campsite and one on the picnic table. We brought our kayaks and launched from both the Carolina Beach State Park marina and also Trails End public access (intercoastal waterway). Both were great with plenty of parking while we were there. There are VERY large yachts in the trails end area which are cool to see, just be careful when paddling that area. We fished at both places and also at Carolina beach from the surf. I caught a HUGE drum there. Lots of dogs off of leashes (rules change Oct 1st) so that was cool to see. We mostly cooked at the campsite but ate dinner at Sea Witch Cafe one night. The place is dog friendly, which we needed, and the food was reasonably priced and so good. The park rangers lock the gates at 9pm and they don't open until 7am so you have to plan accordingly. This wasn't an issue for us, we just watched the clock and made sure we were back. Beach is about 6 min away, Walmart is about 17 min or so, several grocery stores nearby (Food Lion, Publix). Overall, it was a great trip, I just wasn't prepared initially for the mosquitos. I got 90 bites that first day. I even had to constantly spray down my dog to keep the mosquitos off of her. It was a bit much. Definitely put all of your food in your car or at a minimum in your tent. Raccoons come nightly. :) We lost a quesadilla, some dog food, etc.

Sailed into this marina/campground in late September, had the place pretty much to myself. Loved all the modern conveniences having been recently renovated from a hurricane. Trails through the maritime forest were dog-friendly and easily hiked. Rangers were very knowledgeable and helpful in finding exotic plant life!

Away from the world, but close enough to have a pizza delivered...haha! Loved this place!!

Had a great time camping and hiking around with my dog jinx. It was his first camping trip he seems to like it here as much as I did. be aware of the raccoons!! They will get close to you at nighttime. Bathhouse was clean and close by. Picked a sight on the waterway side. Throughly enjoyed walking back behind my camp site to the water!! Trails weren't as great as I'd expected. But still a nice day hiking around. Can't wait to go back again!!!

Ashley here with The Dyrt! We'd like to welcome this host, Joseph, to our platform. There is a fire-pit available and a new gazebo on the property. You will be the only person camping here. Bring your fishing poles, you'll be right next to the water. Have a dog? This is a great place to let them run. Enjoy your experience with them, take some photos, and don't forget to leave a review!

We visited the campground last weekend. The park is really beautiful. Very nice trails and water access for the dogs. We even saw Venus Flytraps on our walk. The campground for me was just okay. It was described as one of the 21 most beautiful campgrounds nationwide. The sites were very roomy and there was a trail right behind us. The bathrooms were pretty run down and they had just one per loop. I'm not sure if I would camp here again but it's definitely worth it to visit the State Park to hike and explore the beautiful nature.

This campground is right by the water, inlet of the Cape Fear River. It's about a 5 min drive to Carolina Beach. The area is intertwined with a few short 1-2 mile trails. There's a small marina and it's very popular during the weekend for boaters. Kayaking is also available. One of the trails has a small beach access, great area to take your dog or fish. Swimming is not allowed.

There's a Food Lion grocery store nearby. Amazing place called Wake N Bake donuts. Also, if you enjoy beer, Good Hops Brewery, who also has a disc gold course in the backyard. Kure Beach also has a good size course.

Highly recommended!

Our family has tent camped here twice and recently reserved a camp cabin for a week this summer. This is a quiet and spacious campground mere miles from Carolina Beach at a price that's hard to beat. We tent camp here around $30 a night for a tent site. Each site is very large and spacious. It could could comfortably fit 2 tents and a car.

This Campground offers bathhouses, picnic tables, and fire rings. Dogs allowed, but not in the cabins. Plenty of walking trails.

Campground is flat and shaded, although there are some primative group sites away from the main campground but they don't have as much shade. Grocery store is maybe 6 miles away.

We camped here when we went to Wilmington for a 5k. We stayed here for just one night and had a good time. The campsites are close. The camp store had everything you needed in case you forgot something. It is in a high trafficked area so don't look for peace and quiet. The playground was awesome and included a cool wooden pirate ship. The grandkids loved it! It was a nice place to stay for the night. The staff were friendly and helpful